Ichthyosaur

 

 

             The first attempt at 0730 hours to depart the airfield at Fort Wainwright was aborted when the flight of two Chinooks, tail numbers 89-00174 and 89-00176, ran into some nasty weather in the hills about 64 km (40 sm) northwest. Later in the day, the weather cleared up considerably and the flight was uneventful up to the fuel stop at Bettles, Alaska (N 66° 54.92' W 151° 31.68'), 291.5 km (158.3 nm / 182.2 sm) on a bearing of 297° magnetic from Fort Wainwright.

 

 

         
Chinook 89-00174 getting fuel at Bettles Airport on the way to the field site.

 

 

             As expected, although the grid coordinates indicating the latitude and longitude (N 68° 37.25' W 157° 35.19') were dead on, the 17 year old satellite photographs were out of date. The stream bed had moved about 40 meters (120 feet) to the west. However, the Ichthyosaur site was clearly visible from the cockpit as the flight approached and searched for a suitable parking area.

 

 

         
Arrival at the site - 89-00176, piloted by CW4 Morgan (PC), Captain Magness (PI), and crewed by SGT Wainwright (FE) and SPC Jorgensen (CE), on the hill just above Icky.

 

 

             Below, CW2 Gene Frasier and Captain David Magness attempt to discern a feasible method of closing out the flight plan on file with the Flight Service Station. Apparently, after much button pushing, Mr. Frasier had upset the only satellite phone, supplied by UAF, and it no longer worked. As it turned out, the only feasible method was to climb to 3,048 meters (10,000 feet) and make radio contact with Point Lay - 187 km (135 nm / 117 sm) to the northwest. The team quickly learned what it meant to be remote and isolated - and all by yourself. There was no help, if needed, no telephones, no electricity - nothing - within 200 km (125 sm). What we had, was that which we brought with us.

 

 

         
89-00176 and flight arrives at the field site.

 

 

             From the selected parking area, the only high and dry ground in the immediate vicinity of the extraction site, the rock out-cropping containing the Ichthyosaur was readily identifiable. The team was quite pleased that the stream had moved west and had not further eroded the specimen into a useless pile of rubble. This was great news to all because the site had not been visited in the last 11 years, not since Irv Tailleur paid a it brief visit in June 1991. Prior to that, in 1970, C. G. Mull placed a sign on the find requesting visitors preserve the site for future study.

 

 

             When viewed from the hilltop from across the stream, the Ichthyosaur site appeared to be in excellent condition with just a little shrubbery growth near the base.

 

 

         
Ichthyosaur site view at the time the extraction team arrived, looking east.

 

 

             Although the team leader, Dr. Gangloff, had wanted to set up camp on the same side of the stream that "Icky" was located on when the flight initially arrived, the hilltop was discovered to be quite wet and the ground unsuitable for helicopter parking. As such, the team set up camp on the opposite side of the stream. Unloading cargo from the helicopters and carrying it to the camp site proved to be quite a chore. The ground between the parking area and the camp was also quite wet and covered with Basketball Tuskins. These were large clumps of grass shaped like a basketball and surrounded by water and mud that made walking or carrying anything very difficult. 91 meters (300 feet) across the Tuskins was equivalent to a 6.4 km (4 sm) battalion run.

 

 

         
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