Kodiak, Nome, and the Bush: Places to Explore

Prudhoe Bay

Most towns have museums that chronicle local history and achievements. Deadhorse is the town anchoring life along Prudhoe Bay, but it could also serve as a museum dedicated to humankind's hunt for energy and its ability to adapt to harsh conditions to capture that energy.

The costly, much-publicized Arctic oil and gas project is complex and varied. One-day tours with the Arctic Caribou Inn explore the tundra terrain from oil pipes to sandpipers. Along with chances to spot caribou, wildflowers, and an unusual stand of willow trees at the edge of the Arctic Ocean (for the most part the tree line ends well south of here, but since willows can take almost any weather conditions, these outliers have stuck), the field tour surveys oil wells, stations, and oil-company residential complexes—small cities themselves. Your guide will discuss the multimillion-dollar research programs aimed at preserving the region's ecology and point out special tundra vehicles known as Rolligons, whose great weight is distributed to diminish their impact on delicate terrain.