We reached the Arctic Circle yesterday after a dusty, bumpy, 8-hour drive up the Dalton Highway from Fairbanks. This “haul road” parallels the Alaskan Pipeline and threads through awesome mountains covered with spruce and, further north, a green carpet of alpine tundra. After jumping out for an Arctic Circle photo opp, we got back on the road and almost immediately a truck heading south pulled over and honked. It was the MBL’s John Hobbie, one of the founders of Toolik Field Station — what better person to run into at the Arctic Circle! Here’s a photo of John and Gus Shaver, another MBL Ecosystems Center scientist, who was an excellent travel guide on our drive up.
