"We're gonna start shooting…" Not what you expect to wake up to…
Every time I see this photo it reminds me of one of the most abrupt wake-up calls we had on our travels.
We didn't want to splash out for the expensive 'hotels' in Deadhorse (You pay a whole lot of money to stay in worker accomodation, so by the sounds of things it is comfortable, but not exactly the luxury accomodation you'd expect when you see the price tag—it costs a lot to be comfortable at the end of the road!)
So we opted to set up camp. The downside is, you are not permitted to camp in town. Mostly because of the friendly neighbourhood bears. I believe they don't want to encourage them—or keep having to clean up after tourists have been eaten by them…
We instead headed back out of town. We wanted to be off the main road, to avoid dust and noise from the passing trucks, but close enough to town that we could head in for a trip to the shores of the Arctic Ocean the next day. In the swirling mist, visibility was low. We found a side road that terminated in a sudden dead end at a small creek. Perfect, peaceful, quiet.
In the thick Arctic mist, we felt like we were the only people on the planet. It was a spectacular camp spot, despite the lack of views.
We ignored the brightly spray painted lines on the ground. Perhaps planning for a road extension over the creek…? The wooden stakes at the end were probably to mark the sudden end of the road … right?
The next morning we figured out what the lines and stakes meant… and the empty shell casings.
In our half-asleep state we heard the rumbling of vehicles down the abandoned side road. It was probably time to get up, no one would be driving down here without a reason. We were probably in the way. The vehicles stop and we hear:
"We're gonna start shooting"…
Ummm…?
The reason for our early morning alarm call? We'd set up camp right in the middle of the local oil field security worker's firing range on the day everyone was heading out for their annual training.
They were a friendly bunch and seemed none-too phased by tourists napping in the middle of their firing range, everyone had a bit of a laugh, we packed up quickly, deciding it was better to have breakfast closer to town…
Added bonus, here's a few photos we forgot we even took, but we found them in the rejected images library. The first two were rejected because they were taken through the windshield, so you can see the dirt on the windshield.
The last one is a far north sunset. Just below the Arctic Circle again, the sun briefly dips below the horizon in the early hours of the morning—before popping straight back up again.
