Don's Blog Point Hope I

 From Utqiagviq we continued along the coast sailing by the rocky cliffs of Cape Lisburne and the Alaskan North Slope village of  Point Hope. The Inuit name, Tikagaq, commonly spelled Tigara (see map below) means forefinger. The village sits on a long thin peninsula shaped like a pointing finger which juts out into the Chukchi Sea historically bringing whales close to the shore. Originally called by Russian explorers, Mys Golovnina, the cape was re-named by Captain Frederick William Beechey who wrote on August 2, 1826, "I named it Point Hope in compliment to Sir William Johnstone Hope, of a well connected sea family."

Forty-eight years ago I visited the hamlet of Point Hope with my wife and another couple. We flew in to the airstrip on a small plane on wheels in May of 1970.
 

We were unprepared for the visit. At the time there was no habitable hotel and no restaurants. Many of the white poles sticking up in the view by the air field (below) are the jaw bones of bowhead whales. It is always a lonely feeling when you are dropped off in a distant place and the airplane lifts off.

I had made arrangements  for us to stay in the Episcopal Mission House next to the church. Luckily for us no one else was staying there. We picked up our duffel bags and dropped them off at 'our' mission house. 

Although we arrived unannounced and unexpected we were met immediately by friendly villagers.They were happy to see us and no one asked why we had come. Some children adopted us. Here we are coming out of the mission house. I'm to the left and our friend Helen and my wife Jan to the lower right.

The children showed us around the village. One of the first structures we saw was this traditional Saad house made from bowhead whale bones and covered with sod growing grasses. That is the electric line coming off the pole. An umiak open skin boat is on a framework to the right.

 

The houses were interesting in the details including the guard dog on the front porch. 

These are caribou racks on the roof with heads still attached and on the far side is a moose rack.

Our young guides walked us all around. In the background you can see the pack ice of Maryatt Inlet.