The stories behind the Alaska pipeline are fascinating. 800 miles of 1/2-inch-thick steel pipe, from Prudhoe Bay to Valdez, was laid between 1975-1977. Parts of the line are elevated 10 feet to allow animals to cross
under, and parts of the line are specially designed to avoid melting the permafrost the line rests on.

Near the three faults it crosses, the pipeline was designed to withstand earthquakes with an 8.5 max magnitude. It can slide around on the metal runnerson which it rests. In the photo below, you can see that during
the magnitude 7.9 Denali earthquake in November 2002, some of the pipeline slid on its tracks.

Much of Alaska's geology is modified by recent (10,000 years ago) glaciation. In some places,
like here at Rainbow Mountain , you can see Paleozoic metamorphic rocks.

Glaciers leave behind uniquely modified terrain. In the photo below, you can see a perched bench that was
likely smoothed by a glacier. Later river incision then cut downward, carving the lower cliff.

Carl points out Donnelly Dome, which, from my understanding, is a lone hill of metamorphic rock
that survived because it stood between two glaciers.

Lots of kettle lakes, formed when blocks of ice from a glacier are buried beneath sediments,
dot the landscape off of Coal Mine Rd., near the Richardson Hwy.

That's me by a freshly budded spruce tree, with the Delta River in the background.