The Aku, Crowley's Kotzebue-based tug, spends 8 months of the year sitting on dry land. When the spring breakup comes the Aku goes back in the water and gets busy hauling fuel to the upriver villages. The fuel barge from Anchorage or Tacoma comes in right after the Fourth of July and the Aku lighters the fuel in from the offshore barge. The window of opportunity, because of the ice, is less than four months.

I shot this panorama with a 20mm Canon lens, which is not great for panos. A 50mm lens would have been a better choice. I didn't use a tripod, but eyeballed it.