Originally a Cold War Distant Early Warning facility, Lonely was decommissioned in 2018 and is now an unattended airstrip on the Beaufort Sea coast at Pitt Point, about 83 miles (134 km) east-southeast of Utqiaġvik and 72 miles (116 km) northwest of Nuiqsut, Alaska. The site lies between Drew Point on Smith Bay to the west and Cape Halkett on Harrison Bay to the east. Officially designated as the Pitt Point DEW Line station, it was informally known as “Lonely,” and later as Camp LonelyCamp Lonely. Pitt Point was named in 1837 by Peter W. Dease after Thomas Pitt, a Hudson’s Bay Company board member. This area is part of the Arctic Coastal Plain, characterized by low, flat, boggy tundra underlain by permafrost. In summer, thawing permafrost creates thermokarst lakes, shallow depressions filled with freshwater. The underlying bedrock, part of the Sagavanirktok Formation from the Paleogene period, has a maximum thickness of 525 feet (160 m). This formation consists of siltstone, shale, and sandstone, with local ash beds. The only known outcrops occur at the big bend on the lower Colville River near Nuiqsut. Portions of the Beaufort Sea coast have experienced a dramatic increase in erosion since the early 2000s. This phenomenon is best documented along the north-facing segment of the coastline between Drew Point and Cape Halkett, where mean annual erosion rates reached up to 45 feet (13.6 m) per year from 2002 to 2007, and 56 feet (17.1 m) per year from 2007 to 2009. The erosion rate here is higher than in neighboring areas due to the high ice content of the sea bluffs, the fineness of the sediment grains, and the absence of barrier islands. Acceleration of the erosion rate in this area of continuous permafrost likely results from the warming of the Beaufort Sea, the warming atmosphere, and the increase in the spatial and temporal extent of open water conditions.

The Iñupiat people of Utqiaġvik and Nuiqsut rely heavily on subsistence hunting and fishing. Depending on their location, they harvest walruses, seals, whales, polar bears, caribou, and fish. Along with other Inuit groups, the Iñupiat originate from the Thule people, who migrated from islands in the Bering Sea around 300 BC. Their traditional territory stretches from Norton Sound on the Bering Sea to the Arctic Coastal Plain and east to the Mackenzie River. Historically, many small settlements along the coast served as seasonal whaling and fishing camps for family groups. The historic settlement of Kolovik was situated on slightly raised ground about 330 feet (100 m) from the coast, approximately 4 miles (6 km) west of Lonely. This former whaling, trapping, and trading location featured standing houses, two whaleboats, and at least four surface burials. Another seasonal camp, Kokruagarok, was located about 4 miles (6 km) east of Lonely. In 1837, Dease and Thomas Simpson were the first Europeans to explore this part of the Beaufort Sea coast. They sailed down the Mackenzie River in Canada, traveled west past the Colville River Delta, and reached a point just beyond Cape Simpson, where they landed and continued on foot to Point Barrow. Additional knowledge of the Arctic coast was gained from expeditions sent between 1848 and 1853 to search for Sir John Franklin‘s missing party. In 1849, Lieutenant William Pullen sailed a small boat from Kotzebue Sound around the Arctic coast to the Mackenzie River. Starting in the early 1900s, the US Geological Survey sponsored explorations and geological investigations. Notable efforts include those by William J. Peters and Frank C. Schraeder in 1901, and Ernest K. Leffingwell and Rudolph M. Anderson from 1906 to 1914. Further contributions were made by Vilhjalmur Stefansson between 1908 and 1918. With the establishment of the Naval Petroleum Reserve by President Warren Hardin in 1923, the US Geological Survey conducted more investigations at the Navy Department‘s request. By the late 1940s, field surveys provided a reasonably adequate yet generalized picture of the major geological features of the reserve and surrounding areas. Since the 1970s, oil and other mineral resources have become significant revenue sources for the Iñupiat villages of the Arctic Coastal Plain, introducing challenges to their culture and lifestyle.

In 1953, the US Department of the Interior granted 1,800 acres (728 ha) of public land at Pitt Point to the US Air Force for a Distant Early Warning station, POW-1. Lonely was originally constructed that year and operated until 1989. In 1993, the installation was converted to a Short Range Radar Station, operating as part of the North Warning System with a minimally attended surveillance radar. In 1998, Pacific Air Forces initiated “Operation Clean Sweep,” which aimed to remediate abandoned Cold War stations in Alaska and restore the land to its previous condition. The 611th Civil Engineering Squadron from Elmendorf Air Force Base carried out the site remediation of the radar and support station at Lonely, completing the work by 2005. However, an unauthorized dumpsite near the western edge of a saltwater lagoon received waste from the Lonely station between 1955 and 1976. Coastal erosion, accelerated by the loss of sea ice, exposed the dump to ocean waves. In 2003, over 150 feet (46 m) of shoreline on the ocean side of the facility was lost, causing an abandoned pump house to collapse onto the beach. In 2007, the Short Range Radar Station was closed due to coastal erosion and rising maintenance costs. Cleanup activities in 2008 and 2009 involved excavating buried material and contaminated oil, then separating it into waste streams: contaminated soils, non-hazardous solid waste, and hazardous waste for offsite disposal. Currently, the facility has only a rough airstrip with a gravel surface, measuring 5,000 feet (1,500 m) by 100 feet (30 m), at an elevation of 17 feet (5 m) above mean sea level. Between 2009 and 2018, approximately 900 feet (275 m) of the main road from the west end of the airstrip to the sea bluff eroded, representing an erosion rate of 100 feet (30 m) per year. Read more here and here. Explore more of Lonely and Pitt Point here: