Point Lay Alaska Map

About Point Lay, Alaska

Point Lay is a locality in North Slope, Alaska, United States. It is a small community with a population of 330. The population density is 4.5 people per km². Point Lay is located at 69.7371°N, 162.8341°W. It observes the Alaska Time (America/Nome) timezone. ZIP code: 99759.

Point Lay occupies a precarious, windswept sliver of land where the flat, expansive tundra meets the restless gray expanse of the Chukchi Sea. It lies 525.1 miles northwest of College, AK (from College, AK: bearing 317°T), and is situated 178.7 miles west-southwest of Utqiaġvik. The horizon here possesses a singular, crushing clarity, defined by the low-slung curvature of the earth and the shifting ice that grinds rhythmically against the shore. Only a mile away, the Kokolik River carves a serpentine path through the sediment, its waters carrying the cold, silted memory of the interior toward the salt-heavy air of the coast. The light at dusk lingers with a bruised, violet persistence, casting long, thin shadows that seem to stretch across the vast, treeless plain until they dissolve into the encroaching gloom of the subarctic night.

Point Lay serves as a resilient outpost of Iñupiat culture, a place where the rhythms of contemporary life are inextricably bound to the seasonal migration of bowhead whales and the traditional harvest of the sea. The local economy persists through a delicate balance of subsistence hunting and a quiet, deliberate engagement with the modern world, supported by the proximity of the Alaska Maritime National Wildlife Refuge which safeguards the fragile nesting grounds of migratory birds. Life moves in accordance with the temperamental weather, a cycle punctuated by the arrival of supply planes and the communal preparation for the long, dark months. There is a profound, stoic beauty in the way the architecture of the settlement hugs the ground, low and durable, designed to withstand the relentless pressure of the wind while maintaining a watchful gaze toward the horizon.

About This Point Lay Map Page

This page provides an embedded street and satellite map of Point Lay, Alaska. Coordinates: 69.737117, -162.83412. Live weather conditions are sourced directly from the National Weather Service. Real-time local and world news feeds keep the page current.

Detailed location data for Point Lay includes the ZIP code (99759), telephone area code (907), county seat of North Slope, and school district assignment (North Slope Borough School District).

Location data is drawn from the USGS Geographic Names Information System (GNIS) and cross-verified against 2020 US Census records by coordinate proximity. Population figures are sourced from the 2020 US Census.