Dalton Highway, Day 1

After the previous day of Bettles to Fairbanks, and then renting a car, getting food for the trip, seeing Ashley and Joey off, and of course packing and repacking gear, we were off for the Dalton Highway in our fancy SUV.  But, I must admit, that it was a nice night with a real bed, another shower, and a good meal and beer at the Silver Gulch Brewery.

Bob got us going on the Dalton Highway, otherwise known as the "Haul Road" or the "Ice Road."  It's called the Haul Road because much of the material and supplies for the original oil pipeline and for Prudhoe Bay are hauled on the road - in fact, the road was built for that purpose.  The Ice Road was made "famous" from the TV show "Ice Road Truckers."  Anyway, Bob had always wanted to go and asked if we wanted to go along.  It had been on the back burner for years for me too, but I figured I'd never get the chance.  But here it was.

But first, a stop at the Trans-Alaska Pipeline Visitor Center, which is interesting and you can get right up to the pipeline.  No matter what you think about the pipeline, I think it's an engineering marvel.  After 34 years or so, it has stood the test of time.  Mary Louise at 5 foot 2 inches or so gives you some perspective.

There's no building here, but information and a few displays like the one on the left.  You can see the "cleaning pig" that is sent through the pipe to clean the inside.  What will they think of next?  There are lots of engineering aspects of the line that are very interesting, but I won't bore you now.

It rained off and on during the day - not much but enough to discourage pictures.  You can see some blue sky above the Yukon River, though.  Again, I won't wax boringly about the length and volume of the Yukon River and the extraordinary life of the salmon that go all the way up it to tributaries hundreds of miles from salt water and the Alaska Natives that rely on the salmon.  But it's amazing.

We drove for about 250 miles from Fairbanks to Coldfoot.  The country is so vast.  Much of it is rolling or fairly flat with small spruce, alder, and willow trees and bushes.  There's lots of water evident: streams, ponds, lakes.

We drove 263 miles to Coldfoot (actually we stayed in Marion Creek Campground.  As you can see in the picture on the right, the bugs were bad and the beer was good.  Plus, we're having a beer with a pile of moose poop in front of us.   The campsite was buggy at best.  We celebrated out anniversary!

Coldfoot is the only "civilization" to buy gas in the 500 or so miles between Fairbanks and Deadhorse (Prudhoe Bay).  Luckily it also has a good buffet meals for the scientists and truckers and tourists that frequent the area.  We had a great roast beef dinner and there were no mosquitoes on the porch, a special relief.

I observed an interesting thing while sitting back by Bob and Mary Louise.  A woman, marked by REI and LL Bean type clothing, came out of the restaurant door and very carefully placed some type of bug or insect outside on the railing.  There were two construction guys sitting quite close nearby.  She turns around and goes back inside.  One construction guy looks at the other with a big question on his face with a "are you kidding me look."  He takes off his hat and smashes the bug.

If you go, visit the visitor's center in Coldfoot.  It's worth a visit, for sure.  Plus, they have real bathrooms.