Dalton Highway, Day 2

The town of Wiseman is not far from Coldfoot.  Unlike many of the old mining towns, Wiseman still survives with people in it - although not many.  After a fast break-down of camp and throwing gear in the car due to mosquitoes, we drove the 5 miles to Coldfoot for the breakfast buffet and then u-turned for a short 15 miles the other way to Wiseman.

Wiseman is an old mining town.  Bob Marshall's book "Arctic Village" is about his year staying in Wiseman in the 1930's.

Glenda had heard that a guy by the name of Jack Reakoff gave tours.  We just happened to run into one of the tours and asked if we could tag along.  Fascinating.  Jack (and his sisters) grew up in Wiseman, and still live there.  He lives off the land in one fashion or another: hunter, trapper, pilot, gardener, fisher, and tour guide.

Here is Jack's moose horn sculpture in the picture on the right.  After the tour, he invited us to his home and we sat around an listened to him talk.  I thought the most interesting was the impact of the Haul Road on the area - mostly in the fact that big moneyed hunters were able to access hunting grounds - and did - with a negative impact on the animal populations.

Jack had amazing gardens!

All in all, Wiseman was a very interesting place to stop.






Off we went to make some miles.  Our plan was to stay in the last campsite before Deadhorse.  You can't drive to the Arctic Ocean so Glenda had called to put us on the tour that gets you through the "secure" areas to the ocean.  The tour started at 9 a.m. the next day so we had to be within reasonable driving distance.

We ascended the Atigun Pass and dropped onto the arctic plain - next stop, Last Chance campground.  

Last Chance campground's only facility was a pit toilet.  As you can see, there isn't many trees to pitch your tent under - although there was lots of muskox poop.

Furthermore, there were mosquitoes galore.  We managed to get through dinner, but dove for the car for after dinner gin rummy.  Open the door quick, shut it, and kill the mosquitoes that got in.  At least it wasn't too hot.