The Dalton Highway

The road we've been on for most of the trip is called the Dalton Highway. It starts a little over 80 miles north of Fairbanks, and runs slightly more than 400 miles up to Deadhorse. It crosses many rivers and streams, chief among them the mighty and famous Yukon River. It crosses high mountains and deep valleys, it consists of fairly well maintained paved sections and mudtracks, it is home to birds and rodents, fish, bears and everything in between. It has forests and tundra, arctic desert and mountains, highlands and lowlands. It is one of the most challenging and rewarding roads I have ever been on, and the drive has been a great adventure from start to finish.

I'm just going to stop there and post some pictures, and beg that you click on through to the page for the whole collection. Maybe you'll get a more complete appreciation for the beauty and majesty that is Alaska, than my words can ever convey. This is a fantastic final frontier, a worthy finale to my fifty-state tour, which has taken me slighty more than fifteen years to complete. And I've only just begun to scrape the surface of this beautiful, mighty nation.

The Yukon River.


Caribou grazing. You'll see lots of these along the way.


Ice bridge over a clear, blue stream, with a backdrop of mountains. I've seen worse.


From the Brooks mountain range.




Lake Grayling, where local injuns have hunted for thousands of years.


Sigh.


Dall sheep.


There are a few nerve-wrecking hills like these along the way. To traverse these parts in rain and mud, with a humongous trailer does not bear thinking about - that way lies madness.


Mooooose! Mooose, mooose! Ve put de chocolate on de mooose!


Forests and mountain. Unbeatable combo for a Norwegian.


The pipeline is the sole reason the Dalton was ever constructed. It carries a couple billion barrels of sweet, sweet oil per day.


Gray, empty, barren, desolate.


Our poor jeep. We didn't just deflower this brand new car, we assraped it.