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.

Animals of the Day

We've seen loads of animals so far on this trip, but I haven't taken pics of all, partially because I've been driving and partially because there's only so many pictures of caribou a sane man can take before someone comes and takes him to the funny farm.

The highlight of Sunday was of course THE BEAR! WE SAW A BEAR! Wheeeeee! I was pretty excited, but I'd already seen and photographed one in Yellowstone, so it wasn't that big of a deal. Albie, on the other hand, was ecstatic. She's taken pictures of everything that moved today, including clouds, branches and water.

A BEAR!


The Friendly Cat of Coldfoot. He came over and started rubbing against my legs and purring as soon as I got out of the car.


A musk oxen.

Deadhorse

Spent Saturday night and Sunday morning in Deadhorse, which is as far north as you can drive on public roads in America. There are a few communities farther north, but they can only be reached by plane.

Deadhorse is strictly a "company town", existing only to service the oil companies that bring sweet, sweet oil up from the ground and pump it down to Valdez, whence it is shipped to refineries to become even sweeter gas (petrol) for the Lower 48. There's fuck all to see or do in town, except to go on a tour to the Arctic Ocean, which we did. Then we got the fuck outta Dodge.

All Deadhorse pics here.

Sweet, sweet Halliburton.




We had the room in the middle. I'm not joking. WC and showers were in the main building.


The unit had skis, so it was mobile.


Next stop: The North Pole.

This and that

Some odd bits and ends from the road so far...

In Norwegian, both "kuk" and "pikk" are synonyms for the male sexual organ. *snortgiggle*


An aptly named bend in the road.




Yukon River, where we were waited on by a very nice girl who had Swedish ancestry. I swear, Alaska is really wearing on my cherished prejudices.


From the tiny hamlet of Coldfoot, the last place to fill up on gas & food before the 240 mile drive to Deadhorse.

Quote of the Day

Theologian: An uncommon individual who, though possessing finite abilities, has been called by God himself who, though possessing infinite abilities, requires the assistance of the former in explaining Himself to the rest of us.
- Donald Morgan

Wiseman

We spent Friday night in the tiny hamlet of Wiseman, three miles down a dirt track from the Dalton Highway. It was actually the highlight of the trip so far, as the lodgings were impeccable and the company was great. We were renting our very own cabin from a Kraut German couple whose friendliness and hospitality shook my attitude to Krauts Germans to the core. Also, they had some sleigh dogs that were just about the friendliest I've ever encountered. The business is called Arctic Getaway, and I recommend them with flying colors, five gold stars and epaulettes, etc, etc.

All pics here.

We had this cabin to ourselves. It sleeps six - two doubles upstairs and two singles downstairs.


From the interior.


The main building. Part living quarters for the owners, part dining room for the guests. It used to be the town's gathering hall.


One of their three Siberian Huskies. This, the youngest, was described to us as "friendly, but a little withdrawn". Heh. He was doing the quickstep on the top of his little hut as we approached and proceeded to slobber us with kisses.


The former post office in Wiseman, closed in 1956. It has now sunk halfway into the ground...


The town has exactly one public telephone...


Purdy surroundings.




You see these signs everywhere in Alaska.

Arctic Circle

These pics are from the Arctic Circle, which I've crossed once before - in Norway.

Me pointing at the map like some ordinary tourist. Hrmph.


Nice view.

Finger Mountain

These pics are from Finger Mountain, a well known rock formation on the way between Fairbanks and Wiseman. The hillside just north of the Finger has some little plates with information about the flora and fauna of the area, and the history. Worth five minutes, but not more. All pics here.

Flippin' the bird to the world. Gotta respect that.


These rock formations are called "tors". You may remember similar ones from Cornwall, England. Or not. See if I care.


Big skies.


Cold and water crack the stones.

Moosette

Friday we had a hilarious moment on the way from Fairbanks to Wiseman, when Court tricked Albie into believing that a female moose was called a "moosette". Anyway, we saw several moose along the way, inluding this cow and her two very cute little ones:

Quote of the Day

The dictionary is the only place where success comes before work.
- Vince Lombardi

Quote of the Day

That money talks, I'll not deny, I heard it once, it said goodbye.
- Richard Amour

North to Alaska

I'm currently in Fairbanks, Alaska. We flew up from San Diego on Wednesday, and today we've driven up from Anchorage. The road up here is beautiful, with some nice vistas and lookout points. We also saw several moose along the way and rescued a dog who was running up and down the road. We were just calling the vet when the owners pulled up behind us and we could hand over the little mutt.

Some pics from the road...

Nice, no?


From the same viewpoint.


Our jeep.


Sunset over Fairbanks. At around 10:30PM... the sun will only set for a few hours tonight.


The northermost Denny's in the world.