Alaska Trip 2011: June 11 - Arctic Adventure Day 1

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A = Fairbanks; B = Coldfoot; C = Deadhorse (Prudhoe Bay)

We debated whether or not to drive all the way to Prudhoe Bay. It's 500 miles of rugged road each direction, with basically no services in between other than a pit stop at Coldfoot. We almost chickened out, but in the end, decided that we did not want to regret at least trying for it. So we made some preparations for the long haul, left the motorhome in Fairbanks, and headed north in just the trailblazer.

Leaving Fairbanks

Fairbanks:
64° 51' North
Sunrise 3:07 a.m.
Sunset 12:34 a.m.

The Fairbanks area has been plagued with lots of forest fires. This is apparently a fairly normal occurrence in the area, though I get the feeling this year might be a little worse than normal. They let most of the fires burn out normally, but there was at least one large fire to the north that was either large enough or close enough to the pipeline to be a concern. So we were on the lookout for smoke and other signs of the fire.

We saw a couple of helicopters along the road - not sure if they were fighting fires or something else.

Dalton Highway

Dalton Mile 0
65° 38' North
Sunrise 2:43 a.m.
Sunset 1:08 a.m.

The Dalton Highway, also known as the Haul Road, begins about 75 miles north of Fairbanks. It was built to haul equipment for the pipeline construction, and is still in use to haul supplies to the north slope oil camps. As we enter the highway, we start on the first unpaved section. At this point, it is relatively smooth. Some sections of the road are paved, but most of it is not. But based on some of the roads we have driven on already, paved is not necessarily better.

Here are a few views from where we stopped for lunch. It didn't take the ravens long to show up when we stopped, but I still refused to feed them. Wild animals should remain wild.

The road is still in fairly good shape, for an unpaved road, anyway.

Sometimes the pipeline and road are very close together...

...and sometimes they go two different directions.

Yukon River

We crossed the Yukon River at about mile 60. The pipeline crossed the river on the same bridge, though you can't really see it in this picture. What you see is a roof over the top of the pipe, which ran just below the road.

There was a visitor center here, with a short walk behind. I grabbed some pictures of the pretty wildflowers along the walk - Labroador Tea, Blue Bells, and Arnica

Road Work

At about mile 85, we learned first-hand how they maintain the dirt roads. First, a big tank truck sucks up water from a nearby stream, and spreads it over the road. I understand the water is mixed with calcium chloride to help keep down the dust. After the water softens everything up a bit, a road grader comes by and levels down all the ruts, potholes, and frost heaves. Of course if you come down the road during or shortly after this process, what you have is basically mud, which gets all over everything. Here is what turns out to be only our first layer of mud.

By now, most of the snow and ice in this area has melted, so this must have been a pretty large drift. The water here is from the snow melt, not the road work.

Here is one of the few sections of the road that is actually paved. If you look up the road, you will see the pipeline zig-zagging right next to it. The zig-zags are intentional, to allow for expansion and contraction of the pipe. It stretches out or folds in as needed.

Finger Mountain

They call this Finger Mountain because of a rock formation resembling a finger, which points the way back to Fairbanks. There was a fascinating wayside here with an interpretive trail, terrific views, and lots of little tundra plants. This area would be considered alpine tundra rather than alpine tundra, because we are not yet beyond the northern tree line. But this far north, you don't have to be very high up to be above the tree line.

Some people actually dry out the slender leaves of the Labroador Tea and use them to make tea, but I hear too much of it can make you sick.

I got some really pretty pictures of these Mountain Avens. I had a hard time deciding which ones to include.

The Blackish Oxytrope has very dark buds that absorb sunlight under the snow, getting a head start on snow melt. They also show another feature found on many cold climate plants - the fuzz or hair that helps keep them from freezing.

The Low-Bush Cranberry was so tiny, it was hard to get a good picture of it, but here is one closeup showing the flowers, and another showing the low, compact bush.

Last but not least, here are some pictures of the scenery around this mountain. Most of these rocks were pushed up out of the ground by frost heaves, the same type of action that causes so much havoc with the roads.

Arctic Circle

Arctic Circle
66° 33' North
Sunrise June 5
Sunset July 7

We finally reached the Arctic Circle around 5 p.m. The mosquitoes are getting bigger and hungrier, so we did not stick around too long after getting the required photo op.

I hope this does not offend anyone. I could not believe it when I saw it, so we had to stop, back up, and get a picture. I'm sure there must be a story behind this, but I don't know what it is. We tried to google it, but all we came up with was other people who had seen it and wondered the same thing.

Coldfoot

I think the only reason Coldfoot exists is to provide a place to fuel up before the next half of the trip. I don't think anyone actually lives here. It is basically a huge gravel parking lot, with a couple gas pumps and a restaurant/truckers lounge on one side, and an inn with lodging on the other. There is an old construction trailer back of the restaurant that serves as a post office.

In fact, all the buildings appear to be remnants of the camp used by construction workers building the pipeline and road. The construction is basically pre-fab sections built like trailers, that they apparently haul in and hook together. Basically, the place was pretty much a dump. I should have taken some pictures, but for some reason I didn't. Instead, I'll just show a couple of pictures from along the road. They are much more pleasant.

Wiseman

Wiseman
67° 25' North
Sunrise May 30
Sunset July 14

Fortunately, the lady at the Yukon River Visitor Center gave us a tip that there were some bed-and-breakfast places about 14 miles north of there that were much nicer than Coldfoot. We were able to get a nice cabin there in much better surroundings.

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