Day 7
Yes, we drove our nice clean car up the Dalton Highway to the Arctic Circle. We'll post some pictures of the car to show what we put it through. Fortunately there is a really good car wash just down the street and we will get it cleaned up later today
Visiting the Arctic Circle was never something I had thought about doing. As far as my bucket list goes this wasn't anywhere near the list. But before we came to Alaska we were looking at things to do up here and Debra noticed that we were very close, relatively speaking, to the Arctic Circle and suggested we should go there. So we researched it a bit and found that it was about a 5 hour drive from our hotel, 194 miles each way, so it seemed like a doable thing for a day trip. We also learned that the road was mostly gravel and could be pretty hard on a vehicle. So, one of the options we were considering was renting a vehicle and leaving ours here to spare it the wear and tear. Most rental car companies won't rent a car to you if you plan to go off paved roads but we found a couple of options for that. When it came right down to it yesterday we decided to take our own car and avoid the additional complications and expense of making the trip in an unknown vehicle. Well that turned out to be another good decision as our Buick Regal handled the Dalton Highway with no problem at all.
The scenery traveling to the Arctic Circle was really beautiful. At just about every bend in the road the countryside opens up to an amazing view of trees and river valleys, wide open spaces with snow capped mountains on the horizon and everywhere you experience the anticipation of an encounter with a bear, a moose or some other local wildlife. We were fortunate enough to encounter another black bear around 11:00 plus shortly after we came upon a cow moose with a very young calf. I think we got both of them on our video but they each disappeared before we could get a shot of them on our camera. Later in the day we saw what was either a coyote or an Arctic fox, we weren't really sure.
Early into our trip we came upon a turnout that took you right up to the Alaska pipeline. We made the stop and got some good photos of the pipeline and some information on it. Of course the Dalton Highway was built to enable the construction of the pipeline so we saw the pipe off and on all through the days travel. Sometimes it was right alongside the road and sometimes it was a short distance away. There were times when the roadway crossed over it and times when it was hidden from view by the dense forest. There were even a few places where the pipeline went through the hillsides and caused us to wonder why they tunneled through some hills but went up and down over others. At any rate it was fun to have the pipeline as our constant companion throughout the day.
During the trip up to the Arctic Circle we stopped off at the Yukon River Bridge. There is an information station on the north side of the river and east of the highway. It has rest rooms and several information markers regarding the construction of the bridge and a tribute to Ed Patton the engineer who designed the Alaska Pipeline and the Dalton Highway.
Once we arrived at the Arctic Circle we took a few pictures and decided to use one of the picnic tables there to eat our lunch. By the time we had walked the 50 feet or so to the table I was covered with mosquitoes and had been bitten two or three times. I decided I couldn't handle that so we returned to the car and ate our lunch in the parking lot before heading for home. We've seen a bumper sticker that says 'There is not a single mosquito in Alaska -- they are all married and have large families'. So true !!
One of our concerns in taking our car on the journey up the Dalton Highway was all of the truck traffic we thought we would encounter. Since the road is used primarily as a supply corridor for Prudhoe Bay and other areas in the far North we expected a lot of big trucks on the road and with gravel flying as they passed we expected to lose a windshield during the trip. Fortunately that didn't happen and in fact there were less trucks than we expected. I think we only passed 3 or 4 going up the whole way. We did pass a dozen or more on the way back down and some of them were a bit intimidating. The road was dusty by that time and the trucks would throw off these huge dust trails. That was somewhat fortunate as you could see them coming even around corners because the dust clouds rose high above the roadway. While passing the trucks you couldn't really see the road and the trucks threw gravel on the car and everywhere around but fortunately we experienced no major damage in any of the encounters.
If any of you are familiar with the TV reality show called Ice Road Truckers then you've seen the Dalton Hwy in the winter. There's a truck stop , called Hilltop Truck Stop, that is featured some times in the show. We stopped off there for a break on our way back from the Arctic Circle.
We had left Fairbanks about 9:30 in the morning and arrived back home at about 7:15 in the evening so it was close to 10 hours overall for the trip. Debra and I both agree that it was totally worth the time and effort. Another great adventure completed. Check out the photo album as well as Facebook posts for photos from this trip.
Happy Trails Everyone,
Tom & Debra Stephens
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