Dalton Highway North

Laura and I woke up a little later than we wanted, but we finally left Anchorage, and our parents, at 8am.  We headed back up the same route through Denali.  We had to stop for some construction, a moose ran right in front of us and stopped in a nearby river, but due to the construction we were unable to stop.  We made a quick stop for a photo-shoot at Denali, and it was on to Fairbanks.  From Fairbanks north it is a grueling drive along the infamous Dalton Highway.  Primarily a haul route for truckers and to service the pipeline, the highway is desolate and rough, I am glad we had an extra spare tire and the spare gas cans as a safety blanket.  About 2 hours out of Fairbanks, the signs of humanity begin to drop off, other than the pipeline.  At first it seems as though it is an eyesore on an otherwise beautiful landscape... but as you drive further and further from civilization, it becomes a sort of comfort, reminding you that there is light at the end of the proverbial tunnel.

It was a stressful drive, filled with construction, potholes, and appropriately named "Oh Shit Corner".  The pipeline continued to disappear and reappear as we continued North.  We were excited to see some civilization at the Yukon river crossing.  The river cuts Alaska in half, and even as far inland as we were, it was an impressive site.  Almost immediately after leaving the river, civilization dropped off once again, and it was a lonely drive through the vast wilderness.

We stopped for a quick sandwich (no mustard, so we used our hot sauce!) and to check out finger point rock.  It was a grouping of rocks on top of a hill where the native people used as a lookout while hunting the great mammoths.  Soon after, the forests resumed, with a strange characteristic, they looked almost as if the bottoms were burned, leaving tufts of trees at the top.  It gave off a Dr. Sues feel, as we began to lose control of our conscious grasp on reality.

 

The next stop was one of my favorites.  We were so fortunate to drive past some amazing Geo-spacial landmarks on our trip, the tropics, the equator, but there is something remote and wild about driving past the Arctic Circle.  We are now in the land of 24-hr sunshine (ok, not quite yet as it is only June 1st, but the sun only dips below the horizon, creating a few hour long sunset, and then back up again).  We pushed on to Coldfoot (250 miles from Fairbanks, 600 miles from Anchorage) and got into town around 8:30pm (~12.5 hours from Anchorage this morning).  We stopped into the gas station, restaurant, and motel (all the same) and asked about accommodations.  The motel was full, but they had cabins for $150/night.  We declined, and decided to go camp at the Marrion Creek campgrounds (Northern most in the US).  The attendant, an affect dude with a creepy mustache, gave us some directions, and charged us $5.11/gallon.  Then he followed us to our camp site where he proceeded to watch us sleep.  Not all of that is true.