The Dalton Highway, Part Two

Brooks Range, Alaska

Our journey up the Haul Road continued.  I was excited to spy an enormous black bear on a distant hillside.  Unfortunately, even with the long-range camera lens, I was hard pressed to get a good shot of him.

As most of you know by now, my trigger finger gets itchy without sufficient wildlife to shoot.  So far this trip has been the one with the fewest wildlife sightings.  Hope, however, springs eternal...

The last time we visited the Dalton, David drove up Atigun Pass both ways.  This time, I took the wheel and drove north.  It really wasn't all that treacherous, but a thrill nonetheless.

Top of Atigun Pass

It is amazing how quickly the mountains diminish to a coastal marsh on the North Slope.  There are no trees on the northern side of the Brooks Range.  Instead, the tundra turns to marsh.

As we neared Deadhorse, we began looking for the musk ox herd that we saw during our first trip.  We were delighted to see them grazing willows along the river... only this time at a distance...

Deadhorse was busy with all the working trucks.  Only a few tourists make it this far north.  Accommodations are slim and campsites nonexistent.  We stopped by the general store to see if they had any camping suggestions, topped off with gasoline (at $5.50 a gallon!), then headed back out of town to boondock on a swath of gravel near the lake.  As we set up camp, the temperature was 39 degrees.  The wind was gale force off the water, and a soft mist engulfed us.  The local weather radio said that with the windchill it was 16 degrees!  Of course, Roxanne was delighted.

We hurried to get into the camper and out of the wind.  Soon, however, Roxanne was at the door.  Thinking that she needed another trip outside, we bundled up and took her out.  To our surprise she had smelled three caribou bulls grazing between our camper and the distant work camp.

We decided to walk out to see if we could get closer.  Several Arctic ground squirrels took exception when we encroached on their territory.  We took a few photos of the caribou, but they were again at a distance... and that blustery wind chilled us to the bone.

We settled in for a rather sleepless night.  Road construction nearby and a dump truck that decided to pull in next to us, leaving his engine running while he slept, kept us from the quiet we needed.  Even with the clouds and rain, the Midnight Sun brightened the inside of the camper.

We left Deadhorse early the next morning.  Off in the distance, we again found the musk oxen.  A few miles later, we saw a herd of caribou grazing on the tundra... at a distance.

As we neared Galbraith, a small outpost airport, we encountered a 21-foot-wide load heading up a hill toward Deadhorse, just past a construction area where crews were chip sealing an area of road.  We had passed this same rig coming out of Fairbanks.  Now, a full three days later, the tractor trailer had made it nearly to the base of Atigun Pass.  The tractor trailer rig carrying the wide load was escorted by at least six pilot cars.  Three in front alerted and pulled vehicles over so that the load could pass or stopped oncoming traffic.  The three pilot cars behind orchestrated how other vehicles could pass the enormous load.  Three tractors followed the giant haul for added power to push it up inclines.  It was an amazing sight.

Back up Atigun Pass... this time with David taking the wheel.  Back to Marion Campground and another night under the Midnight Sun.  This time, at least, it was quiet!

The morning's drive began under sunny skies.  By the time we reached the Arctic Circle, however, we were engulfed in heavy smoke from nearby fires.

Smoke across the Dalton Highway

Thankfully, we began to drive out of the smoke just north of the Yukon River.  Finally, as we stopped for one more photo... us at the Dalton Highway signpost.  What a difference five years makes!

2010 

2015