The Haul Road, Redefined

Dalton Highway, Alaska

This was our third trip up the Haul Road.  We came for one reason... to photograph musk ox.

The Haul Road, also called the Dalton Highway, is a mostly gravel, 414-mile working road for the Alaska oil pipeline. The road traverses over the Brooks Range, through Arctic Tundra, and ends at the Arctic Ocean on Prudhoe Bay.  The pipeline begins at the top of the Dalton Highway along Prudhoe Bay and ends 800 miles south in Valdez, Alaska.  Because Prudhoe Bay is only ice free six weeks each year, almost all goods are transported by tractor/trailer rigs, giving the road its famous name... the Haul Road.

At the end of the Haul Road, you will find Deadhorse.  Deadhorse isn't really a town... it is more of a camp for workers.  Most of the people here work several weeks on, then return to the homes for an equal amount of time, before returning to Deadhorse.  The official year-round population is 25.  However, approximately 2,000-3,000 non-permanent residents support the oil field operations.  Visitors are tolerated rather than welcome.  Every time we have been to Deadhorse, it has been cold, overcast, and dreary.

But this area does have a herd of musk ox.  We saw them on our first trip in 2010 and at a distance in 2015.  Musk ox were hunted to extinction in Alaska.  In 1930, a herd of 34 musk ox were brought from Greenland to Nunivak Island.  In 1966 the herd had grown enough that a group of musk ox from Nunivak Island were transferred to the Arctic National Wildlife Refuge near Prudhoe Bay.

Musk ox are interesting creatures.  They are members of the goat family and stand four to five feet tall.  They are herbivores, eating mostly moss and lichens.  Their long, shaggy hair protects them from brutal Arctic winters.  Their outer coat protects their thick undercoat of qiviut, which insulates them from the cold.  When threatened, musk ox form a defensive circle with horns outward, placing calves in the middle.  Unfortunately, this tactic made them easy targets for hunters.

We had never seen any four-legged creature on the Haul Road except musk ox.  Hoping to get closer to photograph the herd, we left Fairbanks on a drizzly morning.  We wondered if the gray skies would follow us the entire trip as it had every other trip.  We slogged through the beginning of the Haul Road.  They had received so much rain over the past several weeks that pot holes had developed, some so large they could sheer a tire.  At least we were set to have a good burger at the famous Hot Spot Cafe.  You can imagine our disappointment when we discovered it was closed.  The large sign draped across the gate read, "Closed for Remodeling."  Bummer!

We spent the first night at our favorite Marion Creek Campground.  The following morning, we drove towards Atigun Pass and saw something we had never seen before on the Haul Road... sunshine!

It felt magical.  I know it sounds silly, but we have NEVER seen sunshine on the Dalton Highway. And best yet, the beautiful day seemed to bring the animals out.  We saw not one but TWO brown bears!  One was not far from the road, digging tubers.

Construction stalled us for a while, but after the pilot car weaved its way through the rollers and earth movers, we spied two musk ox along the road.  They looked to be old fellows.  One was missing his right horn.  They stood placidly by as I took photos, drenched in sunlight and surrounded in fall colors.  Beautiful!

The only problem was my camera.  I have had it two summers, but I still feel a novice using it.  For some reason all my photos became severely overexposed.  Thank heavens I was able to touch some up a bit with editing software.  Unfortunately, however, the overexposure lost the crisp edges photographers desire.  Heavy sigh...

Further up the road, we saw the main herd of musk ox.  They were not close enough to take good photos, so we decided to drive into Deadhorse to fill up with gasoline.  The closer we got to Deadhorse, however, the sun vanished and thick clouds covered the horizon.  By the time we reached the gas station, it was 35 degrees, misty rain, with a fierce wind.

We drove back to the musk ox.  They were getting closer but were still too far away for a good shot.  We decided to camp near them.  We found a pull off suitable for the night.  I unclipped the front clasps to pop the top on the camper.  David unclipped the back two, opened the door, and... whoosh!  The wind was so strong that it actually popped the camper top all by itself!

Thankfully, no harm was done.  I tried to open the vent so I could light the backpacking stove to fix supper.  David finally had to turn the truck around so that it faced the wind, otherwise we would have lost the vent cover.

By morning, the wind had died down substantially.  Under overcast skies, we found the herd of musk ox.  They were closer to the road but not as close as I had hoped.  We must have watched them for over an hour.  The big bull ran rough-shod over the small herd of about 16.  We saw a mother and baby, the calf fuzzy in its coat of qiviut.  What a wonderful opportunity.

We spent that night at the Arctic Circle campground.  It had fallen into disrepair since our last visit in 2010 and had not been maintained for some time.  We finally found a spot that wasn't too muddy.

The following morning, we saw nearly a dozen hunters in vehicles lining the road, searching for caribou.  Our understanding is that you can only hunt with bow and arrow near the pipeline.  Rifles are prohibited within five miles either side of it... for good reason.

We were ecstatic...  bears, musk ox, caribou.  We had never seen so much wildlife on the Haul Road.  My photos weren't great, but the experience was simply amazing.  Then, our eyes caught movement on the side of the road.  I pulled to a stop so we could figure out what it was.  We couldn't believe our eyes... three fox pups were playing outside their den.  We watched them romp and roll and stalk each other for nearly an hour.  They were so much fun!

As we approached Atigun Pass, we spied a bull moose in the distance.  We simply couldn't believe the continued blessings!

And like our Dempster experience, we saw a rainbow.  The Dalton Highway had shown us a side of itself that completely redefines it for us.  I can't wait to come back again!

Rainbow on the Dalton Highway