West Fork Tolovana River Bridge Livengood, Alaska Day 2
We stayed at the Colorado Creek trailhead last night. Tim met a couple who had come from Arkansas and had also chosen to spend the night here. They were in a Class C motorhome. They had tried to take the RV up the Dalton Highway and after 20 or 25 miles they turned around and came back because of the road conditions and they were driving their motorhome. They were hoping to stay up and see the Northern Lights. The Northern Lights cannot be seen unless it is very dark. In this northern area the sun is out 22 hours a day and it is a weird kind of twilight for the other 2 hours. They did not see the Northern Lights. They are not visible until September. I am sure they were disappointed.
The Dalton Highway was built back in 1974. They had discovered oil in the North Slope at Prudhoe Bay and they needed a way to get men, equipment, and supplies to the oil source. The road was known as the “Haul Road” for this reason. It still exists to transport goods and at it’s entrance there is a sign that reads: “Heavy Industrial Equipment, Proceed with Caution.” If you have ever seen Ice Road Truckers on the Discovery Channel – this is one of the roads the truckers travel. We did a lot of reading before we went. The books all said to prepare to be self-sufficient in difficult or emergency situations, carry 2 spare tires, carry plenty of food and water and first aid supplies. There were lots of warnings about road damage and dangerous conditions on the mostly gravel road. We knew that we didn’t want to take the RV and this meant leaving it behind. If we stayed at lodges in order to get all the way to Prudhoe Bay then the RV would be alone and unattended for days. We decided to take a day trip at least to the Arctic Circle and then head back.
As we began there were orange cones in potholes in the middle of the road and signs indicating road damage. For the first 25-30 miles it was pretty rough. After that it was surprisingly good! Maybe they leave that first section really rough to deter people…
We pulled over at an Alyeska Pipeline access road to allow others who wanted to fly down the road to pass us. These roads are gated and off-limits. We looked up though and saw a black bear. He is on the left side of the gate in the picture.
We crossed the Yukon River. The river is about ¼ mile wide. It empties into the Bering Sea. Because the Jeep has a relatively small fuel tank we decided to fill up at the Yukon River Camp while we had the chance. The lady inside was pretty grumpy and so while I waited for Tim to pump gas, I did my best to get her talking. She became warm and chatty and I enjoyed talking with her.
The pipeline runs along the road sometimes on the left and then crossing under the road and sometimes on the right. Sometimes it runs beneath the road and it ran across the Yukon River Bridge.
I am wondering what the life expectancy of the pipeline might be? I am thinking metal fatigue, corrosion, exposure to extreme temperatures, earthquakes, hurricane force winds…We read today that the temperature in this area can be as low as -80 degrees.
We passed through an area of higher elevation where the air became chillier and cloudier. The terrain was alpine tundra. There were no taller trees and it was rocky and scrubby.
At mile marker 115.5 we arrived at the Arctic Circle. There we met Bob. He was working with the Bureau of Land Management as he has done for 27 years. I asked him what the most amazing thing he ever saw might be. He recalled that about 10 years ago he was working at the West Arctic Camp. He said that he was there for the caribou migration. A herd of 500,000 caribou walked right through the camp over a period of days. He said that grizzlies marched right along beside them. He had always wanted to see 100 or 1,000 caribou…but this was amazing to witness! He declined to have his picture taken. He did however award us our certificate for reaching the Arctic Circle.
We did travel on to mile marker 132.1 to Gobbles Knob. We were supposed to be able to see the Brooks Range…but it was raw and rainy. It took us 5 ½ hours to get that far. We ate our lunch and it was here that we decided to turn around. We are disappointed that we cannot get all the way to Prudhoe Bay and the Arctic Ocean but Deadhorse is at mile marker 415. If we had been able to travel further north we would have been able to see the changes in the environment and we might have seen muskox. Only one tour company is allowed to take tourists past Deadhorse and onto Prudhoe Bay and the Arctic Ocean. You have to submit your names and license numbers at least 24 hours in advance for a security check. Finishing the Dalton Highway just isn’t feasible this trip.
The sun came back out as we made our way back.
After 8 weeks on the road, we have reached a turning point in our trip. We were as far north as we are able to travel on the northern most road in Alaska. Only 1% of people who visit Alaska travel north of Fairbanks…and we did it!
Look where we are!!
