Leaving Denali, after stopping at the coffee shop to upload
my web pages, I headed for Fairbanks. I need to get a camera battery
(left my spare home), get groceries and gas up for the long trip north.
Rev. 07/12/01
Alaska & beyond - continued 7/11 - 7/12
Denali to Prudhoe Bay
Leaving Denali, after stopping at the coffee shop to upload
my web pages, I headed for Fairbanks. I need to get a camera battery
(left my spare home), get groceries and gas up for the long trip north.
There was a display a few miles out of Fairbanks. They had a retired "pig" on display, and explained how the "pig" traveled through the pipe line, between pumping stations and cleaned the pipe of wax build up. And they used other "pigs" to measure wall thickness as it traveled.
The pipe line crossed under the road from time to time. The
country the pipe line goes through, north of Fairbanks, is generally timbered
rolling hills with quite a few rivers and lakes. Beautiful country.
The pipe line is the common denominator for everything -- it is always there.
Forty miles north, the pavement ends. And about eighty mile from Fairbanks the actual "Haul Road", the Dalton Highway begins -- and it is 414 miles of dirt road to Deadhorse. It is noticeably rougher.
I'm traveling slower than some, got passed by a motorcycle..
The crossing of the Yukon River is a major step. The river is big, very broad, and drains a huge area. We climb a hill and there is an air strip right next to the road -- like a second lane. And there is a barrier, like fro a train that they put down that says "STOP - Air Traffic".
Saw a Roadtrek coming back down.
Road courtesy is pretty well observed. All vehicles slow down and move to the side of the road when passing. This cuts down flying rocks and mud splatter.
There are other "rules" that I wasn't aware of. I keep the CB set on channel 19, which is used by all, particularly the truckers. Coming over the top of a long down-hill run, I started down as there was a truck starting down the other hill. From the CB chatter, it became very obvious that I had goofed. So I pulled way to the side and stopped, letting the truck make his run down and then up. I apologized over the CB. He told me I wasn't the only one, but it was better to stop at the top and let the truck go, fewer rocks and mud, much safer.
The weather hasn't cooperated with me on this trip. It
started raining shortly after I got into Canada and has been raining pretty
steady ever since. This kind of weather cuts into my fishing too --
not much fun fishing in a heavy rain -- fish don't like it either. I
was getting tired so when I came to the Arctic Circle rest stop, I pulled
over and took a nap. Normally I have no problem napping when driving,
but for some reason that place gave me the "willies", so after a short nap
I moved on.
Finger Mountain is an interesting rock formation so I pulled over to take a photo of it.
The vegetation was changed noticeably. The spruce are
much shorter and are now more scattered.
At Grayling Lake, there was something out in the lake. Suddenly a gigantic moose head with huge antlers rose out of the water. I couldn't't figure any way of getting a good picture, so had to pass it up.
Pretty well beat, I pulled into Coldfoot, bought a cup of coffee, and crashed. It was about 10:30 but it doesn't get dark. Still, so much mud was covering my rear window it cut out all the light -- guess mud's good for something.
Woke
up next morning about 6:00, made breakfast, and drove across the large parking
area. It should be named "Mud Hole" rather than Coldfoot, it was a
mess. You could tell the native and local because they just walked
through it, tourist tiptoed -- including me.
About a mile up the road from Coldfoot, I surprised a moose feeding along side the road. By the time I got the camera out, turned it on, opened the window and slowed down, all I got was the East end of a moose going West. Besides, it was still raining and still to dark to get a good picture.
The road climbs up and crosses the Brooks Range at Atigun Pass, 4800 feet. It is a steep climb and steep decent. There is a lot of snow. So they have 90mm cannon mounts at several places to bring down avalanches.
Something was flying way down the valley. I thought, it might be an eagle, so got the camera turned on and ready. Because it was coming toward me, I stopped the car and got out -- then heard the rump, rump, rump of of the rotor -- just a helicopter.
On
the north side of the Brooks Range we have left the timber behind, it is
only tundra from here to the Arctic Ocean.
At mile post 260 we finally ran out of the rain -- the road was dusty, and way down at the end of the narrow glacial valley the road follows, I can see the sun shinning.
The ground squirrels come up out of their dens and stand facing the sun.
There is a lot of cotton grass up here. It seems to really thrive in the tundra, sometimes even making the area look as if it had a light dusting of snow. A thought crosses my mind -- I wonder, did the natives gather it and use it as a trade commodity with others further south?
There are many interesting geologic formations
along the road.
Out
on an island in a small lake, is a white bird. It acts like it is guarding
a nest. Further down the road, on a high sand bar in a river I see
another one.
The wind , off of the Arctic is cold. Even the birds are affected by it. The Arctic Terns are just sitting on the ground, facing the wind.
Off to the west is a small hill about five miles away, that rises abruptly
from the flat tundra. The Milepost says it is called a pingo.
It goes on the say that they are most often formed from the bed of
a spring-fed lake that has been covered by vegetation. And they can
rise several hundred feet above the flat terrain.
Finally,
I got to Deadhorse. And my RT, that was dark brown from the mud, is
now light brown from the dust -- over the mud.
Sorry guys, tried to upload pages from here -- connection didn't work.
Bob & Carol Graham's Home Page