It is cold up here. Temperature is about 40 with a 35
mile wind blowing off of the Arctic Ocean -- wind chill?.
Rev. 07/14/01
Alaska & beyond - continued 7/13
Prudhoe Bay back down to Fairbanks Bay
It is cold up here. Temperature is about 40 with a 35
mile wind blowing off of the Arctic Ocean -- wind chill?.
I broke the fresh water drain valve somewhere on a rock, and had to get that fixed before anything.
After a harty bowl of caribou stew, I decided to work on my web page. Bit it was strange going to sleep last night, no change to tell your system it was time to go to bed -- just daylight all the time.
The next morning I took a tour of Prudhoe Bay. The Dalton Highway stops at Deadhorse. From there into Predhoe Bay it is a private road owned by the oil companies. And the only way to get to the Arctic Ocean and to see the oil facilities at Prudhoe Bay is by taking a licensed tour.
I did see the Arctic Ocean, and there is a flock of ducks out on it -- look close by the orange road marker. And yes, I did stick my hand in it, but didn't go swimming.
The processing plants are impressive, much cleaner and more
organized than ones I've seen in California and Texas. The battery
of pipes carries raw crude in, extracted sea water out, extracted natural
gas out, and oil for the pipe line out -- quite a process.
I was impressed by the steps taken for safety and to protect the environment.
This
is where Mile 0 of the pipe line to Valdez is.
Even the caribou of the Porcupine herd graze there and wander around. There are bears in the area, grizzlies, but I didn't see any.
An interesting item -- as I drove the "haul road" up, I kept passing different motorcycles when they were stopped. Then they would pass me. This process kept repeating itself as we leap-froged our way up the road.
At
Deadhorse, after I took care of things and sat down to eat, I noticed six
of the bikers I'd passed, sitting at a table, having a great time. The
next morning I stopped and talked to the oldest member of the bikers. His
name is Jim, and he introduced me to his son, Jim.
Jim , who's from California, told me he had always wanted to ride a motorcycle to Deadhorse, and decided to do it this year. And to get there on his birthday, July 12th -- he's 62. He told me he'd had three strokes last year, and after recovering, figured he better do it now.
Enter his son into the act -- he posted his dad's plan on the
Internet. Two other pairs of bikers got in contact with Jim the younger
and said they would meet him and his dad at Deadhorse. One pair was from
Spain, I believe, and are on a round the world motorcycle ride. From
Deadhorse they're headed for the southern tip of South America. I missed
the details of the other pair. So up the Dalton they all rode. Jim
the older wasn't aware of this -- until they all met at Deadhorse,
surprise.
After my tour of Prudhoe, I left, heading south -- that's obvious, can't go north.
The pipe line, crosses the tundra north of the Brooks Range,
gradually climbing until it reaches the start of Atigun Pass. Them it goes
up in ernest. Also, you can see the weather I was heading into -- junk.
The view back down the road gives an idea of just how steep the route
is. And how nice the weather was I was leaving.
The
rain started and continued to drizzle or pour the rest of the day -- what
a mess, must have a hundred pounds of mud on the RT.
It was too early to stop for the day when I got to Coldfoot, so just filled the gas tank, and headed on down the road.
Swung into Arctic Circle rest stop to take a photo, and pushed on.
I couldn't pass up taking another picture of the Yukon River
Municipal Airport, with the control tower and road barriers that say "STOP
- Air Traffic".
Had a problem with the propane alarm, so decided to drive on into Fairbanks rather than stopping for the night on the road -- long drive, but I feel more comfortable this way. Beside, with this d&*%$ rain, who can fish?
Bob & Carol Graham's Home Page