THE ROAD LESS TRAVELED: The Dalton Highway

I arrived back in Fairbanks last night. So I'll try to recount everything that happened on the Dalton Highway, from Fairbanks to Prudhoe Bay and back to Fairbanks.

Total distance = 1000 miles

4 days of riding, 1 day of resting

Here's the latest map:

On Thursday, August 2nd, I departed Fairbanks. The paved road lasted 80 miles, until the town of Livengood, Alaska. Then the dirt and gravel roads started. It began to rain somewhere in the first hour or two of riding.

The first major landmark I reached was the Yukon River bridge, 120 miles north of Fairbanks. On the north side of the bridge is a gas station, restaurant, and motel. Here I stopped to get gas and eat dinner.

I ran into these guys on Harleys in the Yukon River parking area. I think they were from Georgia:

They had ridden as far as the Arctic Circle and then turned around. The roads were too difficult for them to continue on those bikes. Notice how muddy it is in the picture.

Here's what the Yukon River bridge looks like:

And here you can see the trans-Alaska oil pipeline which parallels the road for the length of the Dalton Highway:

By the time I reached the Yukon River, it was early evening and I was tired from riding on the dirt roads. So I camped at the Yukon River on Thursday night.

On Friday morning, I started north again on my own. The roads were still wet and muddy. I reached the Arctic Circle about 180 miles north of Fairbanks:

At this point, I was more or less ready to turn around and ride south. The roads were horrible and getting worse, and the weather was horrible and getting worse.

While I was taking pictures, another guy on a bike showed up. He was Renato from Brazil. He had ridden a 1200 GS Adventure from Brazil to Alaska in 33 days:

Renato says, "Are you going to Prudhoe Bay?"
I said, "Uhhh, maybe. No, I don't think so."
Renato says, "We go to Prudhoe Bay together. We leave now. You come with me."
I said, "Uhhh, OK."

Renato saw another guy driving a Jeep, Matt from Switzerland, so Renato recruited him to join our group too. So then we were three people riding north together.

At 250 miles from Fairbanks, we reached the town of Coldfoot. Coldfoot is the last possible place to get gas and food until reaching Deadhorse, approximately 240 miles further. I brought an extra 1-gallon gas can for that section of road because I wasn't sure if my bike had enough range to Deadhorse on a full tank of gas. Here Renato and I are filling up the bikes:

We ate a late afternoon lunch in Coldfoot. Then we got back on the bikes and continued riding north. About 70 miles north of Coldfoot we entered the Brooks Range of mountains. Here is the beginning of the Brooks range.

At the center of the Brooks range, the Dalton Highway crosses over its' highest point at the Atigun Pass, about 4800 feet of elevation. As we approached Atigun Pass, it started raining heavily, and the weather got significantly colder. It was very difficult to see through my helmet visor because of all the rain and fog.

We continued down the north side of the pass very slowly.

Around 8:30 at night, we came across a group of Caribou hunters parked on the side of the road. They were spending a few days camping and bowhunting and drinking Jack Daniels. Here I am standing on the roadside with the hunting camp in the background:

I was no longer happy to be riding at this point. I was wet, muddy, and tired. I nearly laid my bike down three times going through deep mud prior to reaching this point (we're about 100 miles north of Coldfoot, and 140 miles from Prudhoe Bay).

Renato was determined to continue to Prudhoe Bay that evening. So we rested for a few minutes and continued riding late into Friday evening. I was getting very frustrated. The roads were insanely difficult for me to ride.

Around 10:30pm, Renato continued ahead on his own to Prudhoe. He was energized and capable of riding much faster than I could at this point.

Matt stayed with me in the Jeep. Around 11:30pm, we stopped here, probably 25 miles from Prudhoe Bay. This was our final resting point:

You can see the road and the Arctic tundra all the way to the horizon:

Matt and I continued. We arrived broken and exhausted in Prudhoe Bay around 12:15am on Saturday morning. Here I am looking at the Prudhoe Bay airport:

On Saturday we rested. We filled up on gas and food again. And we took our victory photos:

At the Deadhorse post office, there is a nice lady who takes polaroid pictures of all the motorcyclists and cyclists who reach the end of the road. My photo is on the top row, third from the left:

Here I am on the bike. Matt from Switzerland is standing on the right:

On Saturday we wandered around Deadhorse and looked at all the vehicles and things:

Here again is what the tundra looks like in the summertime:

Caribou sometimes wander through Deadhorse camp:

On Sunday morning, we took a tour of the oil fields around Prudhoe Bay. Here are two drilling rigs:

And the edge of the Arctic Ocean:

The Arctic Ocean. I guess I can't ride any farther:

At noon on Sunday, Matt and I departed Deadhorse and headed south to return to civilization. Here we stopped on the north side of the Brooks Range:

Here's a picture of the pipeline running through the Brooks Range:

The pipeline and the dirt road:

The road as it approaches Atigun Pass:

On Sunday evening, Matt and I camped near Coldfoot at the Marion Creek campground.

Monday morning, we started south again.

At lunchtime on Monday, we reached the Yukon River camp. Here we found three Mexicans on Harleys who had visited the Arctic Circle: