Coldfoot, Alaska

This morning we left Fairbanks and headed north to the beginning of the Dalton Highway. It begins about 70 miles north of Fairbanks.  If you have ever watched the tv show Ice Road Truckers, this is one of the roads they drive; it ends in Deadhorse, on Prudhoe Bay, which is our ultimate destination.

 

On the Dalton Highway, there are only a couple of places to get gas or food. Just before we got on, we stopped at a general store and bought some snacks and used the outhouses (!)

 

It drizzled all day, there was lots of mud, and not many other vehicles on the road.

We stopped at the Arctic Circle for pictures.  I was surprised that there were trees, shrubs, plants, etc. growing north the circle:

The highway was partially paved, it took us about 6 hours to travel 250 miles.  There is no cell phone service at all; we have a CB radio just in case.  We’re staying at Coldfoot Camp, which is about midpoint on the Dalton.  It is really a collection of trailers used to house the oil workers.  There is a mess hall inside the general store/gas station/post office.  Our room is pretty spartan, but the food is very good.

 

We’re on Alaska Time, which is 4 hours behind NY.  Sunset is at 1:00 a.m., sunrise at 3:29, twilight in between.  For entertainment tonight, we might go to the Arctic Interagency Visitor Center to watch an educational film about the Arctic Circle, or we might go over to the truckers’ lounge and buy an hour of internet access and watch tv 🙂

There was no internet access, posting today from Deadhorse.