The Dalton Highway Adventure: Days 1-2: Fairbanks to Coldfoot to Galbraith Lake

Starting in Fairbanks, Alaska, the ride up the Dalton Highway to Deadhorse/Prudhoe Bay is 498 miles one way.  From Livengood, the actual beginning of the Dalton, approximately 25% of the road is paved, and in the summer, the rest is gravel, dirt or mud depending on the weather.  It is strongly recommended to bring two spare tires, and to carry extra gas for the 239 mile stretch between Coldfoot and Deadhorse where there are no gas stations.  Although not recommended, many people travel the road on motorcycles and bicycles.  The feeling of accomplishment after such a feat must be incredible.  I know it felt pretty awesome for us doing it in the Jeep!  The road is challenging and beautiful, and the best way to avoid catastrophe and enjoy the journey is to first do your homework and don’t approach it casually.  Once you’re traveling, just take your time.  For more detailed information about the Dalton Highway, traveling on it and considerations to take before embarking on this journey, take a look at this page on the Bureau of Land Management website, where you will find a very thorough downloadable PDF guide.

Our first day on the Dalton was grey and wet most of the time, but still provided some interesting scenery.  The road parallels the Alaska Pipeline for a good portion of the distance, and there are numerous access points for pipeline maintenance along the way.

A pickup truck camper had broken down around the 70-mile mark.  It looked like the axle had snapped off and the front driver’s tire was laying flat on the ground under the vehicle.  It was an early reminder to use caution on this road.  We were passed a couple of times by a pair of motorcyclists, and it turned out one of them took a spill later on.  He was alright, and I did get a picture from a distance.  I didn’t want to be rude by taking close-ups of his misfortune!

We stopped at Yukon Crossing for gas, a bathroom break, and a quick snack for the road.

The next gas stop was at Coldfoot Camp, where we ate dinner, too.

We both ordered “The Standard” hamburger, a huge 1/3 pound burger with trimmings and fries, and boy, was that a good burger!  The interior of Coldfoot Cafe had a large mural painting depicting northern wilderness on the upper portion of the walls, and numerous other interesting photos and decorations, lending a very northern truck stop kind of feel.  You can see a picture of it on their website.  It was really a neat place, and all the staff members were very friendly and welcoming.

With full bellies, we went to the Marion Creek Campground a few minutes down the road.  There was a fairly recent deposit of bear scat on the side of the road into the campground, but that didn’t stop us from camping there.  The edge of the site we chose had two large piles of moose droppings, and that didn’t stop us either, though maybe it should have!

In the morning Ken woke me when he heard footsteps – big heavy ones going right past our campsite.  It was probably the moose who frequents the area, and we were thankful that he didn’t decide to visit us at our tent.

This was our first night camping in Alaska, The Land of the Midnight Sun, and what a neat experience!  It truly never gets dark this time of year.  The amount of sunlight in the darkest part of the night is like what one would see a couple of hours before sunset.  I was loving it, because if I had to get up to use the restroom in the middle of the night, I didn’t need a flashlight.  I’d be able to see any hungry carnivores lurking and stalking at a much further distance than I would in the dark with a flashlight.  Ken, however, did not love the midnight sun as much as I did, saying it gave him difficulty falling asleep or getting back to sleep after getting up to pee.  That’s easy for him to say, since all he has to do is step a few feet outside the tent, point and shoot, and come right back in.  Things are, sadly, so much more complicated when you’re female.

In the morning we went back to Coldfoot Cafe to load up on coffee.  We drank a cup there, and got three to go – one for Ken and two for me.  They only charged us for the first two cups, saying refills are free, even to go refills!  What a nice surprise!  By this point in our travels I have developed a habit of hoarding coffee.  Ken will switch to soda or water more frequently than I do, and I like to make sure I have a good supply of coffee to last until my next opportunity to fill up.  On the Dalton, that opportunity would be hours away unless we wanted to unload a lot of stuff to drag out the stove and coffee making supplies… a real pain in the neck.

This day gave us quite an improvement in the weather, and therefore, the scenery was much prettier.

It’s amazing how colorful and full of life everything is with a little sunshine, as opposed to the drab half-dead look things have with cloud cover and rain.  We saw the difference several times this day, as the mountains seem to make their own weather.  One direction had clouds and rain, and the other direction had patches of blue sky and sunshine.

One of the rainy spots was Atigun Pass, making the road that much more treacherous.

This area was still stunning, with snow-capped mountains on all sides.  I took video of it, which you can watch here or follow the link.

A southbound truck was coming down the pass toward us, so we pulled off to the side, giving him plenty of room to negotiate the curve at the bottom of the steep grade.  When he reached us, he stopped to let us know to look for Dall Sheep on the mountainside just after the top of the pass – super nice of him!

This was our first time seeing Dall Sheep.  They are a rare thing to see, being the only wild white sheep in the world, and only living in mountainous regions of Alaska, the Yukon Territory, the Mackenzie Mountains in the western Northwest Territories, and central and northern British Columbia.

We had chosen Galbraith Lake Campground for our second night, which is down a four-mile long dirt road past a large active gravel pit and road construction camp.  During the short Alaskan summer – about three months or so – there is lots of road work at various points along the Dalton.

About half-way down this road, I looked out my window to see a lone white wolf about two hundred feet away!  He was headed away from us, possibly having just visited our campground or the construction camp for scraps.

We wondered if he’d be coming back any time soon, and if he had friends.  We were extremely lucky and excited to have seen him; it is very rare to get to see a wolf!  Oh yeah, and I got a little video of him, too!

Galbraith Lake Campground is located in a valley, with beautiful mountain views all around.  We used our backpacking tent here for quickness and ease.

Since we have a tendency to get rained on, we wanted to use the screen house over the tent again.  Unfortunately the wind was whipping about and made quick work of splitting one of the fiberglass poles, making it clear that the structure would not survive if we persisted.  We wrapped that part of the pole in matching black duct tape, folded up the screen house and put it safely back in the Jeep.

After all that nonsense was over we ate and went exploring, finding a couple of interesting spiders and several types of tundra flowers.

We walked along the stream and out onto the snow, enjoying the spectacular surroundings.

Arctic ground squirrels are abundant, and this pair engaged in play for a few minutes, leading up to mating, although it seemed late in the year for this.  They were unabashed in our presence!

Just down the road from our campsite, a Semipalmated Plover had a nest hidden somewhere.

This little bird would run out toward us when we drove by, and then run away as if leading us away from something.

When I investigated on foot, he/she did the same thing, and feigned a broken wing, reminding me of Killdeer behavior.

When I didn’t follow, the bird returned closer, and repeated the display.  I got some nice video – check it out!

Before long it was time to eat again, and then settle in the Jeep for a bit, where I worked on the blog and Ken watched DVDs.  Although not a real comfortable set-up, it was the best place to do this.  We had tried it in the tent before, which was not as comfortable and involved more work.  Since batteries in the devices don’t hold a charge long enough, we’d have to unload a whole big bunch of stuff from the Jeep in order to dig out the inverter and extension cord to run power to the tent.  Then we’d have to re-load all that stuff back into the Jeep, only to unload it again at some point, in order to put the inverter and cord away!  That ritual has happened repeatedly in search of various less-used items on this trip, and has already gotten old, but will continue to be repeated out of necessity.  Although space constraints limit our ability, we do try to keep the most frequently used items easily accessible.

As we were getting ready to go to bed, I took video showing the Midnight Sun.  If you’re an email subscriber, you may need to follow this link to view it.

  
As always, there are tons more pictures in the photo album!