Day 72 - 2015-07-01
We had an interesting day today. We left the Riverview RV Park in
Fairbanks. Our first stop was to visit
the viewing site of the Alaska Pipeline.
I got my picture taken with the pigs.
The pipeline itself, where it is above ground like this, is
insulated against the 100* heat of the oil inside.
We left the pipeline and headed for the Northern Moosed RV
Park in Fox, AK, about 11 miles up the road.
We have reservations here for a 7 day stay and needed to make
arrangements to receive a package from home.
We pulled into the place and I almost puked. This place looked like the run down dump in Stewart Junction where I fought off the mosquito hoard so I could dump and
water. No way were staying here. We turned around and drove out of the
lot. The next couple of hours were spent
on the side of the road changing arrangements for the next several days. All turned out well and we took off for our
next campsite.
We continued up the Steese Highway (AK 2) to MM39 where we found the Chatanika River Campground. UNBELIEVABLE. On this beautiful little river, and we are the only campers here.
I geared up
And spent an hour and a half fishing.
The only downside was the mosquitoes. They were as thick as any place we have ever
been. But we came prepared and still
enjoyed an afternoon on the river.
We talked a lot today about how we are doing this trip. We have met a lot of folks, mostly at the big
RV Parks, who travel from destination to destination, or attraction to
attraction, and see only the road in between.
For many, it’s a function of time, for some it’s just what they do. We look back on our trip at the MANY nights
we have just turned off the road and stopped in some remote place to
boondock. Because we have gone “behind
the tree line”, we feel like we have had a much richer experience. I’m sure our way is not for everyone, but we
are having a great time here in the boonies.
55 (9,222).
Day 73 - 2015-07-02
We awoke from an all-night rain to find today gloomy. We piddled around trying to decide what to
do. We could continue up the Steese
Highway (AK 6) to another campground, but with the weather socked in like it
is, we decided to forego that option – couldn’t be much better than where we
are and we can’t see much from here.
We decided to move to Olnes Lake, a stocked lake about 11
miles up the Elliott Highway (AK 2). Our
trip back down the Steese took us up to about 1,900 feet where we entered the
clouds, by 2,100 feet I could barely see beyond the hood. We rolled up to road construction and waited
for the pilot car.
Olnes Lake turned out to be a hot spot for kids on
ATV’s. We set up camp, but after seeing
the commotion around the lake and more people pulling in for the long weekend,
we packed up and left. What I said about
that “behind the tree line” thing works both ways I suppose.
We drove to the Chena Hot Springs Highway and stopped at
Rosehip Campground on the Chena River.
The weather is still “low” and the air is heavy. But, the river looked beautiful with its low
hanging mist/fog/cloud/whatever it is – maybe there’s a hidden hot spring
around the bend of the river? – the “fog” never moved closer to us than what is
in the picture.
In any case, I fished all of the river I could reach from
the sandbar and, as usual, caught nothing.
But I did see a bunch of bear prints on the bar, so maybe a sighting
will be in our future. 83 (9,305).
Day 74 - 2015-07-03
No bear sightings last night or this morning so we decided
to move on to a new location today.
Before we left, we continued up the road to the Chena Hot Springs
Resort.
This is a beautiful setting, rustic buildings, lots of
flowers, but it was a LOT of “resort”.
Not our cup of tea, so we didn’t stay too long.
On the drive back, Bettie spotted a moose cow on the side of
the road. She must have been used to the
attention, because we stopped within about 30 feet and she was completely
unconcerned about us. Gave us a chance
to get a good picture.
This afternoon, we checked back into the Riverview RV Park
between the North Pole and Fairbanks.
We’ll be here for 6 nights, two of which we will spend driving the
Dalton Highway to Deadhorse/Prudhoe Bay.
This is also known as the “Haul Road” and was made famous by the TV
series Ice Road Truckers. We won’t
encounter those conditions, but have heard it is a rough 400 miles each way. It promises good wildlife viewing and will be
my only chance to dip my toes in the Arctic Ocean – I can’t wait!
Tonight we visited two area icons in Fox, AK, just north of
Fairbanks on the Elliot Highway, the Silver Gulch Brewing and Bottling Co. and
The Turtle Club. The brewery is
“America’s Most Northern Brewery” and was a pleasant upscale surprise. Bettie had the Northern Light (described by
our beer wench Mandy as the craft beer version of Bud Light) and liked it very
well. I tried the Fairbanks Lager (good)
and the Old 55 IPA (better). The Turtle
Club is a 60’s vintage restaurant (rough cut cedar paneling, recessed lighting,
a salad bar, a three bowled condiment tray for every table, and our waitress
brought around the desert selections on a big tray she balanced somehow while
she explained each one). The main menu consists
of three sizes of prime rib (large, larger and way too big), complete with a
baked potato and mandatory trip to the salad bar. There was some other stuff to choose from,
but when half the menu is dedicated to prime rib, I’m thinkin’ it’s the best bet. It was good food and it was really a hoot to
experience again how things used to be.
What made it so fun was that they weren’t trying to make it like a 60’s
restaurant – it just is one. 137 (9,442).
Day 75 - 2015-07-04
The Fourth of July !!!
We spent the day in Fairbanks.
First stop was the Tanana Valley Farmers Market. We, unfortunately, did not get to see one of
the famous Fairbanks 80# cabbages, but we did get a little taste of home in the
form of Texas Tacos by Lane, complete with seasonings directly from San Antonio
where he was stationed in the Army. Yes,
they were a welcome treat.
After lunch we went to Pioneer Park to check out the
celebration. We got there in time to
hear them read the entire Declaration of Independence, something I thought was
pretty cool, and had never seen done before.
We walked around a bit then went to Fred Meyers for some shopping. Back at the campsite we just sat outside and
enjoyed the perfect weather. Had a long
chat with a campmate from Switzerland, who is touring Canada and Alaska in a
motorhome for 6 months. We talked about
doing the same in Europe and got some good information from him. Not much else to report so I’m calling it a
day. FYI, Fairbanks is getting 22 hours
of daylight right now – SOOOOO Weird. 30
(9,442).
Day 76 - 2015-07-05
We went to Walmart today, then hung around the RV park and
took care of some truck and trailer maintenance. 22 (9,464)
Days 77 to 79 - 2015-07-06 to 08
THE DALTON HIGHWAY, THE HAUL ROAD. 1,022 MILES FROM FAIRBANKS TO DEADHORSE AND
BACK. MY BIG CHANCE TO DIP MY TOES IN THE ARCTIC OCEAN.
The road to Deadhorse is touted as one of the most difficult
and dangerous roads in Alaska. The
halfway point is Coldfoot Camp and the nearby village of Wiseman, where we
stayed the first night. The drive was
rough, a combination of bad asphalt, hardpack clay, and gravel. The only real problems were the
potholes. These could be washouts in the
gravel or sink holes in the asphalt, which were the worst ones. Otherwise, it was a pretty comfortable 45mph
road.
As you might imagine, this road is ALL ABOUT the pipeline.
We stopped for lunch at an overlook that gave us a great
view of one of the big forest fires burning in this area.
The road down was lined with Fireweed. This stuff is beautiful, and grows in huge
meadows all along this part of the road - you can see some in the picture above.
Our first big waypoint was the Arctic Circle.
We looked for wildlife all the way up and back. The most significant sighting was this bull
moose. He was a LONG way off, so sorry
for the picture quality.
We arrived in Coldfoot pretty much unscathed. It’s not much to look at, but it had fuel ($5.499/gal) and
an excellent buffet.
We stayed in Wiseman, a few miles up the road, and completely off the grid. It has its
own vibe.
The next morning, we took off for Deadhorse. The first big event of the trip was scaling
Atigun Pass (4,800 feet).
The scenery up to Atigun and for a number of miles beyond
was the most beautiful of the drive.
By the time we approached Deadhorse (it’s the little line of
white buildings on the horizon), the landscape had turned to tundra.
We celebrated making it
to the end of the Dalton Highway with a quick picture.
We explored Deadhorse and got some fuel ($5.899/gal) and some lunch, another excellent
buffet at the Aurora Hotel. Deadhorse has no purpose other
than to support the North Slope drilling.
This is the most industrial looking place you can imagine – row after
row of big, expensive equipment and thousands of people to operate it. And to make it worse, there is no paving. While we looked around, the weather changed into a major storm, rain and a 50mph wind, so, the grit was really nasty.
Oh, it also got cold, 38*F – wind chill was colder than we cared to
think about.
We took the tour out to Prudhoe Bay (the only way to access
the Arctic Ocean). I was the only one
who braved the water – and I have a picture to prove it!
After the tour, we headed back to Wiseman. Seeing the road from both directions was a
treat because the scenery was very different each way. The “Sag” River has some of the bluest river
water we have ever seen.
All went well until we approached Atigun Pass. We had been in rain most of the way back, but
the pass was totally socked in – visibility about 1 car length. We had to slow to 15mph for most of it, but
caution paid off and we are here to tell about it.
Our take away from this side trip is that we are really glad
we did it ONCE, don’t see any reason to do it again. The road is not as bad as the guide books
lead you to believe, again, more hype than horror. We did take a few pretty hard shots from
potholes and the truck now has a permanent reminder of the trip in the form of
a rock ding on the chrome grill – we’ll just refer to it as a badge of honor
and let it be a reminder of the trip.
Day 80 - 2015-07-09
After making Deadhorse and back in two days we took a down
day today. Washed about a ton of mud off
the truck, then worked on the blog. Hope
you enjoy. 0 (10,516).
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