Alaska - the final frontier

About forty km from Dawson the Dempster Highway starts, as it was starting to shower as I reached that point I thought why go on any further and have to ride back the next day? So I checked into the motel.

“Where are you off to next”? asked the lad behind the front desk.
“Up the Dempster” I replied.
“How far up he asked”?
“Inuvik”
“Not at the moment” he said,” there’s an ice jam and the ferry’s not running. It’ll be open in about a week”

The boss at the motel made a phone call to confirm and yes it was correct. So in an instant the plan changed again, and it was back to the Dalton Highway in Alaska.

The only consolation for the day was the Grizzly’s that I saw along the road.


If you go down to the woods today

I left the next morning to have a look at Dawson City. What a sight it must have been in 1896 when this area was invaded by thousands of men looking for gold only to arrive and discover that all the claims had been taken. Looking down on the city from the bluff that overlooks the city you get a magnificent view of the Yukon and the Klondike rivers where they join. The town itself looks like it hasn’t changed much in the last 100 years. The buildings are still mostly made of wood and none of the roads in town are paved. Take the trucks and cars out and put the mules back in and the picture would be complete.


Looking down on Dawson city where the Klondike and Yukon Rivers Meet


One of the old Paddle Steamers


Nothing much has changed here


The free ferry will take you across to the Top of the World Highway

There is a free ferry that runs pretty much 24|7 that will take you across the fast flowing river and onto the top of the world highway. It doesn’t take long before the tarmac gives way to dirt and you then follow the road for the next couple of hundred km until you reach the smallest US border post that I have ever seen. Only two guards are here and are happy to chat about your adventures and what it’s like to live in such a remote place. (they both reckoned it was lovely)




The US Border post. The most friendly I've crossed

That night I stopped at Tok. It’s a small village back on the Alaska Highway, but the motel at “Fast Freddy’s” is very nice and the restaurant the same. One more stop in Fairbanks the next night put me on the Highway 2 and a short run to the start of the Dalton Highway.


Just after Tok the Robertson River


The Start of the Dalton Highway

All the literature you read on the Dalton would scare the average tourist half to death! Carry al least two extra tyres, flares, CB radio etc.. etc. As I started on to the gravel I had concerns that I hadn't prepared enough, but it only lasted a short time. I'm either getting a lot better off road or this was not the same vehicle killer road they were talking about. 200km later I pulled into the roadhouse at Yukon River. After filling up with fuel I asked the manager over a coffee about the rest of the road. “You've done the hard part” he said, “another 80km of dirt then it sealed all the way to Coldfoot” This was going to be a breeze!


Just after Coldfoot one that didn't make it. The owner was nowhere to be found.

That night I decided that the weather was nice enough and after crossing the Arctic Circle I would camp for the night. It would be the first time I used the tent so 1) It would justify carrying it all this way. And 2) The motel was $200 an night and the camp site was $8. No contest. The visitors centre gave a talk that night about the local National Park (the Gateway to the Arctic) and I got my certificate for crossing the Arctic Circle, and the $18 all you can eat buffet at the roadhouse was superb. While I was there I also called the toll free number to book the facility tour in Prudhoe Bay and the accommodation for the night in the Arctic Caribou Inn. They need 24 hours notice for the tour to do a security check on you, and the Inn seemed as good a place as any to stay. They are all around $200 a night, but don’t expect any luxury hotels for that, this is an oil production field and everything is made of portacabins. After that I settled down to light a fire to try to keep the mosquitoes at bay, and to wait for midnight so I could film the midnight sun.


No explanation needed


Camping inside the Arctic circle, plus this was taken at midnight!!

I started early the next day and soon started climbing up through the Brooks Range of mountains up towards Atican Pass. The scenery was again magnificent but the temperature started to fall, and the road was back to gravel again. No more3 tarmac really for the next 400km. After you drop down out of the mountains the trees fade into the distance and the tundra takes over. You can see for miles out here but the only wildlife I saw was a few Caribou.


Climbing up into the Brooks Range up to Atican Pass


Over the top and down again


Then the tundra takes over with a few Caribou

The wind increased and punched a constant 40 to 50kmph from about 2 o’clock. The temperature continued to fall and soon I was as cold as I have ever been on a motorcycle. About 60km from Deaadhorse the fuel ran out and I emptied the spare fuel into the tank, without taking my helmet or gloves off, or even opening the visor!! At about 15.30 I rolled into Deadhorse one very tired and cold black duck. After filling up with fuel (and the spare for the return journey) I checked into the Caribou Inn and stood under the shower on full hot for twenty minutes to try to thaw out.


The Arctic Caribou Inn in Deadhorse

It was steak night for dinner that night. Again it’s a buffet meal where the oil field workers and guests all eat together in the dining area. I watched a little TV as the wind howled outside, but I pulled the blackout curtains and was soon fast asleep.

The tour started at 07.00 the next morning and because there was also a bus tour that was there (with quite a few Aussie’s amongst them. There were two full busses. We toured the oil production facility and the town of Deadhorse but what everyone was waiting for was reaching the Arctic Ocean, as far north as you can go on the American continent, and for me another goal completed on this trip. Again due to the late spring the Arctic was still frozen! So instead of skinny dipping we were able to walk out onto the ice. I think we got the better end of the deal.


One of the Company camps here in Prudhoe Bay


Number one pump facility for the oil


Which then gets send to Valdez 900 miles south through the pipeline


Standing on the Arctic Ocean

And so at around 09.30 I dressed as warmly as I could and with the temperature at minus eight degrees Celsius I got back on the Wombat and started the 400km back south to Coldfoot. After about 50km I met a Spanish man on a bicycle slowly making his way along the gravel road. I stopped to say hello and to wish him well. He said that he had been on the road for five and a half years already, and this was the next part of his odyssey from Prudhoe Bay to Ushuaia. Good luck to him, I think he will need it. He would be camping out in the middle of nowhere in the freezing Arctic wind for at least another couple of nights before he got to civilisation again.


More Caribou heading back south

The Brooks Range looks even more magnificent coming back from the North. The going was a lot better as I wasn’t so cold. The wind was pushing me now and It was easier no having to fight it and the road. I gat back to the same campsite and after pitching the tent enjoyed a cold beer at the roadhouse. This was the first opportunity to celebrate my achievement as Deadhorse is a dry town, no alcohol allowed. More wildlife on the way back, with a lot more Caribou and a heard of Musk Ox as well.


Musk Ox. Sometimes it's hard to tell which end is which!

The Wombat was covered in muck. As they are working to repair the road in the short amount of summer they have, the chemicals they mix with the aggregate to make it harden also make it stick to the bike (and me). There was going to be some serious cleaning needed back in Fairbanks. An early start on the Saturday saw me back at the Yukon River roadhouse by 09.15 to enjoy a big bacon and eggs breakfast. The mozzie population had exploded over the last couple of days and these monsters were after anything they could sink there proboscis into!! I even broke out the wide brimmed hat and mozzie net to break camp and got away as fast as I could. Just as I approached the end of the Dalton there were a few vehicles stopped by the side of a very steep embankment on a corner. A car had just gone over and was buried in the trees at the bottom. The two occupants of the car were OK so I saw no reason for me to stop and gawk. Somebody’s start to the Dalton Highway had begun very badly and kept the reputation going!


Finally I got a picture of a Moose before it ran into the trees

A quick stop in Fairbanks to try to get the worst of the muck off the bike and buy some more antihistamines for the hay fever and I pushed on to Tok. I hadn’t liked Fairbanks, there seemed to be a lot of rednecks around what is an uninviting and expensive town. It’s probably something to do with the influx of out of town people from the Army and Air force base close by. So I’m taking the first opportunity in a week to update the blog and take a breather, and to plan the next leg of the journey.