Day 14 - Actic Circle

This is a bucket list item - step foot inside the Arctic Circle. And as usual, when we set out in the morning, we didn't really know what we were getting into. The road from Fairbanks heading towards the Arctic Circle is nice - two lane, paved. We stopped at a park through which runs the Alaska pipeline. It was interesting to see if up close and read the narrative panels about when it was built (40 years ago) and how it was built (some above ground to protect the permafrost and some above ground).

As we got back on the road, the conditions started to deteriorate. Not only did it start raining on and off (no surprise since it's rained every day that we've been in Alaska), but the road itself became a roller coaster ride. By the time we hit the sign announcing our turn to enter the Dalton Highway, the roads were wet and slick with mud. From there on, the road was occasionally paved but mostly dirt and very bumpy with huge potholes to dodge. Interestingly, the road followed the Alaska Pipeline as this is the road from Fairbanks to Prudhoe Bay.

We almost turned around at this point. We were only 1/3 of the way to the Arctic Circle and it was getting pretty rough. We talked to another couple who had also stopped at the Dalton Highway sign and they said that they were going for it and of course, that's all Craig needed to hear. If they could do it, we could do it. So we kept going.

Lots of mountain passes including one that was so foggy that we could barely see the road in front of us. It was spooky and scary to be driving in a place that we were entirely unfamiliar with and not being able to see where we were going. But that didn't last long and soon we were back to rainy, muddy, terrible roads. We stopped at the Yukon River Crossing for a few minutes but other than that, we continued on. I could bore you with more of the same description of terrible, muddy roads but you get the gist.

Arriving at the Arctic Circle, we were happy there was a sign to mark it otherwise we wouldn't have known that we had accomplished our goal for the day. It was pouring so we took a quick picture and talked to some others who were also there including the couple who gave us the courage to keep going. The mosquitos and black bugs were ferocious and attacked us as soon as we got out of the car so we didn't stay around long.

Going back, it stopped raining at some point and was actually quite a nice (although bumpy) ride. We stopped to see some interesting rock formations (turned out to be lava that oozed up out of the earth, then froze and thawed for a couple of thousand years and all that's left is the granite) and we took a little interpretive walk in a area set up to identify the flowers and the types of rock.

Then back in the car and back to our RV in Fairbanks. Total time round trip mileage was 400 miles but they were slow at some points. Took us about 10 hours - not bad considering the road conditions.

We had to stop at Walmart as we entered town to buy car washing soap and a bucket. It seems that we are going to need them on this trip!

Check that one off the bucket list. Life is good!

Craig checks out the pipeline.

Welcome to the Dalton Hwy. Actually we took this picture on the way back when the car was covered with mud.
 

Rain and dirt roads are not a great combination.

Crossing the Yukon River on a wooden bridge.

Our view of the road through a muddy window.

The pipeline paralleled most of the road.

I had to laugh when I saw this sign. The whole darn 200 mile road was rough!

Foggy mountain top

Woo hoo - we made it!

Roadside stop at Granite outcropping with a nice interpretive walk up into the hills.

Craig looking for wildlife in the valley below. 

This is out of order but when we saw a semi coming in the other direction, we had to practically drive into the ditch on our side of the road to avoid their mud splash and flying rocks. They weren't slowed by the road conditions like we were and they flew past us in both directions!



Headwaters of either the Yukon River or the Chena River, I couldn't tell which but here is where the river starts collecting into ponds and then streams as it comes down out of the hills.