#1 Dalton Highway Fairbanks to Wiseman

The Dalton Highway (often called the Haul Road) begins 84 miles north of Fairbanks and is 414-miles long. That makes our trip destination of Dead Horse/Prudhoe Bay a total of 494+ miles. Dalton Hwy is unique in scenic beauty and one of Alaska's most remote and challenging roads. The road changes from pavement, chip-sealed, gravel or dirt. The several steep grades vary from 10 to 12 percent and the road has an honest/bad reputation of window damage, and flat tires. With a speed limit of 50mph, the best defense is to slow down/stop when oncoming traffic is passing by. The road can be rocky, rutty, dusty, muddy, potholes or smooth and clean. It is watered down and graded frequently. We had no incidents.(Leaving Fairbanks-above)

The road is known as the Haul Road because everything needed in Dead Horse/Purdhoe Bay is "hauled" there via the Dalton Hwy. To the right is the food services 18-wheeler.

To the left we are on a hill and our road is shown crossing in front of us and then turning north again on the right side.



Below is the aftermath of a wildfire in 2004 which covered more than 6.7 million acres (the size of Massachusetts). Fires also occurred in 2001 and 2005. Lightning-caused wildfires are said to benefit wildlife by recycling nutrients into the soil and creating new sources of food and shelter.

Bright pink tall Fireweed wildflowers bloom in burned area, leading the way for the regrowth to come.

The Alaskan pipeline is often seen along the roadside, and sometimes hidden amongst the pines. The different angles and sloping of the pipeline assists in the continuous flowing oil.

Every once in awhile we were surprised to rock along the road side.

Look there, we are on payment now, but way out in front of is it becomes a dirt road again.

The roller coaster roads were always fun.

At mile 55 (counting from the beginning of the Dalton Hwy.)
we have come to the Yukon River. The Yukon River Bridge
was completed in 1975. It is a wood-decked bridge, 2,290
feet long and a 6 percent grade approaching the bridge.

The edge of theYukon Flats National Wildlife Refuge runs north along the Dalton Highway from the Yukon River for approximately 100 miles. This refuge encompasses an area larger than Vermont and Connecticut combined, protecting a vast complex of lakes and rivers in the Yukon rivershed upstream from the Dalton Highway.


Panoramic view of the Yukon River. So much
of Alaska revolves around the Yukon River.

The Dalton Highway was named after James
William Dalton, an arctic engineer involved in
early oil exploration efforts on the North Slope.
The road was built as a haul road between the Yukon River and Prudhoe Bay during construction of the trans-Alaska pipeline. During the hauling times, the road was referred to
as the North Slope Haul Road. Construction of the road began April 29, 1974 and was completed
5 months later. The road is basically 28 feet wide.

Construction
of the 800-mile-long pipeline between Prudhoe Bay and Valdez took place between 1974 and 1977 and cost $8 billion dollars. Slightly more than half of the pipeline is above ground. There are 12 Pump Stations, non of which are open to the public. This was the only place we were allowed go get this close and actually under the oil pipeline.






Leaving the Yukon River behind the landscape begins to pass through boreal forest where the cold, dry climate and sporadic permafrost dictate what grows here. The scraggy spruce trees may be more than a century old! The largest forest ecosystem in the world, the boreal forest circles the northern hemisphere.

There are several roads that turn into the pipeline. They are all closed to everyone except the people from the Alyeska Pipeline Service Co; who manage the pipeline maintenance. There is always a lower metal gate to keep vehicles out. The taller metal goal-post like structure is called a "headache bar" guarding against larger vehicles running into the pipeline.







Why not make a little art while laying out the pipeline? I think it looks pretty cool. After awhile we actually began to
look for the pipeline and feeling pretty proud and patriotic to our country, the pipeline and what has accomplished here.

Tors such as this one, are isolated pinnacles of granite jutting up from the tundra. Pretty odd to see a single rock formation jutting out from an otherwise flat area.








There are not many rocky areas along the road. This one is covered with fall colors, making it stand out.

Hess Creek Pond












The Kanuti National Wildlife Refuge extends from milepost 6o to milepost 150 along the western side of the Dalton Highway. The Refuge, slightly larger than the state of Delaware protects
large wetland areas that are critical to nesting

waterfowl and other wildlife.






Yippe! We are crossing into the Arctic Circle! Crossing over into the Arctic Circle was only one of the reasons we decided to make this 1,000 mile round trip drive. The other and most important was, "if we are in Alaska, then we should see all of Alaska". We're succeeding.





There are a number of rivers, creeks and ponds we travel over and near to. The land is so different and so full of color, twists and turns.

The weather looks bad but it was really a very nice day. No rain and it was not cold.




Nope, it didn't rain on us, but not far away it was raining creating this pretty rainbow. We could see rain falling around us and in some cases snow, but we drove in clear weather. Just wet roads from the watering to keep the dust down. Folks on the North Slope are concerned with the environment and do what they feel necessary to keep activists and environmentalist at bay, which includes keeping the dust down. They don't want to be accused of pollution through excessive dust coming from the Haul Road.

Tall Larkspur flower
















We spent the night in the village of Wiseman.

Wiseman was established in 1907 when miners discovered gold nearby. Today's population is in the 20's and most of the residents are brothers, sisters and cousins. One fellow who grew up in Wiseman left, going to Fairbanks to live and work. He did not like it there and thought it was boring and nothing to do. He went back to Wiseman where he continues to live today.



Look forward to the next leg of our trip to Prudhoe Bay-Dead Horse on the Northern Slope along the Arctic Ocean. BBYN, Karen and Don