Wednesday, 29 May 2019
Coldfoot (the middle of nowhere), Alaska, USA
Now the real adventure starts. Four days of driving the infamous Dalton Highway through the wilderness.
1,000 miles there and back along a dirt and gravel road.
You’ll have heard of the TV series, ‘Ice Road Truckers’.
Well.
This is the road.
Pick the hire car up. A specially prepared vehicle for gravel highways. Not one but two spare wheels. Heavy duty tyres. CB radio.
Oh yes. CB radio.
Breaker, breaker, that’s a big 10-4.
Smokey and the Bandit stuff.
Instructed that Channel 19 is the emergency channel. In the event of breakdown in the middle of nowhere this can be used to call for help. There is no phone signal for 500miles.
Need to buy emergency rations. Just in case. A dozen cobs. Peanut Butter. Jam. 4 Snickers. 12 bottles of water. Should suffice.
Check out woman at Safeway hears my English accent and tells me she was in London recently. Then Rome. Then Cyprus. Then Missouri, USA.
Why, I ask.
“Middle age crazy!”, she replies.
And off we go.
The final 500 miles of this Antarctica to Alaska trip.
Shall be out of contact for four days. Hence the delay in blogs.
First 70 miles is tarmac roads along the Elliot Highway.
And then.
The main event.
On to the Dalton Highway.
416 miles on a mix of gravel, dirt, tarmac and rocky roads to Deadhorse.
Also known as the ‘Haul Road’.
Built in the 1970s to access the oilfields at Prudhoe Bay and the Trans Alaska Oil Pipeline, which runs alongside the highway.
Staggeringly scenic.
This is wild Alaska.
As soon as the Dalton Highway starts, the road surface changes to scraped and compacted soil. Quite good condition and reasonably smooth. Then changes to tarmac. Then gravel. Then scraped and compacted soil. Then it starts raining. Just a shower. But enough to make the soil turn to light mud and slightly slippery. Car is now covered in mud.
Phone signal has gone.
FM radio signal has gone.
Middle of nowhere.
Truly in the wild now.
First fuel stop at Yukon River Camp. Adjacent the Yukon River bridge, where the road and pipeline come together to cross the 600m wide river. The fuel station is basically a fuel pump attached to a massive fuel tank. You have to take a photograph of the fuel display to show them in the shop how much you have used. The Yukon River Camp is a former road workers’ camp accommodation block, now used for pipeline and road maintenance crews as well as tourists.
Rain clouds have now cleared and it’s a beautiful blue sky day. Time to crack open the peanut butter. Not had peanut butter sandwiches since the 1980s when at school. A splosh of jam as well. Peanut butter and jam is a ‘thing’. Right?
Really good progress and the road conditions are not as bad as I feared. Although one section of tarmac road is like a minefield of potholes and substantially worse than the dirt and gravel road sections. So much so, that I can’t wait to get back on the dirt road again as it’s smoother.
Takes 6hrs to drive the 260 miles from Fairbanks to Coldfoot, including stops. They say a picture paints a thousand words so you’ll have to look at the photos below to see the scenery seen enroute. Must stress though that the photos don’t do it justice. You have to see it with your own eyes. It’s magnificent being out in the wild. Stunning vistas. Just me and the car. And nothing much else.
Pass a sign saying ‘Arctic Circle’ north of Yukon River Camp. However. Have it in my head that the Arctic Circle is north of Coldfoot, so assume this is just a settlement called ‘Arctic Circle’. It’s only when I reach Coldfoot that I realise the error of my ways and make a note to stop at the Arctic Circle sign on the way back.
Like Yukon River Camp, Coldfoot Camp is the former roadworkers’ camp accommodation from the 1970s. The main building has a post office, dining, shop and bar. Very friendly staff.
But fuel is the most important thing. At $5.50/gallon, it’s the most expensive I’ve seen in America. And more than double what I paid in Florida.
But.
Hobson’s Choice.
It’s the only fuel stop for the next 240 miles to Deadhorse and my final destination Prudhoe Bay. Car is averaging 20mpg and told it should do 300 miles on one tank. Inshallah.
Across the way is the accommodation block. An establishment of old fashioned site huts connected together. Each ‘site hut’ is a bedroom consisting of twin beds, wash basin and shower/toilet cubicle boarded off from the bedroom by a bare wooden partition.
The Four Seasons Istanbul it is not.
This is basic.
But.
Very clean.
Very comfortable.
Once the biggest mosquito I have ever encountered is killed.
Flipping ‘eck.
Will be lathered in mozzy rep tonight. Plus the plug in Raid mozzy killer. Also have a mozzy net in my bag. Having carried it all the way but so far unused.
Across the road from the camp is the Coldfoot visitor centre. An interesting place and surprised to see so many staff for such a small place. Very friendly.
No phone signal here and no wifi (apart from an expensive dodgy satellite connection which may or may not work). Dinner and Kindle it is then.
Minding my own business when a 60 something Kiwi couple walk in.
They recognise me.
They were on the Noordam cruise ship. We did an excursion together in Juneau apparently. Can’t remember them but play along.
Even they were moaning about the old folk on the cruise ship. They flew to Prudhoe Bay and now on a bus tour down to Fairbanks. Taken them 12hrs to drive from Prudhoe Bay. Straight talking Kiwi bloke simply says, “6hrs of driving and 6hrs of getting old folk on and off the bus for a photo!”
Beautiful blonde young waitress serves up beer and food. Very friendly, bright and cheery. Ask if it’s possible to take a beer back to room. It’s not.
She says, “You’ll just have to have stay here with me.”
Oooh.
