Thursday, 30 May 2019
Deadhorse, Alaska, USA
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Bright blue sky. Just what I need. Do not want any rain for a few days. The dirt roads will be a nightmare.
First 35 miles to Dietrich is brilliant tarmac road. Smooth as silk.
Then it gets nasty. Following the river, the road is very rocky. Not gravel. Small rocks. Jagged looking rocks. Concerned for tyres. It’s just asking for trouble.
See a small tent located on the river bank. Miles from civilisation. Can’t see owner so continue. I’ll meet the owner tomorrow on the way back. An interesting meet and greet.
Travelling along the river valley with forests and snow capped mountains either side. The blue sky showcasing northern Alaska in all its glory. This is the true Alaska. Away from the hordes of cruise ship tourists.
This is true wilderness.
Me.
The car.
The road.
The pipeline.
Awesome.
Quite a few trucks rumbling past. Spewing up clouds of dust and gravel. Discretion being the better part of valour it’s a necessity to stop and pull over out of the way. Even so, one big stone comes flying towards me and creates a big chip in the windscreen. Soon grows into a small crack. Which soon grows into a crack at the princely sum of $500 upon returning the car. Sod it.
The snow capped mountains increase in intensity and height when approaching the Brooks Mountain range. The natural barrier before reaching the north slope and the Arctic tundra. First have to negotiate the 4,800ft Atigun Pass. It’s OK in a car. But following a very slow moving truck. Can’t believe the trucks negotiate this in winter when it really is the ‘Ice Road’.
The Dalton Highway is open throughout the year. Summer is dirt and gravel. Winter is snow and ice. As seen on ‘Ice Road Truckers’. My taxi driver in Seward a few days ago told me that when he was an Ice Road Trucker, the longest he got stuck was 9 days in a snow drift. The truckers have to pack for every eventuality and often travel in convoy with a maintenance truck to do running repairs.
Stunning views as I cross over the Atigun Pass and into the valley below. This is the point of no return. Have to continue on to Deadhorse for fuel now. Half decent gravel road deteriorates into severe washboarding. Teeth chattering washboarding road. Which continues for miles.
Having not seen any wildlife yet, nice to see some muskox gathered in the river valley below. Like bison but smaller.
Cannot begin to describe the scenery. Once again the photos below don’t do the magnificent vistas I see any justice whatsoever. Like Antarctica, you have to see it with your own eyes to take it all in.
Simply spectacular.
Once out of the Brooks Mountains the landscape gradually changes to flat Arctic tundra. With no features whatsoever. Nothing to see but flatness.
The gravel road runs along a built up causeway for 50 miles all the way into Deadhorse. As you will see from the video below, it’s mind numbing. Low grey cloud melds into the grey tundra landscape. The grey gravel causeway running through it.
Weather has also changed north of the mountains. Low grey cloud now rather than the blue sky. The car is brilliant. Taken a real battering the past 500 miles. The roads are not kind to the tyres and the suspension. But it’s solid, sturdy and steady as she goes.
Finally.
After 5.5hrs and 240 miles.
Arrive Deadhorse.
The end of the Dalton Highway.
The end of the public road.
But not the end of the road.
No.
I have to wait until tomorrow for that pleasure and the ‘official’ end of my Antarctica to Alaska journey.
For those that haven’t been to Deadhorse, and I guess that’s all of you reading this, it is essentially one big construction site. Built to support the oilfields being drilled in Prudhoe Bay, Deadhorse is full of plant and machinery. Full of engineering materials. Full of drilling rigs. Full of site establishment. Full of storage buildings. Full of maintenance workshops.
The Cotswolds it isn’t.
Oh.
And it’s minus 3C.
With a windchill of about minus 10C.
So quite warm.
I kid you not.
When I was in Antarctica in December, the temperature in Deadhorse was around minus 30C.
Just think about that for a moment.
Minus 30C!
Accommodation is in worker’s camps that let out rooms for travellers. Having seen some of the other ‘hotels’ in town, am I glad I’m staying at the best in town, the Aurora Hotel (http://theaurorahotel.net/). Relatively new, about 10 years old, once again it’s a series of what can best be described as glorified site huts connected together to form sleeping accommodation, restaurant, laundry, reception, offices and meeting rooms.
Being used to working on construction project sites, it’s like a busman’s holiday.
Check in with the site secretary. Most site secretaries I know are quite ferocious. They have to be. But this young lady is nice and friendly. A welcome change. Told that I’m in her female boss’ bedroom. Told not to worry if I see clothes and personal belongings. She’s on leave for a couple of weeks.
The room is clearly a ‘Management’ room. Quite large, desk, lounge chair, ensuite, writing desk, wardrobe. Fridge. Chest of drawers.
Not since staying at the Jury’s Croke Park Hotel in Dublin have I slept in the most comfortable hotel bed. So good.
Dinner is in the ‘restaurant’. Think upmarket site canteen. I say upmarket. It’s got a carpet. As you can imagine. The lesser spotted TT sticks out like a sore thumb. Not hairy. Not tattooed. Not wearing a baseball bat. Not eating a plate piled high with food.
Despite it being a buffet, dinner is excellent and look out over an ice covered lake. The sun shining brightly even at this late hour. 24hr daylight as it is now.
No alcohol policy in Deadhorse. Easy to understand why. Getting a load of blokes working away from home in hardship conditions, nothing to do at night, working long hours, 6 months of daylight, 6 months of darkness, is a toxic mix with alcohol. I know colleagues who have lived on camps on construction projects. Some of them have felt suicidal.
However.
It may be that a bottle of Jameson’s whiskey found its way into my rucksack.
And it may be that a little nightcap was in order to celebrate making it this far.
A small toast to the thousands of miles travelled thus far and the last remaining few miles to the Arctic Ocean tomorrow.
Cheers.
