Saturday Adventure: Arctic Circle

June 5: Saturday

(This is narrated by Dad, typed by Sara)
Our goal for day was to cross the Arctic Circle. Only a small percentage of people living on this earth can make that claim. To get there we had to drive up the Dalton Highway. Better known as 'The Haul Road.' That name describes the major purpose the road was built for. To accommodate the large semi-trucks that carry supplies to the oil fields in Prudhoe Bay. Highlighted cautions in the Mile Post warn motorists about encountering these large trucks on this gravel highway. So we were a little concerned about this adventure. The first 80 miles was paved. And then we started the actual Dalton Highway, which proceeds for 416 miles. Fortunately we only planned on driving 110 miles one way to the Arctic Circle. The road really wasn't that bad. Except where the water trucks made it all muddy. Some parts were actually paved, but they were harder to drive with 'tire busting potholes.' After 55 miles we crossed the Yukon River. and stopped for lunch. The cafe was not what we imagined from the Mile Post's description, but the burgers were still great. It was modular units left over from the pipeline construction, powered by a generator, with an outhouse and no running water. Back on the highway, the rest of the trip to the Arctic Circle was pretty uneventful, except for the black bear we saw cross the road a ways in front of us. After it crossed the road, it acquired an orange road cone of some sort, and went running through the woods with it. I pulled to the side of the road, as Sara pulled out the new camera. We were glad to see the pull off for the Arctic Circle, and stopped to take some pictures. On our way back we stopped at the rest stop at the Yukon River to fill up with gas and visit the Yukon River Crossing Visitors Center. [input by sara: This is where learned about the construction of the Dalton Highway, the construction of the Trans-Alaskan Pipeline, and the Yukon River itself.] By the time we got back to Fairbanks we'd been on the road for 10 hours, with only a few rest stops. We finished the trip at a car wash.

as a final FYI: if you click on any of the pictures shown here, you they will open larger, so you can see them better! :-)