Good Morning. I am sitting here in the passenger seat of the land cruiser on a partially cloudy Sunday morning watching the vast and brilliant landscape of the Alaska Arctic roll through its own subtle changes. The road has been a long, bumpy and extremely dirty one but my trusty pilot and his riggin made it seem effortless. There is about an inch or two of mud that is caked all over the car and it has been quite a challenge to not end up completely filthy cooking dinner, setting up the tent or even just opening doors.
We made some friends on our tour bus ride to the Arctic Ocean yesterday and since there are only so many places to call home on the Dalton Highway we all decided to meet up a few hours down the road after the tour. I made a huge pot of beef stew while we all shot the shit and got to know each other. After dinner we sat in their van and shared a Growler (American gallon glass jar of beer) of Mooses Teeth Beer that our new friends had got from a local brewery in Anchorage. It was a damn good combination if you ask me. We sat up chatting and exchanging crazy stories until the early hours of the morning, while the twilight pink of the sun lit the sky and clouds which sat in the Galbraith Lake valley. I am not sure if the sun has actually set while we have been here, yet the hours of twilight are the most beautiful thing I have ever seen. Being able to walk outside at 2 am and have the sky in a permanent dusk with all the colors kaleidoscoping in the low lying clouds.
Right now we are driving through the Atigun Pass, the most spectacular part of the Dalton Highway, every turn leaves my jaw on the floor. We have encountered quite a bit of wildlife on this stretch of the trip seeing; countless Caribou, a Musk Oxen, a Coyote, Swans, Snowy Owls, flocks of seagulls which reside on the side of the road which Robi almost sent into extinction along with those Arctic Ground Squirrels who just love to dart in front of the cruiser.
The weather has been a little bit of a pain with the drizzly cold nights but the past two days the blue sky has tried to poke through the clouds that never seem to leave these northern parts. Either way it has been a once and a lifetime experience and the minute Robi and I rolled up our pants and waded into the Arctic Ocean we knew the 1000 miles of gravel, mud, rain, swarms of bugs and cold were completely worth it. We had joined the Polar Bear Club and almost stepped on an Arctic Bumblebee.
Now the time has come to head back to Fairbanks to clean the cruiser, get this muddy gear off, have a nice hot shower and then get ready for next our adventure into Denali National Park. The heart of the Alaska wilderness and the home of Mount McKinley, the tallest mountain in North America. We just stopped at the Dalton Summit of 4500 meters to build an Inukshuk and leave a little piece of us at the top of the world. The small town of Coldfoot is our next stop for some gas, hot coffee, left over stew and some wild blueberry (picked them on Minto detour) and apple salad for lunch. Can’t wait my belly is grumbling because the bugs were so bad this morning that we skipped breakfast and just hit the road.
Robi says that since the main goal of this trip was to drive to the most northern part of the continent, and accomplishing it in such good time, it now feels weird to head south and have all this time to finally slow down and enjoy the southern and interior of parts of Alaska. Since he was so busy building up the land cruiser he didn’t really have much time to read about all the sights to see and the minute the trip was set in stone for me it was countless late nights after closing the bar researching and filling my IPOD of course. Although I must admit even Google could not prepare me for the things that Alaska has to offer. I have had nothing but a lap full of tourist books since we set foot on this adventure learning about the history, sights, wildlife and any other interesting tidbits of information. We have been taking it mile by mile, with the trusty MILEPOST BIBLE leading us to all the great little spots that we have continued to find.
Finally Finished the 1000 Miles of gravel road.
P.S. Annemarie and Stefan
Robi finally broke down and borrowed my mosquito head netting, the milepost has been a lifesaver and the Hawaiian CD has been on repeat for hours. Thoroughly enjoyed listening to “Hawaiian Style 4” in the chilly Arctic, even when the radio is off we find ourselves humming the songs. =) =P
