Off we went two weeks ago for a big roadie North. After an evening spent with our new laywer friends having dinner at Beaver's cabin, a hard-core goldmining lady, we hit the highway North.
The total length of this trip measures 498 miles from Fairbanks to Deadhorse. I suppose this may not even seem that long, but on a mostly gravel road, where potholes are the norm rather than the exception, travel takes a little longer.
As a brochure describes: 'At first, the highway was called the Haul Road because almost everything supporting oil development was "hauled" on tractor-trailer rigs to its final destination' : Deadhorse and Prudhoe Bay, a large oilfield, the reason for the construction of the Alaskan Pipeline.
Fuel is not plentiful on this road and so when we pulled in to a gas station just north of The Yukon river, I wasn't too pleased when the lady told us they didn't have any fuel.
Note: Don't ask for 'Petrol' in the States, they do not know what that means.
A calculated risk it was and according to that precise calculation we would run out just before our next fuel opportunity. Well, I was wrong! We made it to Coldfoot and now know that Vinnie easily does 450 k's on a tank! Not bad for an old van. It turns out though that there was another fuel pump near the Yukon, but we had driven straight past. Advertising is not high on the priority list up there, so you have to be in the know, otherwise you simply miss out.
In Coldfoot we organized our gear and hopped on the middle fork of the Koyukuk river for a little overnight canoeing trip. The river is classed grade 1 and 2, so just right for a nice float with a few exciting moments. We camped opposite Wisemen, an old mining 'town' with about 12 residents and after a stroll around this remnant little town we made it back to Coldfoot that afternoon, where we picked up a lone Swiss hitchhiker named Martin. He accompanied us up the Haul road to Deadhorse, which took us 2 days.
The first night we stayed in the van, the 3 of us, at the top of Atigun pass in the Brooks Range. A barren land with treeless mountains, where mountain sheep roam, chased by wolves and bears, as well as caribou herds that often contain thousands of animals. While north of the Brooks Range we saw one wolf, a whole bunch/herd/group of Muskox, caribou and a marmot. Ohhh and North of Coldfoot we finally saw our first Grizz!! Crossing the road with his fluffy bum shaking at us!
The landscape up there is beautiful, huge, barren, wide and open with no trails, one road and loads of wildlife. Permafrost starts within 'inches' from the top of the ground and mosquitoes breed by the billions in the bogs.
Deadhorse was awefull I thought. It's not a town but an oilfield, where all employees are flown in for two to six week shifts. No one lives there perminently and you wouldn't want to either.
Caribou and bears live amongst this industrial zone as if it doesn't exist. To make things even worse, a fog usually hangs over the area, as was the case when we were driven around Prudhoe Bay on a tourist tour to view the Arctic Sea. Well, what a waste of time that was! For $36 pp we sat in a bus and couldn't see s... because of the fog, just to be allowed to venture out of the bus and touch the water for a minute or so. Apparently there had been a polar bear in the area, so they were paranoid about us leaving the bus.
