29 May 2008 -- Coldfoot to Deadhorse / Prudhoe Bay

Our wake up call at Coldfoot came at 6:30 AM when our bus driver (Greg) walked through the hall ways knocking on room doors. Then came the shower adventure. Since the motel is completely self sufficient, they pump their own water (there is no such thing as "city" water in most of Alaska). With two bus loads of people, the water supply was severely taxed. Mary got here shower first with the water flow decreasing the whole time. I followed and by the time I was ready to rinse off, the flow was, literally, down to a trickle. By the time I was finished, the water was merely dripping out of the shower.

After a very good buffet breakfast at the restaurant, we were off again at 8:30. Now we were heading into the Brookes Range proper. Remember, Coldfoot is in the Brookes Range foot hills. From here to Deadhorse, there would be no more services. We started to see some more wildlife. One moose crossed the road well ahead of us and ambled off into the brush. It would prove to be the only moose we saw on the road to Prudhoe Bay. We saw several porcupines along the road. Our driver also pointed out soliflections or slow moving land slides where the sides of hills slowly slide downward taking out vegetation along the way, but having new growth on their surface. We also saw small pingos that stand out because they have some larger trees on them. Pingos are small hills that are created by the thawing and melting of the underlying permafrost (somewhat like ice frozen in a closed container that forms a hump). Some of the "small hills" can actually get quite large as we would see later.

As we drove along the Dietrich River valley, we saw lots of fantastic scenery. The ice on the river was breaking up, but was still quite thick. Greg told us the ice could get up to 13 feet in the winter time. We saw a small herd of caribou and a red fox in this stretch. Along in here we made a photo stop for Supakpak Mountain. The place we stopped was picture perfect, and I took what I think are my favorite pictures of the entire trip there. The mountain has a very sharp peak, and there is a small lake in the foreground. The weather was very good during this whole stretch.

We stopped at an area called the Chandler Shelf for photo ops and potty breaks. Chandler Shelf is just a fantastic scenic area and the weather was beautiful. It seemed like you could see forever. The view there is out over a vast valley with mountains all around. As we continued on up toward the Atigun Pass, we saw a small group of Dall Sheep near the road.

When we got to the Atigun Pass we stopped again for photo ops. Atigun Pass on the Dalton Highway is the highest mountain pass in North America at 4643 feet. The road up to the pass is very steep in both directions and snow avalanches are a big problem in the winter. We saw several places along the road where mounts for artillery guns have been permanently placed where avalanches are prevalent. They also use truck-mounted guns (105 mm howitzers) for areas where avalanches are less common. The pass was still fairly well snow-covered although the temperature was not to bad (probably low 40s). The sky was very blue and the air extremely clear. We walked around a bit in the snow and tried to avoid stepping in holes that were covered by drifts.

As we headed down the north side of the pass, we stopped once more for pictures looking out over still another beautiful valley. From this vantage point we could also see the highway way below us and see a lone south-bound truck making the long climb up to the pass. We could also see another truck north-bound down out of the pass. It was really kind of interesting to watch these two trucks meet each other on the gravel road not far from where we were standing.

About half an hour later we saw our first musk ox. This was a solitary bull some distance from the road. It is amazing that the driver could see something like that while still keeping the bus on the road! He assured us that we would likely see more before we got to Deadhorse. He actually was getting sighting information from south-bound truckers we met along the way. It seemed like every time one vehicle meets another on the highway, there is a quick conversation on the CB radio. It's no wonder since there is so little traffic and there is no other way to talk to anyone with the exception of satellite telephones.

We made a brief stop at the Atigun River crossing which is the closest point to ANWR. At this point, you could look east and see the ANWR and look west and see the Gates of the Arctic National Park and Preserve. The Dalton Highway runs on a corrider administered by the Beureu of Land Management through this area. The Atigun River crossing area is a favored jumping off (or drop off) spot for folks hiking into the ANWR.

A little further on, we came to a view of frozen Gailbraith Lake with mountains in the background. Greg knew all the best places to stop for photo ops. We had a boxed lunch on board the bus at about 1:00. There really was no place to sit outside of the bus so eating on the bus was probably the best option. Generally, the temperatures were not too cold (low to mid 40s), but I think Greg was more concerned about having to watch for bears than anything else. We did get out and walk about on the tundra while Greg pointed out various features.

As we continued on our way, we encountered a little light snow that got fairly heavy around mile 300. There was clearly some heavy snow falling to the east in the ANWR and along the Sagavanirktok River. We stopped at Happy Valley for a brief walk about and the opportunity to look for fossils and musk ox fur. We found neither.

On the road again at about 4:00 pm we did see a fairly nice sized (~14) herd of Musk Ox. A couple of bulls did get into some head butting. Apparently, it is fairly common even in the herds for individuals to get irritated and get into tussels with who ever is near by. This area was fairly flat and you could look out over the Arctic Coastal Plain and see a very long way. As we drove along, a Ptarmagin flew along side the bus for a short distance. This was the first one we had seen in its winter white plumage. It was also about the best look we got at one since it matched the bus speed and stayed close for some time. We also saw a golden eagle that was sitting on the road side. As we approached, it took off and flew a couple of loops around the bus before going on its way. We saw a couple of fairly large pingos well off in the distance. We also saw our first Tundra Swans.

Finally, at about 6:00 pm we arrived in Deadhorse. We stopped for some quick pictures of the start / end of the highway signs for south-bound traffic and then headed over to the Arctic Carribou Inn to get checked in. One of the first things we noticed about this place was that the hallways were as wide as our rooms had been at Cold Foot! The room was almost luxurious after our previous nights accomadations. Like the inn at Cold Foot, this one is also made up of mobile units (think mobile homes or classrooms). However, in this case, they are stacked to create a second floor and there were many more of them. The units sit up on pilings to keep them off the permafrost. They had a very nice cafeteria there with a large variety of food. Good food is one of the requirements / benefits that the oil field crews have for working up there. The crews generally work for two weeks straight, then are off for two weeks. The inn operates primarily to support the crews. They even had a fitness facility in this one. Not quite the Hampton Inn, but really pretty decent.

After a very good dinner (and too much food) we attended a lecture given by an Inupiaq Eskimo who works at the inn as the pastry chef. The inn is actually owned by the Inupiaq corporation (NANA) and benefits there tribe with its income. Mostly the young man told of his village, his hunting expeditions and general life during his off weeks when he is back home. He also sang a song in both English and Inupiaq.

I was determined to get a picture of the "midnight sun" while we were there. However, it was quite cloudy and the sun tended to appear and disappear behind the clouds. The best I did was at about 10:00 pm when I went out with my camera. The sun was barely visible behind the clouds. Unfortunately, I stopped to chat with the aforementioned baker who was taking a smoke break. When I then tried to get a picture, the sun was nothing more than a bright spot behind the clouds fairly high in the sky and to the north. I tried again at about 11:00 pm, but the clouds were even thicker then. At that point I said the heck with it and gave up any thought of going out at midnight or 1:00 am. You'll have to take my word for it: The sun did not set that far north. Unfortunately, our room had venetian blinds on the windows and they did not block out the light all that well. However, we had already found that sleeping while it is light outside is not difficult when you are as tired as we generally were at the end of the day.