Left Fairbanks around 10:30 this morning to go to the Arctic Circle up the Dalton Highway. For those of us who are big fans of "Ice Road Truckers", this is the highway they take all the way to Prudhoe Bay, about 500 miles one-way. The Arctic Circle is about 180 miles north of Fairbanks. Leaving Fairbanks on the Steese Highway the terrain is pretty rolling and wooded. In the picture below, you can see the Alaska Pipeline in the distance from the road:
The Steese Highway is paved, as is the Elliot Highway, which connects with the Dalton Highway. For some reason, up here highways have names and numbers, but everyone refers to the name, not the number. Once on the Dalton Highway, most of the 450 miles or so to Prudhoe Bay are not paved. In the picture below, this is pretty much the end of the pavement:
Much of the unpaved sections of the highway were in reasonably good shape, but there were numerous sections, some miles long and up and down pretty steep hills, that looked like this:
This particular section of road was far from the worst and it extended for about 5-6 miles.
The first stop on the Dalton Highway I made was at Yukon Crossing, about 60 miles south of the Arctic Circle. The Yukon River is pretty wide and deep at this point and there is a bridge spanning the river:
About 15 miles south of the Arctic Circle we came to Finger Mountain. I thought the view was interesting because at this point and most of the rest of the way up to the Circle, there are very few trees:
I did make it to the Arctic Circle. Here's proof:
After what it took to get there, the actual site was a bit of a let-down. What you see is pretty much it.
For those IRT fans out there, this was in the parking lot at the Circle:
My bet is it's Lisa taking a little Nappie.
After hanging around the Circle for a few more minutes, I saddled up and headed back south to Fairbanks. To give you an idea of how dirty the bike got on this little excursion, here it is:
OK, in the interest of full disclosure, I chickened out and didn't ride the bike up to the Arctic Circle after all. I rented a Jeep, and believe me...I had the Jeep in 4-wheel drive most of the way. I saw about 10 bikes making the trip, but eight of them were "adventure-touring" models from BMW and KTR. I did see two Harley's, though. I guess it takes all kinds.
Anyway, on to Anchorage tomorrow.
