Leaving Prudhoe bay
Arctic Ocean
Prudhoe bay from a distance
Into Prudhoe bay
Pipe line
Brooks Mountain range
Moose and calves
Coldfoot camp sign
Coldfoot camp
Arctic circle
A reminder of the road conditions, there were more of these than I could count.
Yukon Bridge supply
Road conditions
Outside of Fairbanks.
Last paved road out of Fairbanks.I got going at 6:00am and made a quick stop at Walmart and picked up a small gas can and quart of oil. I then stopped at McDonalds and had breakfast. A group of motorcyclists showed up and it looked like they had been on the road for a week, it turns out they had gone up the Dalton Highway about 50 miles and turned back. They told me I was crazy to try the drive and one of them looked at my bike and expressed concern that I did not have any extra tires with me. They told me good luck and I was on my way. I pushed back the feelings of doubt, I had traveled over 4000 miles to get here and I was not going to quit without a fight.
The first miles out of Fairbanks were good paved roads, then the pavement ended and it was rough dirt roads, while they were rough, the reminded my of the bad country roads where if first learned how to ride a motorcycle.
It was interesting because the roads would get worse and worse, then all of the sudden there would be a stretch of new paved road that would go from a couple of miles to in some cases 20 miles or so at a time. The most dangerous part was when the paved road suddenly stopped with no warning and you were back on loose gravel. After a while, I was able to read the road and anticipate these transitions. The first stop was the Yukon river crossing, there was gas, food and lodging, I gassed up got a couple of "Red Bulls" and was on my way. Another 60 miles up and I got to the Arctic Circle. It was a beautiful day and when I got to the Arctic Circle I took off my riding jacket and put on my wind breaker, which I would wear for the rest of the day. I also put on sunscreen. The ride for the rest of the day was beautiful, and the road varied from good to bad. I arrived at Cold foot around 3:00pm, Cold foot is the farthest north truck stop in the world. It really is nothing more than a cluster of modular buildings that serve as a truck stop, restaurant, and lodging. The cost of lodging was $220 per night, and you got a 10x10 bunk room with a shared bathroom. I had a hamburger, $13.00 filled up with gas $5.50 per gallon, and filled up my extra gas can. from Cold foot it is 240 miles to Prudhoe bay. I stopped about 20 miles up the road at the Kyoukuk river and set up camp, the river was beautiful, there was another group of campers about 100 yards up the river. I started a nice fire and tried to get some sleep. The sun never sets above the arctic circle, so even at 12:00pm it is still daylight. Around 3:00am I woke up and walked away from camp to relieve myself, I heard some noise and about 20ft away was a "huge" Grizzly bear making its way to the river. It looked at me then looked away and headed to the river, it was so close I could literally smell it, after it had made its way to the river I headed back to my tent, needless to say, the rest of the night I did not sleep well. In other areas, when I say a bear, or when they say me they ran away, not this big boy, he just took his own sweet time.
As I could not get back to sleep, I packed up around 5:00 am and headed north. The roads the 2nd leg of the trip where worse than the first half, but I had fell into a groove and was able to anticipate the roads better, I was able to cruise along about 45-50 mph. The scenery got better and better as I went. Going into the Brooks mountain range, the landscape changed from forested mountains, and when I went over the Antigan pass is changed to Tundra, about 50 miles past the pass, the landscape changed to Arctic Tundra, it was breath taking. The last 40 miles into Prudhoe bay were the worst roads of the entire trip. I thought I have made it this far, I can make it a little more.
About 10 miles out of Prudhoe you could begin to see the operation, I don't know exactly what I was expecting, but it was not what I found.
I got there around 1:00pm and when you enter the complex it is basically a 3-5 miles square heavy industrial complex. Trucks where whizzing everywhere and there really was not a town per se. Luckily I had a map and was able to find the gas pumps as I was running on fumes, even with my extra gas, It was nothing more than 2-pumps that came out the side of a building, you put in your credit card and filled up $5.95 per gallon, down the road about a mile as a big building that housed a Napa Parts store, a True Value hardware store and a general store, I stopped there and got some supplies and mailed a few post cards. I took the trip to the arctic ocean. I had made arrangements to stay at the motel there, $275.00 per night, once again it was nothing more than a bunk house.
There was nothing to do there, no mini-golf, go carts etc...Just a gigantic industrial complex which supplies 20% of our nations oil. It was not too many years ago that private citizens were not even allowed here, I think for political reasons accommodations have been made, it was quite evident that the workers there thought of tourists as nothing more than a nuisance, I can see their point. I stopped by he hotel and was able to cancel my reservation, the weather was nice and I figured I would just head back down the road. I did not have to worry about it getting dark and I knew that bad weather was a day behind me.
I turned around and headed back, where else could I go, I had traveled north as far as a person can by road in the United States. I had not seen a single motorcyclist the entire day, but the next 40 miles out of Prudhoe I say about 20 and 6 of them were broken down, I stopped and offered help to one guy who was by himself, he had a flat tire and was trying to patch his tube, he told me he had patched it 5 times prior and did not have a spare and wondered if I had a spare tube, I said yes, but I still had my return trip to consider. He offered me $300.00 for my tube, I thought about it for a moment then had to decline, I offered to unload my bike and give him a ride into Prudhoe, he seem kind of pissed off that I would not give him my tube, so I got off my bike and took off. The other broken down cyclists had people with them, so I did not stop. I rode and rode and rode and finally made it back to Wiseman, which is a nearly abandoned mining town outside of coldfoot truck stop. There was an established camp ground there, so I stopped and set up camp, no one else was there. Once again that evening I had a big Grizzly pay me a visit, he just kind of ambled through and was on his way. The wolves were out in number and they were howling on and off through out the night. I was too tired to worry and slept fairly well. It had been nearly 500 miles in one day of the most difficult road I have ever ridden, over 14 hours in the saddle. While I have been riding for nearly a month, my hands are blistered from keeping a tight grip on my handle bars.
I got up at 6:00 am and stopped again in Coldfoot, gassed up and had breakfast, then it was back south. As every mile clicked off, I was getting closer to civilization. Around 4:00pm I got back to Fairbanks, just in time for rush hour traffic, it was odd to be back. While it had only been 3 days, it seemed like a lifetime, I looked at the people rushing from place to place in their cars, and It seemed odd that they had been following their usual routine, and for the last few days, I had experienced things that few will every experience or see in their life times. Many of these people who live at the gateway to the north, have probably been no more than a few miles up the Dalton highway.
I found a reasonable hotel room, and moved in for the night. I took a shower and it took a good 3 minutes for the water to run clear off of my body. I unpacked my motorcycle and it seems like everything was broken or battered, I hit the sack and would mess with it in the morning.
Tim
No comments:
Post a Comment