Joinin' the Montero Club with a Gen 2.5

[jlocster]

El Norte--Santa Monica, CA to Prudhoe Bay, AK

"El Norte," or so the journey from Santa Monica, CA to Prudhoe Bay, AK has been dubbed, is underway.

Last summer's trip from Santa Monica to Nova Scotia and back proved the Montero a worthy overland vehicle so I decided to up the ante a bit.

I've been prepping the Montero for this trip for months...some things I have documented in this build and some due to time constraints, I have not.
Front bumper, tire carrier, revised interior sleeping platform, revised front, side and rear exterior lighting, second house battery, aluminum roof rack, awning and roof top tent were all upgrades made in preparation for this excursion.

As I write this I've been on the road for a little over a week and am now in Fort Nelson, British Columbia, a day's journey from Whitehorse in the Yukon Territory, and two days from Fairbanks, AK and the start of the Dalton Highway. Days are long here...it's 3 AM and still light out. Mosquitos, blackflies and horseflies abound. DEET is mandatory.

I'll let the pictures tell the tale.

Montero prepped for departure.

San Francisco bound for the road dog, Hank

Day 2 in Elko, Nevada and already up on the rack. A vibration at speed was caused by wheels that needed to be rebalanced.

Idaho (outside Craters of the Moon National Park) en route to the Montana high country north of Missoula for a rendezvous with old friends.

Montana High Country hide-a-way

Glacier National Park, Montana

Red Jammers

Big Sky Country, Montana

Fuel Stop, Sunburst, Montana

Banff National Park, Alberta, Canada

Athabasca Glacier, Banff

Glacial skid marks

Creatures of Banff

More to come...

 

[Clem]

Glacier National Park, Montana

Creatures of Banff

Fantastic photos...Is that a reindeer?

Thanks for sharing,

Clem

P.S. Did you get the fender side lights wired up? If so, are the blinkers or running lights?

 

[nwoods]

Wow that's a long drive. Beautiful photos. Love the waterfall shot

 

[jlocster]

Clem, I believe its an elk. The side lights are not wired up yet...but when I do I'll wire them as blinkers so they indicate turns.

Thanks nwoods, a long drive indeed...especially with no cupholders!

 

[jhill15]

Man I just spent an hour reading your thread!!! I couldnt stop reading lol!!! Youve built an amazing rig and done things that most of us dream about!!!

Awesome stuff man!!!

Cheers!!!!

 

[billygoats]

Awesome trip. Love the report! I'm very envious of your free time!

 

[jlocster]

El Norte, Part II

The next leg of the journey took us along the Alaskan Highway through British Columbia and into the Yukon Territory before we entered Alaska.

In motion, Alaskan Highway, B.C.

Natives of the Lower Liard, BC

The hats of Toad River Lodge, 9000+ at last count. Give 'em your hat, they'll staple it to the ceiling. I kept mine.

Alaskan Highway Sunset

Gassing up at a portable filling station. These are godsends in the boonies.

Yukon Territory

Watson Lake, YT, home of the Sign Post Forest. Luckily, we had a spare pie tin.

Hank punching his name

Immortalized for all eternity

Dragon's Den Bar, Watson Lake, YT

Insect assasination and post mortem clean up, Destruction Bay, YT

If in Whitehorse, do not miss Bocelli's.

Along with great pizza, Whitehorse has great trucks. I want this.

And this. This vehicle was actually for sale and later purchased by someone on ExPo. link

Alaskan Border

A swath is cut through the forest to demarcate the border as far as the eye can see.

More to come...

 

[eurosonic]

wow, what a journey, keep us posted on your fuel costs and avg spendings. I ve been thinking of doing a journey to Alaska as well.

 

[Clem]

The next leg of the journey took us along the Alaskan Highway through British Columbia and into the Yukon Territory before we entered Alaska.

Alaskan Highway, B.C.

Natives

Yukon Territory

Watson Lake, YT, home of the Signpost Forest. Luckily, we had a spare pie tin.

Hank punching his name

Immortalized for all eternity

Dragon's Den Bar, Watson Lake, YT

Insect assasination and post mortem clean up, Destruction Bay, YT

If in Whitehorse, do not miss Bocelli's.

Alaskan Border

A swath is cut through the forest to demarcate the border as far as the eye can see.

More to come...

Fantastic adventure...Thanks for sharing!

Clem

 

[jlocster]

EL Norte, Part III

From Destruction Bay, YT it was on to Fairbanks, AK for the night, after which we would head up the Dalton Highway to Prudhoe Bay.

Dalton Highway

The road itself was in fairly good condition. Maybe 2/5 paved and the rest dirt. The dirt sections were hardpack gravel and fairly smooth, for the most part allowing 50-60mph travel. However, pot holes were frequent and could sneak up on you at any moment. Some sections were really bad and the rig took a few healthy hits.

At the Arctic Circle

Arctic Graffitti

Alaskan Pipeline...Interestingly the pipeline itself is on sliders allowing for freedom of movement as the temperature changes.

Crossing the Yukon River

We camped along the Dalton just past Coldfoot at Marion Creek. Head nets and Ben's 100% Deet in full effect. Short sleeves are a bad idea. None of us slept much.

Crossing the Brooks Range

Performing the "Alaskan Wave" at Atigun Pass. The mosquitoes here were the worst I'd ever experienced, despite being at elevation.

This car had been parked for just a few minutes before THE HORDE descended.

Supposedly belonged to a couple of tourists.

Melting the tundra.

More to come...

 

[jlocster]

EL Norte, Part IV

We arrived at Prudhoe Bay around 5:30 PM, although time starts to loose meaning with 24 hour sunlight. Temps were in the 50s, not bad. Plus my cell reception was better than back home. Our accommodations for the evening would be provided by the Prudoe Bay Hotel.

Hank suited and booted.

Beats sleeping outside.

It was just in time for chow. Overnight was $135 per person but included 3 meals because aside from the hotels, there's nowhere else to eat. As luck would have it we arrived on a Sunday, which meant prime rib. Apparently, every Sunday means prime rib. The food was incredible. There is no alcohol allowed anywhere on the North Slope. If you get caught with some, you'll be on the next flight out.

After a nap, Hank and I decided to check out the neighborhood. By this time it was 12:00AM, the fog had rolled in with some wind chill, and it was utterly freezing...it was hard-to-hold-your-camera cold. Probably beach weather for the locals, though.

Big treads.

Big winches.

Big blowers.

Big trailers.

Apparently 7 3/4 mph is way too fast.

Million dollar view...2:30AM.

This truck idled the night away feet from my pillow.

Our second day in Prudhoe Bay included a bus tour to the Arctic Ocean. The actual shoreline is restricted and the bus is the only way to get there.

Tundra fractals...the temperature extremes cause the ground to crack.

Despite heavy industry, wildlife persists.

Make no mistake, the environment here is greatly altered.

The Arctic Ocean and the site of The Big Plunge.

The Big Plunge...water was +-35 deg F. The anticipation was the worst part.

After our little swim it was time to leave.

Final photo op outside Brooks Range Supply's General Store.

Filling up the tank.

Ouch...by this point I had stopped bothering to look.

Filling up the mugs. Believe it or not, there is a drive-thru coffee house at the Stallion Camp.

FYI, bring your own toiletries, you don't want to have to buy them up here.

The ride down would prove more exciting than the ride up because of...

A Dalton Highway Cautionary Tale
A group of local Fairbanks guys had decided to rent a Suburban for the weekend to make the drive up to Prudhoe Bay. This is big a no-no with the rental companies, of course, who don't want their vehicles damaged. On the way up the Dalton, the guys blew out two tires, which they were able to get patched up in Prudhoe Bay.

On their return trip down the Dalton, they they blew out two more tires, were able to borrow another spare from a passing Suburban, and then blew out a 3rd tire and were stuck on the side of the road just north of Coldfoot. One of the guys then hitched a ride into Coldfoot with the 2nd Suburban, along with a flat tire, to get it patched. Luckily for them, Coldfoot has a tire repair guy.

After overhearing the story while eating in Coldfoot, we agreed to drive the patched tire back out to the sidelined car so they could bring the vehicle into Coldfoot to get the other tires fixed. By the time they swapped on the newly patched tire and reached Coldfoot, they had another flat in a 4th tire.

Tire repair hi-jinks in Coldfoot

They ended up patching 4 tires in Coldfoot and buying an old spare that the tire guy had laying around. At this point we told them we'd follow them the 253 miles to Fairbanks. Since we were carrying a patch kit and had a compressor on-board, we could help them if need be. Not surprisingly, they got two more flats on the way to Fairbanks, one of which was able to be repaired roadside allowing them to limp home at 35 mph. Grand total of flats over 2 days on the Dalton Highway: 8.

We had left Prudhoe Bay at 2PM Monday and didn't get in to Fairbanks until 6AM Tuesday. After 414 miles up and 414 miles back, the Montero never skipped a beat.

Postscript
The guys later told us that upon returning the Suburban, they told the rental company about all the flats, leaving out the part about the Dalton Highway, of course, and the rental company refunded them one day's rental fee for their troubles.

More to come...

 

[bitoy]

Awesome adventure mates!

 

[MicahB]

Grand total of flats over 2 days on the Dalton Highway: 8.

As someone who could easily see themselves in this position, I'm going to ask a clearly newbie question and ask what's the difference between your tires and the rentals tires? Just that you have beefier off road tires or was there more to it?

 

[jlocster]

what's the difference between your tires and the rentals tires? Just that you have beefier off road tires or was there more to it?

Micah, this exactly. The Suburban had street tires, Goodyear Assurance, to be specific. Such tires combined with a heavy vehicle on rough surfaces = no bueno. I was using all-terrain tires which are more heavy duty. Even so, my tires took a beating..the treads got plenty chunked from all the gravel. For the record, I was running Hankook Dynapro ATM.

Interestingly, at the very beginning of the Dalton while on the way up, we spoke with a German couple who had just done the complete drive in a Volvo station wagon with street tires and had no problems.

 

[eurosonic]

love it!!!

Reminded me of Expedition Overlands Alaska trip.