The Dalton Highway
Hanging out in Alaska in late summer and fall appeared to be asking for overcast skies and light rain; all day long. I wanted to make it north to Deadhorse before it got too snowy/icy along the road since I had heard all the “such a dangerous road” talk.
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Brandon M, on Flickr
I set out from Fairbanks and headed north. The previous night, I camped along the river and didn’t see any moose or bear but did get to see two bald eagles flying around looking for food.
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Brandon M, on Flickr
On my way I checked out a trail that was suggested by a local. He told me that the trail had a bunch of forks, and to stay this way, and not go the other way. I think I did pretty well on most of the directions, but made a mistake near the end of the trail. The trail started to make a steep descent and closed in becoming more of an ATV trail. At this point, I was close to a main road (on the GPS) and it seemed to widen up after a narrow section. There were no areas to turn around so I either continued or backed up the long steep section that had a deep rut caused by the snow melt. I carried on…and this became the normal trail.
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Brandon M, on Flickr
The narrow sections continued and it was fairly clear that this was now only an ATV trail. With the ruts in the trail becoming up to two feet deep, it would’ve been a difficult ATV trail. But I was so close, and knew I had to be close to an end. I was hoping that the end of the trail had a route to the main road… This is how narrow the trail has become.
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Brandon M, on Flickr
The last steep descent was deeply rutted on the passenger side of the trail. I attempted to straddle it but the front tire slipped into the rut causing the truck to get very light on the drivers rear corner. It was the closest I have been to rolling the truck. I was able to get it back up the rut and straddle it for long enough to keep from rolling and made it down. It’s been the only time I’ve had an adrenaline rush from off roading. I was so happy to see a house with a regular vehicle in the driveway which meant I would be able to access the main road from there! After this, I decided to hit the highway and avoid the sketchy side roads.
It was cool out, overcast and patchy rain. As soon as I hit the first section of dirt, the road was half graded, the other half was potholes. It continued like this for a short time before it smoothed out and would jump from gravel to pavement. The road is very wavy from settling, potholes that are guaranteed to tear open a tire and/or break a rim if you hit them correctly. So most of the time you have to watch for any of the obstacles on the road instead of enjoying the views. The traffic was not too bad, the majority being construction equipment and truckers.
Well this makes it easy…
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Brandon M, on Flickr
As soon as I jumped on the highway… wildlife!
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Brandon M, on Flickr
The first leg of the trip, I made it up to Coldfoot where I gassed up, and drove a bit north until I found a nice location along the river. Temps were likely in the 30s, and windy with light rain. I fueled up with a good dinner of spaghetti with squash and zucchini and followed up with some ice cream of course.
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Brandon M, on Flickr
In the morning I continued north. As I approached the mountains of Antigun Pass, the clouds got heavier and I saw the fresh snow on the peaks. The fall colors were also in full bloom all along the road, yellow, orange, fire red were an awesome contrast to the dark mountains and the fresh white snow. The snow was only an inch or two at the top of the pass. To the north of the pass, the roads were somewhat better with most sections under construction.
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Brandon M, on Flickr
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Brandon M, on Flickr
There were many sections of longer waits for a pilot vehicle for the one way roads. It continued raining all the way to Deadhorse. By then the rear half of the truck was covered in a thick wet mud from the road and the tailgate had a ¼” of mud that made it a lot of fun to get in there for food and supplies. There were multiple bikers that were pedaling their way to Deadhorse… it did not look appealing by any stretch of the imagination!
I made my way south the next day since it was nothing but rain along with more of the same in the forecast. Lots more mud, some great pictures, saw a single musk ox along the road and continued on.
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Brandon M, on Flickr
226-08-2017 06.58 by
Brandon M, on Flickr
As far as traveling the Dalton Highway:
In my opinion, you should not travel any road without good tires and a spare, a full tool kit, survival gear, etc. This is no different here. The road in the summer is quite a different beast from winter as far as conditions and traffic. And winter conditions will require better and more supplies. The road is only there to service Deadhorse and there is a lot of semi truck and construction traffic. You should yield to this traffic when needed. The road is monitored by truckers and the the transportation department by CB radio (channel 19 I think, there are signs along the road).
It is a rough road in areas, there are potholes that could probably rip a control arm from a vehicle if you hit them at speed. But as long as you dont mind swerving around the potholes and are able to, you should be fine. A lot of the road is paved (although pavement means harder potholes when you hit them). The roads here, and throughout Alaska and Canada have a roller coaster vibe to them from the permafrost. You could need a second spare here just as likely as many other places. There was plenty of traffic when I traveled the road so if you needed help, it would not be far out (likely different in the winter). The road would be very sketchy in the winter even with good winter tires. The 50 mph speed limit is more like a maximum speed due to corners, potholes, etc.
I only had one 5 gallon jerry can, I never had to use it even though my truck gets a measly 300’ish miles per tank. The longest stretch without gas is nearing 250 miles. You cannot get to Prudhoe Bay unless you schedule ahead with the oil company and pay them for a ride in their van to the bay. I had no interest in supporting that so I did not make it to the actual bay, but it was plenty cold and rainy in the whole city.
Along the route, there is camping all along the roads. There are a few designated campgrounds, everywhere else is right along the road at little rest areas mostly without any facilities.
I’ll work on the Alaska updates at some point.
