Thursday July 8th, Mile 86 Overlook, Dalton Hwy, AK

180 Miles

HALLELUJAH!!! The sun has shone all day, and no rain, the first dry day on the Highway…and we have the tyre mended. Its been a great day!

The day started with the journey through the Atigun Pass, the most breathtaking scenery, even on the return trip.

We meandered back to Deadfoot, having a major holdup with roadworks. They are preparing a 25 mile section to be sealed by the end of summer and the road had been closed for 12 hours last night. Evidently the 5 year plan is to have the whole highway sealed, but they are 10 years behind schedule.

Spotted a moose and a wolf this morning, although the wolf was too quick for a photo.

After the wet and filthy conditions we had experienced on the way through, today all we got was dust! We are quite concerned with the state of Ruakiwi, it is like someone has thrown cement all over her and very thick in places….it is going to be a long session in the car wash in Fairbanks trying to loosen the stuff off as it has really set hard.

Deadfoot is a dusty and grimy hub of activity, but they have a tyre repair centre, so first stop was to get that sorted. While that was getting done we had lunch in the café, along with truckers and fellow travelers including a number of bikers. They love the road.

$50 and a repaired tyre, and reinstalled and we were back on the road by mid afternoon.

We were stopped on the road and had to pull over and wait for 20 minutes as an oversized load was coming…it sure was! They were transporting a generator weighing 120 ton, 20 foot wide, 240 foot long to Deadhorse, a trip that will take them 4 to 5 days. There was one huge truck pulling the trailer and 3 more huge trucks behind pushing it up the hills. It was quite a sight. Checking out on the photo there were 108 wheels excluding the pusher trucks…hope they didn’t get a puncture! Although the pushers carried heaps of spares. 

Tonight we are camped in a big quarry that is about 400 feet above the haul road with it and the pipeline stretching for miles in both directions. The best thing about it is there are no mosquitoes….we have learnt that if you can find some breeze you are likely to avoid them. We can see for hundreds of miles in all directions and the hills have been burnt off with lightning strik fires which are just a normal occurrence up here and what nature needs to keep the life cycle going. Everywhere the fireweed is in bloom, painting the hills in bright pink.