We Did The Dalton, But The Dalton Nearly Did Us!

Well, here we go on a 4 day return trip along the 414 mile Dalton Highway, a mixture of gravel, mud & some tarmac.
This is the reason for the road, the Trans Alaska Oil pipeline which runs from Prudhoe Bay to Valdez, some 800 miles of engineering brilliance completed in 1997 http://www.alyeska-pipe.com/TAPS/PipelineFacts.

The first day is fine & the road is not difficult so our confidence improves, you have to watch out for the 18 wheelers which can travel very fast particularly down hill.
The drivers are however very courteous & always move way over to the other side of the road as they pass, Trucks are King here!!!

The scenery is however fantastic with the huge open spaces combined with picturesque lakes & wooded hills.

Lunch is at the 'Hot Spot' cafe just after the Yukon river crossing, we deserve one of their famous 'Big Burgers', thanks ladies that was great!

A stop at Finger Mountain requires the helmets to remain on, mosquitoes are big & plentiful.

We have now crossed the Artic Circle so another landmark is ticked off with an appropriate stop.

The vistas improve as we approach the Brooks Mountain range along with the ever present pipeline.

Our stop is at Wiseman a small community established in 1908, we stay in a small cabin run by a German couple who live here all year, they are pretty self sufficient with Moose & Bear included in their diet.

Antlers of prey killed for food lay around the house & they also home educate their two children, no mobile phone signal here!!

If you are up this way this is a great place to stay, they are also open in the winter with great views of the Aurora Borealis.

Day 2 begins well but this section of the road to Deadhorse is much tougher with some roadworks plus very sticky & slippery mud, It's not raining but they wet the road to keep the dust down particularly where they are working.

The views through The Atigun Pass however make it all worth it (well almost!).

At around 90 miles from our destination things take a turn for the worse, I decide to put my heated jacket on but drive off with my Krieger Belt on the back of the bike, after 60 miles I realise it's missing. Oh s*** no pasport or camera!!

I turn around & re-trace my steps and close to the location where I stopped I find John also going away from Deadhorse but he does have my bag, a kiss is in order.

Some cyclists going the other way had found the bag & passed it onto another biker who then gave it to John, BIG, BIG thanks to all of them as I never had a chance to speak to them myself.

The problem now is that we had both used extra fuel & I could not get to our destination running out with 6 miles to go, luckily John made it & returned with a cannister of gas for me.

There is no shelter here on the road & it's not the place to break down as you chill very quickly, fortunately my wait was only 40 minutes.

We reach our Hotel around 8.30pm, all the buildings at Deadhorse are removable including the accommodation made from portacabins. 

This is a dry town but we did bring a couple of beers with us to celebrate, it could have been such a different story!!

Deadhorse is a work-site & the amount of temporary buildings & plant is amazing, all the standing water cannot soak into the ground due to permafrost but does evaporate in summer.

Before we start back along the highway we take a short bus trip to Prudhoe Bay itself & the Arctic Ocean, you can't go on this road by yourself due to security with the oil wells & processing plants.

At the Arctic Ocean we can get off the bus, we would have gone for a swim but the sea is frozen, we walk & lay on it instead.

Shortly after leaving Deadhorse we came across 2 guy's from Texas who were riding their horses to Mexico for charity, they do however have an RV & horsebox for support as they can only travel about 60 miles a day www.ridefororphans.org.

What a difference a day makes, the road seems much easier, it's still muddy & we have some light rain but we also have more grip, don't expect to travel this road however & keep clean.

The last leg begins after a night in Coldfoot Camp & the number of bikes travelling the route seems to be increasing, this is also the main half-way fuel stop.

This road is a great ride but you have to expect a variety of road conditions as well as changes day by day depending on roadworks & the weather.

We reach the end & take a last picture at the sign that marks the start, we can now say we did the Dalton!!

Next stop the jet wash, beer, food & bed.

Fairbanks & Ready for The Big Ride North

The drive to Fairbanks is along the Alaska Highway again & not the most interesting route, the mountains in the distance give a scenic background to some long straight sections.

The town itself is smaller than I expected, it does however have it's own brewery so we sample a couple at Soapy Smiths in downtown.

The car parks are equipped with sockets for block heaters to stop the employees engines from freezing, a standard requirement in this part of the world during the long winter months.

The architecture is also a mixture of old & new with 'Dutch Barn' style properties being popular, old cars often seem to be left outside to rot. 

Tomorrow we head North again towards the Artic.

The Top Of The World Highway Into Alaska

To leave Dawson City towards Alaska you have to take the Ferry across the Yukon, they were going to build a bridge but decided that the $3m was too much, ever since the ferry costs the town around $1m to run per annum, politicians here also make poor decisions.

Once across the river it's on to 'The Top of The World Highway' with about 90 miles of gravel, it's another great road which rises to around 1400m.

The surface is not to bad & John is becoming a gravel master, the US boarder post is approached around the halfway point.

The Border officials are very pleasant & we can take pictures, here you can see me half in Canada & half in the US, which is the better half?

Welcome to Alaska, the sign says it all!

The road passes through the Forty Mile River region & we see gold miners along the way complete with diggers & divers reaching Chicken with gold dredger No. 4 from the Klondike on display.

Chicken is a small 'gold rush' town with only 10 residents according to the 2010 census, the original name was supposed to be Ptarmigan but they could not agree on the spelling. 

Our destination of Tok is reached shortly after, time for a beer.

Dawson City & The Yukon

Leaving Whitehorse we intended to visit the Transport Museum but as it didn't open until 10am we could only look at the DC3 outside on it's rotating column, this is supposed to be the world largest weather vane.

Riding through The Yukon you just can't believe this place, the scale of the scenery & the solitude is unlike anything we have experienced before & it goes on for what seems like forever!

This is Five Finger rapids on the Yukon River, the stern-wheeler boats that sailed between Whitehorse & Dalton City used a wire rope fixed to the bank to assist them with this tricky bit of navigation & pull them through safely.

Along the route are occasional lodges in the middle of nowhere, one sells cinnamon buns the size of a loaf of bread and at another in Moose Creek John takes a liking to a Wolf skin that would make a great bike seat cover.

We stop for a few pictures at The Dempster Highway junction, unfortunately we can't take this road to Inuvik as we intend to travel the Dalton instead, we also meet the UK rep for the Yukon Tourist Board in the UK and we offer our services to help promote the area!!

The Downtown Hotel in Dawson City provides our bed for the night or should I call it dusk as the sun does not set until 12.30am & rises again at 4.00am with the temperature around a constant 18 degrees.

Our Hotel is also the home of the 'Sourtoe Cocktail' if you want to know more read here:  http://www.sourtoecocktailclub.com/rip.html

This was the centre of the Klondike gold rush & the town still has many original buildings as well as dirt streets & wooden board-walks, as usual the Governor did all right with his accommodation.

Around Whitehorse

What a great place with a nice vibe about it, we spend the day off the bikes & taking in some of the local sites, the City has a real frontier town appearance which is very attractive.

Street art both official & unofficial is spread around the town & it's good to see that even out of the way places can appreciate a great musician.

Our first visit was to the S.S. Klondike a restored stern-wheeler that in the 1930's used to operate from Whitehorse to Dawson City carrying provisions & returning with silver ore, there was also accommodation for around 32 first class passengers on-board.

Early tourist were very privileged & expected luxury all the way, how's this for an observation lounge.

The steam boiler used wood for fuel with restocking required every 50km, there was plenty of storage room for cargo and the flat bottom was designed for the shallow waters.
If you are ever up this way (there are direct flights from Frankfurt) this museum is well worth a visit S.S. Klondike.

Whitehorse is also home for the Yukon's only craft brewery http://yukonbeer.com/ so we have to visit, the tour explains the brewing process & finishes with a sampling of the 8 regular Beers plus their own Vodka.

This is the re-cycled bottles being checked by hand following the washing process, it's good to see Molson & Budweiser bottles finally getting a decent refill!!

Canadians have a sense of humour with businesses often displaying amusing signs like this.

Watson Lake To Whitehorse the Yukon Capital

Our accommodation in Watson Lake was the old US Air Force accommodation from 1942 when the road was built, it was moved from the airfield some time ago & is now run as a Lodge by Michael a German gent, this place is spotless.

Although Watson Lake is a very small town it's famous for it's 'Signpost Forest' started by a homesick GI working on the Alaska Highway, there are now over 72 thousand signs, pretty impressive for such an out of the way place. Watson Lake Signpost Forest

Unfortunately we are not prepared (how unusual!) and have no sign of our own to add :-(, someone should open a local shop where you can get one made up!

As the forest grows the locals add more posts, it's now huge & difficult to show the extent in a couple of pictures, we also can't find many British ones.
John decides to sit below an appropriate one for him 'Hot Sexy' (just to confirm, We always have separate beds!).

The weather turns very wet for most of the journey although we stop at Rancheria Falls on the way for a brief look.

One thing to look out for around these parts are steel decked bridges, in the wet these things are lethal for motorbikes with the one at Teslin being the longest & worst yet, the sign says it all!!!

Arrival in Whitehorse is around 5pm & the rain has stopped, 'Garmin' takes us down a side road into town where float planes are parked, we miss one taking off & another landing so have to make do with a stationary shot of an old Beaver.

Evening meal is at 'The Klondike Rib & Salmon BBQ' where we meet Tracy & Dave from Australia, we have met them several times on the road as they are travelling on a Yamaha Royal Star.