Alaska 2009 - Day 6

Wow the Artic Circle is cold. Who would have thought? That was probably the coldest night I have ever had camping. I was bundled in my bag, long sleeve shirt, pants and wool socks on, with only my mouth showing. But hey I just spent a night in the Artic Circle. Kick Ass! I was woken up by a truck rolling in to empty the camp garbage can. Someone entered the campground late last night, which makes two campers in the whole campground. Still spooky, but now that there is more sunlight the eeriness has worn off.

I spend a little time organizing my crap in LC and then we head north up the road. The road is crazy. Up and down the mountains. The road goes straight up and down the other side of these hills. It is like driving a roller coaster. The road, when paved is not that smooth, and there are plenty of wheel bending potholes. The truckers are not as common this morning, so driving is easier from that aspect. We see a bunch of hunters scoping out the valleys. The only wild life that we see is a porcupine, a quail and a couple of bunnies. I think everything else is dead and in some dudes freezer.

Coldfoot is our destination for breakfast, and we will make a determination on continuing up to Prudhoe Bay or head back into Fairbanks. I was not sure what to expect from Coldfoot, being so remote. When we found it, the parking lot was a mud mess. The building was not exciting; it had a porch and a couple of rooms for eating. One of the areas was marked “Truckers Only”. It was empty at first and it quickly filled up. We had the Coldfoot buffet, which was actually not that bad. I had some meat and eggs casserole, some bacon, a sausage, some eggs, rye toast, hash browns, cottage cheese and sliced fruit. Looking at that list, it sounds like I ate a ton, I actually did not. I more or less sampled most of the items that looked appealing to me. They cooked pancakes and French toast if you asked them. Not a bad spread. I would recommend that anyone coming through should stop here for food.

We are both very tired, but willing to drive north as long as the road is in good condition. We know that LC can make it up there no matter what, but sometimes the risk outweighs the reward. I do not want to hurt her. There is a pass that we would have to go over, called Atigun Pass and the Milepost says that it is treacherous. We start talking to some hunters and they are about useless. I talk with the waitress and she is really nice but does not know what the road conditions are. She knows that it snowed up on the pass and people were having trouble getting over the pass yesterday. A man tells us that motorcycles cannot make it, but he does not know much more than that. I finally hit the jackpot and start talking with a guy that works for the D.O.T. He says that we could make it over the pass from the looks of LC, but it would be slow and we might get stuck. I tell him about the shocks and he then says that he would not recommend that we go north. The road would beat us up and without a good suspension he thinks we might have trouble.

The decision is made for us. We came too late in the year. We did not bring chains for the pass. But hey 259 miles north of Fairbanks is a respectable northern destination. We both probably had about 6 cups of coffee trying to make that decision. We learn about a Visitor center in Coldfoot so we gas up and head over there. On our way I make a note of the exact spot where I went furthest north. Someday I will be back and my goal will be to go further. I am not that bummed, in fact I am excited that I was able to make it this far.

The Visitor center is really nice. It looks like a lodge and is fairly new. It has all sorts of cool displays about the boreal forest that surrounds us. We read up on how the permafrost affects the trees size, and the landscape around us. We then talk to the rangers about where we should spend the next couple of days. We know that we do not want to spend our time in Fairbanks. They recommend Manley or Chena hot springs. Chena has a better resort so we decide that is where we will spend the next two days.

The drive back down the Dalton is uneventful. It is rough, and there is no wildlife at all. The pipeline is cool, the mountains are awesome, and we are quiet because we are exhausted. In the city of Fox, my companion buys a six pack and we make the 60 mile drive out to Chena hot springs resort. The resort is not exactly what we expected, but we get a room with twin beds. The last cheap room, boy are we lucky, the other rooms are $500 a night. We spread our crap out in the room and go outside to a bench to have a beer. Pretty soon we are surrounded by people talking to us about Alaska. Some guy tells me about the virtues of absinthe and how clear headed he is when he drinks is. He actually tells me this twice. It is pretty cool meeting people.

I meet a couple named Mike and Molly. They are flying out tomorrow and need to drink all of their beer, so we decide to help them. They both grew up in Tennessee and moved to Jackson Hole Wyoming last year. They work at banks and earn enough to take trips to places in the U.S. After we finish their beers, we head to the restaurant so that we can have dinner. Hey there is a bar in the restaurant so we belly up with our new found friends. On tap is 6 flavors or Alaskan: Oatmeal Stout, Pale, IPA, White, Amber, and some other type that I forget. I have the amber, and so does Molly. My companion and Mike have a scotch. I forget all about eating, my main concern is beer and interesting conversation.

As I am talking to Mike and Molly, there is a window that is behind them. All of a sudden a huge moose goes walking by the window. It startles me, and everyone sees it, so they look out and exclaim how weird that is. The bartender Shawn, says that happens several times a day. Several beers turn into many beers for me. I stick with beer only, but the rest hit the Tequila and pretty soon we are having drunk conversations. We bid them farewell and best wishes. I am too buzzed to write my blog, so I am writing it the next day. This place has internet so I will upload later. I cannot wait to try out the relaxing hot springs.