Wednesday, January 12, 2005
The First Day North
So, it took forever, we were waiting for the weather to upgrade from suicidal
trip to just crazy. There were whiteout conditions all along the dalton from
Prudhoe to the Yukon River. So, finally we left Fairbanks Tuesday morning. The
temperature: -44. Brr! However, up at Sag River DOT camp it's -18! Warm spell.
Here's one of my favorite signs in the state, it's just outside Livengood at the
start of the Dalton Highway:
It was a beautiful drive up, nothing like the previous days. However, it was
freezing cold. It took forever to warm the truck up. I didn't go by myself on
the drive, a Japanese exchange student named Atsushi came with me. He's going to
drive back with Ken so that Ken doesn't drive the road by himself. However, Ken
wasn't with us because he had to run back to his house one last time. So, hoping
Ken would catch up we took our time driving north taking pictures here and there
so the sign and the arctic circle of course but the amazing part of the day was
that sunrise and sunset were about three hours each. So, the sky was gorgeous.
Here's a tree I saw at Gobbler's Knob (is that a great name or what) somewhere north of the Arctic Circle:
So, we get to coldfoot and it's warmed up to -40 but it's a little breezy. BRRR!!
! Ken caught up and passed us when we were gassing up. Towing the snow machine
trailer meant that I couldn't go Fairbanks to Coldfoot on a single tank of gas (
240 miles). I wonder how much the temperature affected our fuel efficency, too.
Anyway, we left coldfoot and a half hour or so before Atigun Ken decided to take
a break. Atsushi and I went ahead. The aurora was dancing like crazy, a real
treat even with the super sunset. So, Atsushi and I decided to wait for Ken. So,
while looking for the next pullout we ended up in the avalanche do not stop area
of Atigun pass. So, through the pass we went. Boy, sketch central. Pretty
nervous going through there, lots of drifts all over not deep ones just enough
to get a little nervous. Plus there was truck traffic from the other direction.
Well, after a tense half hour we got through it to the other side. At the first
pull out outside the avalanche zone we waited for Ken. Here's a couple shots of
the aurora at the pull out.
The road coming down north of the pass was a little drifty but the bonus on the
weather was that it was 15-20 degrees warmer than the other side. So, we're now
in Sag River, 360 miles up the road from Fairbanks (in 13 hours) and about 120 from Deadhorse
and Prudhoe. Tomorrow the work begins and then we'll be staying in Deadhorse.
Catch you all later.
trip to just crazy. There were whiteout conditions all along the dalton from
Prudhoe to the Yukon River. So, finally we left Fairbanks Tuesday morning. The
temperature: -44. Brr! However, up at Sag River DOT camp it's -18! Warm spell.
Here's one of my favorite signs in the state, it's just outside Livengood at the
start of the Dalton Highway:
It was a beautiful drive up, nothing like the previous days. However, it was
freezing cold. It took forever to warm the truck up. I didn't go by myself on
the drive, a Japanese exchange student named Atsushi came with me. He's going to
drive back with Ken so that Ken doesn't drive the road by himself. However, Ken
wasn't with us because he had to run back to his house one last time. So, hoping
Ken would catch up we took our time driving north taking pictures here and there
so the sign and the arctic circle of course but the amazing part of the day was
that sunrise and sunset were about three hours each. So, the sky was gorgeous.
Here's a tree I saw at Gobbler's Knob (is that a great name or what) somewhere north of the Arctic Circle:
So, we get to coldfoot and it's warmed up to -40 but it's a little breezy. BRRR!!
! Ken caught up and passed us when we were gassing up. Towing the snow machine
trailer meant that I couldn't go Fairbanks to Coldfoot on a single tank of gas (
240 miles). I wonder how much the temperature affected our fuel efficency, too.
Anyway, we left coldfoot and a half hour or so before Atigun Ken decided to take
a break. Atsushi and I went ahead. The aurora was dancing like crazy, a real
treat even with the super sunset. So, Atsushi and I decided to wait for Ken. So,
while looking for the next pullout we ended up in the avalanche do not stop area
of Atigun pass. So, through the pass we went. Boy, sketch central. Pretty
nervous going through there, lots of drifts all over not deep ones just enough
to get a little nervous. Plus there was truck traffic from the other direction.
Well, after a tense half hour we got through it to the other side. At the first
pull out outside the avalanche zone we waited for Ken. Here's a couple shots of
the aurora at the pull out.
The road coming down north of the pass was a little drifty but the bonus on the
weather was that it was 15-20 degrees warmer than the other side. So, we're now
in Sag River, 360 miles up the road from Fairbanks (in 13 hours) and about 120 from Deadhorse
and Prudhoe. Tomorrow the work begins and then we'll be staying in Deadhorse.
Catch you all later.
