The Haul Road, as it was earlier called since all of the goods, supplies, equipment (like Caterpillar) were trucked over this road to the oil fields, is the furthest north road in Alaska. Its 414 miles spans forested hills, the snow-covered majesty of the Brooks Range and the grey flatness of the Arctic tundra. Services? Few and only several out houses for the last 225 miles. Condition? Sand, potholes, washboard, frost heaves, flying rocks. Travelers? Trucks, a few intrepid motorcycles and a few hardy travelers. Most car rental companies won’t allow their vehicles to travel this road - with good reason. Cracked windows, chipped paint and dirt that seeps in through any crack are endemic.
Drive slowly, wear seat belts, carry extra tires, food, a first aid kit, warm clothing, bedding, spare parts, keep your headlights on, and watch the road continuously and really slow down for the trucks.
Better yet, take a tour like we did.
The first thing you’ll notice is - the SNOW. Yes, we had about 5" of snow last night. Much of it has melted on the highway and is now slush. The road itself is 28’ wide, wide enough for two vehicles to pass each other, but, at times, we were driving down the path in the highway that was clear. There is so little traffic on this road that driving down the middle wasn’t a problem. There are reflectors on 5’ poles on each side for winter and night time traffic.
The pipeline is off to the left.
It was built in a furious 5 months in 1974 to open up the Prudhoe oil fields to exploration. It remained a road for the oil companies until the 1990’s when all but the last 8 miles were opened up to the public.
But, back to our trip. We arose early (seems like we do this in Alaska), had breakfast and were on our way back to Fairbanks today. The tour we signed up for was a flight to Deadhorse on the Arctic Ocean and then a 2-day drive in a van back to Fairbanks. Luckily we only had 4 in our group or the van might have felt much more crowded. This way, we could spread out and not feel cramped. (This picture was taken later in the trip, closer to Fairbanks where it had not snowed.)
The trip really divides into 3 parts: the tundra, the mountains and the forested hills. The tundra is the flat marshy land between the Arctic Ocean and the Brooks Range. Since it had snowed several inches last night, it was a white journey though this frozen land. We did see a few musk oxen grazing through the snow and a caribou or two off in the distance.
These 4 look shell-shocked - what in the world is a van doing out here?
I sure hope it’s warmer than this in Fairbanks.
But the ever present sight was the pipeline. Sometimes it is underground, in those spots which are not permafrost. But usually it is above ground, on metal uprights. Since the oil is about 140 - 170 degrees, if the pipeline were on the ground, it would melt the soil and the ice below and the pipeline would not be on a sturdy surface and might break.
Tundra with blue sky.
Those uprights are tall enough for most caribou to roam under. When the pipeline was proposed, environmentalists were afraid that the pipeline would disrupt caribou migrations and grazing but, nope, they just graze under it and it doesn’t seem to bother them. Well. at least the pipeline people say this.
Our driver kept cleaning our side windows but our back window - looks like mud.
Now, I’m sure you’re wondering - bathroom stops. Funny you should ask that. Not too many on this trip. Gary and I watched how much coffee we drank before we started the trip. The first one is 90 miles along the road but, on gravel roads with lots of snow and slush. that could be a long ways. Finally we hit the first bathroom stop, at Happy Valley, an airstrip that was built to land supplies for the building of the pipeline and the highway but is now used for hunters, tourists and who ever else comes this way.
There are people who live here and service the airport.
Here they are! ! ! 2 welcome sights. Well stocked.
I liked all of the huts out back where people could stay overnight. Note that some have heaters and some do not. I’m assuming that the ones with heaters cost more.
The second part of the trip is through the Brooks Mountain Range. By this time in our trip, the sun was out and the mountains covered in snow were absolutely glorious. My pictures don’t come close to capturing the beauty of the terrain we were traversing.
The pipeline comes up the pass too.
And, my favorite, at Antigun Pass looking back over the route we had taken.
Besides Norm our driver, the other two were Tom and Rosemary from San Jose. It was a fun crew traveling together.
Some people start at Fairbanks and plan to bike all the way to Deadhorse. Some fly to Deadhorse and bike back. Those that bike back have a much higher success rate - because they can’t turn back, home is forwards. Those starting from Fairbanks can turn back and head home. These two women were on the Deadhorse side of Antigun Pass and still had that to go.
They had just biked 2 miles in to a campsite which had bathrooms. Now they are biking out. 4 extra miles. Actually, the BLM manages this campsite and there were actually 1 RV and a group of 5 colorful tents and one large tent in the campground. We think they must all be out hiking.
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