After a very lazy day yesterday, today I went to the Arctic Circle !!! However, I went on a tour bus, because I had heard so many people telling me that the condition of the Dalton Highway was impassible to anything but and SUV, and that Elsie wouldn;t make it past the first section of dirt road. So I decided to go and have a look at the conditions first, and if they really were that bad, then I would not take Elsie.
Result ? Had a fun day out, and am taking Elsie up the day after tomorrow, as long as the weather holds !!
Yes, conditions really weren;t that bad. There is a lot of frost heave on the sealed sections, but a lot of the packed dirt sections are OK. There is some washboard, but there is really only one really bad 10 mile section where they are doing roadworks, and that will just have to be negotiated. Will tell you how Elsie handles it in a couple of days !
Today was an early start, having to be at the tour bus departure point by 6 am, but as it never gets dark here, it isn't as if you have to get up in the dark of the night !! The dirt starts maybe 1 1/2 hours out of Faribanks, where we stopped at the home of Joe and Nancy Carlson who live in a place called Joy, and came from Minnesota in 1967. They have raised a large family, and also adopted others, and fostered others - One of those lovely stories. They have no mains power or water, so are totally self sufficient out there, but stopping there is a real "joy" - They love to chat, and have so many stories to tell. Just a great little coffee beak.
Heading on up the road, we stopped at a section of the Pipeline and learned a lot about that, and how they have to avoid thawing the permafrost. It is really complicated, but in fact each of the 78,000 sets of pipe supports on the pipeline have an ammonia refrigerent and evaporative system that circulates within each pipe and prevents the warmth from the oil reaching the permafrost and thawing it - Very clever. The silver finned tops to each pipe are the evaporative fins to cool the refrigerant. Plus they have expansion capabilities built in both for heat and cold expansion, and for the earthquakes that are common in this area.
From there we went on across the Yukon River which has only just broken up - 2 weeks ago it was solid ice (which was why I couldn't go over the Klondike Highway on the way north - The ferry at Dawson wasn't even in the water then, let alone operating.) We stopped there at a camp for a lunch break, before heading up the Ice Truckers Highway towards the Arctic Circle. Some of the steep hills are those that, on the TV show, the trucks have trouble climbing when they are covered in ice and snow - They are pretty steep even in the dry !! But it is really good to see the road first hand. It is wild country, and I can just imagine what it must be like in winter. One section as we neared the Circle is almost totally treeless - It is just arctic tundra, and as we found out later when Chris, our guide and driver, got out a trowel and dug down into it, the rock hard permafrost layer is just 2-3 inches below the apparantly boggy surface !And it really is hard, I can assure you !
At the Circle, being a tour, we had to do something "interesting" as we crossed the line, so one of the girls suggested we all link arms and cross together ! So that is what we did. I shall do it more salubriously when I cross with Elsie !!!! Anyway, it was fun, apart from the millions of very large mosquitoes that are rapidly increasing in their numbers with the current warm weather.
7 1/2 hours to the circle, and 7 1/2 hours back - It makes for a long day. I hope going up with Elsie won't take as long. But the trucks certainly rule the road - Everyone one has a UHF radio on Channel 19, and trucks are continually coming up behind and telling you to pull over, they are coming through. All very polite, but it is obvious whose highway it is !!! One driver was an Aussie, and as he passed, he asked our driver if he had any Australians on board. When our driver said yes, the truck driver asked if they were REAL Australians, from Queensland !!! We had to explain that one to our driver !!
Once again, the new green of the Birch, Aspen, and Willow trees, compared to the dark green of the black Spruce, is stunning, and forms a patchwork quilt over the landscape. We saw a few moose today, but that was about all - Animals are scarcer on the Dalton because as you head north, there just isn't the vegetation to attract or support large numbers.
Interesting day, great to finally go on the famous Dalton Highway, and looking forward to tackling it in Elsie. There is no doubt it will be a challenge, but I think it will be a rewarding one.
Some photos of today here - Unfortunately out of the coach there is a lot of reflection off the windows, so my apologies. There will be some better straight ahead ones of the road, the hills, and the pipeline too - I was unable to get those today from the coach.
https://picasaweb.google.com/117739775480775657932/FairbanksToArcticCircle1?authkey=Gv1sRgCKjF44eM2NeuswE#
