I have been trying to get John to write a "wagon master's" report as we go along, but he has deferred until now. Here is his report on the Dalton Highway and the Arctic Circle.
To my fellow bicycle riders and friends.
Well, the proposed bicycle ride from Livengood to the Arctic Circle was, in a word, a bust. Dixie and I headed out from Fairbanks to the start of the Dalton highway under grey skies and light rain. The Dalton, also known as the Haul Road, runs from Livengood, a former successful gold mining town, to Prudhoe Bay and the town of Deadhorse, the beginning of the Alaskan pipeline. The pipeline actually follows the road the entire way and was the reason for building the road in the first place, to service the pipeline. My intended ride was from Livengood to the Arctic Circle, a distance of 115 miles. The plan was to get to Livengood and check out the conditions of the Haul Road the day before I planned to start riding. I wanted to complete the ride in two days. We stopped for lunch at a road turnout for a trailhead where Dixie struck up a conversation with a fellow pulling a camping trailer. He told Dixie that he went down the Dalton a few miles and turned around the first chance he got figuring it wasn’t worth beating up his truck and trailer. This was not encouraging!
The next stop was Livengood. It is shown on the map and there is a road sign directing you to Livengood 2 miles off the highway. The sign also said there were no services. Actually, there was no town. We came to a fork in the road and no indication which way to Livengood. Following the advice of Yogi Berra when you come to a fork in the road, take it. Dixie suggested we go left, so I went right. After about two more miles of very muddy road climbing up a ridgeline, a truck appeared coming toward us. I rolled down my window to ask him how much further. This wasn’t difficult to manage since the distance between our two trucks as we passed was about 4 inches. He gave us a grin and advised me that we should have turned left at the fork. I asked him how much further I needed to continue on this road before I could turn around and he thought about 4 miles. Well, I managed to get us turned around before going that far and we headed back to Livengood. What we found when we arrived was a barely standing cabin with a sign in the window with a gun painted on it that said “Think Again – Keep Out” and what amounted to an outhouse. So much for the town of Livengood. I don’t think any good liven has happened here in a long long time.
We turned around back toward the main highway (I use that term loosely) and headed for the actual beginning of the Dalton. You knew it was the beginning because the sign said so and the pavement ended and the dirt started. It also had a road sign showing the distance to Deadhorse, 414 miles. This, I repeat, is a dirt road barely two lanes wide and no shoulder.
We sat looking at the road in the light but steady rain. I was beginning to think I may have miscalculated but suggested that we drive on a ways and see if it and/or the weather improved. Long story short, nothing improved. The road actually started as gravel with an impressive washboard surface to it. After about 15 miles it turned to dirt, which at this point was turning to mud. We also began some very steep descents and corresponding climbs of at least 8-10%. I actually put the truck into four-wheel drive to maintain control. Perhaps not absolutely necessary, but it felt better. By now we had a few “big rigs” (as in 18 wheelers plus) go by leaving their calling card in the form of mud decoration down the entire side of our truck and camper.
As we continued on it became obvious that I had seriously miscalculated the nature of this road and weather conditions that made what would have been a seriously challenging bicycle ride actually dangerous. I realized that I had neither the proper bicycle nor the right clothing. This was clearly mountain bike terrain or a heavy duty touring bike with big tires. Even on my cross bike, I wouldn’t be able to maintain stability on the muddy surface in the middle of the road, much less if I had to go to the shoulder where the mud was looser and thicker. I didn’t have the right tires. Even if the weather was dry, the loose gravel would be equally as difficult. I also realized that it would be a challenging ride just from a topography perspective. These were some impressive climbs under any conditions and having been riding in a truck for two months, not on a bike, I wasn’t going to be able to accomplish this ride in two days. I came to the conclusion; no matter the attitude, this was going to be an ordeal not an adventure.
At about an hour into the drive, we decided to drop the idea of me riding my bike on this road and to just continue on driving. Our first objective would be the Yukon River, about another 50 miles, and then see how we felt about going on to the Arctic Circle.
Coming over a rise and seeing the Yukon River below was an impressive sight. This was one of three points along the road where fuel was available. The service area looked like something out of Mad Max. It consisted of an old wood building in the middle of a large dirt yard surrounded by trucks, various pieces of equipment and abandoned machinery and materials. Fuel was stored in a large above ground tank with a pump for diesel and one for gas. I’ll omit the price because it is painful to think about.
We fueled up and decided to head on to the Arctic Circle, about another 45 miles or about 1.5 hours of driving. Although the posted speed limit is 50 MPH my average speed was about 35 MPH. Faster and you risk having rocks hit your windshield when oncoming trucks go by. Incidentally, we did hit stretches of paved highway, five miles, maybe eight miles etc. It made you wonder why this particular section? Did a truck simply have a load of asphalt it needed to get rid of??
We arrived at the Arctic Circle about 9:30 PM. The sky had cleared, the sun was shining and there was a beautiful double rainbow. It seemed like early afternoon.
We took pictures at the sign indicating the Arctic Circle and I was stunned at the volume of mud on the truck and camper that was now beginning to dry. I questioned if I would ever get it clean. There were some cleared out areas in the trees off the highway where we decided to spend the night. There were maybe a half dozen other camper type vehicles. We had dinner and stayed up until after midnight and it seemed like two o’clock in the afternoon. The mosquitoes were ferocious even inside the camper. We realized later that we had left a screen open a crack.
Up at 5 AM, having surrendered any sleep to the mosquitoes, we decided to head back to Fairbanks. Although Deadhorse was never in our plans, there simply isn’t anything there worth seeing. We did think about Coldfoot, which was another 60 miles north. We decided the scenery wasn’t going to change and putting another 100 plus miles of dirt road on the truck and us didn’t make sense. So we returned to Fairbanks.
Although the Arctic Circle bicycle ride was a bust, it was an adventure just driving to the Arctic Circle. It proved to me the value of our truck camper. It has been the perfect combination for this trip, allowing us to follow roads like the Dalton and to camp in out- of-the-way places. It has served us well.
Can the Dalton be done on a bicycle? Absolutely! It does require a bit of planning, time and the right equipment. Is it worth it? Only for bragging rights. There are certainly prettier and more scenic places to ride that are just as challenging.
Tomorrow I’m riding the Chena Hot Springs Bicycle Classic with the Fairbanks Bicycle Club. This is a more modest ride, 35 miles from town to the hot springs on the Chena River but with 300 riders. It should a fun ride. We got in touch with friends of a San Diego neighbor and I’ll be joining him on the ride.
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