To the Arctic Circle

Day 15 – June 14, 2010
Mileage today: 423
Total Trip Mileage: 5,164

Today we are riding up the Dalton Highway to The Arctic Circle. The Dalton Highway is the road that was built to support the construction of the Alaska Pipeline. It was fully opened to the public to drive in 1994. The road is mostly gravel, with a few paved sections. These paved sections are totally random. I can’t really figure out why they chose to pave the sections they did, rather than start on one end and work towards the other.



Anyhow, here’s what the Dalton looks like:





And here is the famed Pipeline:



I suppose even the Jedi could appreciate the engineering of the Death Star (star wars reference).

And here is the first attempt at taking the above picture:



That sucker is a lot taller than it looks.

Gassing up.



This is where we sort-of left my credit card. Let the lady hold it to turn on the pump, then paid cash and forgot to get it back, or rather, the lady forgot to give it back. It should be in route to us in Fairbanks via a Tour guide bus driver. I suppose we will see how this goes…

Crossing over the Yukon River - I swear we have crossed this river like 5 times. It spans the whole width of Alaska Left to Right. I think it is like 2,000 miles long.





Another 60 miles north of the Yukon River, and we’ve reached our destination!

The Arctic Circle:



Yeah, I know… we drove 400 miles to get the pic in front of a sign. But, have you ever been to the Arctic Circle? We have.

Then back to camp UofA- Dorm, where we discover (while trying to purchase a pizza) that the credit card is missing, and the above mentioned plan of recovery is set in motion! Good times. We are headed south into Denali tomorrow.

jordan