Category: Alaska and Canada

This post is the last for our journey North. Today we arrived at Deadhorse and the end of the Dalton Highway. Tomorrow we will set foot in Prudhoe Bay, touch the Beaufort Sea, and swim in the Arctic Ocean. We have been traveling now for 72 days and have covered 10,700 miles to this point. It seems like yesterday that we started, yet we have done and seen much up to this point. And today is the end of this portion of the trip.

We drove around Deadhorse for a bit and stopped at the general store to get some stickers and mail some postcards at the post office. We did finally see some beautiful caribou (there is no hunting in this oil town).

The place reminded me of my time in Iraq and Afghanistan at the bases there. Connexes everywhere, industrial yards, big equipment. It was dusty, industrial, and was there for one thing, extracting oil. It was calculated that there were over 3 billion barrels of oil in the reserves up here and about half has been extracted. Initially the oil reserves 6-8k down were at 4000 psi, making extraction easier as it spewed from the Christmas trees (well valves at the top) and into an extensive piping structure that collected in the pump house where it was separated from water and debris and pumped into the Alaska pipeline for the 600 mile journey to Valdez. Today about half is left and the pressures are around 2k psi and fracking and other methods are being used to squeeze the oil from the wells. There is still another reserve a hundred miles to the east, but that is in a preserve and has not been exploited yet.

There are two places to eat in Deadhorse, Brooks Camp hotel and The Aurora Hotel. Both are cafeteria style with a planned buffet and salad bar. They were serving steaks and seafood and we decided it was a night to celebrate our final mile and the beginning of the first mile of our Pan American Highway. Dinner started at 4:30 so we found a place to park and cleaned up, took a nap, and relaxed in the 55 degree weather.

Brooks Camp Restaurant did not disappoint. Again, this reminded me of those years I was deployed where the work was long and hard for 12-14 hours per day and the highlights were the meal breaks where we could get good food and feel a bit normal life. We shared a huge steak (the size of a whole plate), ate a fresh salad, some huge fried shrimp, chicken cordon blue, and potatoes and mushrooms. We spent an hour in there, eating at a table, reminiscing of the journey so far, and planning for the next day.

Back at camp, we settled in for the night. We spotted a red fox running around camp. He was cautious of us, but while I was outside he got within 25 feet of the truck. Here are some additional photos for the day.
https://www.overlandadventureexcursions.com/photos-albums/nggallery/album/20250813-deadhorse-and-the-dalton-day-4

We hiked a trail at Marion Creek Campground but only made it in about a mile. We were a bit unprepared with our shoes. The trail headed up from the cheek to a beautiful forest filled with blueberries, cranberries, and dozens of types of mushrooms and then started to get a bit mushy. Generally hiking in the boreal forest is like hiking on a mattress, but it got a bit boggy. There was a trail crew we passed working on a multi-year project to create a boardwalk over the mushy sections, and it was in its early stages. There was still a mile or so to go and we had not brought our waders. We were about an hour in, our shoes were soaked, and we hadn’t brought the pups (fortunately for Maggie especially). We hiked back out and cleaned up and got on the road.

Marion Creek is at the southern end of the Brooks Range and the mountains there were lower. As we drove the range grew in height with towering granite mountains 6-8k in height. We followed a river and the pipeline for a hundred miles until a rest stop before Antigun Pass made a note we were moving into Arctic Tundra, where no longer trees were present because the temperature and sunlight are neither high/long enough for trees to photosynthesize enough to create wood or bark. The pass and mountains are gorgeous.

We continued onward down the other side to the northern slope for an hour or so. We started looking for a campground about 100 miles north of Deadhorse, but things were scarce and what was available was filled with people decked out in camo and hunting gear. It turns out it was Caribou season.

We did find a huge pull out with space and I talked with a couple of hunters who had gotten a large bull. They said that 0-5 miles from the road is Archery tags only and ride was 5+ miles in. They were hunting with rifle and had hiked over 5 miles to get theirs. We talked for a bit and I found out one was from Palmer and the other was from Valdez. They educated me on the harvesting and pack out of the meat and rack. Pretty cool. We hadn’t seen caribou yet out here on the Dalton, and the hunting explained it.

Camp was nice and I enjoyed fighting the mosquitos and watching the sun make its way nearly horizontally across the tundra. One cool thing I found the next morning while out looking for a place to dig a hole was an already set up outhouse with a view. Bonus (shout out to Carl).

Here are some additional photos from the day.
https://www.overlandadventureexcursions.com/photos-albums/nggallery/album/20250812-dalton-highway-day-3

We camped in a huge gravel pit recommended by iOverlander. There was no one around and it was about a mile off of the Dalton Highway, around a hill, and you could barely any traffic from the trucks. It was one of those places that has utter silence with the exception of birds and ground hogs chirping. I took the pups for a good long hike around the quarry and we found some other great camp spots way up on top with 360 degree views. Off to the edge was a huge red raspberry patch so I picked a handful for Kathy.

We got off to an early start and followed a section of the old highway for a couple of miles before rejoining the main route. Not sure why a new road was cut around this section, but I’m sure there were reasons.

We drove for about 2 hours before we reached a millennia known landmark called Finger Rock. The location was used by hunters for thousands of years to watch for game crossing the Kanuti River valley. Another 30 minutes down the road we reached the official Arctic Circle pull off. It had a nice 4/seasons display showing how people and animals survive up here. It turns out summer growing season is only 60-90 days.

The Dalton Highway has some construction and some semi truck traffic. It is not as bad as people have made it out to be. There are sections that we paved and sections that are dirt. Both have their issues but the dirt is better to drive on with a few washboards and some minor pot holes. The pavement is another matter. The potholes in the pavement are deep and must be avoided and the frost heaves are abundant. It’s like riding a mini roller coaster.

We arrived in Coldfoot, the only truck stop above the Arctic Circle. We visited a very nice multiagency visitors center (BLM, Forest service, and National park Service) that had very friendly staff and great displays. We picked a couple of stickers and postcards and looked around a bit.

And then we filled up with diesel…at $7.50 per gallon. Dang. We are headed to the oil fields of Prudhoe Bay, but the oil is piped down to Valdez, loaded into tankers, shipped to Seattle, loaded into a refinery, and then once refined, the product is loaded back onto ships or trains, sent to Anchorage, and then trucked north to almost where it originated. Crazy. It’s not an everyday thing, but I pity the folks that live here.

We found a great BLM campground at Marion Creek that has free firewood, is quiet, and has a descent amount of space in the campsites. Plus it was only $12/night before the interagency discount (NPS annual pass).

Today we will hike a trail to a waterfall and then head north another 100 miles or so. We have 240 miles left to Prudhoe Bay.

Her are some additional photos from the day.
https://www.overlandadventureexcursions.com/photos-albums/nggallery/album/20250811-dalton-highway-coldfoot

It rained all night, pretty hard, and we woke up to a pool behind the campsite and a wet muddy road. We packed up and headed north towards Fairbanks. We stopped along the way at a quirky bar called Skinny Dicks. We hoped they sold burgers, but nope, just drinks and some funny shirts and adult humor fun. We got a laugh.

Next stop was Fairbanks, groceries, and some gas. I was still craving a burger and tried a local place. We struck out in the first, as it was Sunday and closed. We walked to another that had good reviews called Mommas kitchen. It turns out Mommas kitchen was an offshoot to Joes bar and joes bar was a dive bar, like a cross between a VFW and and the Elks club. The food was ok, not 4.5 stars like Yelp said.

About 90 minutes later we made it to the start of the Dalton Highway. 410 Miles north to Prudhoe bay and the Arctic Ocean, and that’s Mile 0 of the Pan American Highway. To get here we just passed 10k miles of exploring the western USA, Canada, and Alaska.

We will be traveling the Dalton for the next 6-8 days. We are camped in a gravel pit on the top of a mountain about 100 miles from the Arctic Circle. We will probably camp there at the BLM campground.

Kathy found another moose.

We camped in a glorified parking lot that the state of Alaska charges $10 for camping just below Independence mine. There’s not a lot of pull offs here for camping and it was 10 pm when we pulled in, so it worked. There’s view was impressive. The good thing is we paid for the site so when we pulled in to the state park a mile up the road, the receipt worked for parking there too.

Independence Mine was an interesting park to visit. It was small compared to the Kennecott operation in McCarthy, but it had some interesting aspects. And kudos to the entrepreneurs, engineers, and miners of almost a century ago. The extraction process for gold removed 97% of the gold from the ore, which was pretty impressive. I did a little mile or two hike up in the high valley and enjoyed walking in the spongy trails with alpine flowers. The pass is only 3800 feet, but that’s high by AK standards

We drove over Hatcher Pass and man was it crowded up there. For all of those reviews saying the road is dangerously and narrow, obviously don’t drive off road much. The road was pretty smooth, very wide, and has spectacular views. There were a couple of side shoots where a crew of Ford Broncos was going up a side road, but we decided to let them have their fun. Further down towards Willow there is tons of camping and it appears is a play land for quads and side-by-sides. Kathy and I found a neat property for sale and decided to inquire about it. We are a bit smitten with AK, especially now now having to deal with the AZ heat.

The rest of the day we drive north and found a free camp a bit outside of Healy. We settled in since it was about 7 pm. We don’t really drive all day, we just get started later, usually 10-11 am. The next few days we will be on the Dalton and the forecast is rain, so pictures may be scarce. It’s funny because as we drive north, we took tons of pictures throughout the western states, Canada, and Alaska. Everything is beautiful. We take fewer pics now, maybe because we are just enjoying the beauty up here more than being in awe of it.

here are a few more photos from today.
https://www.overlandadventureexcursions.com/photos-albums/nggallery/album/20250809-hatcher-pass-and-independence-mine

The camp at the Susitna River crossing was peaceful. The pups, especially Zuzu, loved the kind walk along the beaches. The sections which were sandy she would dash off in full gallop, making quick turns, and throwing sand high into the air. It’s good to see her having a great time.

We made it to Anchorage, but not before stopping by the laundromat to take a shower. It was not warm, but we did manage to get clean. My appointment was quick (heart chemical stress test) and I’m hoping all the pictures of the plumbing look normal so I can finish out the Alaska Medical Tour. We will find out on Aug 18. The Drs and Nurses up here have been nothing but spectacular. We were so surprised at the care up here and how quickly they work things in.

We spent the day picking up a new coin for Kathy, exchanging a faulty purse bag, and grabbing some snacks, and driving a bit north. We headed to the Palmer Alehouse where Kathy’s friend said a good band was playing. (The Free Creatures from Oregon). They were pretty good and the Alehouse was a neat setting. The band had come from Salmonfest, which we hear is a fantastic local event near Soldotna.

We visited for several hours and then headed up towards Hatcher pass, which I have heard is stunning. Independence mine state park is just up from the campsite and along the pass we heard there is good berry picking. Tonight we should be in or near Fairbanks and ready to start the dalton highway to the Arctic Ocean. Here’s a view from Howie at the campground below Hatcher Pass.

here are some additional photos from the day.
https://www.overlandadventureexcursions.com/photos-albums/nggallery/album/20250808-anchorage-palmer

We woke to true weather predictions and the sky did not have a cloud in it. We packed up for a hike and headed to the bus to catch a ride to Sable Pass where we could get a glimpse of Mt McKinley (Denali). The first bus was full and we caught the second. The high one did not disappoint and was shining in all the 20,300 ft of glory. Simply gorgeous. The day was about 65 degrees and we wanted to walk down sable pass and see what animals were out and about.

We did see some Dahl sheep, WAY WAY up on the ridge. Looked like little rice specs. And that is all we saw in the 5 mile trek down the pass. The hike was spectacular.

We caught the bus at the Igloo Creek Campground and made it to the Teklanika rest stop where the bus broke down. We thought about hiking the two miles to the campground, but figured once we started the rescue bus will show up. We ended up waiting 90 minutes for a walk we could have done in 45. But we met some really nice people who were waiting too. We finished out the night watching the fire in the campground and enjoying the beautiful night.

The 4th day I decided to bake some biscuits in the Dutch Oven over the fire. I still had two bundles of wood but since collecting was allowed here, I gathered several large loads so I could have a fire until we left. The biscuits did not turn out ton well as they were not homemade and the container had popped open sometime during the week and were not “fresh”. Oh well. They still tasted ok.

We cleaned up camp, the TC, and packed up to head back south. I had another appointment in anchorage and we didn’t want risk or rush the 5+ hour drive. We have gotten the packing down to 5-10 minutes and with the pups walked and freshly satisfied with treats, we headed out of Teklanika Campground and back out of the Denali Park Road.

We had been fortunate and had seen an Eagle, caribou, Dahl sheep, rabbits, squirrels, marmots, and ptarmigans so far, and this time the park did not disappoint. On the drive out, three brown bears were grazing doing the road and we had about 15-20 minutes to watch them. They were as close as 20-30 yards from the truck. These were the first brown bears (grizzlies) we have seen.

We finished the drive and stopped at the little village at the entrance of the park to browse the shops and get some lunch.

We continued the drive south on AK 3 (parks road) and camped at a site recommended be iOverlander at the Susitina River crossing 1hr north of Wasilla. What a neat place to camp with lots of spots, plenty of space, a 1-mile beach for walks. Very nice.

Here are some additional photos of the past two days.
https://www.overlandadventureexcursions.com/photos-albums/nggallery/album/20250806-07-denali-day-3-4

We finished our chores in Fairbanks (laundry, dump/fill tanks, propane, groceries, Alaska Public Lands Visitors Center and headed back south to Denali. We have 4 nights reservations at the campground in Teklanika River, although will likely leave late on the 7th since I have another cardio appointment on the 8th in Anchorage. We made it to the park around 2pm, checked in, got a shower, and checked out the visitors center. Before 1957 you could not drive here with the only access by train. People still use the train to get to Denali from Fairbanks and Anchorage.

We drove the park road and made it to camp around 6. Since we were here a few days we set up the shelter. It’s a good thing we did since the rain started at 10PM and went all night.

The next morning we had bus passes to ride up to where the end of the road is. Apparently the visitor center at mile 60 some is not open because the road is still being repaired from a landslide several years ago. We enjoyed the ride, and walked 3 to 4 miles at the very end through the river bed, across the bridge, and then up several miles on the Park Road. We checked out a little side road to one of the Rangers cabins, and found some fairly fresh bear prints. We didn’t actually see the bear fortunately, but we did see a caribou running down the creek.

it rained again once we got back to camp, but then the sun came out and it’s supposed to be really nice for the next couple days. Maybe we’ll get to see Mount McKinley. Tonight it’s grilled chicken for dinner over a fire that will hopefully be able to have.

here are some additional photos from the day. https://www.overlandadventureexcursions.com/photos-albums/nggallery/album/20250804-05-denali-np-day-12

Well the appointment went well. My heart has returned to normal Sinus rhythm and the cardiologist said my heart and valves all looked like things were normal, except for the AFib. So he wanted to schedule a heart monitor for 48 hours and then a chemical stress test. We set it up for August 8, and he said I should be good to continue to enjoy our trip. We headed into Anchorage to pick up some coins Kathy missed at the Alaska Public lands Center, and the hospital called back and said I could pick up my monitor. We headed back there and finally got on the road to head to Talkeetna.

We arrived in the afternoon and the town was packed. We looked for a campsite and ended up at the VFW for $20. I took the pups for a long walk, and we watched the salmon fishing on the shore of the river. When I got back, Kathy and I were wanting to browse the cool shops, and then had some great local pizza. By then the town was vacating and we headed back to camp for a great nights sleep.

We decided to try some salmon fishing and hired a local kid who was renting poles and gear. He showed us how to fish, which was surprising without bait. The chum and pink salmon were running in the river and all we had to was wait for them to get hooked. Well it took me about 90 minutes and I caught the biggest fish I’d ever caught (I’m from AZ, not known for big stream fish). About 20 minutes later I snagged an even bigger chum salmon. We got our guide and he offered to fillet them, so we said why not. By the time he was done, we probably had 10 lbs of salmon.

I cooked two pieces in the oven and made cilantro lime Rice. This was the first time Kathy had experienced Freshly caught salmon and she loved it. We shared some with the pups as well. We have 6 more salmon fillets in the freezer.

Since we decided to stay two nights in Talkeetna, the next day we got up and did some shopping/browsing through this quaint little town. It turns out it’s pretty barren the morning, but the train stops here and unloads cruise ship passengers as well as folks coming from Fairbanks and Anchorage. So the town fills up for the day and then at about six or seven at night. It shuts down again, similar to Skagway. I wanted to do a bit more fishing, and since the Alaskan tag was still good until 2pm that day, I looked up Landon again and rented his poles. I did catch one small pink salmon, but decided not to take it.

We packed up around 2pm and made the long drive north to Fairbanks. We had a package to pick up from Amazon in Fairbanks that we had ordered two weeks prior. We had no idea at the time that would be spending so much time in Anchorage. So we camped at the University of Alaska Fairbanks parking lot, which amazingly had power so we could top off our batteries. Tomorrow we head to Teklanika Campground in Denali National Park. We’ve had reservations there since April. Teklanika is at mile 29 on the Park Road for some remote camping.

Here are some additional photos from the past several days. https://www.overlandadventureexcursions.com/photos-albums/nggallery/album/20250801-03-talkeetna-and-salmon