An imaginary line at the top of the ball
From the very first thoughts of building MzDazy, we had a destination in mind, 66.33 degrees North. There is only one way to get there on the ground in Alaska, The Dalton Highway, AK11, The Haul Road. This highway is mostly dirt road from 66 mile north of Fairbanks all the way to Prudoe Bay at the Arctic Ocean. You may have seen it on Ice road Truckers or many of the other Alaska “reality” shows.
When it was time to select the new shoes for MzDazy’s adventures a consultation with a great tire shop led to the selection of these bad boys. He kept suggesting more highway (paved) friendly tires. When I kept pressing for more aggressive tires he finally asked, well where the heck are you going to go in a bus? When I told him the Dalton, he immediately said here is what you need.
The highway was built in 5 months to support the construction of the TransAlaska pipeline. Money talks!
The bridge over the Yukon River is one of only four in the entire 2000 mile run of the river. The oil pipe is suspended under the wood deck roadway. It is a pretty steep decent on the bridge headed North.
Having not really had a chance to get a firm handle on MzDazy’s range yet, let alone on a road like this, we stopped at the Yukon River crossing to top her off since there would not be fuel available until we got back to this point on our return. When I saw the price of fuel, I thought I was in California!
Four miles past the Yukon River and six hours to travel 130 miles, we stopped for the night at a BLM campground. The camp host Sylvia was very nice and spent the better part of an hour telling about the area and the highway.
Behind the campground there was an abandoned Roadhouse operation. We wondered around and checked out all the vintage signage they had collected. Note the “far north” attire required for survival.
If steep grades are your thing, this is your road. Every time you make it to the bottom of one of these unscathed and without burning up the brakes, you take a big sigh of relief, until you realize you have to climb that on the way back! some of these grades have names like Sandhill, Roller Coaster, and Beaver Slide. They are all in excess of 11% grades. At the top of most grades they have a sign to tell you the grade so you know how to proceed, on these they just have a sign with the name of the hill, Good luck! The road itself is built up 7 feet above the surrounding ground, so if you get off the road it will not end well. MzDazy did an admirable job on this road, but these grades were definitely her’s and my limits! We climbed these at 12MPH and those previously pictured tires were worth their cost hands down.
We stopped on top of Finger mountain to take a break and walk around a bit and take in the views.
That is Finger rock in the background. It stands 40 feet out of the ground at this time and gets pushed up a little further each year when the ground freezes. Early aviators used it to navigate back to Fairbanks as it points right at it when flying southbound.
It does not matter how old the kids get, show them a rock and they are going to climb it.
199 miles north of Fairbanks MzDazy crossed the Arctic Circle, 66.33 degrees. The imaginary line.
One for the scrap book, probably as far north as we will get. Its all south bound for the next several months! Notice the attire, 87 degrees on August 3, 2021. Happy 16th Birthday to our Granddaughter Hannah Jane Hutson.
After 140 miles driving that day, we were all very happy to find this pond to camp for the night. Ruckus got in a swim and Martha and I had a couple cocktails to settle the nerves after that road in a 1991 Bluebird Bus. I now understand the other peoples astonishment to see an old bus at the Arctic Circle!
After 250 miles on the Dalton Highway without pavement, this was a welcome site. Dalton Highway top speed for MzDazy was 35 MPH and the low was 12.
South bound and down, loaded up and busin’
A-we gonna do what they say can't be done
We've got a long way to go, and a longtime to get there
I'm south bound, just watch ol' "MZDazy" run