Prudhoe Bay - Fairbanks (Dalton/ Elliott Highways)
THE DALTON ADVENTURE - 800 km of action!!!
Prudhoe bay (USA's largest oil field) lies at the top end of the northern most road on the American continent. The road leading up to this place (the Dalton Highway, also known as the haul road) was built to supply the oilfields with equipment and other goods needed. To this very day it is mostly travelled by trucks. Tourists are not advised to travel up the road on their own, a breakdown is too risky and truck drivers have frozen to death after an accident on the road. Temperatures in winter drop to below -50 degrees Celsius in winter but can reach well above 30 degrees in summer. It is a difficult road to cycle but a true enjoyment and the wilderness is spectacular. Something that I will never forget! It has been the ultimate KICK! 828km with 10340metres of altitude to overcome, mostly on awful roads.
Date
Distance
Altitude gain
Place
08.06.2005
099km
0425m
Dead Horse - Mile Post 355
09.06.2005
107km
1245m
MP 355 - MP 289
10.06.2005
064km
0925m
MP 289 - MP 252
11.06.2005
120km
0995m
MP 252 - Marion Creek
12.06.2005
107km
1385m
Marion Creek - Arctic Circle
13.06.2005
090km
1395m
Arctic Circle - 5 Mile Camp
14.06.2005
134km
2505m
5 Mile Camp - Joy
15.06.2005
107km
1465m
Joy - Fairbanks
Before taking the 16 hour mini-van ride up to the oil field at Prudhoe bay, I had to buy food for 11 days. Not knowing how long it would take me to cycle the 800 km stretch on awful gravel roads, I carefully planned my daily food rations. The food seen on the table fitted in one 20 litre side pannier on the bike.
I set off with the "Dalton Highway Express" on the 7th June. Amazingly there were 3 other cyclists (Hubert, his son Gion and Willy, all Swiss) also cycling the Dalton Hwy. The van driver (Chris), is a great guy, pointing out all objects of interest on the way. The swiss were dropped off on the north side of the Brooks Range, while I continued on with the driver and Lars (a German traveller), the rest of the way to Prudhoe bay. This is the place where I would start cycling in a southerly direction. Hubert, working at the swiss embassy had an extra swiss flag for my bike (I had forgoten mine in Switzerland), so at last I got to a Swiss flag! They were also travelling with "yak" trailers. The 3 of them had in mind to cycle down to Seattle).
left: Lars standing outside our tents (midnight sun at 1 am). This was the worst camping spot that one could imagine, right next to the entrance to the oil fields!! And o, was it cold!!! Prudhoe bay never gets much warmer than 0 to 5 degrees Celsius in summer! As we pitched our tent there were a few snowflakes coming down and a very chilly arctic wind blowing from the frozen arctic ocean.
After a cold night, I joined a tour group the next morning to see the oil fields. (I was obviously not allowed to cycle in the petroleum area). Standing on the arctic ocean (ice) at about 70 degrees north, I could understand why the Alaskan pipeline was built. Oil tankers can not reach this place in Winter (too much ice)...
...and so I started my long & lonely ride heading south. On the 800km road there are 2 service stations, the first one after 380km. The road is very bad and nothing what a person from Europe understands as a 'Highway'. It is more like an African dirt road. I wanted to get away from the arctic because it is so cold, Further south (inland) it would be warmer. My hands were freezing but I had to keep going! there is no turning back up at the arctic!
Far up, above the arctic circle and north of the Brooks range the land has no trees and only tundra vegetation exists here. The first section is flat and occasionally a huge truck would pass by...stones flying in the process!!! Most truck drivers however take great care when passing and slowed down when they passed me. One guy gave me an orange and another pipeline worker gave me 2 bananas and a grapefruit. This is something which I highly appreciated as I could not take any fruit on this trip (because of the weight).
This is the land of caribou, arctic fox, wolves and bears. After 2 days I met a lonely and crazy hiker (which I had heard about). Tommy (from Munich, Germany) is on his way from the arctic ocean down to Mexico on foot. He walks an average of 40 to 45km a day. It is a couple of thousand kilometres that lie ahead of him. Tommy is used to it, he has already walked from the bottom of South America on Tierra del Fuego up to Panama and he has walked through half of Asia. Tommy has food for 4 weeks (a couple of kilos of noodles and a couple of kilos of chocolate, thats it)! Unfortunately the gravel road is so bad that he is having problems with his feet. He needed a 2 day rest. I had cycled till late that evening and wanted to pitch my tent anyway, so we sat outside our tents enjoying the grapefruit, biscuits and some tea which I had made which the pipeline worker gave me.
I carried on towards the Brooks range the next morning, Tommy was going to stay at the stream another day and try and catch fish to eat. I got into a heavy thunderstorm, the road turned into a mud road and the going was really hard. One stage it took me 3 hours to do 25km!
It soon cleared, still north of the Brooks range the going was hard in the soft sandy surface after the rain. Occasionally a truck would pass. Often the oil pipeline runs along the side of the road. The pipeline goes straight through Alaska from north to south and eventually ends in Valdez where the oil is loaded onto huge tankers.
the mud on the road was unbearable! it got my cogwheels stuck and it blocked my tires (mud between mudguards and tire).
The weather cleared rapidly and the beautiful Brooks range lay ahead of me. This was the last peace of flat cycling before I had to cross the range (which lies 250km north of the arctic circle).
By the time I reached the bottom of the pass my bike was 'moaning'. It had too much dirt and I had to dismantle everything to get it cleaned before riding on. The scenery was so stunning! pure wilderness. I was fortunate to see an arctic fox, plenty of caribou, wild dall sheep and arctic squirrels.
It was so beautiful that I set up my camp in the Brooks Range and enjoyed the midnight sunlight. At night it was quiet until the wolves started howling far off in the distance...
The Brooks Range, an awesome place. One can just sit on the tundra slope and enjoy the scenery and watch the wild 'Dall Sheep' grazing up in the cliffs. These are the places of my dreams!!!
I reached Atigun pass in the Brooks range on the 4th day. And what a view from the top!!!
Top of Atigun pass, Brooks range.
.....and then it was one long downhill until I got into bear country. This is close to where I spotted a huge grizzly bear on the way up!
...and the mountains in the southern Brooks range are stunning!! It was from here onwards where the temperature was suddenly extremely high, cycling in the heat (around 28 degrees) and this still way north of the arctic circle!
I soon reached Sukapak mountain just before a thunderstorm hit me. Sukapak is said to be the border between the Inuit (Eskimos) and Indians hundreds of years ago! A lovely place, full of wild animals!!!
The thunderstorm triggered off a wild forest fire. I had to ride through the smoke in 'hell of a speed' to prevent the smoke filling my lungs!
By the time I reached the arctic circle, the heat during the day was almost unbearable, drinking up to 7 litres of filtered water a day. The mosquitos would attack any part of the skin that was exposed... it was something that was really terrible, something that I have never experienced (the ones in Scandinavia are nothing compared to this! It was torture and my legs suffered terrible bites!
The last 2 days before reaching Fairbanks were the hardest of the lot. On the second to last day I cycled 134km with 2500m of altitude to overcome. The last hills with the mosquitos sticking to my sweaty back finished me off completely. This gave me the kick to push on till late at night when the temperature was much cooler. I often could not find a suitable stream near the end of the Dalton highway so I filtered the water from water puddles next to the road.
I eventually ran out of water again and suddenly a pick-up stopped. Eric and Tara stopped to give me water and dried Caribou meat! They just made my day! The meat and water kept me going another 40km that evening. Wow, that meat is good (tastes just like south African biltong). Eric, a young trapper and hunter gave me a whole bag of the meat! I eventually made it back to Fairbanks without one puncture but a rim which was not going to last much longer. My 'DT Swiss' rim which is supposed to be so good had 3 fractures in it and needs to be replaced! - Pretty upset about that!..but then again, I am glad all my other gear survived this harsh road. I must mention that I was really supported by many people along the road. For instance Tom and Phyllis who let me sit in their van for an hour to relax from the midday heat and served me 2 cold drinks.
I got back to Fairbanks on the 15th June. Carol, the very kind and generous campground host at Tanana Valley campground saw me, greeted me and ran off to her RV. She came back with 2 ice cold beers! Man....how did she know what I was wanting for the last few days!! Thanks Carol! You made my day! I got to bed late that evening...had another few beers!!
I have now cycled the Dalton, I have forgotten the pain and only the nice memories remain, they will remain forever! The Dalton is truly a lifetime experience!
Before taking the 16 hour mini-van ride up to the oil field at Prudhoe bay, I had to buy food for 11 days. Not knowing how long it would take me to cycle the 800 km stretch on awful gravel roads, I carefully planned my daily food rations. The food seen on the table fitted in one 20 litre side pannier on the bike. 
I set off with the "Dalton Highway Express" on the 7th June. Amazingly there were 3 other cyclists (Hubert, his son Gion and Willy, all Swiss) also cycling the Dalton Hwy. The van driver (Chris), is a great guy, pointing out all objects of interest on the way. The swiss were dropped off on the north side of the Brooks Range, while I continued on with the driver and Lars (a German traveller), the rest of the way to Prudhoe bay. This is the place where I would start cycling in a southerly direction. Hubert, working at the swiss embassy had an extra swiss flag for my bike (I had forgoten mine in Switzerland), so at last I got to a Swiss flag! They were also travelling with "yak" trailers. The 3 of them had in mind to cycle down to Seattle). 
left: Lars standing outside our tents (midnight sun at 1 am). This was the worst camping spot that one could imagine, right next to the entrance to the oil fields!! And o, was it cold!!! Prudhoe bay never gets much warmer than 0 to 5 degrees Celsius in summer! As we pitched our tent there were a few snowflakes coming down and a very chilly arctic wind blowing from the frozen arctic ocean.
After a cold night, I joined a tour group the next morning to see the oil fields. (I was obviously not allowed to cycle in the petroleum area). Standing on the arctic ocean (ice) at about 70 degrees north, I could understand why the Alaskan pipeline was built. Oil tankers can not reach this place in Winter (too much ice)...
...and so I started my long & lonely ride heading south. On the 800km road there are 2 service stations, the first one after 380km. The road is very bad and nothing what a person from Europe understands as a 'Highway'. It is more like an African dirt road. I wanted to get away from the arctic because it is so cold, Further south (inland) it would be warmer. My hands were freezing but I had to keep going! there is no turning back up at the arctic!
Far up, above the arctic circle and north of the Brooks range the land has no trees and only tundra vegetation exists here. The first section is flat and occasionally a huge truck would pass by...stones flying in the process!!! Most truck drivers however take great care when passing and slowed down when they passed me. One guy gave me an orange and another pipeline worker gave me 2 bananas and a grapefruit. This is something which I highly appreciated as I could not take any fruit on this trip (because of the weight). 
This is the land of caribou, arctic fox, wolves and bears. After 2 days I met a lonely and crazy hiker (which I had heard about). Tommy (from Munich, Germany) is on his way from the arctic ocean down to Mexico on foot. He walks an average of 40 to 45km a day. It is a couple of thousand kilometres that lie ahead of him. Tommy is used to it, he has already walked from the bottom of South America on Tierra del Fuego up to Panama and he has walked through half of Asia. Tommy has food for 4 weeks (a couple of kilos of noodles and a couple of kilos of chocolate, thats it)! Unfortunately the gravel road is so bad that he is having problems with his feet. He needed a 2 day rest. I had cycled till late that evening and wanted to pitch my tent anyway, so we sat outside our tents enjoying the grapefruit, biscuits and some tea which I had made which the pipeline worker gave me.
I carried on towards the Brooks range the next morning, Tommy was going to stay at the stream another day and try and catch fish to eat. I got into a heavy thunderstorm, the road turned into a mud road and the going was really hard. One stage it took me 3 hours to do 25km!
It soon cleared, still north of the Brooks range the going was hard in the soft sandy surface after the rain. Occasionally a truck would pass. Often the oil pipeline runs along the side of the road. The pipeline goes straight through Alaska from north to south and eventually ends in Valdez where the oil is loaded onto huge tankers.
the mud on the road was unbearable! it got my cogwheels stuck and it blocked my tires (mud between mudguards and tire). 
The weather cleared rapidly and the beautiful Brooks range lay ahead of me. This was the last peace of flat cycling before I had to cross the range (which lies 250km north of the arctic circle). 
By the time I reached the bottom of the pass my bike was 'moaning'. It had too much dirt and I had to dismantle everything to get it cleaned before riding on. The scenery was so stunning! pure wilderness. I was fortunate to see an arctic fox, plenty of caribou, wild dall sheep and arctic squirrels. 
It was so beautiful that I set up my camp in the Brooks Range and enjoyed the midnight sunlight. At night it was quiet until the wolves started howling far off in the distance... 
The Brooks Range, an awesome place. One can just sit on the tundra slope and enjoy the scenery and watch the wild 'Dall Sheep' grazing up in the cliffs. These are the places of my dreams!!! 
I reached Atigun pass in the Brooks range on the 4th day. And what a view from the top!!! 
Top of Atigun pass, Brooks range. 
.....and then it was one long downhill until I got into bear country. This is close to where I spotted a huge grizzly bear on the way up! 
...and the mountains in the southern Brooks range are stunning!! It was from here onwards where the temperature was suddenly extremely high, cycling in the heat (around 28 degrees) and this still way north of the arctic circle! 
I soon reached Sukapak mountain just before a thunderstorm hit me. Sukapak is said to be the border between the Inuit (Eskimos) and Indians hundreds of years ago! A lovely place, full of wild animals!!!
The thunderstorm triggered off a wild forest fire. I had to ride through the smoke in 'hell of a speed' to prevent the smoke filling my lungs!
By the time I reached the arctic circle, the heat during the day was almost unbearable, drinking up to 7 litres of filtered water a day. The mosquitos would attack any part of the skin that was exposed... it was something that was really terrible, something that I have never experienced (the ones in Scandinavia are nothing compared to this! It was torture and my legs suffered terrible bites!
The last 2 days before reaching Fairbanks were the hardest of the lot. On the second to last day I cycled 134km with 2500m of altitude to overcome. The last hills with the mosquitos sticking to my sweaty back finished me off completely. This gave me the kick to push on till late at night when the temperature was much cooler. I often could not find a suitable stream near the end of the Dalton highway so I filtered the water from water puddles next to the road. 
I eventually ran out of water again and suddenly a pick-up stopped. Eric and Tara stopped to give me water and dried Caribou meat! They just made my day! The meat and water kept me going another 40km that evening. Wow, that meat is good (tastes just like south African biltong). Eric, a young trapper and hunter gave me a whole bag of the meat! I eventually made it back to Fairbanks without one puncture but a rim which was not going to last much longer. My 'DT Swiss' rim which is supposed to be so good had 3 fractures in it and needs to be replaced! - Pretty upset about that!..but then again, I am glad all my other gear survived this harsh road. I must mention that I was really supported by many people along the road. For instance Tom and Phyllis who let me sit in their van for an hour to relax from the midday heat and served me 2 cold drinks.