I have watched TV shows about Alaska and Canada for a long time. One I watched for several years was Ice Road Truckers, and I repeatedly heard about Dalton Highway, one of the ice roads. The Dalton Highway spans 400 miles from Prudhoe Bay, where the Alaska pipeline starts, and follows the pipeline all the way into Fairbanks. 

Construction on the Alaska Pipeline was started in 1977, and it was built at a cost of over $8-billion. It runs from Prudhoe Bay on the Arctic Ocean 818 miles to Valdez, Alaska on the Pacific Ocean. It was an engineering and geological feat when it was constructed. Between the mountains, permafrost, and arctic temperatures, the professionals were challenged to find construction methods that were both environmentally safe and economically possible. The pipeline was largely built above ground on insulated, elevated supports so it would not disturb the permafrost and would not freeze in temperatures that could reach as low as -80 degrees. On our trip, we caught many glimpses of the Alaska pipeline, which was not as big in diameter as I thought it would be. There were several areas where the pipeline ran right along the road, and other areas where you could see it in the distance several miles away off the roadway. Clearly, there are few service roads that can take someone to where they can inspect or service the pipeline. It leaves an interesting trail. If you think power lines leave a trail across this country, the pipeline REALLY left a trail.

I never thought I would get the opportunity to ride on the Dalton, but the good news was that Doug and Cheryl had done it and they wanted to take me up to the Yukon River. I had been across the Arctic Circle in 1996, so we didn’t need to add the extra 60 miles up and back (120 total), for me to cross the Arctic Circle. However, we did go to the crossing of the Yukon. The Yukon River was wide and somewhat muddy, but given the rain that we had, that made a lot of sense. And as you would expect, there were a significant amount of tourist traffic right in and around that area.

There was still some significant snow on the side of the road, which was melting. There was also ongoing construction where calcium chloride was used for dust control. It didn’t do its job as well as it should have. The road was one of the muddiest I’ve ever driven on and certainly the muddiest road we took on this trip. We went on some dusty roads, but this was flat-out muddy. I appreciated Doug being willing to drive it because it was not the easiest road to maneuver.   

I bought Arctic Circle and Yukon River souvenirs and postcards to commemorate my travels. It was an unexpected, real benefit to get to see and drive, or ride, the Dalton and its amazing views.