Day 36

My friend Jim and I took a tour bus along the Dalton Highway to the Arctic Circle. The tour was about 10 ½ hours on a not so good road. The Dalton Highway was built for the Alaska Pipeline and runs from 84 miles north of Fairbanks 414 mile to Deadhorse at Prudhoe Bay. The Arctic Circle is 199 miles from Fairbanks so our tour was nearly 400 miles.
I am glad I did it and would not want to have driven it with my truck although we saw people traveling this road with everything from 5^th wheel trailers to Motorcycles and even bicycles. We got to walk under the pipeline, saw several informative videos on the pipeline construction, the perma-frost, gold mining and the culture of the people of the north. It was a very nice warm sunny day and not what you might expect when you cross the Arctic Circle. OK, now I can cross the Arctic Circle off my bucket list.

First stop was in Joy for a break souvenirs, free coffee 

The pottie break 

Inside the out-house

The Alaska Pipeline

This bridge had a wood surface that snow and ice would not stick to!

 

Lunch and dinner here near the bridge

The pipeline zig-zags to allow for expansion and contraction 

The arctic terrain is barren with tundra and small shrubs

Stepping across the Arctic Circle

These Moose were the only wildlife we saw near the end of the journey