Up and out at 04:00am! Hit the Dalton and find 30 miles of flat pothole free hard top! Full daylight of course - sun never sets north of the Arctic Circle from 21st June to 21st September. Sat Nav says 231 miles and 7 hours. More gravel and dirt today. in fact after the first 30 miles of beautiful tarmac it's gravel and dirt all the way! Did I mention Amanda is driving today!! She wanted an off road 4x4 challenge - and she certainly got one. No argues about navigation - just the one road. And virtually zero traffic due to the 06:00am road closure. Silver lining to our 04:00am departure!!
Brooks Mountain Range - snow capped - spectacular - narrow cliff edge dirt road with hard packed snow gutters - "Avalanche Risk Area" say the road signs as we speed past - they were serious - plenty of slushy snow drifts up the mountainside!
The Brooks Range is a mountain range in far northern North America stretching some 700 miles from west to east across northern Alaska into Canada's Yukon Territory. Reaching a peak elevation of 8,976 feet on Mount Isto, the range is believed to be approximately 126 million years old.
While the range is mostly uninhabited, the Dalton Highway and Trans-Alaska Pipeline System run through the Atigun Pass (4,643 ft) on their way to the oil fields at Prudhoe Bay on Alaska's North Slope.
"What was that?" David yells as Amanda guns the 4x4 into top gear for another gravel spewing corner!?
Backing up we see creatures from pre-historic times - long haired horny beasts from a Lord of the Rings movie.
The Muskox is an Arctic hoofed mammal of the family Bovidae, noted for its thick coat and for the strong odor emitted during the seasonal rut by males, from which its name derives. This musky odor is used to attract females during mating season. Its Inuktitut name "umingmak" translates to "the bearded one". Muskoxen primarily live in Greenland and the Canadian Arctic of the Northwest Territories and Nunavut, with small populations in Alaska, and the Yukon.
An Arctic Fox runs across the road ahead and we snap a couple of photos as he jogs alongside showing us the small bird gripped firmly between his jaws! How can anything survive this bleak Arctic environment?
A Caribou herd graze on the roadside tundra.
Oil Drilling Rigs appear through the mist and suddenly we're there! Deadhorse Camp, Prudhoe Bay - the furthest north you can drive on the American Continent! We've completed the Pan American Highway Challenge!! Dammit - no champagne celebration!! Just a couple of well shaken cans of Icy Bay IPA - quite apt really!!
A sign advises we are leaving the Public Highway and entering an Oilfield. A private area where alcohol, firearms and drugs are banned, and where safety glasses must be worn by driver and all passengers in a motor vehicle! Oops!!
Prudhoe Bay General Store (or The Mall as the locals call it) marks the official end of the road, so we stop for photos - David buys a pair of Reindeer leather gloves to combat the zero degree (Celcius) temperature that greets us!
We're staying at The Arctic Oilfield Hotel (AOH), which has 452 rooms and is regarded as the 5 star accommodation of Prudhoe Bay. 451 rooms are occupied by Oilfield Workers (100% male), and then there's us. Unsurprisingly we cause a stir, although everyone is very friendly and welcoming. Tonya, the Front Desk Manager rolls out the red carpet and makes us feel like celebrities! She can't believe we've driven all the way from Ushuaia!! Nor can we!!! And the other Guests can't believe we've come to Prudhoe Bay! "Why here?" they all ask.
Thanks to our 04:00am start and Amanda's Nigel Mansell driving skills, we're at AOH by 10:00am giving us time to settle in to Room A204 (one of the very few with a Double Bed), freshen up and get down for Lunch - served 11:00am to 01:00pm. Our Room rate is all-inclusive - and the food is both delicious - and plentiful! Having missed our Full Alaskan Breakfast we eat heartily. Bit weird having to wear blue shoe covers and blue plastic gloves to enter the Dining Room, but the other guests are here to work, and sick days not encouraged!!
The AOH is a three storey structure on stilts - v shipping container like in its construction - take a look at the photos. We're on the 2nd Floor where they have just 5 rooms with Double Beds. Nobody actually lives in Deadhorse. The camp has a population of Zero. Nobody is permitted to live here. Everyone here is 'On the Hitch' - 6 weeks on : 6 weeks off - and whilst they are on it's 12 hour shifts 7 days a week. Breakfast is served from 4:00am to 8:00am and Dinner 4:00pm to 8:00pm to service the 6 o'clock shift changes.
PRUDHOE BAY - LIFE'S A HITCH!
July 1st is a Sunday, and Chef Mark cooks us Roast Beef and Yorkshire Pudding - with all the trimmings! He's never cooked the puddings before - got the recipe from Gordon Ramsay's website - we loved them - as did the 125 nightshift workers who joined us for Lunch!
This arvo we took the Arctic Ocean Shuttle from Deadhorse Camp, through the vast BP Oilfield out to the coast of Prudhoe Bay where we paddled, and David swam, in the icy cold waters - float ice still topping the ocean!!
And on the way back to AOH stopped off at Delta Vehicle Rentals to admire their range of Arctic Tracked Trucks - and snap away - UNTIL the Old Bill gave us the wah-wahs putting David in an Arm-lock for trespassin on Private Property!!
Once again our best English accents saved the day, and pretty darn soon the two Law Enforcement Officers were posin for pics lendin Amanda official headgear, and invitin David to join them for Shootin Trainin next mornin!!!
In the proper Arctic months (nada daylight muchos snow'n'ice) those weird lookin tracked vehicles are used to tow convoys of supply vehicles out to the oilfields for explorin n drillin. Pablo had a go with a tow, but lack of sheet ice beat him despite his best pullin.
Sharp-eyed amongst you may have spotted wires hangin down at AOH Parking Lot. Pretty much all vehicles in Alaska have a short cable with plug danglin out the hood. Not for flat batt jump starts; rather for preventin rad n engin from freezin solid. All Parkin Lots have danglin cables for a plug-in. Pablo felt at home with all the BIG TRUCKS in the AOH Parkin Lot, but wished he too had an under-hood heater to warm his cockles!!!
