Cycling with Sally

We did the Dalton Highway and we're still alive..... we'll judging how our bodies feel today only just!  We left Fairbanks last Monday with Carlile Transportation, who very kindly offered to take us up to Prudhoe Bay with one of their loads.  Our driver was Jim who had been working this Haul Road for about three years, winter and summer.  Our bike was strapped to the trailor and we all got there in one piece.  It was a super fun experience riding in the cab.  Roland and I would take turns at having "bump sleep" in the sleeper behind the driver's seat.  We had a stop at Cold foot which is half way up and got to eat at the 'trucker's table' and leave a food parcel there for us to pick back up on the way through on our bike (a big thanks to George who helped us with that!).  Which out of interest we have named........ BIG BIRD!  Well, it's yellow and big and like New Zealand's national bird it's flightless!  Sadly, Big Bird had a fall and now has a bent handle bar but only cosmetic.  We arrived into Prudhoe Bay about 3am (it was still light) and so we pitched our tent at the start of the Dalton Highway and had a few hours sleep.  We started off our first day with a cracker lunch at the Prudhoe Bay Hotel (boy the workers up there get fed well) and then we were on our way. 

The landscape changed considerably during this leg of the trip.  It started out with the tundra which it gets too colder for anything but small shrub like plants to grow.  After the Atigun Pass (4,800ft - yeah that's right!) we hit the tree line where trees start growing - kinda weird really!  Sadly, the first spruce tree at the line has been vandalised and as a result died but it is still standing.  We were lucky to get through Atigun Pass as we heard only two days later did it snow and people were having trouble getting over.  We met a german cyclist heading that way so we wonder what happened to his plans?  The fireweed, which flowers a pinky purple colour was seen everywhere and yet very striking against the green.  Sadly, during most of our time on the Dalton our views were restricted due to the smoke.  Alaska has had many long lasting fires this year.  However, we did have two really clear days at the end so could appreciate the landscape a bit more.

The Dalton Highway follows the Alyeskan Pipeline which transports oil from Prudhoe Bay down to Valdez which is 800 odd miles down south.  Which is quite a feat!  The highway is actually an industrial road only and has only been open to tourists for about 15 or so years.  The road is pretty tough at the best of times with gravel, mud, pot holes, and a bunch of really steep hills (i.e. 12 percent grade) that had cool names i.e. the beaver's slide, the gobbler's knob, finger mountain, connection rock, and the rollar coaster.  This highway is pretty remote in terms of services.  However, once we hit a restaurant after 240 miles we couldn't be happier.  Boy, have our appetites grown!  Not only was Coldfoot camp a great stop, so was the Hot Spot Cafe near the Yukon River with their famous hamburgers and flower gardens and the Hilltop cafe (on the Elliot Highway close to Fairbanks) which is renowned for their homemade pies.  Belinda tried hugs and smooches icecream for the first time there  - scrummy!

We knew about two british cyclists that started two days before us, who we had been trying to catch up to.  It was like a treasure hunt because we would hear word from other truckers/tourists about their progress and would also find written messages from them along the roadside.  We did finally did catch them on our last day at the Trading Post.  It was a cool little warm store run by the Carlson family.  They had free coffee and lots of scrummy things to stock up on.  We spent a little time with Alex and Fin and hope to have a meal with them before we leave Fairbanks.

Again, meeting lots of cool people along the way was a massive highlight.  So man stopped and chatted with us, encouraged us, offered us food and places to stay in Fairbanks if required.  One lovely lady gave us a feast of snacks just after the Atigun Pass that put smiles on our faces for the longest time afterwards. We even met two New Zealanders from Christchurch (Jo and Kevin) doing a mammoth road trip around the world.

Wildlife seen along the roadside:

• 15 Muskox following the pipeline
• A wolf - Belinda felt a tad scared with only her leg power to save her but turned out to be ok
• A gazillion mosquitoes and apparently they are good now compared to earlier in the summer
• A black bear about 100ft from our campground - we still have all our limbs!
• A moose and her two calves that gave us a heck of a fright as they came running out of a bush as we were trying to find a good spot for our tent.  Apparently, it's bad to come between a moose and her babies as she is very protective.  Fortunately for us they seemed to be scared enough and after starring at us for a bit ran off into the river!  But then we heard some more rustling in the bushes and just as I was starting to say my final prayers out comes this guy saying "don't worry I'm a human".  He was another cyclist who had tented in a very sneaky location so we hadn't seen him!
• More caribou
• A fox and maybe a marmot?
  
• Three dall sheep on the Atigun pass.
• Heaps of curious Artic ground squirrels
  

On the road side:

• A dolphin soft toy
• Two Alaskan licence plates (one which we have put on our bike)
• Lots of rags - we used these with oil to lubricate our bike chain - so handy!
  

Did you know?
That Artic ground squirrels (they are so cute) hiberate during winter.  Their heart beats about 3 times per minute and they drop their core body temperature to aout -3 degrees.Crib score:
12 games each - Belinda has evened up the score with her awesomeness!

What's next?
We will spend a few days in Fairbanks.  On Saturday we are planning to do some Volunteer work with the Salvation Army here.  Then we will push on towards Whitehorse.  Hopefully our bodies will have recovered by then!