Day 56: The Ultimate Car-Trapping - First Day

June 9, 2014

Today we had our alarms set for 1:00 am with planned departure for Prudhoe Bay of 2:00. We actually were on the road at 1:52.

No artificial light needed

It was not bright and sunny and we did need our headlights (in Alaska you are suppose to always drive with your lights on) for a few miles but it certainly was not dark. 514 miles and 15.5 hours later, and after meeting only 35 vehicles on the entire length of the Dalton Highway, we arrived at Prudhoe Bay. Yep, most would say this absolutely confirms the craziness of all four of us. Maybe we are a little crazy but we we will see what tomorrow brings. The 35 vehicles in 500 miles gives you some idea as to the remoteness of this wilderness we traveled through today. We swapped off driving about every 2 hours and no one was overly tired when we arrived.  En route we saw absolutely breath taking scenery, and awesome wild life. We saw a moose – almost hit that one as she came out of the woods at a pretty fast run out onto the road. Sorry, no picture. We were all a little too surprised. We also saw a gray owl, five caribou, a grizzly bear, two red fox, several arctic ground squirrels, numerous big raven, several ptarmigan, many cackling geese, and the find of the day - a wolverine. There are people that have been here for years and have never seen a wolverine in the wild and we were able to get pretty decent pictures of the one we saw. Very exciting! Unfortunately we did not see the musk ox. We were really hoping to see them but....maybe tomorrow.

Grizzly Bear walking along the river ignoring a distant pickup truck with four excited viewers

Raven

Ptarmigan

Wolverine

The drive thru the Atigun Pass of the Brooks Range was amazing. We took so many mountain pictures. We just had to make ourselves stop. The beauty is just beyond words.

 

Atigun Pass

Blue ice still on the rivers

Bluffs visible when approaching Prudhoe Bay

 The road was really not as bad as we expected. The Top of the World Highway was worse in our opinion. Remember that road conditions change daily here in Alaska so on another day the experience can be totally different. There was construction in places, lots of pot holes, lots of frost heaves and we had some rain. Still we felt in general, not as bad as we expected. Certainly would not drive our motor home on to Deadhorse, but no problem in our pickup truck.

Crossing the arctic circle

One of a few construction delays

We arrived at Deadhorse Camp and checked in to our rooms for the night – 2 twin beds with a bathroom upstairs and down the hall. You remove you shoes at the door because everything is such a muddy mess at Prudhoe due to the permafrost.

Our Hotel

 

 

When we checked in they didn't give us a room key.  So of course we asked for our key.  The reply was "Oh, no.  There are no keys at Deadhorse.  Everyone here has a job and is well fed.  There is no need for keys." That was something totally new for us!  Before dinner we went to fill up the truck with gas.  $5.549/gallon and their pumps are all enclosed in these little individual garage things. 

They served us very good food. It is buffet style with 2 meats, several vegetables, a salad bar and dessert. Someone told us that the food at Deadhorse Camp is in the top two at Prudhoe. Shortly after dinner we were in bed. Scout went with us but had to overnight in the truck because he wasn't allowed at any of the three “hotels” on site. Remember that Prudhoe is in no way a traditional town or resort. Rather it is a collection of oil company and contractor camps with the sole purpose of pumping oil from the Prudhoe Bay of the Arctic Ocean. It has very few visitor services because they have very few visitors. Usually there are 5,000-6,000 people on site at any time. Most are rotating in and out in 2 or 3 week cycles. Most work 10-12 hour days. Most of the buildings are modular pre-fab units. There is nothing attractive about the “community” but it is functional. What is really hard to imagine is looking out over the frozen Arctic Ocean, the frozen lakes, and the abundant wild life present. Individuals can not reach the Arctic Ocean except by way of a tour. This is a secure location and one must make reservations and clear security check prior to being allowed onto the facility and to the ocean. We did all that several weeks ago and will make the trip to the ocean tomorrow. Can't wait!