Aug 25, 2012 - "Haul Road" back to Fairbanks

We traveled back to Fairbanks from Prudoe Bay by van for 2 days, 400 milwa down the "Haul (Ice Truckers) Road" which many of you have seen on the Ice Road Truckers show on the Discovery channel. We had no ice on the road, but we did get snow flurries in the Atigan Pass. The scenery was beautiful, animals were frequent, and the road was smoother than we had feared. Traffic was mainly in support of the Prudhoe Bay complex. There were also several hunters since Bow season on Caribou had just opened.

Aug 23, 2012 - Deadhorse/Prudhoe Bay

We flew out of Fairbanks on a small plane to the town of Deadhorse. This supports the industrial complex at Prudhoe Bay. As most of you know, this is the start of the Alaska Oil Pipeline. There is a rotating work force of about 5000 people in town at one time. We toured the open area of town and the tundra surrounding. It was surprising to find so many birds in the industrial complex. Wolves and Grizzlies follow the Caribou herds as they move through the area. None were present while we were there. Later in the day, we had a tour of the...

Jul 1, 2012 - Day 17 and 18 - Sunday, July 1, 2012 and Monday, July 2, 2012

We slept in this morning and took our time of checking out of the hotel at 11:30 AM. We knew today would be long since we have to check out of the hotel and then hang out until our flight at 1:30 AM that night. We had 14 hours of lag time till our flight out of Fairbanks. We will keep our luggage in the hotel storage for a while and relax in the lobby until they make us leave. It's Sunday so the city bus does not run and not many places are open. We walked to a nearby diner for a late breakfast/early lunch. The food was okay, the water was...

Jun 30, 2012 - Day 16 - June 30, 2012

This morning we are going on the Riverboat Discovery and Gold Dredge #8 mine in Fairbanks, Alaska. We caught a cab. The riverboat sets sail at 8:45 AM. We boarded the top level, which was open to the outdoors, so we could get a good view and feel the breeze. There were lots of people on the boat. As soon as we took off, the captain turned the riverboat around in the middle of the narrow river to head the other direction. The river was just big enough for the boat to turn. It seemed the Chena River was as wide as the riverboat was long. We...

Jun 29, 2012 - Day 15 - June 29, 2012

We woke up excited about the trip to the Arctic Ocean. We had a wonderful buffet breakfast at the Deadhorse Camp with HOMEMADE gravy, not the powdered gravy most restaurants serve. The eggs had pepperoni, onions and bell pepper in them. So good! We were ready to leave by 7:45 AM on a bus with a security guard. The guard checked everyone's ID. On the bus with us were three other men. I recognized the accent from the room next door that I had heard the night before. They are the motorcyclists that have driven the whole Dalton Highway...

Jun 28, 2012 - Deadhorse, Alaska

We let Cooldfoot Camp at 07:25AM. After viewing the sled dogs we drove to Wiseman arriving at 8AM. We received a two and one half hour tour by Jack who has lived in Wiseman since the early 1960’s – moving there as a young boy with his family. He took us into his house and other buildings in Wiseman. He told us what is like to live in the frigid north like he and his family do. He is very knowledgeable about all the wildlife in the area as well as the history of Wiseman. A very informative and enjoyable tour. We stopped at 12:50PM at the...

Jun 21, 2012 - Day 23-28

It is midnight but will try to do a quick update from Fri., June 15 to today, June 20. First of all excuse my spelling errors-guess I try to go too fast & don't edit it. Anyway Friday we drove up here to Fairbanks leaving Denali & a lovely spot we camped at for 3 nights. At my sister's suggestion we stopped at Nanana & planned to have a bite to eat at the Two Choice Cafe-but it was closed. Nothing eventful this day, made a few road stops of interest & got to Fairbanks where we camped. Then from Sat.-Tues. we traveled the Dalton Hwy to...

Jul 27, 2011 - Prudhoe

The Musk Ox must have sensed my plan and moved on foiling my plan. We headed out on the Dalton Highway looking for other opportunities. We spotted several Long Tailed Jaeger, a bird that spends most o its time at sea but returning to land to breed and raise its young. We spotted a Snowy owl but got no pictures. At 5:00 we took a tour to Prudhoe Bay to see the oil fields and Arctic Sea. On the way out we saw several Caribou and another Snowy Owl. Kathy dipped her foot into the Arctic Sea and I wet my index finger. We spotted two Bull...

Jul 26, 2011 - Deadhorse

We continued our trip up the Dalton admiring the scenery and beautiful clods as we headed north. Sunset this morning was 12:05 AM and Sunrise was 4:10AM. We crossed the Brooks Range and made our way out on the Northern Slope and Arctic Plane. We saw one moose and spotted a herd of 15+ Musk Ox. We returned to the site that we spotted the Musk Ox and found a level spot to park for the night. The challenge in the morning will to get close enough for a descent picture. The Sun will not set tonight, 24 hours of daylight.

Jul 21, 2011 - Prudhoe Bay (aka Deadhorse), AK

We arrived in Deadhorse around 3:30 p.m. with about an hour and a half to kill before our tour of the Prudhoe Bay oil facilities. The only way to see any of Prudhoe Bay, besides the area while driving in to town on the Dalton Highway, is to take a tour with an official guide. In fact, you can't even get to the Arctic Ocean unless you are on one of these tours. The housekeeping staff is very strict about requiring you to put these blue paper booties over your shoes the minute you step into the hotel. Since the roads are gravel and very...

Jun 26, 2011 - On Dietrich River South of Atigun Pass - The Midnight Sun

(Ron Writing) After we finished with the journal and the other internet work we packed-up and left Deadhorse about 9:45 PM under full sun and a blue sky. By this time it was getting a little windy and the temperature was around 40°. We figured we might as well drive a little ways where it would be warmer and find a nicer place to camp than a parking lot in Deadhorse. Driving south from Deadhorse we again saw hundreds of caribou on both sides of the highway. We already had more than enough photos of them so we just enjoyed watching them....

Jun 25, 2011 - About 40 Miles South of Deadhorse, AK - Tour of Prudhoe Bay

(Ron Writing) We spent a quiet day at home here in Deadhorse. While waiting for our 5 PM tour we caught up on our journal entries and email, made a few phone calls, and took a walk around the “neighborhood”. At 5 PM we met our tour guide, who is also a security guard, in a small conference room in the hotel. He checked our IDs, gave us a short briefing, and showed us a video about the history of the oil field operations here. We then boarded a tour bus and drove out onto the oil field area and out to Prudhoe Bay. The guide did a great job...