Marion Creek to Deadhorse to Galbraith Lake: Day 2 of the Haul Road

Mother Nature threw us the variety pack of conditions today, ranging from rain, sleet and driving winds to sun. I had a variety pack of impressions of the ride today, ranging from, "Errr, check your joy buzzer at the door, people" to "SPECTACULAR! You've gotta be kidding me". The morning was wet, cold and slippery in places. We climbed to Atigun Pass. It is quite something to see how they threaded the road through the Brooks Range, which is massive. It is the longest East-West range in the world.

On the north side of the Brooks Range, some wonderful things happened. Here, the pipeline utility zone abuts the Arctic National Wildlife Refuge. I was riding along, minding my own business, when a grizzly crossed the road, not 20 yards in front of me. This is the first time I said aloud, "You've gotta be kidding me". There was a car in front of me with two people, and a couple on a motorcycle behind me, so I figured, after assessing the area to see if the bear had any traveling companions, that I could stop. I only had a one-in-five chance of being charged, and my accumulated crust of mud and dust made me decidedly unappetizing, right? I uploaded the papa-large file, so you should be able to click and zoom in on him. I wish I had a video camera, and I wish I were faster with the camera. WOW!!

After watching for several minutes (he ended up running down toward the pipeline), I started my motorcycle up again and headed down the road. About a mile later, I said, "You've gotta be kidding me" again. To my left, a very large gray wolf crossed the road. We stared each other down for about 30 seconds, I went to grab for the camera, and he was gone...WOW!!

I finally caught up with Mark (for those of you who have ridden with him, you know that he is like a rocket-ship). The terrain thereafter flattened out, and we ran into some construction--the road was really torn up and we had to stand up on our motorcycles to negotiate some of the glop. As we approached the end of the road at Deadhorse, the wind started to blow--I was hanging over the side of my bike to keep it upright. There was snow on the Franklin Bluffs to our right. And straight ahead, four motorcycle headlights gleamed in the distance...it was our friends the Mexicans!! We laughed and waved--they had completed a successful trip to Prudhoe Bay and were on their way out.

This is the northern-most gas station in the United States. The gasoline has to be trucked in 400+ miles from Fairbanks...a little ironic, eh?

We did not stick around Deadhorse--it really is just a work camp for the oil industry. On our way back, we had some more rain. I realized that all accounts of the Dalton Highway are true--the road conditions really change hourly. There is nothing predictable about this road.

We camped at Galbraith Lake. It has been the site of quite a bit of archaeological work--apparently, people have been camping here for 12,000 years, since they crossed the Bering Land Bridge.

Odometer: 5114 miles