Last night was fairly chilly; good thing we
had a lot of layers on. We woke up at
around 10:00am, filled up our gas tanks back at Yukon River Camp, and were back
on the road by noon. Forecast for today
was just as predicted; lots of sunshine.
The gravel road for the most part was hard packed with a few soft
patches here and there. There were times
when the road went from gravel to pavement, then back to gravel again. These transitions can be tricky if you’re not
paying attention because it’s usually loose gravel you’re dealing with at the
start of these transitions. Then we have
the 16-wheeler trucks we have to contend with, which has us slowing down and
signaling them to pass. Highly recommend
not trying to outrun them; they move very fast.
Same thing goes for oncoming trucks too unless you don’t mind a piece of
rock shattering your face shield.
Finger Rock, a fitting name
Sometimes you just gotta rip off your shirt
and howl like a wild man to realize how far you’ve come
North of the Arctic Circle, the sun is
above the horizon for 24 continuous hours at least once per year and below the
horizon for 24 continuous hours, which occur on the summer and winter
solstice.
We started to feel tired and pulled over to
the side of the road to take a nap. Aphasia
back in Long Island, NY was the one who taught us the technique of drinking
your energy drink (5-Hour Power) right before you take a nap when you’re
feeling dead tired. By the time you wake
up, you feel like a million bucks and raring to go. A girl we had met back in Grand Canyon told
us that if we keep fabric softener sheets handy, it should repel
mosquitoes. Clearly, the expression on
my face says it does not.
We woke up an hour later and got back on
the road. We saw an ambulance up ahead
tending to a fallen rider. Nearby was
his Honda Goldwing shattered in pieces off to the side of the road. We approached slowly, waiting to see if
anyone flagged us to come over and assist.
Nobody did, so we kept riding. We
found out later the rider was renowned adventure motorcyclist Italo Barazzutti
from Italy. He had to be air lifted to
Anchorage for treatment. His injuries
were non-life threatening.
We stopped at Coldfoot Camp to top up on
fuel and were back on the road by midnight with plenty of light out. We had a little scare after we took this
picture when Amanda’s bike didn’t want to start up again. After a few tries, it finally did. Behind us stands Sukakpak Mountain.
Another shot of Sukakpak Mountain from the
North
Approaching Atigun Pass at around
2:00am.
Elevation is at 4,739 feet and it started
to get really cold
If you look carefully, the little black dot
on the road is Amanda
The Trans-Alaska Pipeline zigzags through
the wilderness from Prudoe Bay to Valdez
We camped at Galbraith Camp where it was
free to camp. An outhouse and bear box
was available for us to use.
We were in our sleeping bags by
3:00am. We don’t need to tell you how
cold it was; this picture says it all.
 |
| 352 km |
Trucks
get right of way.
Watch
out for that loose gravel!
Entering
Arctic.
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