After the 9 days cycling from Haines to Fairbanks I had two day rest in Fairbanks. In Billie’s Hostel – the place I stayed in Fairbanks – I met James. He is also with his bicycle on the way and just completed the Dalton Highway from Deadhorse (Prudhoe Bay) to Fairbanks. Since I still wasn’t sure whether I should cycle this Highway myself we started to talk about his experience along the road. He told me about all the hills you go up just to see that it goes down on the other side again before it goes up an other hill. He also told me about the two hours he had to push his bicycle through the mud and that the mud blocked his gearing and he could not clean it till Fairbanks. He meant that he enjoyed cycling for about 15 minutes out of the 8 days he had been on the road. Well, that was not the best outlook but somehow I had the feeling that I have to do the Dalton Highway.
In the hostel I also meet Nicola and Jules. They thought about renting a car to drive up the Dalton Highway to Deadhorse. Right there was my opportunity to get a ride to Deadhorse so that I have to cycle not both but just one way. The following day we toke off and drove to Deadhorse. Along the way I tried to judge the different hills and estimate how long it will take me to cycle offer them – there were quite many to go offer and the worst part was just outside Fairbanks.
We had beautiful weather and it was interesting to see the change in the vegetation. In the beginning there were still a lot spruce trees but as further north we got they thinned out and the tundra started. We crossed the Arctic Circle, made to obliged picture, and headed further north and reached Deadhorse in the morning of the second day.
Deadhorse is not a nice town, if you can call it a town at all. It is actually just a conglomeration of houses and service buildings for the oil companies. The reason to come to Deadhorse is the way itself, the fact that it is the must northern place you can drive to on the American Continent and to have a dip in the Arctic Ocean. In order to do that, we had to join a tour since private vehicles are not allowed to drive to the Ocean.
After the tour, Nicola and Jules went on there way back and left my behind – now I had to cycle back!! Although it was already 5:00 PM I started cycling that day. First I thought I would go just for some hours but since the first 80 odd miles are just flat and it felt good to cycle, I just went on. Then the idea came up, that I could cycle till midnight and actually see the midnight sun and that was it what I did. For me, the fact that you have sunlight for 24 hours is probably the most stunning thing here in Alaska. You never have to care about finding a place to sleep before it gets dark and it makes the days are soooooo long – you can do a lot of things during one day.
I could have cycled all night long, but some when I had the feeling that it is enough for a day – or better said for a night -and pitched my tent at the side of the road. The flat Arctic Plain was behind me now and the road started his way up and down the hills. From the car drive I remembered more or less the topography of the road – “After this hill it goes steep downhill, then for a while a bit more leveled before it starts to clime the next hill”. I think the fact that I know how the road goes made it easer for my. I never had that feeling “fu….. an other hill – how many are there still to cross”. The other thing that made it easier for me was, that I did not force myself anymore to reach a certain place every day. I just cycled and pitched my tent when ever I felt like. Such a day was the second one. After cycling up this long shoulder of the hill, black clouds started to the cover the sky in front of me. I made a brake to see whether they would go away again. That was not the case so I pitched my tent right there and enjoyed the view down the valley.
The next morning I could not see a thing. The summit was covered in mist and I had a hard time to decide whether I should go on that day or not. Finally I decided to go and it turned out to be a wonderful day. Although the mud road was wet from the mist and therefore hard to cycle on, I had a good day. At 5:00 PM I reached the base of of Atigun Pass and had made a lunch brake. Because it was such a beautiful day and you never know how the next day will be, I decided to get offer the pass the same day.
The 1580 m high (4739 feet) Atigan Pass is the highest Highway Pass in Alaska an marks the continental divide. Somehow I had respect from the pass – I actually don’t know way, probably because the road is all gravel and it is the ‘ The Highest Highway Pass in Alaska’. Well I did it and to be honest, I thought it was not bad at all. By reaching the bottom of the pass you probably made already some meters up and it is also mentally easier then going over all this hills. You know it is one pass and when you over it it is done. I was much more ‘afraid’ of the mountains between the Yukon River and Fairbanks.
After the pass I had a ‘easy’ day cycling. It went up and down and I had strong headwind but somehow it just felt good. I headed for Coldfoot, the place that is signed in Deadhorse as “Next Service 240 miles”, for having pancakes. On our way up I saw somebody eating them and ever since they were in my head – they were delicious!!
The next day was not as good as the day before. After some hours I got the feeling that I’m bored of cycling and asked myself what I’m doing here. You see, I still have those questions once in while. Somehow I dragged myself along the road and as the sky got covered with clouds, I pitched my tent and called it a day.
The Hot Spot Café was the destination of the next day. This is an other service place along the Dalton Highway where you can get fuel for your car – in me case eating some – better said – quite many cookies (they did not have any muffins and I was a bit disappointed about that). I ended up staying there for two nights – no, not because of the cookies – but because the weather in the south did not look good. The people from the tour buses, which stop for lunch, confirmed me, that the weather in the south was not good – so no reason to move on. There was also this chilly wind blowing and I heard that the Atigun Pass was covered with a thin layer of snow – it seems to be right that up here you have to expect snow even in the summer.
With enough fuel in my belly, I went on the last two days cycling before being back in Fairbanks. At the end of the first of those days I hit some rain and I did not look good for the next day either. I was really surprised as I finally got out of my tent the next morning – blue sky – I could not belief it. Because of the nice weather and the outlook to reach Fairbanks that evening, the hills just before Fairbanks I was ‘afraid’ off, were not toooooo bad. I mean it took some time to get over them but I made it and reached Fairbanks earlier then I though I would.
It took me 8 days cycling (9 days including the rest day in Hot Spot Café) or 54 hours and 49 minutes to get the 825 kilometers (512 miles) from Deadhorse to Fairbanks. I saw caribous and some kind of a wolf along the road but no bear. I’m actually glad I did not see a bear. It would have been great to see one while we were driving up by car but while I’m cycling?? I probably passed many of them but just did not see them – that way it is okay. In one situation the oncoming cars stopped to tell me, that there would be grizzly just beside the road, 2 miles down. I started to make a lot of noise and hoped that he would go away. Well, I did not see him but he was sure not fare away – it was somehow a wired felling to pass that area.
Fortunately I could enjoy the trip for more then just the 15 minutes as James did. In matter of fact I enjoyed it almost for the entire trip. Never the less, if I would have started my cycling adventure with this trip as James did and I would have rain as he did, I probably would have kicked my bicycle of the side of the road at the second day. Since I cycled some kilometer before I’m back in shape and I don’t have this urge anymore to reacha specific destination every day – I think that makes it much easier.
