The Legend of the Albino Moose

September 5th, Monday

While in one of the airports, the previous day I had called the tour operator to confirm the trip and request transportation from the hotel to the start of the trip to the Arctic Ocean. The tour company was called the North Alaskan Tour Company (NATC) and the guide (Ben) was the one who picked me up from the hotel. The company was located on the east side of the airport where I signed in, had my luggage weighed, and ordered lunch for the day. There would be five others on the trip. The only other American was a guy from Fort Wayne, Indiana. Two Europeans (a retired gentleman from Berlin and woman from Wicklow, Ireland) and a retired married couple from Melbourne, Australia completed the group. The husband of the Australian couple was named Tony Blair.

Our route took us north out of Fairbanks on the Elliott Highway which eventually intersects with the Dalton Highway north of Livengood (pronounced similarly to Living good). If you watch the show Ice Road Truckers (IRT), the Dalton Highway is the “haul road” that the show has focused on since centering the program in Alaska. For much of the route taken north until late Tuesday night when we arrived in Deadhorse, and ultimately the Arctic Ocean, the Trans Alaskan Pipeline was nearly always within eyeshot. The pipeline is 800.3 miles long from Prudhoe Bay to Valdez and the Dalton is 416 miles long and was built specifically to help haul materials during the construction of the pipeline during the mid 1970s.

Moose season had started a few days prior to the start of the journey and there were several hunters that passed us as we traveled along the Elliott and eventually the Dalton. Not far out of Fairbanks,, we passed several hunters standing and parked alongside the road. Ben pulled the van over and everyone looked to see if we could get a glimpse of the moose that had stopped all the hunters. (We’d later learn that any hunting within 5 miles of the road was limited to bows due to trying to protect the pipeline from accidental damage.) About that time, I (and a couple of others) got a glimpse of an animal that was running diagonally away from the van. There was a thick line of spruce trees that hid the moose as soon as I saw it, but when the sun hit the moose, it had a grey appearance as opposed to the typical brown hair color. I got another glimpse or two as the moose when further away from the van. Unfortunately, I didn’t get a picture as the glimpses were quick, but Ben did stick his head out of the van and confirmed that we had indeed seen an albino moose.

We stopped shortly thereafter at the little trading post of Joy, a few miles short of where the Dalton began. The trading post got its start as a family from Minnesota who had got fed up with the inability to home school their children (and adopted children). So, the family loaded up a school bus, drove north to Alaska and settled where the post is located. This would be one of the many little stops made along the trek. As with most of the stops, the restrooms were a simple outhouse with many including a sign that says “Imagine this if it were -40°F.” Luckily, it was in the 50s that day. Several individuals had encouraged me to take bug spray due to the monster mosquitoes in Alaska, but I didn’t have any problems with mosquitoes.

Just across the Yukon River bridge, we stopped to pick up our bag lunches from the truck stop that NATC had called ahead and ordered for us when we signed in at Fairbanks. It was also where I spied the first Carlile Trucking semi made famous by IRT. We ate outside at a rest stop/picnic area across the Dalton from the truck stop. After eating, I walked down to the bank of the Yukon and couldn’t get over the steepness of the bridge that crosses the Yukon. If I remember correctly, the bridge was constructed to support the weight of the pipeline and traffic going across it. However, the engineers forgot to account for the weight of the oil flowing through the pipeline and the upper portion of the bridge had to be redone.

Once leaving the Yukon River area, one of the most famous stretches of the Dalton Highway came into view, that of the Rollercoaster.

It is certainly steep and the lack of snow and ice prevented it from being more fearsome. We continued north past Finger Mountain after a brief stop there and tasting Alaskan blueberries (tarter than I’m used to), we pushed north towards the Arctic Circle. The Beaver Slide section of the Dalton Highway had to be crossed prior to reaching the Circle though. (At this point, I'm wishing I could drive some of these curves.) There we had a short celebration marking the moment with some cake.

From there, we pushed north onto Coldfoot where we would stop and spend the night. Coldfoot was originally named Slate Creek, but had its name changed in honor of all those persons who went north to find gold and would eventually get “cold feet.”

The hotel we stayed at in Coldfoot was located at the truck stop shown in IRT and saw the area reserved for truckers to eat . The truckers have their own area since it’s the only place in the restaurant that smoking is permitted. A buffet was provided at the restaurant for $20 which considering how remote the location is and that food has transported in as none is grown seems to be reasonable. The price of soft drinks made me give them up for the time being though. It was $1.45 for a 12 oz can and $2.45 for a 20 oz bottle. And you thought hotels were steep on their soft drinks...

Across the highway from the truck stop
was the Coldfoot Visitor’s Center which offered an educational program that evening at 8 pm. The program focused on the history of the area and what the early settlers faced when moving into the area to mine for gold. During the van ride earlier in the day, Ben had mentioned that initially, the only way into Alaska was through Canada. During that time period, the Canadian Mounties required that any gold seekers carried 2 years worth of supplies with them. This would lead to alternative routes into Alaska being sought to get away from this requirement, regardless of how prudent it was.

During the presentation at the visitor center, there was a list of supplies purchased by early settlers. It was quite an extensive list of food and clothes that settlers would purchase. The total purchase price from a store in Dawson would have been $550 and $539 in Circle (those prices may be reversed though). Included in the list were 500 lbs of flour and 80 lbs of beans (if memory serves correctly). What I’m still trying to figure out was why settlers needed 6 bottles of Worcestershire sauce.

After a few more shots of the area around the hotel, it was time to turn in for the night. Another long day on the Dalton awaited.