After coming through the Atigun Pass in the (nearly)
midnight sunlight last night, it was almost an anti-climax to wake up this
morning knowing we “only” had to drive another 200 miles on dirt road back to
Fairbanks !! But no worries – we knew
there were unexpected and happy adventures to be had during the day, not the
least of which was a hot breakfast just 30 miles down the road in Coldfoot ! So after a quick tooth clean (yes Jamie (my
dentist), every morning and night, even in the most trying conditions ! You’d be proud of us !!) we headed off down
the road.
The car was now absolutely filthy, and every time you
touched or rubbed against anything on the outside, you got covered in dust from
the dried mud. It was impossible to even
read the number plate, but there was no point in washing it yet – Too many more
miles still to go on the dirt. But once we got going, it was fine, and Janet
wanted to divert into a little old mining town called Wiseman before we got to
our breakfast spot in Coldfoot. Soon
after coming past Sukakpak mountain we crossed the Koyukuk River we turned up
the little dirt road to Wiseman – And what an incredible place.
Wiseman is an old gold mining town, that is still a bit of a gold mining town ! Narrow dirt lanes, and mostly private houses, it is a favourite place for people to B&B when they want to get away from everything for a while. We went into the small coffee and gift shop, and spent a while in there, and when we came out we met a chap who was a beekeeper from N Carolina - And he had come to Wiseman because here there is the northernmost bee hive in the USA !!! Dennis Clarke had ridden his BMW bike all the way up just so he could report to his fellow apiarists on this beehive and how it worked and survived up here ! Never know what you will see or learn up here !!
There is even a runway in Wiseman - And we saw one plane as well !! An amazing little community, off the beaten track, but well worth a visit.
By the way, in case you don't know, all these places have outside "hole in the ground" dunnies. Reason being that in permafrost you can't have sewerage or water pipes underground, so you just use a composting outside dunny ! and while we are on the subject, I have to say that the normal drawbacks of such toilets (ie smell and flies etc) don't occur up here - it is too cold !!
From Wiseman it was a short distance in to Coldfoot for breakfast. But first I need to top up with fuel, and as I am doing so, I am wondering where Shawn and his truck are - And I look up, and there he is, just pulling into the yard. Now think about this for a minute - I am from Australia and have been to Coldfoot, north of the Arctic Circle, on one of the most remote roads in the world, 3 times in my life. On two of those occasions, I have met the same truck driver hauling chemicals for my ex-employer. So what do you think the chances are of 3 for 3 ? Got to be a couple of million to one, surely ? Anyway, there he is, dead on schedule !!! So you can imagine how we laughed about the coincidence of it all ! While Janet got to sit on two ice trucker's knees now - Shawn and Erin.
I have to point out that, much to my embarrassment, Erin was the driver of the first truck that I met 2 years ago, and in the excitement of seeing Shawn again, I had not realised that I had met Erin as well. So I have now met both Erin and Shawn everytime I have driven the haul road !! I am tempted to drive up it again just to see if the coincidence will be continued !!
Anyway, after a good chat with both of them, and a photo of Janet on Shawn's truck, we set off south again, over the rolling hills towards the Arctic Circle. As it wasn't raining, we pulled in for some more photos, and found Barb from the Coldfoot visitors centre set up in her mosquito proof tent, with her husband, enjoying a day at the Circle, reading books, and chatting and informing everyone of the local flora and fauna, and taking photos of everyone with their cameras ! They reckon it is far more exciting at the Circle than in the visitors centre because they meet so many more people !!
After that we continued on down to The Hot Spot which the guide books informed us was the social and epicurean centre of the Haul Road. Well, it certainly is very interesting, but I am not sure it quite lived up to its hype, and after a coffee and a long chat with the owner, and a thorough inspection of all her goods on sale, we continued on our way south. From there it was down to the Yukon River Bridge where we again stopped for refreshments, and to see Dorothy and her son Yukon Jeremy to get a photo - But by the time we came out of the coffee shop, they had packed up and headed back to their cabin up the river. Very disappointed we missed them.
As we headed down the road to the end of the Dalton, we did spot a moose disappearing into the bushes, and then shortly afterwards we arrived at Joe and Nancy Carson's - And this time they were in. Joe remembered my last visit, and we must have been there an hour or more, chatting, having a coffee, and generally solving some of the problems of the world. It was great to catch up with them again. We paid a visit to the dunny before leaving - See my earlier comments about these, above !! And as the sign says, "Try to imagine this but at 40 below !!" Might reduce the time some people spent on the loo, that's for sure !!
From Joy (Joe and Nancy's community) we then cruised back into the Fairbanks campsite for a welcome shower and a rest from dirt roads for a while !!
Wiseman is an old gold mining town, that is still a bit of a gold mining town ! Narrow dirt lanes, and mostly private houses, it is a favourite place for people to B&B when they want to get away from everything for a while. We went into the small coffee and gift shop, and spent a while in there, and when we came out we met a chap who was a beekeeper from N Carolina - And he had come to Wiseman because here there is the northernmost bee hive in the USA !!! Dennis Clarke had ridden his BMW bike all the way up just so he could report to his fellow apiarists on this beehive and how it worked and survived up here ! Never know what you will see or learn up here !!
There is even a runway in Wiseman - And we saw one plane as well !! An amazing little community, off the beaten track, but well worth a visit.
By the way, in case you don't know, all these places have outside "hole in the ground" dunnies. Reason being that in permafrost you can't have sewerage or water pipes underground, so you just use a composting outside dunny ! and while we are on the subject, I have to say that the normal drawbacks of such toilets (ie smell and flies etc) don't occur up here - it is too cold !!
From Wiseman it was a short distance in to Coldfoot for breakfast. But first I need to top up with fuel, and as I am doing so, I am wondering where Shawn and his truck are - And I look up, and there he is, just pulling into the yard. Now think about this for a minute - I am from Australia and have been to Coldfoot, north of the Arctic Circle, on one of the most remote roads in the world, 3 times in my life. On two of those occasions, I have met the same truck driver hauling chemicals for my ex-employer. So what do you think the chances are of 3 for 3 ? Got to be a couple of million to one, surely ? Anyway, there he is, dead on schedule !!! So you can imagine how we laughed about the coincidence of it all ! While Janet got to sit on two ice trucker's knees now - Shawn and Erin.
I have to point out that, much to my embarrassment, Erin was the driver of the first truck that I met 2 years ago, and in the excitement of seeing Shawn again, I had not realised that I had met Erin as well. So I have now met both Erin and Shawn everytime I have driven the haul road !! I am tempted to drive up it again just to see if the coincidence will be continued !!
Anyway, after a good chat with both of them, and a photo of Janet on Shawn's truck, we set off south again, over the rolling hills towards the Arctic Circle. As it wasn't raining, we pulled in for some more photos, and found Barb from the Coldfoot visitors centre set up in her mosquito proof tent, with her husband, enjoying a day at the Circle, reading books, and chatting and informing everyone of the local flora and fauna, and taking photos of everyone with their cameras ! They reckon it is far more exciting at the Circle than in the visitors centre because they meet so many more people !!
After that we continued on down to The Hot Spot which the guide books informed us was the social and epicurean centre of the Haul Road. Well, it certainly is very interesting, but I am not sure it quite lived up to its hype, and after a coffee and a long chat with the owner, and a thorough inspection of all her goods on sale, we continued on our way south. From there it was down to the Yukon River Bridge where we again stopped for refreshments, and to see Dorothy and her son Yukon Jeremy to get a photo - But by the time we came out of the coffee shop, they had packed up and headed back to their cabin up the river. Very disappointed we missed them.
As we headed down the road to the end of the Dalton, we did spot a moose disappearing into the bushes, and then shortly afterwards we arrived at Joe and Nancy Carson's - And this time they were in. Joe remembered my last visit, and we must have been there an hour or more, chatting, having a coffee, and generally solving some of the problems of the world. It was great to catch up with them again. We paid a visit to the dunny before leaving - See my earlier comments about these, above !! And as the sign says, "Try to imagine this but at 40 below !!" Might reduce the time some people spent on the loo, that's for sure !!
From Joy (Joe and Nancy's community) we then cruised back into the Fairbanks campsite for a welcome shower and a rest from dirt roads for a while !!
Pics are here :- https://picasaweb.google.com/117739775480775657932/0028AtigunPassToFairbanks?authkey=Gv1sRgCL3C0dP4lISsvAE#
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