July 10
55 miles
3700 feet elevation
Today felt like climb after climb, although we actually descended more. It goes like this: climb for an hour, descend for 5 minutes. Climb again. We went over mountains with names like Gobbler’s Knob, the Beaver Slide, and Finger Mountain. They were steep, and although not as steep as Atigun Pass, they felt harder. Pushing was involved.
In the morning we crossed the Arctic Circle and mile 300. While it won’t be dark, we’ve left the land of midnight sun. We chatted with a local at the Arctic Circle sign who said he’s done over a million miles on the Dalton, first driving a rig and now in “retirement” driving a pilot car for oversize loads. He told us the truckers keep an eye on us.
In the afternoon we stopped at a wayside for dinner and a guy from San Diego offered us some water. He just finished modifying his truck and is headed for Deadhorse. Then, a German couple approached us from their massive, military-esque modded truck to see if we needed anything. They had it shipped to Mexico, drove to Argentina and all the way back North with their two boys. This has been a 6 year journey for their family. They work and homeschool on the road. We had a nice time chatting with them, and they also gave us some water.
In the evening, though it was muggy and mosquito-laden, the terrain eased up a bit so we covered more miles than we thought we would, and finally stopped to camp around 9 pm along the pipeline.
We saw a moose in the distance, but overall less wildlife today than other days. We’re only about 150 miles from Fairbanks now, and have less than 100 miles left on the Dalton.
