Arctic Circle

For the sake of seeing real inland Alaska, we drove up to Fairbanks after we finished camping in Denali. We also needed to take a shower there J. From Fairbanks, we took a tour into the Arctic Circle along Dalton Highway, with the Northern Alaska Tour Company. The tour gathered at the tour company at 6:30am. After checking in and getting a briefing from the guide, the tour left around 7am. There were 24 tourists on the tour bus. Only four of the 24 were probably younger than 40. Yeah, it’s really amazing seeing how many senior citizens choosing to visit Alaska after their retirement. Normally guys would talk about sports together, and ladies probably would talk about cooking or shopping. But, on the bus, I heard tons about RV’s. What a culture! J

The day started in a miserable weather. Fortunately, after the first 70 miles, the weather lighted up. Our first stop was at the Arctic Trading Post. If one would like, you can rent a cabin (like the one below) for a whole winter, and try to see if you can survive on the basis of subsistence living. Just comparing the out-door toilet they have there with a flush toilet, we think human civilization has come a long long way, and all those advancements make great sense in improving human lives. In about 5 minutes, we were just running onto the bus, dying to escape the real summer settlers in that area, mosquitoes.

Visiting Alaska, the Trans-Alaska oil pipeline was one thing we planned to see. This man-made construction is quite amazing considering the perma-frost underneath. Our tour stopped by where the pipeline had a gated service spot. I also took a shot of the Dalton Highway (below-left). We did not take our rental car into the Arctic Circle, due to the fact that Dalton Highway is a completely gravel road with very few service stations or gas stations. If the rental car broke down there, we would then need to pay to tow that car all the way back to Anchorage ourselves. Having been there once, the road condition on the Dalton Highway was actually better than we thought. If we had taken our rental car, we could have made it all the way with no problem. However, considering the ease of sitting on a tour bus, watching videos, and not having to worry a bit about car problems, we still think it’s a good call for vacation purposes.

After crossing over the all-mighty Yukon River, we continued driving until we crossed into the Arctic Circle. There is a monument of the exact crossover point, built on a pull-out of the Dalton Highway. Of course, that was a Kodak moment. There, we met a tough guy who rode his motorbike all the way up from Vancouver. He was heading towards Prudoe Bay, too.

Our tour turned back after Arctic Circle. We stopped by Finger Rock. Other than taking pictures of the finger shaped rock, our guide dug a shallow hole into the ground so that we could take a close look at the perma-frost under the tundra.

That day we had both lunch and dinner on the bank of Yukon River. During noontime, sunshine made the Yukon look very magnificent. However, at dinnertime, due to the change of weather, the Yukon put on the awesome look which was kind of mystic.

The tour finally returned to Fairbanks around 11pm. What a day! It was really a long day, without seeing a bit of darkness. When we first arrived in Alaska, not getting dark was kind of cool. But, after several action packed days, it’s just too long each day. The following morning we started our drive down to Seward.