August 19th - Day 22 - Prudhoe Bay to Wiseman

Our brief stay at the northernmost point of our trip was over and we intended to start the long drive back down the Dalton Highway at 10am. However, when I went outside to load the car I noticed the right rear tyre looked down on pressure. I checked it and sure enough it was nearly flat.
Having all the right tools to change a tyre, especially on a heavy car like the Toyota, makes the task very easy. With Edward’s help we had it done in five minutes. The tyre had a screw embedded in it, causing a slow puncture.


We left the hotel at about 10.30am and soon we were passing the first of several small herds of caribou. They are very nervous animals and are always on the move as soon as you approach them Wendy managed to take this photo before they started to run away.

After seeing the caribou we saw, in the distance a small herd of musk-oxen, the first time we had seen more than one animal.


The first hundred miles of the road is mainly gravel and there are road crews constantly working to maintain the surface which becomes potholed very quickly. There are graders smoothing sections of road all the way along the highway and then there are more major works where you are led through the roadwork section by a pilot vehicle. Here we were held up whilst a truck loaded with gravel dumped his load.

Shortly after the road works we had our first views of the Brooks Range.Yesterday there were snowfalls in the mountains making them a very beautiful sight.

We were now rising up towards the beginning of the Atigun Pass, the highest point on the Dalton Highway at 4,740 feet.

Before the pass we stopped to take some photos of two dirty cars, as well as Bob and myself by the pipeline.

I felt the pipe to see if it was hot, as the oil starts its journey from Prudhoe Bay at 145 degrees Fahrenheit and cools to 115 degrees when it arrives at Valdez, 800 miles later. Much to my surprise the pipe was cold. It is obviously well insulated to stop heat loss, especially in the intense cold of the winter.
The pipeline snaking up the valley to the Atigun Pass.

A photo of the Atigun Pass, near the summit and you might be able to see the road rising up from the centre of the photo towards the right.

Just before the summit we came across this group of Dall’s sheep.

We have read that they are the only white wild sheep in the world. Their white coats give them very good camouflage in the winter. Unfortunately for us there were only ewes and their lambs and no rams. The mature ewes have short pointed horns, whereas the rams have large curved horns, that are prized by hunters.
We drove the remaining 100 miles in about 2 hours, arriving at the Arctic Getaway Inn in Wiseman, where we had stayed on our way north. The car was so dirty I decided to take it down to the river and, with Edward's help, washed it using a bucket and sponge.


Tomorrow we drive to Fairbanks where we will be saying goodbye to Edward, who flies back to Los Angeles. We will be seeing him again when we fly from Anchorage to Los Angeles on the 25th August.