August 20th - Day 23 - Wiseman to Fairbanks

After the poor weather in Fairbanks and then at Prudhoe Bay, the weather has improved considerably. We rose early to beautiful sunshine and a clear blue sky. It was quite cold and it had been freezing during the night.

We have really enjoyed our two nights here in Wiseman. Uta and Berni have been great hosts. The cabins are ideal places to stay on the drive to and from Prudhoe Bay, as well as staying for the northern lights which we could not see because there is too much daylight at this time of year. If anyone is interested in the Arctic Getaway then you can see why we decided to stay with Uta and Berni at www.arcticgetaway.com

Before we left we took these photos of Uta, Berni and their son Leo, and also one of us all together.

We left at about 9am and stopped at Coldfoot to tank up with diesel. Coldfoot, about ten miles south of Wiseman, is the site of one of the camps consructed for the building of the Alaska pipeline. It claims to have one of the greatest temperature ranges on the globe. A few years ago in winter the temperature fell to minus 80 degrees and then in the summer rose to 96 degrees. A range of 176 degrees!!
Once we had refuelled we headed south once more and almost immediately came across this female moose with its calf standing in the road.

I hope readers won't become bored by my posting of more photos of the pipeline and the stunning scenery, but I can't resist attempting to show how incredible Alaska is.


As you drive along the highway you often meet heavy loads going north to the oilfields. This is a typical wide load that had two escorts warning traffic to move over.

We came to the Yukon River and took a group photo of us all wearing our North to Alaska tee shirts, standing on the bank of this great river.

At about 1pm we came to the end of the Dalton Highway. We have four days of incredible driving through some of the wildest and remote country we are ever likley to experience. It has been unforgettable!

The final 100 miles into Fairbanks was easy driving with only one thing to note that we have now driven over 4,000 miles on our North to Alaska tour.

When we arrived in Fairbanks I immediatel had my tyre repaired and the car pressure washed to get rid of the mud caked on to the underside.

We all went out for a meal at the Pump House a restaurant on the banks of the Chena River. While we were there this paddle steamer went past.

We then took Edward to Fairbanks airpor where he caught the flight to Anchorage and then on to Los Angeles. It has been fanatastic havin him with us for the past week. We hope he will join us when we drive across Canada next year.

Postscript:

After posting last night we decided to drive out of Fairbanks in an attempt to see the northern lights. We drove about ten miles north and parked by the side of the road. As the last evening sunlight was disappearing, it was 12.30am, the lights started to appear. It wasn't the sort of display you see in films about the lights, but good nonetheless. Faint wisps of white and green lights darted across the northern sky. We stayed for about half an hour and then drove back to the hotel. As we drive south the days are getting shorter which, hopefully, will mean better viewing of the lights. The weather forecast is good for the next couple of days.

Today we drive about 125 miles to Denali National Park, where Mt Denali (formerly Mt.Mckinley) the highest point in North America, is located. It's unusual to be able to see the mountain because it is normally shrouded in cloud, but with the good weather we are hopeful of seeing it.