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A 3 week Vacation in ALASKA - by Vandana Rajagopalan
Anchorage - Anchorage Wildlife Conservation Center, Portage Glacier.
Floatplane flight over Kodiak.
Bear Watching in Kodiak Island
Alaska Marine Highway - Weeklong Cruise to Aleutian Islands on MV Tustumena - Cold Bay, Sand Point, Chignik, Akutan, Unalaska.
Bald Eagle viewing in Unalaska
Chiniak Bay in Kodiak
Anchorage & Palmer - Independence Mine, Hatcher Pass, Lazy Mountain.
Alaska Railroad train to Whittier and a Prince William Sound Cruise
Talkeetna, Camping in Fairbanks
Drive to the North Pole along the 414 mile gravel Dalton Highway - Arctic Circle, Coldfoot, Wiseman, Deadhorse, Prudhoe Bay.
Dip in the Arctic Ocean.
Grizzlies at Denali National Park, Drive to Wonder Lake
Anchorage - Anchorage Wildlife Conservation Center, Portage Glacier.
Floatplane flight over Kodiak.
Bear Watching in Kodiak Island
Alaska Marine Highway - Weeklong Cruise to Aleutian Islands on MV Tustumena - Cold Bay, Sand Point, Chignik, Akutan, Unalaska.
Bald Eagle viewing in Unalaska
Chiniak Bay in Kodiak
Anchorage & Palmer - Independence Mine, Hatcher Pass, Lazy Mountain.
Alaska Railroad train to Whittier and a Prince William Sound Cruise
Talkeetna, Camping in Fairbanks
Drive to the North Pole along the 414 mile gravel Dalton Highway - Arctic Circle, Coldfoot, Wiseman, Deadhorse, Prudhoe Bay.
Dip in the Arctic Ocean.
Grizzlies at Denali National Park, Drive to Wonder Lake
Close to Denali National Park, we pause for 10 minutes at Mile 238.
Upon our arrival in Fairbanks, we hunt high and low for the Riverside RV Park and Campground. When we finally pitch a tent at the designated site, its around 10pm!
Fairbanks being quite near the pole doesn't get dark until midnight in Aug.
Fairbanks being quite near the pole doesn't get dark until midnight in Aug.
The view across our tent.
We have a post-midnight dinner...
Retreat into the tent for a few hours of much-deserved sleep. Alarm's at 4am for the drive on the Dalton tommorow!!!
At 4:45AM sharp, we show up at the doorsteps of Dalton Express, a tourshop that drives up & down the longest gravel pipeline road in the world, the 500 mile Dalton Highway, from Fairbanks, via Joy, Coldfoot, Wiseman, Deadhorse, to Prudhoe Bay.
Bill Aldrich, that's our driver on the left, makes this trip in about 20 hours in a blue tourvan, a Ford V8, fueled by one of those sodas overdosed with caffeinated B6 vitamins.
Apart from Bill, the five of us, the van holds Igor, a French cultural Ambassador-type chap in his 20s; Robert, a missionary filmmaker; two students and some luggage. We head off into the Arctic at 5 sharp.
Bill Aldrich, that's our driver on the left, makes this trip in about 20 hours in a blue tourvan, a Ford V8, fueled by one of those sodas overdosed with caffeinated B6 vitamins.
Apart from Bill, the five of us, the van holds Igor, a French cultural Ambassador-type chap in his 20s; Robert, a missionary filmmaker; two students and some luggage. We head off into the Arctic at 5 sharp.
Dalton Highway is actually not that bad. Yeah, its gravelly, almost all of it...
...but they've begun paving substantial sections of it, the problem areas first, and then maybe the whole Dalton. The paved sections are just like any interstate without shoulders. You can comfortably do 55 if you watch out for the oncoming trucks and potholes.
But its a long, long, unforgiving stretch that just goes on & on interminably into the tundra.
Our first stop is Joy, and we've barely begun.
Here's the route, all the way to the north pole, and Joy's at the very bottom!
Joy's not really a town. It has 23 people. It was founded by a chap from Milwaukee who opened a house+store on a 160 acre tract. Just about any northbound driver on Dalton stops at Joy.
Notice the pipeline across the width of the picture. Along the Dalton, the pipeline's never far away.
Here's the route, all the way to the north pole, and Joy's at the very bottom!
Joy's not really a town. It has 23 people. It was founded by a chap from Milwaukee who opened a house+store on a 160 acre tract. Just about any northbound driver on Dalton stops at Joy.
Notice the pipeline across the width of the picture. Along the Dalton, the pipeline's never far away.
