D: Dalton Highway

Also known as the Haul Road and Ice Trucker Road is often described as the loneliest road on earth. This highway runs from 84 miles north of Fairbanks at Livengood to the Artic Ocean. It is 414 miles long and travels through some very remote wilderness and over the Yukon River.

The Dalton highway is a dangerous for even for the experienced driver. It is mostly has unpaved, uneven surfaces that change dramatically depending on the extreme weather. It has multiple potholes and a many very large trucks that take supplies to the oilfields.

Our bus driver who drives the road regularly was able to tell us many stories of the unusual safety rules of the road and how all the drivers who drive it regularly, do their best to keep everyone safe as their is minimal phone coverage along the route.

Plant life on the tundra Digging down to the water level Last of the berries the animals eat

Our trip on the Dalton was from Coldfoot, north of the Artic Circle back to Fairbanks. We were lucky enough to stop off and look at the Artic tundra. It was very spongy underfoot. Our bus driver showed us many plant s that live there and how they support the local environment. The Dalton highway was originally built to support the communities along the Trans Alaskan Pipeline which we were lucky enough to see reasonably closely.

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