Just got internet for first time in days.
Just so everyone knows, Donner, Stef and I have just returned from an absolutely extraordinary adventure up the Dalton Highway and back. The three of us are safe, albeit cold and muddy, but not hungry. Our goal was to make to it just above 68 parallel beyond Atigun Pass to the spot where I scattered Sonntag's and Kessie's ashes in August 2001 at parallel 68.33. It was the same spot where In August 2000, the NG photographer took the photo of me and Sonntag heading into the tent in a snowstorm.
As some people know, that spot was a major turning point in my life, which is why I had to get there, but not by taking unnecessary risks.
5:30 made it back to Coldfoot for gas.
As some people know, that spot was a major turning point in my life, which is why I had to get there, but not by taking unnecessary risks.
Here is a diary of that absolutely extraordinary adventure.
Sunday,
Midnight. I picked Stefanie up at the Fairbanks airport, just minutes from the Chena River Camp, where we spent the night without incident.
Monday
Morning, up early, set up the Defender with a seat for Stefanie and loaded extra gear into Defender . Defender has never been so packed with stuff, but everything fit neatly and Donner adjusted nicely to his one bed.
Went shopping for supplies for the journey up the Dalton, which promised to be cold and muddy from the rain . We overstocked on food because Stefanie confessed that she is always hungry. Loaded up on extra cans of gas since gas stations are very far apart, like 250 miles in one case. remind me to tell you about 2013.
11:00 ...on the road to Dalton highway 80 miles north of Fairbanks.
12|:30...at last, on the Dalton, Ed for 4th time, Stefanie's and Donner's first time. Rain made the road, very muddy. There are only two ways to take Dalton, in dirt or mud, today we had mud. Stef played on the iPad North to Alaksa, although I reminded her that we were already in Alaska and there was not much more north left to go.
12.30. I got out of the Defender, opened Stef's door, and said, you drive. She is the first other person ever to drive the Defender. I could not believe how skillful she was at driving it. We split the drive from there on. I had never been a passenger in my own vehicle before. What a new experience.
1:30 arrived Yukon River Cafe for gas and the most delicious Salmon burgers this side of the Yukon, maybe the other side too.
2:3O back on road. Cold, rain. Overcast. Foggy. This is the Dalton. You never know what you will get, so you make the most of what you have, and we did. While experiencing the Dalton on clear day is amazing, experiencing it on an overcast day is equally if not more intriguing. The only more dramatic experience is to experience it in snow, which we were about to get.
6:30. Arrived at Arctic Circle . Snow on the ground already and in the air. Decided to bivouac there in a nice little campsite right there, despite the no camping sign. Rain and heavy wind all night made for tough sleeping. We poked our heads out of tent at 1:00 a.m. hoping to see northern lights but too overcast. Stef was worried that the wind sounded like voices, just as I think I see evidence of civilization when I am driving, but what I see is trees and tundra in various shapes and colors. Once I see two tall yellow trees in the distance and mistook them for. MacDonalds. God help us.
Tuesday,
up at 8 to Reveille from the iPad, no snow, but we heard reports of snow up and down the Dalton. On the muddy, cold road by 9:30 to go as far as we can without taking unnecessary risks, hoping for the best. Puzzled, though, why no trucks on road from the north.
11:00 arrived in Coldfoot for gas, and bowls of the most delicious Lentil soup north of the Yukon. Got cautious reports about the Dalton over Atigun Pass. I was assured by someone that the snowplows were at work clearing it and that we could make the pass in the Defender despite the snow there now.
Noon...Got back on road at 12:00 . Drove through Wiseman, a thriving community of hermits. Very odd place. Very odd. On the road, Snow, not too bad. Road drivable.
2:30 reached the very peak of Atigun pass around parallel 68.10, only 50 miles from our
goal after 7552 miles of driving, at the point on the pass considered by many to be the most treacherous because it is the highest point, and therefore the coldest, features both a sharp almost U-turn at the crest of the mountain and a long steep slope on its southern side, part of it without guard rails, as if they would do much good for a vehicle skidding into it. There was absolutely no problem climbing the pass in the Defender despite the light snow, until the last quarter mile or so. Then, the snow suddenly picked up to almost white-out conditions, the Defender's windshield started to freeze up instantaneously, and as we reached the top of the pass, a mysterious fog set it. Instead of proceeding on down slope to start our descent to the North Slope and our goal, just a few miles to the north, we stopped and got out of the Defender onto the cold, windy, snowy steep bluff. After discussing the risks of continuing, Stefanie and i both agreed that the last few miles would be risky, so, despite being just minutes away from our goal, we turned back, agreeing that the mission was an unqualified success, not in spite of but because of our decision.
Without our knowing it, the cold that greeted us to the top of the pass turned the steep road into a sheet of ice. As soon as i turned the Defender around and started downhill, heading for the right side of the road so i could straddle the ditch on the way down, the now-icy road took control and sent the Defender skidding off to the right, fortunately the non-drop-off side, into the deep ditch that borders the road and the one foot of snow shoved there by the snow plows that had preceded us earlier in the day. The Defender was hung up on the sloped snow bank heading into the ditch. It was totally immobile, unable to move forward or in reverse. I put the Defender in low gear, turned on the air locker and locked both the front and rear differentials. I then tried to back up off the inclined bank but with no success. I then decided to straighten the front wheels and drive forward and drive into and through the ditch, hoping eventually to steer back onto the road, but straddling the shoulder and ditch to the give the tires some traction if the road was still icy. I had that much confidence in the Defender. It worked. After perhaps ten feet, the Defender emerged back onto the road. Stef was elated, and so was I, but I have no idea what Donner was thinking.
As soon as the Defender got back on the road, it found the road still completely icy and what happened before happened again and we slid right off into the snow banked ditch. I repeated the extrication procedure again, and the same thing happened. And it happened again, and again, and again, five times altogether. I was trying to get the Defender below the ice line before haul-road trucks came barreling around the partially-blind turn at the top of the hill, but the dirt road concealed the ice, like black ice, only brown. One truck did fly by, fortunately in the center of the road, but the driver probably reasoned, smartly, that it was more dangerous for him to stop to help us. I understood entirely.
Only after that fifth attempt did the Defender find itself on just dirt and it held the road beautifully for the rest of the drive off the pass.
While this saga was going on, i assured Stefanie several times that everything was going to be alright, and i was sure it was going to be. The worst case scenario was to have to winch the Defender out of the ditch or put on the chains. Or even leave the Defender and set up camp on the crest of the hill until help arrived or i could extricate the Defender from its unwelcome parking place. We had to do none of that. The Defender came through nicely, although no other vehicle would have.
Incidentally, i just had the front differential lock that got us out of this mess installed weeks before i embarked on this trip. Good thinking.
5:30 made it back to Coldfoot for gas.
7:00 made it back to our cozy camp at Arctic Circle and set camp again there in the snow. Had a nice dinner on our cold wet veranda .... Hot vegetable soup, New England clam chowder, while Donner dined on his usual cans of a Salmon and rice.
10:00 pm in sleeping bags by 10:00 (Stef and Donner by 9). Woke up at 1:00 am to see Northern lights, but nothing, too overcast.
Wednesdsy,
8:00 Reveille. snowing. Cold. Defender took 15 turns to start. Hmmm,. But is started. I can always count on it.
9:30 on the road to Fairbanks, 200 miles distant, 120 over Dalton. Overcast, Snow, mud, cold, trucks, big trucks, some really big trucks. I mean big. Lots of nature all around us, and lots of intrigue. Ah, the Dalton in its fiercest costume.
11:30 We stopped for another Salmonburger at Yukon River Cafe. Better than Monday's. Then headed south to the end of this Dalton Adventure. How sad.
3:30.., reached end of Dalton Highway. I turned to Stef and asked her that with the cold, mud, and everything else that spelled adventure whether she was glad she had accepted our invitation and the expression on her face told it all. A big wide smile.
5:30 arrived at Chena River Wayside camp, where we stayed Sunday night, but it closed for the season one day early. Too cold, we were told. Too cold? Found refuge for the night in the pleasant RV camp down the road, where I had camped in 2000 and 2001. To Stef's delight, they had showers. To Donner's delight, he got four cans of salmon. To my delight, I achieved what i set out to accomplish, with not a minute to spare.
One final comment . I have been on the road for for 36 days and have had some pretty darned exciting times. But nothing comes close to the experience of what just happened. As for our new travel partner, Stef, If I had been writing a novel, I could not have created a more perfect travel companion. Who would have thought anyone could drive the Defender as well as she does? Who would have thought anyone would be so bold as to even want to do what we just did? Who would have thought anyone existed who could tolerate Donner and me for 24 hours a day for so long? I guess it took finding some 24-year old medical student from Germany to make those things happen.
Tomorrow we leave for five days into cold but beautiful Denali, after which the Defender gets pointed south to head home by way of Yosemite and all other places north in between.
There will be no postings for the next five days or so as we head into Denali as there is no internet. Perhaps I will send sat phone location postings to learn how to use the sat phone. Those postings will explain where we are. After we return from Denali, photos of Denali will flow.
Photo is of the three travelers at the Arctic Circle. More photos to follow soon.
1 comment:
Eddie - great pic. Any objection if I post it on your FB timeline with the notation that all is well?
Burt
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