Atigun Pass

On our second day up at Coldfoot we took a scenic drive about 75 miles farther up the road to Atigun Pass. Atigun Pass is the highest mountain pass across the Brooks Range and the only place to get through by driving.

This here is a prime example of permafrost. Once it finally starts to get warmer, pools of water like this will stay all through the summer months. This creates a ton of mosquitoes in the summer. Our guide Rachel said that a lot of people in Alaska joke that the real state bird is the mosquito!!

Landslide on the mountain side. 

The last tree you can see before heading farther up north.

So yeah.......I was pretty high up!

And then there is miles and miles of Arctic Tundra.

While stopping to take some photos we came across a broken down van.

I noticed a small pile of wood underneath......

.......as well as a tinny chimney pipe in the back???

This guy had created a small fireplace inside of his van! How cool is that!?! Too bad it broke down.

At certain times during the pipelines travel it dips underground......

.....only to be marked on the ground by the heat pipes.

This here is a cannon stand. You'll see them strategically placed along side the highway, mostly around mountain passes. The DOT(Dept. of Transportation) will come along, set up the cannon, and blast snow off of the mountain creating an avalanche. By creating the avalanche, they are in control of when it falls and can deal with it right away. Lot's of money would be lost if the Dalton Highway were shut down for any length of time. 

Atigun Pass from up top. Totally worth the drive!