Coldfoot Camp

We arrived in Coldfoot Sunday night after almost a 12 hour drive.

  Coldfoot Camp is primarily a truck stop these days. Originally is was called Slate Creek and was a mining camp around 1898. By 1902 Coldfoot had two roadhouses, two stores, seven saloons(of course!), 10 "working girls"(many of the creeks around the area are named after them) and a gambling house. The camp became abandon around 1912 when the gold dried up. 

 Our living quarters. Originally this was the housing for the construction crew while building the pipeline. 

Remembering times of old. 

 The rooms stretch all the way down and also to the left. They have a TV in the common area along with some books. There is also a couple of 

washers and dryers. 

For being out in the middle of no where it's pretty cozy. There is also a small sink, shower, and the only flushing toilets since Fairbanks!

They have a post office......

.....with a couple of rules.

 Inside they have a dining area for tourist however the truckers have their own spot. Everything up here is really all about the truckers since it's their area, were just passing through.

The food is really quite good. The menu features a lot of fried food(truckers like fried stuff!) among other things as well as a different hearty soup each day. I had two bowls of this tomato based beef stew after snowshoeing outside for a couple of hours. No throwing this out the window mom!! :P

 The sun was just starting to rise around 10 am in the morning.

I came upon some moose tracks while snowshoeing. 

Must have been a big guy because the strides in between were about 3-4 feet. 

Also found some rabbit tracks.

 I wandered across the Coldfoot Cemetery. Didn't see any graves since the snow was about 5-7 feet deep. 

This photo came out a little blurry but readable. 

Stop now because the next service area is Deadhorse. 

The Dalton Highway

I stayed overnight in Fairbanks after the train ride and then headed up the Dalton Highway to Coldfoot Camp on Sunday. I booked everything through the Northern Alaska Tour Company and I have to say they did an amazing job!!

Coldfoot Camp is located 260 miles from Fairbanks via the Dalton Highway.

 The Dalton Highway is a 414 mile road made up of gravel and was originally built in 1974 to support the Alaskan Pipeline(it follows along the pipeline). I encourage you to click on the link because it has a lot of cool facts. There are only 3 inhabited towns during the entire trip-Coldfoot, Wiseman, and Deadhorse. On another note, the flower on both sides of the sign is called a Fireweed. It's name comes from the fact that it's the first thing to sprout up after there has
been a forest fire.

To get there we took a small van. That's our tour guide Rachel at the door of the van, she was super knowledgeable about everything Alaskan!!

Our first stop was what once used to be an old trading post.

These were the last decent outhouses along our entire trip. Notice the Tibetan Monk in the center: a group of 47 people from Thailand were also headed up to Coldfoot camp at the same time as us. More on them later!

Rachel told us that seeing cars piled up on peoples property in Alaska is a common site. Once a car breaks down, it's costs a good amount of money to get rid of it. Also since most parts of Alaska are so remote, they keep the cars
as "spare parts."

How dogs travel in Alaska.

The Trans-Alaska Pipeline. Built between 1974 to 1977 it stretches 800 miles long, 48 inches in diameter and brings oil from Prudhoe Bay to Valdez, Alaska. The Dalton Highway was created solely for the purpose to bring supplies up to create the pipeline. It follows along the highway almost the entire trip, dipping underground at some points. There are 12 pumping stations along the entire line which help maintain the oil going through the pipeline. The inside of the pipeline is maintained by putting two different types of Pigs inside. A Dumb Pig removes wax that builds up due to the cold. A Smart Pig travels the line looking for corrosion using magnetic or ultrasonic sensors. At some point, the oil will dry up. The Alyeska Pipeline Service, which was founded to design, construct, operate, and maintain the line, is required by law to remove all traces of the pipeline once
oil extraction is complete.

One of the hardest parts about building the pipeline was dealing with Permafrost. Permafrost is soil that is below the freezing point(0 C or 32 F) for more then 2 years. Once the pipeline was in, they added heat pipes(the things on the top left of the pictures that look like car wash brushes) to help to keep the ground frozen essentially keeping permafrost. If the ground starts to thaw and become unstable it will cause the pipeline to move which is not good!

Snow just doesn't fall in Alaska, it also grows! Above is a picture of snow that had covered a piece of fence next to the pipeline. Snow crystals had started to form on top of the snow almost like moss covering a rock! This link tells you how snow forms which is pretty cool in itself! Yeah science!!

I threw this shot in because it reminded me of Frodo and Sam(Lord of the Rings) trying to get to Mordor!

This is the bridge that crosses the Yukon River along the Dalton Highway. The river starts in British Columbia, Canada and ends in Alaska(see map below). There are only 4 vehicle-carrying bridges that cross the river during it's entire course. Remember I said that the pipeline follows the highway........well the pipeline is INSIDE the bridge!!

Finally after about 7 hours of driving we arrived at the Arctic Circle!

The Great Outdoors

Here's a video that I wanted to show you in my train post but couldn't get it to upload while I was in Alaska due to slow connectivity. At any time during the train ride you can step out in-between the cars and take photo's from an open doorway.

The land here is amazing!! You can go for miles and miles and miles and not see another living soul! It's great!! 

Another thing I forgot to mention, the train offers a "flag service" to people of Alaska who live along the route. These people are completely off the grid-no phone, no Facebook, no TV, no nothing! They use the train to go into town to get supplies and then are dropped off wherever they live close to the tracks. They usually have a snowmobile there under a tarp that they use to get back to their house. Now that's living in the great outdoors!!

Happy New Year!!

Small pause in my Alaskan posts because..........

........it's Chinese New Year!! My year-Year of the Horse!! 

The Alaskan Railroad

So this past Saturday morning I took a scenic train ride across Alaska. The Alaska Railroad Corporation runs a train once a week on Saturday's during the winter heading northbound to Fairbanks and then returning the next day.

I was able to snap a quick shot of our train before we boarded. In the winter the train has two cars for passengers, one dining car, the main engine, and then hauls a couple of freight cars. 

Here was a map of our route and the stops or highlights along the way.

The morning started off pretty foggy but progressively got better. It turned out to be a crystal clear day, great for sightseeing and photos! 

We saw some moose early in our trip. Unfortunately they were running away from the train and I couldn't get a very good shot. 

"Moving right along in search of good times and good news".......

do you know the rest? :P

Along the entire trip you'll see the remains of old telegraph poles from earlier times. The Alaskan government removed all the copper wire but left 

the poles standing. 

Mt. Denali 

Saw some Caribou at two different spots but unfortunately they were a little to far away from me to get a good shot and I got glare from the sun in one. Also so a pair of Dall sheep but had the same problem. But hey, at least I saw them!!

We couldn't have asked for a better day! Just perfect!!