Cycling the northernmost road in the Americas - Bikepacking Alaska 4
[Music] welcome to the Dalton Highway the northernmost connected Road in the Americas forging deep into the Arctic Circle The Dalton connects Alaska's northern city of Fairbanks with the remote community of Deadhorse which services the vast oil fields at Prudhoe Bay on the Arctic Ocean existing only to access the oil fields and to parallel the trans-Alaska pipeline the Dalton is one of the most remote and isolated roads in North America 800 km 500 miles from Fairbanks to Deadhorse with only two small service stops along the way in this episode we cycle the entire route though things definitely do not go according to plan this is bikepacking Alaska episode 4 the Haul Road to the Arctic so it's the morning of the big day we're going to be setting out in a few minutes it's 800 km to Deadhorse we have food for probably eight or 9 days so or 10 yeah we'll see how it goes probably overdone the food a bit but yeah super excited to hit the road yeah can't wait we had been looking forward to the Dalton Highway since well before we first touched down in Alaska we weren't totally sure what food would be available along the way so to play it safe we were carrying food for almost 10 days and the bikes were running super heavy so the mosquito Fest has already begun we had to stop uh some guys on a motorbike broken down so we gave them a hand getting the uh bike onto a truck and within 30 seconds of stopping we were just getting absolutely slaughtered by these guys um it's a little bit better than how we've got donon but on the climbs they're just on you especially when there's no wind like at the moment so we were warned apparently it's one of the worst years for mosquitoes in a very long time so it's not even bad yet compared to how bad it's going to be so yep let's be happy with what we have be happy with what we have as you can see bike throwing is an extremely glamorous business here we are in uh in a toilet which is really good little bit of shelter from the rain and mosquitoes which are both really pretty brutal outside we're on top of a pass um there's a trail head here so we using this little bit of [Music] shelter so there's a lot of mosquitoes here like I mean I wonder if you can I wonder how much of this you can see in the video but uh there there's a lot of the buggers there's a lot of them um yeah so uh we are in mosquito land and I'm pretty sure it's going to be this way for the next week and a half so guess we better get used to it this is the dinner technique running faster than the mosquitoes this is how you eat food in Alaska [ __ ] and of course just because the mosquitoes are bloody nightmare doesn't mean we have to forget about bears so I've got 10 days worth of food here which I've then got to tie to a tree right that's just about it that's all the tasks done my face is extremely itchy and my neck very itchy and my most of me is pretty itchy there's been a lot of bites oh it's been a really good day despite the mosquitoes some really beautiful riding yeah oh yeah M the side pretty great day hopefully it'll be less rainy tomorrow oh yeah it's been quite wet but yeah fingers crossed it'll be drier well it's morning and uh these guys are all still here it's pretty difficult to summon the motivation to leave this tent but got to be done hopefully it doesn't rain as much today we're doing actually double just just getting our stepping step count [Laughter] in H God it's a huge relief just to get riding just to get the head nut off going to get about a kilometer away from where we were camped and then I'm going to be able to take off my rain gear get some de on my legs but it's looking a lot more beautiful today a lot brighter the sun is almost out it's not raining oh it's going to be a good day day two was by far the worst day of the trip so this stuff is the only way we're able to bloody survive out here de horrible horrible stuff really works they uh mosquitoes hate it but it stinks absolutely horrible stuff even works on humans this stuff but yeah without this life is really miserable so I made it to the start of the proper dton Highway which is great downside is I've now got to wait for cl and waiting on this highway involves standing around or walking around getting massacred by these mosquitoes so uh yeah they really uh they really make it hard to enjoy this you know in a way mosquitoes are actually a really good thing because if you think thinking about slacking slowing down on the climbs they love to chase you up the climbs so it's a really good incentive to keep pedaling and to Pedal fast cuz if you're going slow these guys will be on you so yeah going to choose to look at mosquitoes as a blessing so we just met our first uh cyclists on the dton highway just met two French cyclists who are now turning back they decided not to go any further because the bugs are so bad and uh yeah I'll be honest I'm quite jealous the bugs are absolutely shocking so I'm quite envious that they're going to be hitch hiking a lift back to Fairbanks whereas we're going to be continuing to bug infested lands but n it's all good it's beautiful here and the sun is shining more or less and uh on the downhills it's great it's just the uphills and when you stop so uh well nothing for it let's just keep going how you doing CL I'm good I'm tired yeah the climbs are absolutely brutal climbs are like yeah Rolling Hills are quite well each each climb is about 300 400 m they're pretty steep and like the gravel is quite High Resistance and there's no flat like you don't even have like enough motion to just move on on to the next climb you just like starts from scratch again so we've got up to the top of the climb we're really looking forward to a nice long downhill and there's a a car here they're doing some work on the road and we're going to have to cut our bikes into the pilot car for about 10 miles hold downhill bit and they're going to drop us off right at the bottom of the next slimb so we've been told that the pilot car that rocked out didn't have space for us so we're going to have to wait 20 more minutes for the next one and it's raining and there are mosquitoes too so H this day is going [Music] well how you doing CL you having fun yeah look great you look like you're having fun buddy well all the moies stuck yeah cuz they want shelter as well [ __ ] off [Music] so in addition to the weather the mosquitoes the climbs and bears we've just had a conversation with a construction worker who's told us that apparently there have been nine wolves that have been seen in the last 3 days so there's a ton of wolves around this area apparently a guy on a motorbike was bitten by one but then also turned out to have rabies um so he had to get kind of rushed to hospital and the Wolf was was shot um so apparently there are lots of wolves ahead in this next area so yeah that's just uh one more thing one more thing to worry about so we didn't end up getting too much further yesterday cuz the weather was miserable mosquitoes were brutal and we couldn't really be bothered so we camped kind of early next to this pipeline which is pretty cool and today the weather is much better the sun is shining there's a slight breeze so the mosquitoes aren't as bad and yeah ready for a better day so here in Alaska we use de like sun cream horrible stuff and we definitely do not recommend doing this but [ __ ] the first two days were by far the worst but from day three things immediately started getting better the weather improved the mosquitoes weren't quite as traumatic and as we approached the Yukon the landscape started to get more interesting the worst of the climbs were behind us and with each day we were also riding lighter as we ate through our heavy Food Supplies reaching the Yukon was a big moment and it felt amazing to cruise over the bridge and to reach the first service stop since Fair Banks actually we made it to Yukon River camp and we are in the mosquito free zone and we enjoying it that much we don't want to leave well we got a job in the kitchen we're going to stay here not coming out of you any see you never so tragically we've been sacked from our jobs in the kitchen very very quickly so we're going to have no choice but to continue cycling [Music] North I think this might be the first black section of road we've had is leaving five [Music] BS it's actually freezing my [Music] brain all right so we just met some more cyclists a couple of guys from England that have just come down from Dead Horse and they seem to be having a pretty measurable time of it that's uh cyclist 3 and four we've met on this route and we got a bit of Intel about the route ahead and uh yeah I think we are done for the day I'm just here with my my best friends my little army of mosquitoes yeah it's been a much better day than yesterday been a much better day but still looking forward to getting into my tent I'm getting out of the mosquito Cloud hey buddy feeling good yeah that one was a bit yeah they were pretty aggressive on that one yeah it's definitely a pain in the ass this whole bear thing you know like every night you get to camp and you want to just dive in the 10 eat in the 10 and just kind of one wine but instead you got to then you know walk a few hundred meters eat pack up all your food into a bag like everything with a smell put it into the bag and then take it and hang it up tight to something can't eat in the tent it's definitely a f for this like I'm just walking back cloes on his way now taking his food for a little walk lovely evening for it isn't it sir great yeah it's just a nuisance it's a real nuisance and all the while you're being accosted by the friendly neighborhood mosquito oh well look what a beautiful place we're camping in though next to this very glamorous oil pipeline here but look at that Sky it's beautiful got a nice little spot for our tents oh living the dream so as you can see it's an absolutely beautiful day and today we're going to be crossing the Arctic Circle so pretty excited to continue North [Music] so today we have a new challenge headwind but I'm definitely not going to complain because as a result of this headwind there's no mosquitoes no mosquitoes at all so the overhead r all right so we made it to the Arctic Circle pretty cool and uh it's very very hot and uh today's been a very tough day lots of climbing headwind but we won't complain about the headwind because it's meant there have been no mosquitoes so yeah we're pretty tired so we're going to see about maybe finding a place to Camp pretty soon it's pretty amazing how much much life can change in a couple of days a few days ago we were absolutely miserable getting rained on getting swamped by mosquitoes all of the bad things and now here I am it's about 10:00 p.m. the sun is shining gently beautifully nice Cool Breeze nothing on the road beautiful lighting beautiful scenery and it's just absolutely glorious just goes to show when things are really really bad just keep going sooner or later it's going to get better it always does yeah what an amazing moment what an amazing place it is out here right now all right last half day into cold foot we are now riding in the famously frigid Arctic Circle which as you can see is icy bleak it's a desolate place I guess you can't believe everything you [Music] hear so we've made it to cold foot which is pretty great first bit of phone signal we've had in 5 days and uh kind of the first proper bit of civilization we've really had since Fairbanks I guess um yeah we've had a lovely meal ate an enormous amount of food and we're now going to Camp here slightly challenging to find a place to pitch a tent because the ground is so water logged I don't really want to camp in a puddle but um yeah really happy to be here and from here on out it's going to be much much easier most of the climbing is now done yeah only a few more days to Dead Horse all right so we decided to take a day off at cold for as we had loads of food left and uh we wanted to wait for the road to dry up a little bit as we had a lot of rain but we're back on the road today and it's about 390 km from here to the end of the road at dead horse and we've been told that this is going to be the most beautiful section of the road so that's exciting it's also going to be a lot easier as far as elevation goes so yeah excited for this section the second half of the route from Coldfoot to Dead Horse was where the dton highway really started getting good right out of coldo we were into the Brooks range the world's highest mountain range that's fully within the Arctic Circle The Views were spectacular traffic was much lighter nor north of cold Fort the mosquitoes weren't quite as bad and best of all despite being in the mountains the road had finally started to flatten out we were following the pipeline North into some of Alaska's most incredible Landscapes and we were absolutely stoked to be [Music] there [Music] all right so we made it to the start of atan pass which is the highest pass on the route going up to I think just under 1500 M it's pretty wet and muddy where we are so hopefully the road up is not like this and it dries [Music] out all right so making good progress on this last climb after good pass just see CL down there at the bottom about to start so this is the last climb the last Ro pass in the D Highway it should be mostly downhill from the [Music] top yeah man that was actually a decent climb [Music] yeah [Music] [Applause] oh it's open it's open surprisingly how is it well it's abundant it's what it's abundant is it's B but how is it it's yeah probably not the first one I mean it's sheltered from the wind all right this looks like home then yeah so it's been a pretty great day we have found this Firehouse behind me which is open so we're going to sleep in there the pass was absolutely beautiful stunning stunning place and from here it's almost all downhill so super happy pretty cold up here but the weather is great right now yeah amazing place I mean you might be thinking Tristan why is there a Firehouse out here in the middle of the Brooks range in the Arctic Circle in Alaska with no other houses anywhere near here I mean that's what I'm wondering so if any of you know why there's a firehouse out here in the middle of nowhere even in an abandoned one or if you have any exciting theories especially ones that are completely ridiculous please do let me know in the comments the long descent down from atan pass was probably my favorite part of the whole dalon highway especially as we were treated to some of the best weather conditions of the whole journey this was exactly why I'd come to Alaska to ride endless dirt roads underneath towering mountains deep in in the wilderness going ever further away from civilization if the first half of the route wasn't always super rewarding the Brooks range and the descent from atan made it all worth it this for me was what Alaska was all about okay so situation is K had a problem with his tire his tubeless failed it was actually a pre-existing puncture that was given him grief and he sort of managed to bdge fix it in Fairbanks but it has come back and he wasn't able to get the tubist to work so he tried putting a tube in instead but he wasn't able to do it by himself so he had to grab a lift down the road where I'd been waiting for a while so you broken broken two Tire levers [ __ ] together we were able to get the tire back on um but it's immediately showing signs of puncture so we've now had to take it off checked the tube in some uh some nearby ponds and there are a whopping five punctures in his tube so now we've got five punctures to patch and then get the tube back on um and he doesn't have any other tubes and my spare won't work for him cuz it's too big so yeah challenges okay so situation is we tried to patch up closed tube uh it had five punctures unfort fortunately none of his patches are sticking and my patches and my spu won't work uh won't work with his setup so we just decided that he was going to have to hitchhike the rest of the way to Dead Horse and I was going to cycle there and uh we've just tried to Hitch a lift for him and the first car that's stopped um is a really nice guy Arnold who's uh coming up from Puerto Rico and um Arnold has a spare tube which he's going to give us so he's just trying to find it right now um but yeah it looks like close's Journey may not be over happy day quite yet day late this has been quite a saga this we we it's Lo we've lost most of the second half of the day on this but we're nearly nearly there life can be really cruel sometimes um after having the seeds of Hope rekindled by uh the idea that arnard might have had a spare tube that we could have then put in um we had to wait around for a while for him to find it and then unfortunately the tube that he had uh was the wrong valve size foreclosed bike so it just wouldn't have worked so uh this means that Klo has had to Chuck his bike into um Honor's van and is now getting a LIF uh the rest of the way the last 230 km to Dead Horse um and I'm going to be cycling this bit the last kind of day and a half by myself uh which oh it's just brutal I feel so I feel so guttered for cl to have come this far through all the hardest sections and now just to be looking at basically the home straight you know downhill and then flat and then just the last little bit and then to have that snatched away oh it's brutal so yeah I feel very feel very sad for him um yeah that's brutal it's already about 5:00 p.m. and uh I've got another 100 kmers to cycle today if I'm going to get there by tomorrow afternoon so I have got to crack on I have a really long way to go go come on hurry up dead tonight I wait for [Applause] you as I pedaled ever further north the landcapes really started to open up as I completed the Descent down from the Brooks range and out towards the North slope a vast area of Open Country which makes up the northernmost slice of Alaska I was now deep into the Arctic Circle the nearest real tree was more than 200 km away far to the South and there was nothing now but the endless grasslands the rivers the ponds and the road okay so this is pretty amazing it is just after midnight as you can see the sun is still shining we got Midnight Sun tonight here here in the Arctic and I'm still on the road I'm now only about 100 km away from Deadhorse got about 100 miles 160 km on the clock for today feeling amazing and I'm so happy to be here all right so got some good distance done got uh an absolute cloud of mosquitoes joining me ah one in the eye ow think I just killed an I I think I just killed a mosquito with my eye there um but anyway yeah pretty happy to be uh be done cycling beautiful sunset not beautiful mosquitoes but uh yeah only another I think 90 km to Dead Horse so I'll have that done tomorrow all right so last 80 km I've got a pretty nasty headwind so it's going to be a long ride but 80 kilometers to the finish the last day was a battle with some of the worst headwinds I've encountered in years but part of me wasn't sorry that the dton highway wasn't going to let me finish without a fight the landscape was endless stretching off almost perfectly flat as far as the eye could see in every direction and traveling as slowly as I was into the wind I felt a bit like an ant inching my way along a road road that never seemed to change I started seeing a bit more Wildlife with plenty of moose and Caribou roaming the glasslands we' been surprised at how little Wildlife we'd seen along the dalon and in Alaska in general with how bad the mosquitoes were that year perhaps they were all just in hiding we didn't see a single bear on the entire dalon although perhaps that's not such a bad thing okay so I can finally see it so I can see Deadhorse on the horizon in the headwind has been absolutely brutal today it's just been such a grind but 10 km to [Music] go [Music] get Budd [Music] it [Music] [Applause] [Music] [Applause]
2024-03-06 05:20
