IPB

( Log In ) Log In is for TREC Teachers & Researchers only

 
Reply to this topicStart new topic
> The Journey to Toolik, The ride on the Dalton Express
Tom_Crumrine
post Jun 15 2005, 05:09 AM
Post #1


TREC Teacher
***

Group: TREC Team
Posts: 188
Joined: 27-April 05
Member No.: 9



14 June 2005

After months of planning I have finally made it to Toolik Research Camp. My accommodations are sufficient but not extravagant....

IPB Image

But my view from my porch (I’m calling the block of wood used to step up into my shelter a porch) is quite nice.

IPB Image

Today’s journey took about 11 hours, not the 13 I expected, and I’m so glad that I took the overland route. The Dalton Highway is truly one of a kind and the views just from the road are fabulous. Our first stop was in Joy which is a little town of about 20. We met the nicest man who chatted us up for a while and promised us certificates if we stopped there on the way back after crossing the Arctic Circle. He even took a picture for me.

IPB Image

That place seemed remote after watching TV in Fairbanks for 2 nights, [did everyone know that the NBA playoffs have entered their third month?] but the true feeling of remoteness was yet to come. As we continued north the pavement eventually ended and we began to see fewer and fewer people. We saw many trucks transporting supplies to various places along the route and a few tour busses but our most constant companion was the oil pipeline.

At almost every point along the route if you looked one way or the other you could see the elevated line running just a handful of meters off of the road. It makes sense because the road and the pipeline were built in conjunction in the 70s but it is still a little odd to see such a technological thing set against the remote views. It makes you think of when people must have had to get used to all of the telephone lines hung on every street in the lower 48.

Even with the pipeline [more on the pipeline another day—there’s lots to tell] the panoramic views were impressive. As we continued north the black spruce began to grow smaller and smaller. The expanses of green shrubby ground got bigger and bigger. There were still enough trees near Coldfoot though that a forest fire was burning and smoke was covering the road quite thickly at certain points. This picture shows some of the smoke but it didn’t capture the fact that at certain points you could see the flames just 500 meters off the road bed.

IPB Image

After Coldfoot we began to enter the foothills of the Brooks Range. The Brooks is the northernmost mountain range in the US. The craggy peaks rose higher and higher as we drove along. Many of the ravines still had quite a bit of snow and as we continued north there were even places where there was old snow right up to the road. As you can see in the next picture the terrain was quite steep in places. If you look carefully I hope you can see where the road is cut in on a diagonal.

IPB Image

I took this just as we emerged from the Atigun pass, the highpoint on the Dalton, at an elevation of around 4700 ft. From here we continued on and eventually passed out of the mountains and the terrain was flat again. I was actually just dozing off when our driver, Chris, said, “10 more miles.” I had had enough of bumpy roads so I was very happy to realize that I wouldn’t have to ride in a car again for 3 weeks or so. I was also glad to see that Toolik Lake looks like this...

More tomorrow early.
User is offlineProfile CardPM
Go to the top of the page
+Quote Post

Reply to this topicStart new topic
1 User(s) are reading this topic (1 Guests and 0 Anonymous Users)
0 Members:

 



- NSF Acknowledgment & Disclaimer Time is now: 28th March 2024 - 11:41 PM