While in Alaska

Hitching to Prudhoe Bay & the Arctic Ocean

// July 17th, 2009 // 2009: Adventuring

We worked our final day of the work week on Wednesday. After work, we immediately set out to hitch to Prudhoe Bay, the ending point of the Dalton Highway. We began by asking several truckers to let us ride with them. After asking around 10 truckers, I gave up counting. One trucker offered to give me a ride but he only had room for one of us. Our coworkers generally don’t have a hard time hitching with truckers but then again, we have only heard of females having success. The truckers are definitely partial to women. Go figure. We then switched up our tactic and started asking independent travelers. We came across a guy, who seemed to be in his 40s, travelling alone up to Prudhoe Bay. He had come all the way from Galena with a collapsible sea kayak, which he paddled over 100 miles up the Yukon River. When he arrived in Fairbanks, he rented an SUV and opted to complete the 414 miles of highway. He wanted to depart the following morning. After our driver had spent the night in his car, we departed at roughly 7AM to Prudhoe Bay. Less than a mile from Coldfoot, we spotted a moose biding his time by the highway. For Cory, this was his first Alaskan moose and for me, this is the closest I’ve been to one.

We saw the 70 mile stretch from Coldfoot to Atigun Pass last weekend so the first two hours of the trip was no surprise. However, on the top of Atigun Pass, we spotted some Dall Sheep. They seemed to be either younger or female sheep judging by the lack of horns.

Shortly after making it through the pass, the land became extremely baron. The farther we ventured up the highway; the tundra became vaster and flatter. We saw a lone fox in the tundra and as we grew closer to Prudhoe Bay, we saw several Caribou.

I would say that today was a big win for seeing wildlife. I’m sure it’s rather common to see such wildlife but in my eyes, we really lucked out!

Along the way, Scott told us a little about what he does. He lives on an island in Washington State and negotiates oil transactions mostly between smaller parties and large oil companies. Most of his recent work has been in North Dakota where they’ve recently discovered large amounts of oil. His trip up the highway was a rather spontaneous decision. He rented a GMC Envoy in Fairbanks and decided to make his way up to Prudhoe (even though rental cars are illegal on the Dalton without going through a special, more expensive company). He had gone as far as Coldfoot in the past but only in the winter. He said that the scenery was much more beautiful in the winter since there was greater visibility of distant mountains.

We arrived in Prudhoe Bay around 1:30PM. Brett, the owner of Sukakpak, our employer lives at Deadhorse. The night prior, he had told me that Deadhorse Camp, where he lives and also owns, is the first camp in sight on the left. We drove right past it! It looked nothing like a structure where people could dwell. It looked more like an industrial oil field yard with large vehicles and trailers on sleds. We turned around and pulled in. We were immediately greeted by the cook at Deadhorse Camp. Scott, our driver, joined us for lunch. All three of us indulged in cheeseburgers. The dining area and kitchen were all in one room. The camp, with only 5 coworkers not including Brett, is far smaller than Coldfoot . After lunch, we were shown to our trailer where we would be spending the night. The trailer was once oil field worker housing, mounted on sleds so they can be transported on cat trains through the snowy tundra in the winter. The inside had three beds, a heater, and a flat screen TV equipped with satellite cable.

The door resembled a refrigerator door; in fact it was identical to the walk in freezer door back at Coldfoot. Cory and I joked about towing the trailer back to Coldfoot to replace our tent!! After dropping off my bag in the trailer, we joined Scott in a tour around Prudhoe Bay. The tundra was littered with gravel pits where all the familiar oil companies housed their equipment and living quarters. BP, Halliburton, Exxon Mobil, Phillips Konaco, Nabors, and many other companies drove around pickup trucks marked with their company colors. The water around us appeared black from the surrounding operations. After our little self guided tour, we headed back to Deadhorse Camp where we relaxed until dinner. We had BBQ pork chops, broccoli casserole, and a few other dishes which I don’t remember. The food was just as good as it is at Coldfoot. We joined oil field workers at the dinner table. A younger crew here in Prudhoe Bay to lay down fiber optic cables, popped in a Family Guy DVD on the big screen TV in the dining room. Shortly after, we retired for the evening. It was going to be an early morning. We were signed up for a tour of the Arctic Ocean. The tour which we were going to take is one of the few, if not the only tours that could pass through the security clearance where the ocean can be accessed. Accessing the Arctic Ocean without being on one of these tours is near impossible due to their strict security policy.

In the morning, Brett took us to the Arctic Caribou Inn where we would depart for our tour. A group from a Princess tour bus joined us. We likely cleaned the rooms of these people at Coldfoot, a few days ago! Our guide, a Nana native led us through the checkpoint. Cory and I were the first on the tour to take off our shoes, roll up our pants and wade in the Arctic Ocean. We now have the Atlantic and Arctic Oceans covered, now for the Pacific and Indian! I never thought I’d go to the Arctic Ocean before ever going to the Pacific. The water was cold but not unbearable. Some people never even got off the bus to go down to the water but others followed our lead and dipped their feet in the ocean.

When we returned from the tour, Scott was waiting for us at the Arctic Caribou Inn. We started our voyage back to Coldfoot. We were incredibly lucky to find someone that would bring us both ways. A lot of people have to hitch for hours before they get a ride. We are extremely thankful to Scott!

After only being on the road for an hour, we spotted some Muskox about a half mile off the road. We parked on the almost nonexistent shoulder and walked along the tundra until the river prevented us from going further. Once again, we hit the wildlife jackpot! Around 18 Muskox stood across the river on the tundra.

After this very successful trip, I think, for the most part, the only large animals we haven’t seen here are grizzlies, black bears, and wolves. Our little Arctic Ocean trip worked out flawlessly and virtually free of charge. For me at least, it beat any trip we’ve had to Fairbanks or anywhere’s for that matter. I hope you all enjoy the pictures. I was finally able to access a card reader and transfer all of my pictures over to my computer!

We return to work tomorrow. We have about 39 days or so left here in Alaska. Like I always say, it’s hard to believe how fast the time has flown by. It’s no doubt that I’ll miss the people here and the remarkable scenery.

Eventually, I will get to uploading the pictures that are supposed to accompany the last two posts. Until then, I look forward to reading your comments!