Day 7
Wiseman to Prudhoe
we started out early but the truckers started earlier
its a mere 75 miles from Wiseman to Atigun Pass
descending onto the North Slope
It's All Tundra Now
Whenever we would stop flocks of birds would show up
A guy pulled up on a DL1000 to say Hi while we were stopped, I didn't catch his name but he was on his second attempt at Prudhoe Bay, Last year he broke a chain 60 miles short of his goal and was forced to ship the bike home for repair.
Just A few miles down the road we came over a small hill to see the guy we were just talking to pushing his bike to the edge of the road next to the tell tale signs of a wipe out in the dirt. He was allright and the bike was rideable, once he strapped his mangled right Jessie Bag back on.
the road surface
The trucks haul ass, I think around 75 or 80 in some places. Most of the road is wide enough to allow 2 trucks to pass each other. The only reason we slowed down and pulled over to the right was to reduce the contact speed with the baseball sized rocks thrown from the trucks tires at you helmet.
There are no trees on the Tundra
our first Cariboo sighting
There are no trees on the Tundra
The KTM could'nt make it on a tank of fuel......... Go figure
a short stretch of unexpected pavement.
and then Gravel
the Franklin Bluffs
Then these guys showed up right in front of the bluffs
I really wanted to see a wild muskoxen on this trip, the were farther away than I had hoped but hey, I got to see 2.
As we get close to Prudhoe bay it starts to get a little foggy
and these guys are all over
Really foggy now
The white stuff on the road looks and smells exactly like one of the chemicals I use at work, 97% pure calcium Chloride. Nasty, Sticky, Toxic, and Corrosive as hell. Their dumping it by the truckload then grading it into the road.
The First stop in Deadhorse was for fuel.
They want you to put a catch basin under your vehicle so you don't spill a few drops of fuel on the ground and kill a salmon or a mosquito. Nevermind the tons of calcium were dumping on the road.
sign said 240 miles KTM says
next stop our motel. The Deadhorse camp
After we got into our rooms I took a walk around the yard to check out all the cool toys, the sun was back out.
It's all on tracks or skii's
After a while we headed into the big city to see the sights.
Then we hopped on the tour bus to see the Arctic Ocean (The Beaufort Sea)
The Arctic Ocean
Fred gets a shoe in
Jeff tries it, Man that water looks cold
Ah? What the hell? I'm an Adventure Rider, I might as well try it.
Shrinkage!
Quite Refreshing, Honest.
After that it was time for a hot shower and a good night's sleep.
our trip was
almost halfway over.