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Deane, Norm, and Kay's Motorcycle / RV Trip to Northern Canada and Alaska | |
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September 4, Cold Foot to Prudhoe Bay, Alaska -240 Miles |
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We made it to Prudhoe Bay!! Yes, we made it, but what a day!! And yes, it was really that dark and cold when we got there. Deane and Norm were so muddy you couldn't tell one from the other, and Kay was clean but exhausted from her driving the motor home. Yesterday, we said that the roads to Cold Foot were quite good, and we wondered why so many people think it is so challenging to get to Prudhoe Bay. Well, today we found out!! The paved road stopped immediately out of Cold Foot, and became a real challenging gravel road. Pot holes a million, no grading, lots of loose gravel, and so on. We had been told by truckers that "it is snowing on the Pass". Well, we didn't know what that meant. - What "Pass"? Was there snow on the road, or just on the side? - so we kept going.
Do we have to go up there? "Atigun Pass" is on the Continental Divide, and a part of the Brooks Range, a 700 mile stretch of mountains defining the start of the North Slope after one gets to the northern side. The Pass is 4,700 feet high, and that's the highest pass in Alaska. The climb to "Atigun Pass" was deceptively easy until about the last five miles. Then the road went up at about a 10% grade and we got into snowy mountains very quickly.
We did OK, until the very top, where there was snow on the sides, and ICE on the roadway! Deane was in the lead, and stopped at the top when he almost went down twice. (By the way, the temperature was only 17o F, and a sharp wind was blowing!) Norm thought he could make it further, but another 25 yards and he did go down on the ice. Fortunately, neither Norm nor his motorcycle were hurt. That was it - we loaded the motorcycles into the trailer, and drove down the other side of the pass. However, we only drove about 5 miles, stopped, and took the motorcycles out of the trailer again, and rode on!! (There was someone among us who thought Deane and Norm were crazy.) The road down from Atigun Pass was very cold, and that lead into an absolutely terrible road, with not only potholes but muddy potholes. Kay had at least as difficult time as Deane and Norm. We rode into a couple of snowstorms and a rain storm, which brought visibility way down. Then we were suddenly on a stretch of black top, in the middle of nowhere. Our hopes for good road were dashed when after about 25 miles the black top ended and we did another 80 miles of the most terrible road yet. Finally, we were in Prudhoe (or Deadhorse - they seemed the same to us), found a place to park the motor home, and found exhausted sleep. The scenery, though, made it worthwhile. Beautiful mountains, and then the tundra. Overall, a great place to see. |
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