Photos: Alaska Land Tour
Photos: Alaska Cruise

Everytime I edit more of these photos, I come up with new favorites. This day in particular was a good one for photos – surprising, considering my ass was parked in a bus seat for most of the day. But I made the most of the free time I had. It was easy – everything up there was just so visually stimulating. Can you tell I want to go back?

The day was spent traveling on the Dalton Highway from Prudhoe Bay to Coldfoot. It’s pretty much the only road that cuts through the north end of Alaska, and it was built because of the Trans-Alaska Pipeline. More on the pipeline later.

We stopped at Atigun River – the closest you can get to ANWR by road. It was crazy to look through the valley and actually see the area that’s been so hotly disputed in the past few years.

Then we crossed the Brooks Range via Atigun Pass – the continental divide between the Arctic and Pacific Ocean watershed.

Ended the day in Coldfoot – so named because a lot of gold miners got cold feet and turned around there when easy claims were not to be had and winter was approaching. Not a whole lot to the town – I think the population is about 30 people. Basically a truck stop on the Dalton Highway.

Again, I had my own room so I was happy. Ate at the one restaurant in town, and then retired to my room and fell asleep pretty early – remember, I was up most of the night before! I did wake up at 4:30AM to the sound of sled dogs barking, which was somehow comforting to hear.