Story and photos by Sven and Magdalena Schlogl

Alaska's weather has been quite different than expected. It was not as cold as people had claimed and we had only 2 days of rain. After our 23-hour off-road trip through beautiful Alaskan backcountry and the visit with our friends in Homer, we started heading north towards Denali National Park.

Through the Alaska 4x4 Network we managed to arrange another four-wheel trip in the Anchorage area. This time the group took us over Hatcher's Pass into the wilderness. You can read a more detailed report in the next issue.

On the way to Denali we stopped at Talkeetna, the starting point for many expeditions to the summit of Mount McKinley. It is a very touristy little town sporting multiple hotels, restaurants and tour operators. As we continued north, we were treated to some awe-inspiring views of Mount McKinley. All this time we were blessed with blue skies and great visibility. Some people supposedly spend weeks in the area to see the mountain, but it is often shrouded in thick clouds.

Before entering the national park, we embarked on a short detour heading east on Denali Highway, a gravel road which is famous for its vistas over the Alaska Range. There we ran into a fellow Austrian who traveled the Americas top to bottom and back. At 71 it had only been 10 years since he summitted Mount McKinley - an amazing achievement. With 20,320 feet it is the highest mountain in North America and creates its own microclimate so it is often covered in clouds for weeks. We reached Denali National Park which, at six million acres, is larger than the state of Massachusetts, and drove to Teklanika Campground, the only camping area accessible by car. Within the park traffic is restricted and so we boarded a National Park bus to get deeper into the mountains. Over the next two days, we explored the wonders of Denali on several hikes and bus tours and saw numerous grizzlies, moose, caribou, dall sheep, golden eagles and all kinds of small mammals. Only the famous and shy wolves remained elusive.

After leaving the park we headed north to Fairbanks where we stocked up on supplies and fashioned a custom windshield screen with material from the local hardware store. We were about to drive the infamous Dalton Highway and rumors have it that semi trucks come flying down this 414 mile long rough gravel road kicking up fist-size rocks that will smash every windshield.
James W. Dalton Highway is a haul road from just north of Fairbanks to Deadhorse, a small town near the Arctic Ocean and Prudhoe Bay where oil fields dominate the landscape. It runs parallel to the Trans Alaska Pipeline which transports oil 800 miles from Prudhoe Bay to Valdez. This road was built in only five months in 1971. In the early nineties it was opened to public traffic.
We wanted to drive this road to reach the northernmost point of the USA accessible by car and also to experience the arctic landscape (tundra) in this region.
After leaving Fairbanks we cruised through rolling hills with dense forest which eventually gave way to spectacular mountain scenery and dramatic river and valley vistas. We stopped at the Arctic Circle at 66° 33' latitude, where the sun doesn't set on June 21 (summer solstice) and doesn't rise on December 21 (winter solstice). Since we were a month late, we did experience a sunset just about three hours before the next sunrise.
All rumors about the dangerous conditions on the Dalton seemed to be unfounded - although the road was mostly gravel, it was well maintained with some paved sections. The occasional truck we encountered slowed down, and through most of our drive we didn't even get hit by any rocks from other vehicles.

We pushed on through the spectacular scenery of Atigun Pass and acknowledged the last spruce tree - from here on it was treeless tundra. The Dalton hugs the eastern border of the Gates of the Arctic NP and later the western border of the Arctic National Wildlife Refuge, but neither park is accessible by car. As we continued north, the terrain became flatter and finally we reached the coastal plain. Here, the sun didn't set at all - at its lowest point, it was still fairly high above the horizon!
A day after leaving Fairbanks we rolled into Deadhorse and had reached the northernmost point in the US that one can drive to! Deadhorse caters mostly to the oil industry and is made up of container structures. Its location in the middle of nowhere is emphasized by ominous signs at every door: "When leaving the building, watch for bears!"

Prudhoe Bay is off limits for private vehicles for safety reasons. Bus tours take tourists to the Arctic Ocean but we were ready to turn back. This capped our Alaskan adventure and it was time to head south to Los Angeles. We were almost at the Canadian border when suddenly we heard a deep growling noise under the rig. We were parked at the side of the road trying to figure out what was wrong when it started to rain. A stranger stopped and asked if he could help. He wasn't mechanically inclined but generously offered to open his empty shop to get us out of the rain. We gladly accepted. It turned out that several gears of the rear pinion had broken off. This could not be fixed easily and I disconnected the rear driveshaft so we could continue in front-wheel drive for now. More than 400 miles later we finally found a town big enough for a knowledgeable mechanic. But Whitehorse in Yukon Territory still lies in the middle of nowhere. It took three days for the parts to be flown in from Alberta. In the meantime, we got to know Whitehorse pretty well! While killing time in a cybercafe, I communicated with some guys on alaska4x4network.com. Curtis, who had gone wheeling with us a couple of times, even offered his assistance in repairing the axle by meeting us close to the place where we had broken down, as he was unaware that we had moved on in the meantime. This meant that he was willing to travel more than 300 miles to help us out! What a generous gesture! Unfortunately, we were too far into Canada to take him up.

Once our truck was fixed we continued our trip south through forested hills past countless lakes. The wilderness appeared endless until we reached the US border. From there we hit the 5 freeway to make good time on our way home.

Alaska was an inspiring experience, not only because the scenery and wildlife are just breathtaking. The people we met, the friends we made and the willingness to help you out wherever possible attributed to a trip never to be forgotten.
I still visit the 4x4 board to stay in touch with an amazing group of people…