Day 17 July 18, 2024 Arctic Circle, Campground to Galbraith Lake Campground 161 miles
Well, the mosquitoes last night were horrendous. We opened the trailer door just to get in and so did about 100 mosquitoes. Took us a few minutes to get them all wiped out. This will be a challenge with that many mosquitoes.
This morning while we were having breakfast at the picnic table, the mosquitoes were not quite so bad. We did see a rabbit. It was a cute little brown one. It hopped away and didn’t make much of a fuss. We also saw a squirrel run through the trees. Fortunately, we did not see a moose or a bear, even though there was a path into the woods that looked like it would accommodate either.
The day started out sunny but quickly turned cloudy again. We did get a brief shower, but nothing that would add up in any of the puddles.
We have seen lots of the pipeline today most of it is above ground, but occasionally it dips underground. They excuse they give for going underground is for large animals to be able to cross.
The terrain has been changing significantly. We have gone through forest with stunted trees and then tundra. One area had a forest fire go through. The ground was once again covered with the raspberry flowers. Learned later that those are called fireweed.
After about three hours, we arrived at the small community of Coldfoot. This was a good place to fill up with gas. We talked to several of the other folks traveling through about the road ahead of us. We got “you can make it no problem” and we got “I wouldn’t if I were you”. We did eat lunch here at a fairly reasonable price for where we were located. Then we went across the highway to the visitor center. Very helpful people in there. Wonderful displays about the area as well.
Rob decided that we should continue on. The suggestion from the visitors center was to go until we couldn’t anymore. We could always turn around and come back. There does seem to be one spot in the construction zone ahead that has been reported being very muddy. If it’s too muddy, we don’t think we can make it.
We had about 30 miles of asphalt going out of Coldfoot. Most of it was reasonable. But when it ended, it was a great big bump and Connie hit her head on the top of the car. Sure did hurt.
Past time to snug up the seat belts.
We drove along a river for quite some distance. It’s very shallow and spread out all over with gravel islands.
At one point a lead car for a large truck stopped us and suggested that we wait because the truck that was coming was quite long and quite wide. So we turned off the car and just sat there. Sure enough it was a long wide truck that came. Glad that we stopped.
Then we came to the pass. Oh my goodness what a high pass that was. It must be a mile or more up the hill and a mile or more down the hill. The worst thing is there are no curves to speak of so it is a long long pull. The car on the way up did get hot so we had to stop and let it cool down. There are no escape routes anywhere on this road. There are virtually no wide spots to turn into. I really don’t know how those big trucks manage to get up and down without going off the edge. And it’s a long long way down.
Unbelievably, we saw three bicyclist today. I really think that would be hazardous to your health.
After about 100 miles we came to the turn off for the Galbraith Lake campsite. What they didn’t tell us back at the visitor center is that it’s almost 5 miles off the road. Then when we got there, we found out there are no drive-through parking spots. The road through the campsite is very narrow with lots of holes full of water so you can’t tell how deep they are. There’s no easy way to turn around. We finally made it back to the entrance. We decided to just park wherever we could find a reasonable spot. The mosquitoes here are also terrible. A couple came up to visit a little bit. They said they had gone on a hike this afternoon and were covered with mosquitoes.
Other than overheating once the car worked well today. It would be interesting to know if a four bladed fan would have kept the car from heating up.
Spoffords Travel 