Day 21 July 22, 2024 Marion Creek Campground to Highway turn out 133 miles
This campground is really very nice. Everything is clean and well organized. Very few mosquitoes. We did have a gray Jay visit us this morning. No ravens however.
We left the campground at approximately 9 AM and drove the short distance to Coldfoot. We filled up with gas and checked about the flight through the Gates of the Arctic. The flight leaves at about 9 PM. So we decided we didn’t want to wait that long. Not much to do in that area. So we took off at about 9:41 AM. To fuel you pull up to the pump, walk about a block and leave your credit card or cash. Then walk back to the pump, fill your tank, take a picture of the meter, and walk back to the “office” and settle your bill. The walk feels good after driving for hours.
One of the truckers came up and told us he had been watching us for the last few days. He also mentioned that our air conditioner was known as a dust sucker. A model a air conditioner is when you open the front windshield just a couple of inches and the air blows down at your feet. With all the dust that happens on this road that dust visibly comes in also.
The roads today are incredibly washboard like. If they’re not a washboard, they are a group of ruts. We are bouncing around like crazy even though we are not going all that fast. The roads are also very much like a roller coaster up the hill down the hill up the hill down the hill. Wouldn’t be so bad except they are very steep and very rough. We slow all the way down to first gear in order to get up the hill. We did overheat on one of the hills and had to stop and let the car cool down. A couple of drivers stopped to offer help if needed. Nice to know that there would be some help if we really needed. We have decided that this stretch of road is worse than what we drove yesterday from Deadhorse down to Marion Creek Campground.
We had a great wildlife viewing day today. We saw the gray Jay in the morning. A squirrel a little later in the day, followed shortly by a mouse. And then there was a chipmunk. But the highlight of the day was a cow moose, and a calf that ran right across the road in front of us. The first moose, we have seen on the entire trip.
Now to try to explain the uneven portions of the highway quite often when it is asphalt there will be a portion of the road that sinks. The asphalt is still all there so when you drive, you have two wheels at a higher level than the other two wheels. Sometimes it feels like you might even tip over. These spots are not easy to see ahead of time and if you hit them wrong, it can be quite exciting.
Just before finger mountain, there is a slight hill up. They were working this hill by putting down water and some new road mix. A big piece of equipment was spreading that. They were on our side of the road and going very slowly. Even slower than we were going. This mixture when wet is very slippery. It was an interesting climb up that hill as well.
We turned off into the rest area for finger mountain and had our lunch while the car cooled down. This is a nice rest area with bathrooms and parking space. There’s also a trail up to the top of finger mountain, but you’re almost at the top so it’s not a long walk. I think finger mountain has lost part of its finger because it doesn’t look much like the picture.
Mail is delivered three days a week to Coldfoot. They take the mail on to Wiseman once a week. Amazingly this includes packages from Amazon. There is no additional charge.
We stopped again for fuel in Yukon Crossing. This is the last fuel stop before Fairbanks. Then we went across the highway to the visitor center and chatted with the person there about the road. He said he’d heard about us already and was impressed that we had made it. He also talked some about the weather conditions. They are having a real heat wave here. The high today was 82°. Normal is in the low 70s.
We stopped at a turnout about 10 miles from Yukon Crossing. That’s where we’re going to spend the night. A van stopped to check about the car. They were fascinated with the old car and the fact that we had made the trip. They were driving on to Fairbanks tonight. We had decided not to drive that far because there are two sections of construction between here and there. Besides, we’ve had enough driving today. We used the electric fan in the teardrop for most of the night. We probably won’t need to use the new electric blanket or our heavy winter coats for the whole trip.
Rob got brave and tried out the shower. Challenging since the wind was blowing so Connie had to hold the walls down. Since we were parked on asphalt we couldn’t drive in the stakes.
Spoffords Travel 