Alaska - Day Twenty-Five: ~5655.5 miles to Arctic Circle & Back to Fairbanks

Although we'd already spent many more days in Fairbanks than we had anticipated, we still had to go up the Dalton Highway to the Arctic Circle.

But first we stopped at the Pipeline just north of Fairbanks. For some reason I am just fascinated by it...

See how cool it looks going up the hill!!!

"The Dalton is still called 'the Haul Road' by many, a name that harkens back to its days as an access road during the construction of the Trans-Alaska Pipeline System. Today, all different types of vehicles - from motorcycles to passenger cars to freight haulers - drive the Dalton Highway each year. Not everyone, however, is meant for this drive... Despite many recent improvements, the Dalton remains about 75% gravel with tire-puncturing rocks, bumpy washboards, dust in dry weather, slippery mud in wet weather, and dangerous curves." 

Thankfully our new truck was just made for roads like this! I wish we'd had enough time to go all the way to Prudhoe Bay on the Arctic Ocean... ;(

I loved the way that the pipeline would just occasionally dive underground!

We followed this black van for a long way...

Our first stop was at the Yukon River Camp and BLM Yukon Crossing Visitor Contact Station. But first we had to drive across all 2,290 wood-decked feet and 6% grade of the Yukon River (or EL Patton) Bridge...

We bought a few Arctic Circle souvenirs, a homemade chocolate chip cookie, and some gas. Then we ran across the street to pick up an Arctic Circle Crossing certificate.

The black van from Indiana had stopped there, too. Turned out it was full of Amish people. They must have hired a van and driver to take them all the way to Alaska. Can they do that??? I guess so...

Next stop was the trailhead to Finger Rock and an interpretive trail to some rock formations. While we were there, we saw some of our neighbors from the campground. They recognized us from watching us putting up our tent the night before... Great!

Now we were only 17 miles from the Arctic Circle...

One third of Alaska lies above the Arctic Circle.

The wayside at the Arctic Circle has camping, picnic tables, interpretive signs and an old couple to take your pictures by the sign and give you an official certificate (we'd already gotten ours)...

The lady insisted that we get pictures from both sides of the Circle... LOL

There were things that surprised me about the Arctic Circle. First, I didn't expect there to be so many trees. Second, I NEVER expected it to be hot. It was 88 degrees! I brought a heavy coat for when we went to the Circle. I was thankful for a place to make and eat lunch in the shade.

We also caught a glimpse of a nearby (relatively) wildfire...

Now that we knew what the road conditions were like we made much better time on the way back to Fairbanks, and another stop in Fox for dinner at Silver Gulch...