Whitehorse Thursday 4th Sept: Not too much sleep last night. Kaff got up around 0130 to check to see if the Aurora Borealis was on and she quickly called me out of bed and we watched the tail end of them, the green lights blazing across the night sky. So then we jumped back into bed and her alarm went off around 6am because it was still on BC time !!
Anyway she ended up choofing down to the office to get booked onto the Fairbanks tour which left at 0830 . She got on it which was good. My tour out to Coldfoot didnt get started until 1130, so I spent the first part of the morning walking over to the Fred Myers centre which is really just like Walmart they sell everything. I just bought some groceries. One the way home I took a photo of the gas station with their cheap gas prices up..I wish I could take them home with me, or even just to Vancouver.
1130 I was picked up with some others and we went out to the airport to the company that was flying us up to Coldfoot. The place was full and they took 3 planes containing 9 people in each plane. There was 3 different tours. Our journey took us over 2 mountain ranges and 2 Valleys and we pretty much followed the Oil Pipeline & the Dalton Highway all the way to Coldfoot. I think Coldfoot has a grand total of 42 people living there and they are open all year round. They have a hotel @$200 per night and its made from like trailers (The Caravan type, like mining camp use, anyway they just join a few together and they had made a hotel ! They have an Interperative centre and some sled dogs, a Post office and the Roadhouse which consists of a Truckers Diner where they sit and watch themselves in TV "The Ice Truckers " Show . They also have a bar and another dining area for tourists and visitors. Not much at all, After 10 minutes we had seen Cold Foot. Originally it was a Gold mining town but after the first winter people left in droves, Then it was used during the building of the pipeline, Now it supports the truckers and the tourists and the hunters.
ColdFoot is located halfway along the Iceroad 240 miles from Prudoe Bay where the Pipeline starts and 240 miles from Fairbanks. It is half bitumen and half dirt. The Alaskan Government call it a Hwy because the National Government maintains Highways...The National Government dont class it a Hwy and that way they dont have to maintain it. To lay new bitumen costs around 33 million per mile or something crazy like that. So the dirt bit remains dirt and quite rough. Everyone who uses the road regularly have CB radios and all keep in touch with each other as they go along, thats the trucks as well as the small tour buses etc as its not a big road and the truckes that come along carry huge loads . Last night we had one that had a Crane on the back of it and to get up the hills it had a truck following it with a huge rubber bumper and it pushed it up the hills, some of the loads require 3 trucks to push. These also have a safety car in front and behind.. Its a very tight community of drivers. They all help each other out even sharing spare wheels. Wonderful to see and hear them all. The drivers have names for all the hills and tight bends and as they were calling them last night it bought back the TV series to mind. There are 2 female drivers and they have pink trucks, very funny I thought. We spent about 8 bone crunching hours driving back to Fairbanks. We stopped for dinner at the Yukon River Camp, this is where the Pipeline crosses the river. There is 24 hr security on this bridge as it is a lifeline for Alaska.
The Pipeline goes for 798miles from Prudoe Bay to Valdez. Its mostly travels above the ground but in some spots its either elevated or buried to allow the Cariboo migation tho pass through . The Oil pipeline is currently travelling at 20% capacity as it has slowed down a lot. This oil is why gas is so cheap here in Alaska, it also provides the Alaskan Government with all there money, hence noone pays tax here in Alaska, and the Government actually pays the residents a certain percentage amount each year, compliments of the pipeline. God Bless Alaska, I want to live here. In the photos you will see the tops of the support poles holding the pipeline each of these points hold a refridgerator type thing whick keeps the metal from heating in the summer. If it heats too much the Permafrost ground under it will melt and the pipe will drop. There are millions of them. So the costing was phenominal. The permafrost is where the ground under the topsoil is permanently frozen that why no trees grow where it lies.
After all that the highlight of the trip home was a beautiful sunset over the Yukon River then followed by the Aurora Borelalis fading in and out across the sky all the way home. Its a wonderous thing and just so random. Fairbanks is supposed to be one of the best places in the word to see them and people flock here for it. The Japanese can now fly direct here and do so because it is deemed lucky to conceive a child under the Northern Lights. (None of that for me) So it has been a terrific few days here. My photos of the Lights are crap but one of the guys on the bus was going to send me one of his as he had a wizz bang camera.
I got home around 2am totally knackered but a happy camper...Northern Lights tick and Ice road tick ...