Detour to the Dalton Highway

When we came to Alaska for the first time in 2001, we did a Princess CruiseTour.

The cruise was southbound from Seward, Alaska to Vancouver, BC, Canada. The ship portion of the trip was preceded by a week-long, train/bus/airplane land tour that took us from Anchorage to Denali NP and Fairbanks by train; up the Dalton Highway — aka the Haul Road — by bus ... a two-day trip with a break in Coldfoot; and back to Anchorage from Deadhorse/Prudhoe Bay by plane.

For two people who don’t much care for group tours, we chose to make an exception because Mui wanted to be able to focus on the scenery and experience instead of the road.

Since we have been on the full length of the haul road — 415 miles from where it junctions with the Elliott — we have no plans to drive it this time. But we couldn’t resist a short detour today — 11 miles in ... 11 miles out.

The road follows the Trans-Alaska Pipeline and goes through the Brooks Range and the North Slope. It was built as an access road while the pipeline was being constructed. It remains as the only road access north ... both for freight haulers and for recreational travelers who want to reach the Arctic Circle, and further, the Arctic Ocean.

75% of the road is unpaved ... a combination of rough gravel and/or chip seal. The short distance we drove today was all chip-sealed and in very good shape.

It was tempting to keep going for 56 miles to where the pipeline crosses the Yukon River ... and where we had a box-lunch picnic in 2001. But it would have added over 100 miles to our already 300-mile+ day trip. In hindsight, it would have made for a more exciting drive than the one we did on the Elliott today.Read more