foggy dempster highway

One Truck, two generations, 14 days, 5000 miles

Follow this father and son road trip adventure as they take this once in a lifetime journey.  Our travelers will keep everyone up to date through their blog with stories and pictures.

The Arctic Circle remains one of the last great wildernesses you can reach by “road”. On August 24, 2007 a father son team is setting off, in their Toyota FJ Cruiser, from Poulsbo, Washington and driving to the Arctic Circle. The two road warriors will attempt to travel over 5,200 miles in 14 days traveling on the Alaska Marine Hwy, Alaskan Canadian Hwy (ALCAN) and highways that can best be described as gravel paths.

Excitement is building on the web and in the press about this adventure. This site will record their day by day adventures through stories, pictures and video. Check the blog for up to date adventure highlights.

The first leg of the journey is through the scenic waterways of Southeastern Alaska’s Inside Passage. The ferries of the Alaska Marine Highway will carry the pair of road warriors and their Toyota FJ Cruiser from Bellingham, WA. to the southeastern ports of Ketchikan, Wrangell, Petersburg, Sitka, Juneau (Alaska’s capital), off loading in Haines AK.

From Haines the travelers will drive north joining up with the Alaskan Canada Highway at Haines Junction. The early legs of the trip are a hard push to reach Fairbanks Alaska which the pair will use as its jumping off point to the Arctic Circle. The 414-mile Dalton Highway, still called the ‘Haul Road’ connects the oil fields of Prudhoe Bay on the North Slope with mainstream Alaska and is one of Alaska’s most remote and challenging roads. Mostly gravel, motorists need to watch for ruts, rocks, dust in dry weather, potholes in wet weather and trucks and road maintenance equipment at all times.

The first stop on Haul Road is Coldfoot one of the few Alaska communities north of the Arctic Circle accessible by road. Described as a bit of a one-horse town it will be the first overnight stop on the Dalton Highway.

The end of the trail is Deadhorse 498 miles north of Fairbanks near the Arctic Ocean and is the end of the Haul Road.

After the dust covered adventurers return to Fairbanks, a leisurely journey back down the ALCAN Hwy will carry the pair south through two countries, two provinces and two states. While the itinerary sets some goals, the mark of a great road trip is the freedom to take a side road just because it looks interesting.

Follow the father son adventures as they take this once in a lifetime journey. The travelers will keep everyone up to date through their blog with stories and pictures. Just don’t be surprised if a few days elapse between updates as Internet access may not be as available clean air, wide open spaces and magnificent scenery.

See itinerary and maps of the last great road trip. See the entire arctic circle road trip adventure.

2 thoughts on “One Truck, two generations, 14 days, 5000 miles”

  1. My father has taken that ride when he and mom worked in Skagway for a few summers. Unfortunately we are getting off the boat in Haines, which is a 30 minute boat ride or a 390 mile drive away.

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