Alaska: North - Day hike

The North, continued. 

As you leave Coldfoot heading north, there are some very helpful signs about what amenities are available along the Dalton Highway. 

Not much. 

This is where we are headed. Oh yeah. 

Once again, our pictures are limited because we had to beware of mosquitoes. We have come from the road (that faint tan line) and are headed up the ridge. Once you get above the trees, there is enough of a breeze to keep the mosquitoes away. 

Looking north

On one of the first false peaks. This is looking down on Coldfoot. You can see the road to the right, and further to the right is the river (not the Yukon). In the middle is a lake that we had to walk around (which is why we started the hike on the road) and now we are headed up and to the left. 

There were many false peaks. 

But we are having fun :) 

And we are at the top! You can see the ridge behind us that winds to the right and down. 

The ridge up at the top

Great views! 

Happy!

These plants are crunchy

Again, sinking into the vegetation. Going up is awful, but going down is like jumping on pillows. 

Since there isn't a path, we needed to find the old mining road that leads out to the Dalton Highway. There is a creek (where all the taller trees are darker green) that we have to cross and the mining road is on the other side. This picture served a bit as our map. 

SINKING

And we are back down. The mining road is nice and broad here, but it heads into the trees and gets very narrow, very fast. 

We drove north to Coldfoot (it took about 8 hours) and flew back in one of the many small aircraft in Alaska. Something like 1 in 3 people have their license to fly in this state. 

Hi!

Cool clouds

Stay tuned - we have one more (maybe two) posts about Alaska coming up!