The adventures of Jeremy and Bridget part 2: Alaska: North

And we are back with more from Alaska from June 2015. Jeremy and I finished our tour of Seward and Anchorage and continued to Fairbanks where we joined up with a tour to go north of the Arctic Circle. We saw bears, moose, and became very acquainted with the state bird (ie: mosquito).

Arctic Circle Fun facts: It is the southernmost part of the globe where on the summer solstice the sun remains above the horizon for 24 hours - the further north you go the more "days" of light you have. The opposite is true as well. On the winter solstice the sun remains BELOW the horizon for 24 hours. The lowest temperature recorded in the northernmost city of Alaska (Barrow) is -56F. The Arctic is home to some very interesting creatures including the arctic fox, the polar bear and the narwhal. We didn't get so far north to see these creatures, but they are pretty cool.

Because we were north of the Arctic Circle a couple days before the summer solstice, the sun never truly set for us.

Now for the pictures.

This is the famous Dalton Highway. Its literally the ONLY WAY to travel by land north through central Alaska.

The majority of the road is gravel. Here we stopped to check out a mama moose with her two calves.

The trees are something else. Yes, those are trees. They look like they dropped out of a Dr. Seuss book. They are quite small due to the limited sunlight in the winter months. Also, the ground is frozen, making it hard for the roots to go very deep.

Everyone gets a picture of the pipeline. Its over 800 miles long.

The great Yukon River. Before there was a bridge, the river was only passable during summer (with a ferry) and winter (by driving across). During spring and fall when the water is freezing and melting, it becomes too treacherous to pass. The drivers would make bets as to when the ice would crack - and this would be found out the hard way (when a truck falls partially through the ice).

Nice view of "nowhere"

And we are across! It felt pretty cheezy to get a picture with the rug, but we allowed for a bit of showmanship for our driver.

The bear. He ran away from us (we are so fierce).

Another beautiful view of wilderness

Not a house for miles and miles and miles....

For those of you who didn't look up the Arctic Circle after my fun facts up above... here is a picture. I made it super big so that you can see the black dashed line of the circle, and the little yellow star just north of it at a place called Coldfoot.

And here we are, in Coldfoot. The restaurant is on the left. The lodge is to the right. Not a whole lot here. Notice the big hill in the background - we hike this the next day.

We went for a hike the afternoon we arrived. This is what it looks like.

It wasn't particularly cold, but we had to wear extra layers to keep the mosquitoes away.

Evidence.

When you would stop moving, the mosquitoes would hone in. We are trying to brush them away from our faces while we pause for like a SECOND but they were tenacious.

The amazing part of hiking in the north is that there aren't any trails. Like, none. We blazed our own path and went wherever we wanted. Though, you can't REALLY go wherever you want, because you have to avoid the boggy marshes and the impassable vegetation... etc.

Can you SEE the mosquitoes on my head? I have like 5 of them on there. If you look closely, I even captured one that is about to go for my jugular. And, I was STILL WALKING while taking this picture. Hence, there are very few pictures of this hike.

The ground is covered in wild grasses that grow in a thick column about 12 inches high. Between them is a mini canyon that is just begging to twist your ankle. You have to be really careful where you walk.