The Dalton Highway, Alaska


The Dalton Highway, Alaska

Built in the 1970s to service the trans-Alaska pipeline, the gravel-surfaced Dalton Highway, or Haul Road, runs from Fairbanks five hundred miles to the oil facility of Prudhoe Bay on Alaska's north coast, some three hundred miles beyond the Arctic Circle. It is a long, bumpy and demanding drive, so be prepared with spare tires, gas, provisions and, ideally, a sturdy 4WD: regular rentals aren't permitted up here.

Just beyond the Fairbanks city limits you start to get glimpses of the pipeline snaking up hills and in and out of the ground. At 188 miles a sign announces that you've just crossed the Arctic Circle. The Northern Alaska Tour Company (phone 907/474 8600, ) will drive you up in a minibus and fly you back down to Fairbanks for around $219 (you can save $100 by taking the minibus back, but it makes for a long day).

Most people are happy to return south at this point, but the highway plugs on through increasingly barren territory, finally dispensing with trees as you climb through the still largely unmapped and unexplored Brooks Range , a 9000ft chain mostly held within the Gates of the Arctic National Park.

From the crest at Atigun Pass you descend through two hundred miles of grand glaciated valleys and blasted arctic plains to the end of the road at dead-boring Deadhorse. You can't stroll by the ocean or camp here so your choices are confined to staying in one of the $120 per night hotels and taking a $25 tour of the adjacent - and otherwise off-limits - Prudhoe Bay oil facility, worth it just for the sight of the Arctic Ocean after the long drive.

By far the best way to do it is with Northern Alaska, which runs a three-day tour to Prudhoe Bay for around $650.

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