We crossed over the Arctic Circle for our 3rd time! [S5E28] Lifestyle Overland

Welcome back to our Alaskan Adventure. We've been exploring Alaska for two weeks now and have been mostly sticking to the lesser known or even forgotten trails in its backcountry. We've overcome unexpected illnesses and pushed on to see some incredible places and wildlife. Today we've returned to a familiar road in the northernmost reaches of Alaska, the Dalton Highway, for our second trip along its 414 mile long stretch of dirt and frost-heaved pavement. While our first drive up the Dalton in 2018 was a wet, cold and slightly underwhelming experience with its landscape shrouded in clouds and mist, this time around we've been greeted with loads of sunshine and incredible views. And if that's not enough, we even kicked things off with a wolf pup sighting within the first few miles. So our spirits were high as we made our way along one of the most famous roads in the north country. So ride along as we explore the infamous Dalton Highway. How'd you sleep? Yeah? Good. Alright, well good morning folks. We're packed down, ready to roll. Amazing sleep last night and surprisingly woke up to this bluebird day here along the Dalton Highway, which doesn't happen very often. So time to get on the trail and see what we can get into. It's already off to an awesome start though. Let's roll. 200 miles north of Fairbanks, we crossed over the Arctic Circle for the third time in our overlanding career. There are only two roads in North America that go this far north. One in Canada, called the Dempster Highway, leading to Tuktoyaktuk on the shores of the Arctic Ocean. And this one, ending at Deadhorse, 299 miles further north. There are very few roads in the world that cross this latitude and we plan to one day travel as many of them as possible. Sadly, our plans to cross over in Norway were derailed in 2020 when the pandemic halted our international travels. But for now, we're excited to be here again in the Arctic and it only gets us more motivated for future adventures north of the circle. Not long after our photo op, we were greeted by a very healthy bull moose making his way along the marshy areas of the tundra. Waterfowl is also abundant here, with millions of ducks, geese, and swans migrating here every spring to raise their young in the myriads of puddles, ponds, and lakes before heading south again, flying sometimes thousands of miles to their wintering grounds in the lower 48, Mexico, Central America, and even the Hawaiian Islands. The next few miles were a reminder that even the tundra is not immune to fire. This area was apparently scorched due to a lightning strike just a few weeks before we arrived, but thankfully it was mostly extinguished for our visit. we don't need no money we can make a little bit of sunshine oh i'm gonna be the one you see before you close your eyes i could be a little bit of sunshine after a few hours of travel we arrived at cold foot camp to top off our fuel and partake in one of the best hamburgers north of the arctic circle founded in 1898 when thousands of eager prospectors arrived here due to rumors of nearby gold finds slate creek as it was originally named quickly sprung up and boasted a gambling hall two road houses seven saloons and all the amenities that environment implies but the town was later moved in 1912 to wiseman 13 miles away when new gold discoveries drew away the miners it briefly boomed again in the 1970s during the pipeline construction but quickly became a ghost town until iditarod champion dick mackie set up a bus for the truckers moving supplies along the hall road over time the truckers began to help build a more permanent structure by dropping off extra materials and hammering a few nails after having their delicious hamburger over time a proper building was completed and now this halfway mark between fairbanks and dead horse is the perfect stopping point for weary hungry travelers how's that hey just across the street is the gates of the arctic visitor center where you can get an educational look at the arctic tundra its wildlife history and intense weather swings this is definitely a must-stop visit on the dalton highway with our tank full of dead dinosaurs and our bellies topped off with perfectly cooked burger chicken fingers and hand-cut french fries we were ready for the next section of the journey and probably our favorite stretch up and over adding in pass to the north slope i'm still is distant far away even in each is with our traverse of the past completed it was time to make camp in one of our favorite places in the world galbraith lake while its altitude and latitude make it a chilly stop no matter the time of the year we've paused here because this is a sentimental stop for us to revisit a magical moment from 2018 when we first traveled this road thank you special delivery thank you you're welcome oh wait i forgot to pay you oh there thanks welcome all right folks well welcome to camp yet again a long day not as long as the previous days i think the last one before this was 11 and a half hours on trail today only about eight so yeah kicked back and relaxed today mostly kicked covid's booty but we're still feeling the effects a little bit so some hot echinacea tea while we enjoy the view the girls hunkered back in there caroline's working on her junior ranger badge for the gates of the arctic so i'm not going to that hopefully we can swing by the visitor center and snag that puppy on the way south but first you know northbound northbound the dead horse i guess let's get a little bit of sleep i don't think we're going to cook the hamburger and chicken fingers are sticking with pretty good so maybe a little snacky poo and then nappy poo before heading north oh and just a side note i actually got to meet a lifestyle overland fan who's camping right over there what's the odds right great talking to you troy hope you enjoy the rest of your trip as well maybe we'll see you in montana one day but what a place what a place you guys remember this how about a little uh b-roll montage from this spot four years ago you having fun yeah you want to take some go for it good job that was like five seconds it is january 3rd no just kidding it's actually august 7th