The trip to the Arctic Ocean was a long and grueling trip, but well worth the time. The distance was only 500 miles, but took two 12 hour days. The road is mainly gravel, with portions that are poorly paved except maybe 20 miles of good pavement and a maximum speed limit of 50 MPH. The scenery was aw inspiring and the animals were amazing.

The first day was to Coldfoot, under rainy skies and cool weather, the high for the day was 57. We were travailing with three other couples and a tour guide. We would stop often for a rest stops and photo opportunities. We had lunch at the Yukon river and the photos below.

One of our goals on this trip was to cross the Arctic Circle, which is defined as that latitude in which on the summer solstice, the sun does not set and on the winter solstices the sun doesn't rise. With the tilt of the earth always changing, this is a moving target. We actually crossed the arctic circle, N66 33' 44” a little ways up the road.

As we traveled on to Coldfoot, the scenery in the pictures below don't do the views justice, but here they are:

We arrived in Coldfoot, tired and hungry. Coldfoot is a work camp where most of the road construction workers lived and ate breakfast and dinner. There isn't a hotel or motel as we are used to, as the pictures below show.

 

That evening after dinner, we attended a presentation by a ranger of the National Parks Service on how to avoid bears. So far, they seem to scatter when they see us. Next post will be day two of our trip.

Here are the animals we photographed:

wolverine

 carabou

Dall sheep

Ruff-legged hawk

Tundra swan

Muskox