I left off one small detail about my trip up to Deadhorse on the Dalton Highway. Fifty or so miles out of town, my battery light came on. I figured that meant that my alternator was dying and that I didn't have long to go before the car would die. I had been taking my time, stopping a lot, taking pictures and so on. But once the light came on, I booked it toward Deadhorse. About five miles out of town, the Jeep shut down. I was tired, so I decided to sleep in the Jeep and deal with it in the morning. The next morning, the thing started! I drove the rest of the way into town before it died again. I was near a shop that normally just services their own fleet vehicles, but they were nice enough to charge my battery for me so I could get around town. There's not much in Deadhorse, but there's a NAPA auto parts store. They ordered one from Anchorage and it came in on a plane the following afternoon. I installed it in the NAPA parking lot and I was on my way! I didn't have to spend any extra time in Deadhorse and the new alternator was only about $125. Not bad at all. I left this out of my last post because I didn’t really want to tell the story until I knew it had a happy ending.
The new alternator!
Once the alternator was in, I hit the road to drive back down the Dalton. Much to my delight, it was quite clear. Just a few miles out of town I could see the Brooks Range over 100 miles in the distance.
And I finally got to see some wildlife.
A fox!
An SUV with antlers!
Caribou. I saw a bowhunter take a shot at one of these guys. He missed. Strangely enough the caribou didn’t seem too concerned.
The next five picturess were taken near Atigun Pass.
The boundary of the Arctic National Wildlife Refuge is just behind the pipeline in this picture.
Looking south at Wiehl Mountain and Sukakpak Mountain.
The Jeep near the end of the Dalton Highway.
I'm now back in Fairbanks. Next stop is Denali!
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