Fairbanks to Deadhorse return - Alaska and Points North: Tips and Tales from the Road - page 151

head over the pass. The photo below looks south from the Atigun Pass, over the area where
we stopped for the night to wait out the rain.
It may sound like this was all an awful experience and that is absolutely not the case.
The Dalton Hwy provides an opportunity to travel by road through two areas: Yukon Flats
National Wildlife Refuge and the Gates of the Arctic National Park. These are spectac-
ular landscapes: flower-filled meadows roll into lush green foothills that segue into stri-
ated granite and limestone peaks that are the most north-westerly trending extension of the
North American Rocky Mountains.
The road only skirts the edges of this awe-inspiring wilderness. Most of it lies beyond the
reach of our wheels but we are grateful for even this glimpse. It is worth every mud-slicked
mile.
For anyone prepared to hoof it into the park by foot the Arctic Interagency Visitor Centre
in Coldfoot is the place to go for trip-planning information. But aside from that, there are
no tourism services, medical or mechanical services. Occasionally one sights work camps
off in the distance. Invariably they have signs posted at the road, “No services.”