Day 79 - Saturday August 5/17

(Posted on Thursday August 31st at Battleford, SK)

Today we woke up at the Arctic Circle!!! 

It was cloudy, 16C. Had pancakes and bacon for breakfast. What a delight to again shower ‘al frescoe’ using the outside faucet and coil hose on the trailer! As we showered, another camper drove up to use the outhouse; probably saw us ‘in the buff’, and graciously turned around and drove out the other way! 

We had a philosophical discussion about the oil pipeline, oil consumption, and what, if anything, we can do to affect the economic and social realities.

It is so wonderful being here, in these wide-open spaces, seemingly (but not quite) at 'the top of the world), that we decided to stay another night at the Arctic Circle, and to do some touring today, a bit further north to Coldfoot. We left the trailer at noon, heading north, with a picnic lunch.(map)

Seeing vast reaches of the valleys, tundra, and seemingly never-ending ranges of mountains both near and far, we felt puny, tiny, insignificantly human. We were in awe of the immensity of the land and the landscape. Photos cannot do it justice (but, photos anyway!)

We stopped at a significant hilltop called Gobbler’s Knob. (photos)

There were a number of frost heaves in the road. Many of them are marked with a warning sig saying, “DIP”, and we shared jokes about which one of us was ‘the dip’! But, that question was resolved when we came across the sign in the next photo:

Of course - there are TWO DIPS in the truck, not just one!

Of course, we just had to stop for a photo for Nancy at Jim River (#2 - we had driven past #1):

We got to the Arctic Interagency Visitors’ Centre at Coldfoot at about 2:30. This centre is jointly operated by the three U.S. Federal Agencies that manage lands along the Dalton Highway: The Bureau of Land management, the National Park Service, and the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service (a bookstore is operated by the Alaska Geographic Association)(photos)

We had our picnic lunch at a picnic table outside, looked through the displays, and watched a video about a man who chose to live on his own in the bush - which he then did for the next 30 years or so!

We got gas in Coldfoot and headed back to the Arctic Circle campground at about 5:30pm. On the advice a Bureau of Land Management Officer, we stopped at Grayling Lake where moose had been seen - and, lo and behold, a moose appeared for us (despite a kayaker on the lake quite nearby) (photos)

Got back to Rocinante at 6:40pm, after 200 km of touring. Michael did some minor trailer repairs. We had supper, and then a campfire. Sunset was from 11pm to after midnight! 

At 1:30am we were awake and saw the full moon setting in the twilight.