The temperature had dropped below 20 degrees as the sun was setting over Coldfoot, Alaska, and I had left the small, rustic Slate Creek Inn at Coldfoot Camp to search for dancing lights at night.

Above the Arctic Circle in northern Alaska, Cold Feet Camp is a small complex of buildings consisting of a truck stop cafe and the Slate Creek Inn. It was once used as a dormitory for workers along the infamous Dalton Highway which stretches between Fairbanks, Alaskato the oil fields of Prudhoe Bay.

It’s the northernmost truck stop and saloon in North America, though it looks nothing like the gleaming, lit truck stops of the lower 48 states. The truck stop features two large service stations for truckers going up and down the highway made famous by the TV show Discovery Ice Road Truckers. A small mechanical workshop and post office the size of a closet are set up next to the cafe/lounge.

Across the frozen, snowy parking lot is the Slate Creek Inn with its particleboard walls and surprisingly comfortable beds. We had traveled as a guest of Travel Alaska on a winter adventure press trip for over 8 hours along the deadly and dangerous highway in the dead of winter to get to the truck stop.

No, I don’t have a weird obsession with truck stops, but Coldfoot and neighbor Wise man are more than just a truck stop. They are a visceral slice of Alaska’s arctic culture. Here you will find mush sled dogs and shredded dogs Brooks Mountain Rangeclose to the Arctic National Park Gates. There you will find a man nicknamed “Mr. Alaska”, who still lives off the land and trains special forces to survive arctic conditions. hip height.And on many nights you will see the Northern Lights, also known as the Northern Lights.

Visiting North America’s most northerly roadhouse and saloon is a once-in-a-lifetime experience for anyone visiting Alaska that every adventurer should have…but it’s not an easy hike to get there .

A trip to the northernmost roadhouse and saloon

Our adventure to the Arctic Circle and Coldfoot Camp began with Northern Alaska Tour companyit’s Arctic Circle Aurora Fly/Drive Adventure. On this particular adventure, my travel companion Lyle and I joined a small “little northbound tourist bus” for the long drive down the Dalton Highway to stay two nights at Coldfoot Camp. A quick flight would take us back to Fairbanks at the end of our stay, and we had signed up for the sheer daring to travel that infamous highway.

The tour is open from late August to late April in order to enjoy the Northern Lights, but visitors can drive alone on this highway during the summer.

The Dalton Highway, also known as Alaska Highway 11, runs 414 miles from Livengood, Alaska to Deadhorse near the Prudhoe Bay oil fields. Most of the highway is gravel, and it was built in the 1970s to service the 800-mile Trans-Alaska Pipeline.

In addition to the TV show Ice Road Truckers, the highway is known to be a difficult, dangerous and lonely hike, even on the best days. During the winter it is a path filled with ice and permafrost, but the unreal landscape during the winter makes the wild ride more than worthwhile.

Led by our guide, Tim (who was amazing and talked about the history, flora and fauna of the highway for 8 hours straight), we also stopped at various points of interest along from the highway, including the Dalton Highway Sign, the Yukon River Camp (the only flush toilets along the highway), and the Wildwood General Store Trading Post, which is closed in the winter.

The landscape is surreal. Heavy snow blankets the mountains and the sky is laden with heavy gray clouds that obscure the sun. Huge 18-wheelers blast past us, kicking up swirls of snow along the road, but safety comes first here on the ice road. All truckers and drivers communicate regularly by radio, alerting other drivers if they are approaching tricky areas, like Rollercoaster Hill or Oh Sh*t Curve. Northern Alaska Tour Company drivers undergo extensive training in how to navigate the road, which can be deadly if you don’t know what you’re doing.

One of my favorite stops along the Dalton was in “The Enchanted Forest”, an area of ​​black spruce trees that are at a high point along the highway. Due to their location, they are covered in a thick layer of snow, giving them a magical fairy-tale face that seems to have come out of a child’s imagination.

The highway parallels the Trans-Alaska Pipeline, most of which is above ground and raised to allow wildlife to pass underneath.

After hours of driving and learning on the highway, we reach the Arctic Circle, where we stop to take photos, sip hot chocolate, and change drivers to head to Coldfoot Camp.

Pro Tip: Bring snacks and lunch if doing this tour in the winter. Yukon Camp offers pre-packaged meals to eat and buy, but the restaurant is not open in the winter.

Continuation to the North

About an hour north of the arctic circle sign, we reach Coldfoot Camp in the dark and check into the small inn. Legend has it that Coldfoot got its name in 1900, when gold diggers who traveled so far to get there got cold feet and turned around. Today, it serves as the northernmost truck stop in North America.

Although modest, the truck stop cafe won’t leave you starving. I have never seen such generous portions of hot food served (and it is delicious food too). If you fancy a beer or a glass of wine, the saloon is for you. Of course, I had to have a beer in the northernmost (legal) saloon in North America.

Coldfoot may be the loneliest roadhouse in this hemisphere, but it also serves as a gateway to the scenic delights of the Brooks Range and all the adventures that can be found here.

National Park Gates and Arctic Preserve straddles the arctic divide in the Brooks Range, the northernmost mountain range in America. The Gateway to the Arctic is a huge national park, spanning 13,238 square miles in vast, untouched wilderness with no roads. The only village is Anaktuvuk Passa Nunamiut Iñupiat settlement, although smaller Alaska Native villages nestle along its borders.

Our tour guides with Northern Alaska Tour Company took us further north along The Dalton on his Arctic Wildlife Safari tour to the Atigun Pass, the highest pass in Alaska maintained throughout the year. It straddles the Continental Divide and is notoriously dangerous for truckers in the winter due to its elevation of 4,822 feet with 11-12% grades.

Other activities offered at Coldfoot include snowshoeing, dog sledding, and a visit to Jack Reakoff, a farmer and Alaskan survival expert in Wiseman, Alaska.

Pro Tip: The Gateway to the Arctic is vast – about the size of Switzerland – but it’s also the wildest of North America’s national parks, having no national park service facilities, centers hospitality or campgrounds.

Mr. Alaska

Wiseman’s Jack Reakoff is something of an Alaskan legend. He moved to Alaska as a child when his parents decided to cultivate the wild landscape. Over the past 50 years, Jack has become something of a hero, living off the land and hunting bear and moose to survive. His pioneer cabin in Wiseman serves as our base for the night as we look up into the night sky to catch a glimpse of the colorful dancing lights of the Northern Lights.

As I walked out of the hostel that night to prepare for the trip to Wiseman, I looked up at the sky dimly lit by the lights of the truck stop. I saw a streak of gray light in the sky and my heart skipped a beat. I had been told that sometimes the Northern Lights looked like a wispy cloud, so I took out my camera and took a picture.

Through the lens, this wispy cloud took on a vibrant green hue. I had found them – the Northern Lights. I rushed inside to tell other guests that the lights were out and we all marveled at the light show on top of the world at Coldfoot. It was the only time we really saw the lights, but the hours of visiting with Jack Reakoff and listening to his stories were worth it.

The next morning we boarded small planes to return below the Arctic to Fairbanks. The icy mountains seemed larger than life as we flew over them to come alive under the ice road and the most northerly roadhouse in the United States.

Pro tips

We very recommend booking a tour and driver for this trip, especially in winter. However, the highway is a popular road trip destination during the summer, but you’ll be hard pressed to find car rental locations that don’t prohibit taking their cars onto the highway due to damage from all the gravel.

If you want to drive yourself in the summer (also a great time to enjoy the scenery), you’ll need to use Arctic Outfitters, which has a fleet of SUVs designed for the highway. Each vehicle undergoes a rigorous maintenance routine and is fitted with premium tires, a CB radio for remote communication and a tire change and maintenance kit. If you plan to drive to Deadhorse, allow at least three days.