Everyone we met said the same thing about the Dalton,  “take your time”.  I would say we planned 5 days and they would relax a bit.  We only needed to average 200 miles a day.  Surely that would leave loads of time for fishing and exploring.  Actually it was barely adequate. 

There was a lot of construction on both the Elliott and the Dalton.  Once we sat 30 minutes waiting for a pilot car.  A couple other times it was 10 to 20 minutes. 

It supposedly takes 6 hours from Fairbanks to Coldfoot, which is 260 miles.   With our stops to see the Yukon River, Finger Mountain, the Arctic Circle, and the significant time where we saw the wolves,  it took us 12 hours. 

C did an amazing job driving in challenging conditions.   It would have taken me twice as long.  At least with 24 hours of daylight, we didn’t have to worry about driving in the dark! 

On day 2 we were “only” driving  140 miles out and back, (280 total, leaving the trailer behind at the campground).  I thought it would take 8 hours plus any long animal viewing stops.  We left at 10 a.m.  At 5:30 we turned around heading back to our trailer, and we got back after 10 p.m. for another late supper.  Once again C drove splendidly, going through the Brooks Range and over the difficult Atigun Pass.

After 2 very long days, we slept in on our 3rd day.  We then went  fishing at Marion Creek where we didn’t even see a fish despite hours of effort.   When we left the campground, the truck stressed us out, throwing error codes and running rough for several miles before settling down. 

C thought we might need to head to Fairbanks ASAP if the truck needed a mechanic.  After he did some research (while I explored the awesome Arctic Interagency Visitor Center) he proposed that we buy the part in Fairbanks and he would try to fix it himself. 

Yay, we still had a day and a half to travel 260 miles.  That gave us time for some more fishing.   At North Bonanza Creek we finally found some fish.  I had some nibbles, and C caught a beautiful 14.5-inch Arctic Grayling.

We traveled about 80 miles, had a lovely relaxing evening, and had time to explore on foot the next morning as well.  We figured the remaining 180 miles for Day 4 would take at least 4.5 hours.  It took over 6 hours.

Moral of the story:  when driving the Dalton Highway,  TAKE YOUR TIME!  The estimated driving times are for truck drivers who know the road, have the right of way, and aren’t exploring the sights.  We are very glad we traveled on the Dalton, but don’t plan to do it again.

P.S.  C fixed the truck in Fairbanks and it worked perfectly back to Healy!  The Toyota dealership told us the repair would be $2500 to $4000 and would take several days.  C did it for $265 in less than an hour.  He’s awesome!