Coldfoot

Last night on “America’s Toughest Jobs” show, the contestants had to drive to Deadhorse on the Dalton Highway, the same road we drove a week or so ago. They stopped in Coldfoot for their overnight break, half way up. That’s the same place we stayed at on the way back down, so it was fun to recognize the hotel in the background, the restaurant they stood in front of while their driving efforts were being rated, the sign giving the history of Coldfoot, the tiny post office next to the restaurant, and the one original building still standing. On the way up to Dead Horse we spent the night in Wiseman in a nice log cabin B&B, but on the way back down we wanted to experience something different, so had reservations at Coldfoot. The town consists of everything I’ve just listed above. That’s it.

The hotel was typical of the buildings in Deadhorse, a metal, flat-roofed, modular building quickly thrown together to house the workers who built the Dalton Highway, then the oil pipeline. It was not the Ritz by any means, no TV, no concierge, no bell hops running after your luggage. But, the rooms were cozy, had warm beds, hot showers and running toilets. Dry, clean, but tired towels and sheets. Bedspreads that came from the 70s, but clean. We joked that Sheilagh & Mike got the room by the pool and we got the room with the view. The front porch of the building proved to be the perfect place to take a table from the “common” room, set up four plastic lawn chairs, get out the wine, beer, and the Mexican Train dominoes. What a great evening we had, left to our own devices to entertain ourselves.

When we arrived at Coldfoot and checked into the hotel at the restaurant, the waitress told us we’d better start the dinner buffet as soon as we could, as they were expecting a Princess tour bus later. After they went through the line, there wouldn’t be much food left. So, we took our bags to our rooms across the parking lot, and then returned for our dinner. It was quite good food, extensive choices, and even three kinds of desserts! Who’d have thought Coldfoot would be the place to go for a buffet? The restaurant, like the hotel, had been quickly thrown together to serve the road/pipeline workers, but still did a brisk business due to the scarcity of services on the Dalton Highway. Some time along the way, they had built a front porch onto the existing building and put tables and chairs on it, allowing us to eat outside. Lucky for us, the cooler weather had held back the mosquitoes and other bugs Alaska is known for.

Later, as we sat on the porch playing Mexican Train, the Princess tour bus arrived, unloaded their luggage, their guests throwing glances at the four happy-on-sherry-and-port-and-beer friends sitting outside playing dominoes. They were a bit aloof and we wondered how happy they’d be when they saw their rooms. We never knew Princess Tours was such a big business until we saw traces of them all over Alaska. They have huge lodges over looking lakes and rivers in many locations, they have their own train to take their customers to Seward, Anchorage and Fairbanks. Then, their guests are driven by the Princess Tour buses to out of the way places such as Deadhorse. I can’t imagine the thousands of dollars these people pay to be lead around when they could have done the same on their own, enjoying the fun of spontaneity, flexibility, and surprise! Anyway, the Princess people eventually headed across the parking lot to the buffet, then returned and went inside with nary a word to the four hooligans on the porch. That’s alright – I’m sure we were having a lot more fun than they were!

The next morning, we got up and out around 8:00, to find the Princess tour bus pulling away. They had already attacked the breakfast buffet, so we got the last of the pancakes and other offerings. Was still a great breakfast in the middle of no where, but we were grateful for the advice to get our dinner early the previous evening!

Hitting the road once again, we were on our final leg of our Dalton Highway adventure. The long, steep hill shown on last night’s show is known as the “roller coaster” and once again made us glad we had left the Montana back in Fairbanks. By the time we made it back to Fairbanks, we realized how fortunate we were to come out of it with no broken windshield and not having to repair or replace any tires along the way. If we’d taken the Montana, I’m sure none of the shelves would ever be the same. The road, with its freeze heaves is worse than the Alcan Highway, and that was bad enough. Over all, though, it still wasn’t as bad as we’d expected, and it was a great adventure.

Just before we got back to Fairbanks we stopped at a viewing spot for the pipeline. It let us walk right up to the pipeline, reach up to it, although it was too high to actually touch, and read the information panel on it. The tops of the metal posts on most of the braces holding it up are to diffuse heat from the ground to keep the ground from thawing. I wonder why they don’t put them along the highways to alleviate the freeze heaves, but I guess it would cost too much. We took pictures of each other standing in front of the pipeline and bade it farewell, then reentered “civilization” in Fairbanks. On the last night Sheilagh and Mike were with us, we were discussing our favorite parts of our travels in Alaska together, and we all agreed that the Dalton Highway was at the top. It was just something not too many people are willing to try, we saw a part of Alaska that most people only hear about, and now it was even featured on “Ameriaca’s Toughest Jobs.” Ian, being the one who drove most of the road, and even though I had to yell at him a few times to slow down when going over the heaves, could easily have been a winning contestant on last night’s show. He da man!