The only route from Nordkapp is south, so that’s the way we’ll go. As we had driven north up through Norway and Sweden, why not drive south overlanding Finland all the way down to Helsinki? Sounds like a plan. On the way we did some husky-sledding, tried a ‘new’ type of skiing, hunted for gas, watched skate-racing, and drove Cuthbert over the sea!
We’re in the Norwegian Arctic. We’ve just crossed the Polar Circle heading north to destination Nordkapp … the furthest north we can drive in the world. In winter. On the plus side: the snow and the low winter light makes it particularly spectacular, no summer crowds, and no midges!! On the down side: it’s chilly, driving is a bit tricky, it’s chilly, many of the tourism facilities are closed, and it’s chilly. So is a winter drive to Nordkapp worth it? And did we mention it’s chilly?
Overlanding to the Arctic Circle is a bit cool. But it’s even cooler if you go in winter. We did it in North America twice, but both times in summer. Now we’re heading to the European Arctic, in winter. Why? Because it’s the most northerly point you can drive to in the world. And because we can. Or at least we think we can. We won’t find out unless we try. We don’t have a plan yet – we can do that on the way – but we do at least know that it’s nippy up there in February, so we’ll be taking a coat and a woolly hat.
Overlanding Alaska is an epic route. Far more than the sum of its places, it’s a whole experience, and it’s unique. Yes, it bears some similarity to Patagonia, but the culture and history here set it apart. It’s a very long way from anywhere, so is it worth the schlepp? Here we do a bit of general pondering our lessons learned about Alaska, and our dash through Canada en-route.
The Dalton Highway is one of those iconic routes that many world overlanders have on their wish-list. It runs through northern Alaska, up to the Arctic Circle, over the remote Brooks Mountains, across vast tundra, ending at the industrial oil-fields on the Arctic Ocean. So why do it? And what do you do when you get there?
The decision’s made. We’re going to Alaska. Well… we’re going to try again at getting to Alaska. We’re in Yuma on the US/Mexican border and our GPS tells us it’s exactly 6,640 km to Prudhoe Bay, Alaska. By anyone’s measure, that’s a loong way. Here’s our Operation Reach Alaska, a gentle trot through California, Oregon and Washington, then a frantic gallop through BC and the Yukon…
For many, the Klondike conjures up images of weather-beaten old prospectors in the Gold Rush days. If you came here to get-rich-quick on gold, you’d be kinda disappointed. But what you wouldn’t be disappointed with is the fabulous remote, desolate wilderness and wildlife – there’s plenty of that ‘round here. After 11 weeks of ‘rona virus lock-down in Whitehorse and our plans taking a few hits, we could finally cross the vast Yukon Territory to the Klondike and the Arctic Circle, do a bit of grizzly spotting, fail miserably at getting-rich-quick, see the midnight sun, enjoy a pretty ghost town, and reach the end of the road not once, but twice!
Way back on the Bolivian Altiplano at around 4,000m asl, we had an overnight low of -18°C on our thermometer. Oh, how naïve we were to think that was cold! Here in the Yukon for our corona virus stay-cation, we’ve had temperatures as low as -31°C (without the windchill!). Now that’s nippy. We’re sure there are many out there with far more experience of seriously cold weather overlanding than us. But this real cold has been a new thing for us. By lucky happenstance, we did give cold-weather stuff some consideration when we ordered Cuthbert, so we’re not totally unprepared.
