The Dalton highway is the truckers road to Deadhorse, they do the major heavy hauling in the winter when the road is frozen. During warmer wet weather there's fewer trucks which haul lighter loads on the softer surface. By the way the truck drivers believe tourist should stay off the road above the artic Circle so don't be surprised by a truck taking more of the road. I would not use a street tire on the Dalton the can be a tire shredder. My preparations are always for the worst and I plan to complete my journeys no matter what the weather conditions are. If your spending the time and money to get to the Dalton then do everything you can in advance to do it safely and make it a round trip. street tires on the Dalton

Heidenau K60s would be my recommendation for a good gravel road like that, tough, very good on gravel roads, and give you heaps of wear all the way up and back too. They come in your sizes too.

Heidenau K60 Rear Sizes

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Hi Colebatch

What's the average wear like on those tyres ? Is it better/worse or same as TKC's ?

Heidenau are available in Alaska .
http://www.advcycleworks.com/

I don't have experience with the tyres or the dealer .
But this info might be useful to somebody .

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"When you come to a fork in the road ,take it ! When you come to a spoon in the road ,take that also ."

First trip - (always planned to turn around at Coldfoot) - end of June 2005. Riding with company.
Bike: R1200GS
Tyres: Front - TKC80 (frequently get >30,000kms from them!)
Rear: Tourance (usually >20,000kms)
The weather was pretty good, warm, although a little windy in places. The worst areas were through the construction zones. Ended up with a hole torn in the rear tyre in one construction zone on the return journey. The pavement just south of the Circle was so potholed my topcase bounced off - both northbound and southbound! Do go over and visit the Arctic Interagency Centre on the western side of the highway at Coldfoot, if you're staying overnight. Very interesting, with presentations at night.

Second trip - to Deadhorse - 11th July 2008. Riding alone.
Bike: F650GS
Tyres: Front: TKC80 (usually >30,000kms!)
Rear: Tourance (usually >20,000kms) - it was almost bald when I left Fairbanks, as I couldn't source another in the timeframe!
I left Fairbanks about 10.30am. The weather was relatively good (overcast and cool) to Coldfoot, but was looking dubious northwards. It rained constantly for 4½ hours going north from Coldfoot, up and over Atigun Pass etc. Not pleasant, with all the trucks roaring past splattering me with mud and calcium as I slowly pottered along. The well-known 20 mile section of deep stones about 30 miles south of Deadhorse was a bit unsettling, but I managed. Arrived about 10pm, I think. I stayed overnight at the Prudhoe Bay Hotel ($125 for all meals and bed. No wifi, but satellite internet Pay-PCs available for $$$$.

The return journey was drier, although misty rain over Atigun.

The first photo is just north of Atigun, before commencing the climb.

One thing to be careful of :- Make sure your radiator doesn't get clogged with calcium!! Judicious use of drinking water and toothbrushes [with the assistance of 5 people on 3 bikes who stopped to help] cleaned it up OK.

Overall, it wasn't "as bad" as I'd expected. There was far more pavement than in 2005, particularly in the northern half, as I'd been told there was none in 2005.

Just potter along at your own comfort speed, be aware of everything around you, take care to get off the road or else stop when trucks are about to pass, ride carefully, gaze in awe and wonder at the stunning scenery, and make sure to dodge the animals, caribou and musk ox, in my case. It is NOT a race. Slow and sure is the better way to go, after all, it's virtually 24 hours of daylight up there!

If you want to go to the oilfields/Arctic Ocean at Prudhoe Bay itself, you need to book 24 hours in advance, for security clearance. I missed out, as I hadn't booked - so will just have to go up again, one of these years!

It's a great adventure - just DO IT!!

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Margaret
"twenty grand and twenty miles don't make you a biker"
www.ridingtoextremes.com

Much better.

TKCs lose 2/3 of their tread in the first 3000 miles and then start to wear pretty well after that. Sure you can use them till there is almost no tread at all and scrape 7 - 10,000 miles out of them but the whole point of using knobblies is because you want the grip in the first place.

The K60s will offer you 50% or more of the tread for I reckon about 3 times as long as a TKC.

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This post couldn't of come at a better time.

I'm planning a trip up that way. I'll be leaving St Louis, MO on July 20th and plan to hit the Dalton Highway around the 1st or 2nd week in August. I'm timing all this so I can attend the HU meeting in Nakusp BC on August 19th-22th during my return trip.

My question is: Where's there's camping along the Dalton, is firewood available and are ground fires allowed?

thanx
daryl

apparently the Heidenau K60s are not being made at the moment and very little old stock left. this is due to some new law which made the rubber compound heidenau used illegal, so untill they can come up with a new rubber mix they have had to stop making them, lets just hope the new compound lasts as well and produces as much grip!

im doing the run to prudhoe in september, i was planning running metzeler tourances but may take a tkc.

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Take a snow shovel and heated gear as well as the weather will have changed by then

Cheers
TS

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Chris

Maybe I was lucky, but I hit Prudhoe early Sep 2006 and no probs, despite people here telling me it was too late! I was so determined I bought FULL Gerbings gear, (jacket, gloves, trousers and socks!), though never used the trousers and socks, eBayed 'em when I got home. Don't think it actually went below freezing. But a heated jacket is a lifesaver.

From what I'd been told I thought I might only just make it to Fairbanks or even Coldfoot.

Some pics here which are dated.

It was beautiful! Good Luck mate - can't be much worse than Aberdeen surely?

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thanks Ian, your right it cant be much worse that aberdeen.. haha.
some great pics you have, gives me itchy feet seeing them!
interesting what you say about your rear break pads wearing out because of the grit... think ill take spares now.

cheers
chris
Mainly Due South

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www.mainlyduesouth.com in support of the Colin McRae Vision

Thanks for your comments! Just taken a look at yor website - you're doing a fairly similar route to me, but you're missing what was for me personally probably the highlight! Bolivia was amazing - Potosi, Salar de Uyuni, and the ride up to 16,200 ft altitude down to San Pedro de Atacama in Chile. Baja was nice, as was the ride from Dawson City up to Inuvik - which I only did because I enjoyed the Dalton so much!!

Having said that, I guess you're going to the Iguazu Falls which I didn't manage :-( - we can't do everything. I planned on same distance as you and 3-4 months but took 28,500 miles and 5 1/2 months - and that was still a bit hurried - but if you've only got a limited amount of time you've gotta go for it!

There are links to some route maps etc. here if you're interested.

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thats funny, i just looked at your trip, its remarcably similar! Im not ruling out going to Bolivia, it all depends on how we are getting on time wise. i kind of get the feeling that we will be pushed on time for detours though. 3months is our limit. but i think half of the excitement is the time limit (for me anyhow)
i will take a good look through your maps, we have no sat nav so will be making alot of notes

thanks
chris

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Chris

To be fair 2 weeks of mine was spent in a car excursion with my kids into Baja and back, from LA, but that's still 5 months (assuming no problems!). I reckon 5-6k miles per month is plenty, and I like to push myself pretty well. A lot of people told me I was gonna be rushing with my original 3-4 month schedule - and they were probably right!

It's nice to have "all the time in the world", but a lot of us haven't - and I'd rather push myself and cover some miles/countries than potter about and explore somewhere meticulously. This site IS about travelling on bikes, after all!!

Me - I'm hoping to ride down through Africa starting next month - first time I've been away since Trans-Americas (apart from the HUMM's)

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There's a great travel book cost $25 called (the Mile Post) that covers the Dalton and all the highways of Alaska covering every mile in detail for camping, lodging, gas and etc.
No firewood available on the Dalton but you can have fires.
The mosguitos will swarm your exposed flesh June, July and August. It can be miserable so I use Wal-Mart 98% Deet on any body parts that have to be exposed. Invest in mosguito nets and pray for 45mph winds in camp so the little b_____ds can't fly.
The terrain on both sides of the Dalton is Tundra, there's no natural flat spots, no grassy areas, almost everything is wet or dusty.
There's two campgrounds that I remember, 1 is 3-4 miles north of coldfoot and it has no water and another campground about 18 miles north of Atigun pass and it has a pit toilet and a stream for water but purify it.
There's no legal camping in Deadhorse if your thinking about it.
If your not in the 2 campgrounds and you find a flat rocky side road to camp on be prepared to break camp and get out of the way if a pipeline vehicle comes your way if it's a critical sideroad to the pipe they may run you off.
North of Atigun on the slope there's virtually no place to get out of the wind, there's a couple of road crew living quarters along the road but they frown on campers but will always assist with emergencies. You looking for a campsite, running out of gas or breaking down won't be considered an emergency HaHa.
Hope my camping info helps you decide.
I've been there, camped it twice. I won't plan to camp next time but I'm always prepared to camp if I have too.