Prudhoe Bay fuel Range
 

Hi,I would Just like an idea of fuel range required for a trip from Montana to Prudhoe bay,also is it gravel after Fairbanks,the fun part of the trip.Thanks Ron.

If you ride a bike with 150-180 miles/tank, you'll be fine all the way to Fairbanks when staying on main roads, i.e. Alaska Hwy. The Dalton Hwy is 414 miles mostly gravel with gas stops at the Yukon River Bridge (30 miles from southend of Dalton), Coldfoot (midway) and Prudhoe Bay. I was going with a friend on a BMW R1150GS. He needed his spare gas 30 miles outside of Prudhoe Bay going up.

http://11000milesin22days-alaska2008.blogspot.com/

I was on a DL650 Suzuki and with a fellow rider on a GS1150, both of us took 1 gallon fuel containers and used them, we maybe could have gone without, but we felt more comfortable with them.

If you book rooms at the Fairbanks Uni, you can ask if anyone has left behind some containers, it does happen.

Cheers
TS

240 Miles!
 

There is an IMPORTANT message on this sign just as you leave Coldfoot! :cool4:

http://rickmcd.smugmug.com/Travel/Ho...12_c32dW-M.jpg

I made it on the KLR 650 but .........

Fuel range
 

Thanks a lot for your help,exactly what i was after:cool4:

Just a quick note on visiting the the actual sea to dip your toes. The only way to do it is to book into a tour to get the final 320 miles from Deadhorse itself.

No issue there, but when I was there, they want 24 hour notice, so they can do a background check to make sure you won't blow it up, but the only tours available were early in the morning or late in the afternoon.

This made for crap planning as it is very expensive to stay there overnight to get on the tour.

We rode from Coldfoot to PB to CF in one day, it took about 12 hours with a few hours at lunchtime to be a tourist and buy a Tshirt

Must be a bit of a typo there. It is only about a 10 mile, 30-40 minute bus trip through the oilfields from Deadhorse to the ocean, but you must be on a commercial bus tour in order to get through the security gate. When I was there in 2009, I had to book the tour ($40 I think) by phone with the Arctic Cariboo Hotel in Deadhorse. You must give them 24 hour notice and give your passport number. Since there is no camping in Deadhorse, I wound up staying the night at the Prudhoe Bay Hotel... $125 but it included 3 buffet meals.

It's about 50% gravel starting at the Dalton Highway 50 miles north of Fairbanks. I stopped at a small truck pullout just south of the start of the Dalton and swapped my street tires for knobbies. Glad I did. The last 40 miles or so into Prudhoe I found to be the worst stretch as the gravel is larger (like golf ball size). I rode fast but didn't go far each day. Stayed at the campground at the Arctic Circle the first night, then camped on the grass at the restaurant in Coldfoot the second. Third night in Prudhoe, fourth in Coldfoot and then back to Fairbanks.

I had perfect weather and NO mosquitoes. :D Late July. But talking to a ranger in Coldfoot, he said that two weeks previously were the worst mosquitoes he had seen in 26 years. So you never know.

I took spare fuel but didn't really need it. Only took it in case I got beyond my 1/2 fuel range and had to go back for weather or something. I can usually go 240 miles though before switching to a 1 gallon reserve. But since I didn't have any problems, it was just dead weight.

My bad, you are correct, only 20km or so, LOL

Hey Ron. When are you planning to go up to Deadhorse? I live in Illinois and will be leaving for the Arctic in Mid-June. I would like to ride up the Dalton with another rider.

Dalton
 

Hi, i'll probably be going nth in 2 or 3 years,my bro is taking his 4wd up as well.Just got the usual problem no money yet,but it will happen,see ya Ron.:cool4:

GSA... If you can't find a travel partner, I wouldn't worry too much about riding up alone. Certainly don't let it deter you from going. You should meet lots of riders along the way and while the truckers don't routinely stop to help should you have roadside problems along the Dalton, there is a fair amount of other traffic. I went up and back alone two years ago and thoroughly enjoyed the opportunity to travel at my own pace. I met and talked to more motorcycle travelers between Fairbanks and Deadhorse than I did the entire rest of the summer. You'll meet lots of people along the way. You'll have a great trip! :mchappy:

Hey Sam, that would all depend on when you go. I know when myself and Simon rode up, we met a few bikes coming back down before and at the last fuel stop, after that nil, nada noone, and only a few haul trucks. It was quite pleasant actually :)

The merits of going slow
 

It is pleasant! But the number of riders one meets is also possibly a matter of how much time one spends on the road. In your post, you said that you were up and back from Coldfoot in 12 hours... so you would only see riders that were along that stretch during that brief window of time. At my dawdling pace, (5 days from Fairbanks to Fairbanks :rolleyes2:) a lot of riders passed by me!

Prudhoe Bay fuel Range
 

The Milepost is an excellent resource. You don't need a current version; just buy an old one at Amazon or a used book store. The book is primarily for driving in Alaska but the first pages outline various routes thru BC to get to Alaska. Also, go to your local bookstore and look thru their travel books, incl the Milepost.

Prudhoe Bay fuel Range
 

nother fun thing to do is read journals about similar trips in My Trip Journal.com. You can pick a person and follow their journey, or you can pick a town and read everyone's perspective who visited that town. Most of the journals are writen by retirees who are taking a 2-6 month road trip, altho there was one from a retired Fl couple who decided to work at an RV park in Alaska for the summer. I was following a friend who retired then drove from Chicago-Seattle, then Alaska and home again. 4 months. mytripjournal.com/travel-United_States-Alaska Have fun planning!

Prudhoe Bay fuel Range
 

Milepost The MILEPOST: Alaska Travel Guide and Trip Planner

GSA Rider, I and possibly one other buddy are planning to ride to Deadhorse this june, leaving Oregon around the 7 of june and plan on the solstic in deadhorse, if you want to join us let me know, both are on GS's...if he cant make it, I plan on going alone.

Did someone mention camping?
 

Although you are not allowed to camp in Prudhoe Bay/Dead Horse.

there is nothing to stop you camping 10 miles form town. Which is what I did, I put my tent up beside a river (keeping a watchful eye out for bears:helpsmilie:).
It's a bit tricky putting your tent up on permafrost, it's impossible to hammer pegs into the ground, which is why it's a good idea to take a dome-style self-supporting/free-standing tent. I then tethered it to Thelma, my bike, to stop it blowing away.
It was amazing camping there.
A huge herd of elk (or some sort of reindeer type animal) crossed the river near to us, hundreds upon hundreds of them and we were lucky enough to see musk ox as well. I had my friend Siobhan on the bike with me at that point.
However it can get chilly:freezing: if you don't carry decent camping gear -I use a thermarest and my sleeping bag is a Rab 800 down filled bag, I was toasty:thumbup1:. But Siobhan suffered a bit:funmeterno:

Enjoy your travels and ride safe.

"A huge herd of elk (or some sort of reindeer type animal)....."

Caribou. Specifically, barren ground caribou, the bigger and better cousins of reindeer. They travel in huge herds, always moving, and to watch a couple of hundred flowing across the landscape is an amazing experience.

As I understand it, the musk ox were reintroduced recently. Either you're lucky to have seen them or there are far more than there used to be. I've seen them in Greenland, and when you see how they gather up to defend themselves it's obvious why they got wiped out so easily by hunters with guns.

I camped on the North Slope as well, just off the road outside of Deadhorse. It was August, and it snowed overnight--not enough to get seriously in the way, but enough to remind us who was boss. We saw quite a few bears up there, so be wary and smart about your camping.

Mark

hope to be traveling that way this summer... don't have exact dates yet