Late May is a good time to drive the Dalton Highway. South of the Brooks Range it is spring, north of the range it is late winter to early spring. That means the bugs haven't are not there yet! The road is good by dirt road standards, and about 25% of it has been paved or chip sealed. There are some sections of road damage, both paved and not. Take it easy and you'll have no problems. Princess and Holland even run tour buses to Deadhorse.
It is 240 miles from Coldfoot to Deadhorse with no services in between. That is the longest run. Gas was $3.70 / gal, about $1 more than Anchorage. Carry your food for the whole trip with you. There is a store in Deadhorse, but it caters to the workers there. They all have access to cafeterias to eat, so there are no staples, only snack items.
Beautiful country, lots of critters (far more north of the Brooks Range than I had ever seen in the state before), and friendly people. We saw Moose, Caribou, Squirrles, Dall Sheep, Red Fox, Musk Ox, Snow Geese, Loons, Ducks (I think some Eiders), Tundra Swans, Trumpter Swans, an owl, a golden Eagle, Bald Eagles, Ptarmigan, and a Crane.
Only one adventure. The Subaru has two switches to turn on the parking lights. I bumped one that I didn't know about and left the parking lights on. With the midnight sun I never knew until we had a dead battery at Galbraith Lake. Luckily there was another camper there who gave us a jump.
I always thought the Arctic was a cool place. With clear skies the midnight sun was relentless, beating down on us 24 hours a day. We slept in the back of the Subaru and it was impossible to stay in bed past 7 AM. The poor car went from plesantly cool to ovcn. Guarenteed to wake even me.
I hope you enjoy the pictures.
Eric








Unimproved BLM campground just north of the Yukon River where we spent our first night. There is an outhouse just out of sight, but little else.
There is only one reason for a trash can like this. It is very furry and much larger than we are. I really wanted to see a bear on this trip, but preferred it to be from the car while we were driving :-)
This bridge over the Yukon River carries both the pipeline and the Dalton Highway.

Early bloom on Finger Mountain

Finger Rock on Finger Mountain is a famous landmark that points the way to Fairbanks. It was used by early bush pilots as well as nomadic hunters.
The Arctic Circle stop on the Dalton Hwy
Looking north from the stop on the Arctic Circle
Grayling Lake on the Dalton Hwy.
The post office at Wiseman Alaska.
Sukakpak Mountain, a landmark south of the Brooks Range seen from the south.