Dalton Highway - Southbound - Return to Coldfoot

July 10th, 2026

Coldfoot, Alaska

Woke at 6:30 am and dressed enough to go get breakfast.

Once I had eaten, returned to room, took a shower and got into riding gear.

Packed everything up and then carried it all into the lobby again to avoid the shoe issue.

Once it was all out, I used restroom and checked over the room, then went out and changed into the riding boots.

Now I could take things out and load the bike.

Went out and it was starting to sprinkle, so things were slightly wet.

Uncovered the bike and slowly loaded up.

While putting on the roll bag on top of the pannier on one side the mounting anchor pulled away from the bad completely!  So now I cannot cinch it down tight.  Yeah, this luggage is going to go, it served light use around town good, but not standing up to heavier usage

I spent a few minutes talking with a guy who had walked past me as I was going back inside and drove off, but then came back few minutes later while I was still loading.  He had noticed the AZ plates when he left, so wanted to know if I had really ridden up from AZ.

Turns out he has family in the Tucson area.  (Actually, lady running the front desk has a place on the west side of Phoenix as well, seem to run into lots of people up here).

I asked the front desk lady if the general store across the way was just food or lots of stuff, and she said it had bit of everything.  I needed duct tape to fix the bag, so figured I could get it there.  I took of boots and went back to room one last time to use restroom and do a final check, then checked out of the room and left.

Rode bike across the road to the store and actually was able to park in front of the sign I could not reach last night.

Went inside and guy showed me the tape, and they actually had gorilla tape which I thought might work better, and would look better as it is black going on a black bag.

Bought the tape and went outside to fix the mounting anchor.  Tape was not sticking as well as I hoped, probably combination of the cold plastic, light moisture and dirt on the bag, will probably need to fix it again later when I can take time to clean it better.

Took a few seconds to take my photos and then left to ride up the road to the fuel station.

The guy from AZ I had talked with had told me there were putting something on the roadway that I would not be able to ride on.  Turns out they were putting large plates across the road, probably to move something heaving on without damaging the road, but they were about 6 inches high and uneven, so had to find a way to ride around them.

Thankfully they still had one lane open on this end, so was able to ride past after they had the front loaders doing the work move out of the way to let me and another truck by.

For the next section, I had to ride through the parking lot of another hotel to get over to the fuel stop.

Took a bit of time to figure out the pumps, but then filled up the bike and my spare bag (I had emptied it into the bike last night to avoid having to store it on the bike full overnight.)

Then I backtracked to the main road via the parking lot again and headed to the highway.

It was cold and raining a bit, thankfully I had put on the rain gear while fueling as the rain was coming down there too.

The ride back was nice on the good asphalt and did not see hardly any cars.  I had left town at 9:00am, so must take a while before the highway traffic picks up.

Soon reach the rougher road and then the dirt.

I had noticed yesterday that the south bound lanes seemed to have less gravel and this proved to be true, far less thick and easier to maintain speed.

I probably made the return trip in about half the time, only having to slow down a few times for the really rough spots that I could not maintain speed in without losing control.

I also only stopped maybe twice to piss or adjust something.  Usually took photos during the stops as well.

I did manage to keep speed up in the lesser spots without the gravel being so thick.

Reach the road works and had to wait again, and this time there was a car in front of me and a semi-truck behind me.

The road was also bit worse today, they had put lots of loose dirt down and steam rolled it, but was still soft and moved a bit under the wheels of the heavier vehicles, and that caused random ruts that were moving my wheels around.

The pass was difficult again as the steep hills and looser gravel kept me in 2^nd gear for much of the trip up and down.

I then was able to get better speed rest of the way till the pavement began again without any real incidents and traffic was still lighter today than yesterday.

Arrived in Coldfoot and fueled the bike up right away.

Then I had to decide.

I had thought about doing a marathon and pushing all the way to Fairbanks tonight.

That would mean another 5-6 hours of riding, and had already been on the bike nearly 7 hours.

Or I could camp in the grass field again, bugs and all and it was warm again, so would be bit stuffy.

But was too tired and while the road south is not as bad as the road north, still not something to ride when tired.

So rode over and setup the tent and loaded gear into it.  Then changed into lighter clothes and went into the café for the buffet.

Sat on the covered deck which was cooler (though still few mosquitos to deal with)

Typed up last night’s blog and tonight’s.

Will have to upload later though, still not internet.

Now I will go back to the tent and put out the air mattress, then maybe sit outside for a bit, or come back and sit in the bar area, have a drink or something.

Then will be in bed early so we can get going tomorrow, though might not push out too soon, have all day and only need about 6 hours.

Catch ya down the road.

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