The 2nd Toughest Road in Alaska?
With our furnace seemingly in working order we decide to tackle the Denali Highway from East to West. It was an easy drive down to Paxson, where we spent the first night. Our furnace did not work! This time with spare parts in hand, I was able to troubleshoot the problem enough to determine an airflow issue. A shout-out on social media gave me some promising ideas but try as I might, the furnace would not light. We still had beautiful views and made the most of our spot.
The Denali Highway was beautiful, from what we could see, of it. It ended up raining and overcast for most of the rather rough and slow drive. The Dalton was reputed to be the toughest road in Alaska but for speed or lack thereof, the Denali Highway was the worst followed closely by the Taylor Highway. We made it approximately 1/3 of the way before calling it a night and were again graced by midnight rainbows. Like on the Dalton Highway, the travelers we crossed weren’t towing trailers.
Forging on, we made it another 1/3 of the way when the tire pressure monitor signaled a leak – on the same tire I plugged on the Dalton. Thinking the plug had fallen out on the rough road, we found a pullout just large enough for both of our rigs to fit. We found the leak, a long, very sharp rock inches away from my tire plug – vindication, sort of, for my previous tire fix. This stone had gone up through the thickest part of the tread. This was not a road-side fixable puncture, so we swapped to our spare tire, now very conscious that we still had a way to go on this road and no backup tire. Changing the tire wasn’t bad but fighting off the mosquitoes was worse. We made it to the end of the Denali Highway and back on to the promised land – pavement.
We ended up pushing further north to Nenana which serves as our base for a few days. Tanja runs the punctured tire to Fairbanks to be repaired and also makes a bakery run. We also purchase an unmounted tire for the Airstream lest we have another puncture. I called Atwood for additional furnace troubleshooting but do not get anywhere. We are put onto a few Atwood dealers and start investigating our options. We also pickup a Mr Buddy camping heater to help take the edge off. We only run it to preheat the trailer before occupying it for the night.
Next, we try our hand at visiting Denali National Park. We had not made any camping reservations in advance but were able to use highway pullouts long enough to facilitate a trip into the park. We are also able to take advantage of the local food and drink scene, take a few short hikes and spend time at the visitor’s center. Planning to return later in the summer when the park is less busy, we head towards Anchorage and end up camping near Eagle River for several days.
