The long, lonely road to Deadhorse can be your best friend, or your worst enemy. Luck plays as big a part as preparation. Photos by Jack Gustafson.
If you?re a Harley rider, you have to ride to Sturgis at least once in your life. For road race fans it?s Austin or Laguna Seca. But for adventure riders, the defining, must-do ride is the 414-mile Dalton Highway, more commonly known as the Haul Road, beginning north of Fairbanks, Alaska, and ending at Prudhoe Bay on the shores of the Arctic Ocean. While it?s legendary as one of the toughest roads in the U.S., it?s nowhere near as deadly as some people say, and you can ride it on most any motorcycle, not just a round-the-world-prepped ADV bike.
The 414-mile Dalton Highway, known locally as the Haul Road. Map by Bill Tipton/compartmaps.com. Jack Gustafson has lived in Alaska for 60 years, and has been up and down the Haul Road at least two dozen times on a variety of bikes, and at various times of the year, including once on Christmas Eve. While you can find out a lot of what you need to know to tackle the Haul Road by going online, there?s no substitute for talking to someone who?s actually done it. Gustafson has some insider information you might not find anywhere else.
Roller Coaster Hill, at Mile 76: a long drop with little room to pass at the bottom. Plan ahead.
When to Go
?August is generally monsoon season,? says Gustafson. ?The Brooks Range serves as kind of a barrier, and north of there the weather is more affected by th...