Visiting the Arctic Circle in Alaska (+ Driving on the Dalton Highway! )
Are you considering visiting the Arctic Circle in Alaska or driving on the Dalton Highway? Stop what you’re doing and read this!
We enjoyed this epic Alaska bucket list experience while visiting Fairbanks and let us get straight to the point, this is one of the coolest experiences you can do in Alaska (I mean, there are a lot of those, but this is really special).
Visiting the Arctic Circle is a rare experience for most tourists to Alaska, as it’s located far to the north and accessible only via the legendary, remote Dalton Highway.
We were so excited to add it to our trip this time as last time we visited Alaska, we only made it around Anchorage in Girdwood and made the fun drive from Anchorage to Denali only to run over some fragment of an antler or something and have to turn back. (One of these days we will make it back to Denali!)
That drive was a reality check on just how hardcore driving in Alaska can be for visitors like us—one random mishap and your whole trip can flip!
And that brings me to my next point, while some adventurous souls might consider tackling this journey to visiting the Arctic Circle in Alaska on their own, which is possible with thorough preparation, planning, and skill, we opted for an Alaska Arctic Circle tour, which we think is the best way to go about this experience.
The organized adventure we did also includes a guided Dalton Highway tour, led by an experienced/trained local guide. It’s the perfect way to sit back, relax, and fully enjoy the ride safely while learning fascinating details about the region from someone who knows it best in a vehicle prepped and regularly inspected.
We breakdown all the information you need to know, the types of tours offered, and our unforgettable experience in this guide.
First, where is the Arctic Circle in Alaska?
The Arctic Circle in Alaska sits about 200 miles north of Fairbanks accessible by the Dalton Highway (at Mile 115) in a remote, untouched region of Alaska’s Far North. This includes the North Slope and Brooks Mountain range among landscapes such as the tundra plains and boreal forests (plus oodles of wildlife).
The Arctic Circle marks the boundary between the Arctic and the Northern Temperate Zone. Scientifically speaking, it’s located at 66°33′ North latitude, the southernmost point where the sun either doesn’t set for at least one day in summer or doesn’t rise in winter.
When there’s a day where the sun doesn’t set, it’s known as ‘midnight sun’ and the opposite is a ‘polar night’.
And what’s cool about planning a visit around the winter or the polar night is that there’s a fair chance you could see aurora borealis activity!
Fairbanks and the Arctic in Alaska are under the auroral oval, a ring-shaped zone where aurora activity is concentrated!
Combine that with the clear skies and lack of a marine layer that causes clouds at many coastal destinations under the auroral oval, and you’re set up for great conditions and a higher probability of seeing the northern lights!
At the Arctic Circle coordinates in Alaska along the Dalton Highway, there’s a pull off where visitors can take a photo next to The Arctic Circle marker sign! Which is exactly what we did when we visited to signify crossing the line!
Sure, it’s a little gimmicky but it’s a fun way to commemorate visiting such a remote, special place!
How to visit the Arctic Circle: The Dalton Highway
Visiting the Arctic Circle in Alaska requires traveling on the Dalton Highway, unless you fly over of course. But who counts ‘flying over a place’ as visiting?
The Dalton Highway is a remote, rugged 414-mile stretch of gravel road stretching from Fairbanks to Prudhoe Bay’s oil fields on the North Slope where Alaska meets the Arctic Ocean.
The Dalton Highway is the only road access to the Arctic Circle and further north in Alaska. It was built in the 1970s as a supply route to the Trans-Alaska Pipeline. As you’re driving along the Dalton Highway you barely lose sight of the pipeline as the road follows it closely.
It’s a full 2-day journey to get from Fairbanks to Prudhoe Bay via the Dalton Highway.
This is one of the most isolated highways in the United States and one of the northern-most roads in the world famous for its extreme conditions stretching through Alaska’s deep north wilderness.
In fact, it’s one of the stars of the reality TV series, ‘Ice Road Truckers’!
For adventurous travelers, there’s an undeniable allure—not just for the epic scenery and wildlife in Far North Alaska, but for the bragging rights of tackling one of the gnarliest roads crossing into the Arctic!!
The highway is gravel and passes landmarks such as the Atigun Pass, the highest pass in Alaska, the Arctic Circle, and the mighty Yukon River.
There are points of the Dalton Highway that are literally like a roller coaster and require skilled training and driving.
Because of its remoteness and lack of services, it’s a pretty challenging road to travel on. There is no cell service, the gas stations are few and far apart, and conditions on the road can leave people stranded for days (like avalanches on Atigun Pass).
You are in the wilderness, so wildlife encounters are not uncommon! And most importantly the Dalton Highway is not well suited for small cars. There are potholes, icy/snowy conditions, and high trucker traffic.
An interesting fact we learned is despite what you’re preconditioned to think about winter driving, the Dalton Highway is actually easier to drive in the winter because the frozen ground and snow cover and smooth the rough gravel surface and we learned on our Dalton Highway tour that ice is no longer slippery when the temperature drops below -36° Fahrenheit (-38° Celsius)!
can I drive the Dalton Highway myself?
Okay, so technically yes. But I want to make it abundatnly clear I am not advocating for you to attempt to drive on the Dalton Highway.
In fact, if you plan on visiting the Arctic Circle or Dalton Highway, we recommend taking a tour (which I will go into more detail about) for a few reasons.
- Many rental car companies prohibit and make you sign a contract promising you won’t attempt to drive on the Dalton Highway. This road is dangerous, there are no services, and it can do a lot of damage to small vehicles. There are specialty rental companies out there, but you need to be prepared in every other aspect of this drive.
- You really need to be familiar with the road/route and or trained to drive on this route. Keep in mind the truckers who use this route receive specialized training and are professionals. You only can pull over at specified pull-off points.
- Drivers need to have appropriate supplies and gear for this road including survival gear, extra motor oil, spare tires, proper clothing, first aid supplies, CB radio for communication, and survival skills. Our tour even had a satellite phone handy in case we needed to contact for help, there’s no cell service here.
- Temperatures in the winter can drop as low as 82 below!
- There are very limited services on the Dalton HIghway including gas stations. There are only 3 on the route! One at Yukon River Crossing (mile 56), Coldfoot (mile 175), and Deadhorse (mile 414).
- You HAVE to have a CB radio (tuned to channel 19) to communicate on the highway. On our tour, our driver had to announce every time we entered (and where which requires familiarity of the route) the highway. There were times where truckers communicated via CB that we had to move out of the way. The highway requires constant communication with one another via CB.
- Truckers have to drive at high speeds and cars getting in the way of them can be extremely dangerous, there were times we had to pull over at a pull out and let a trucker pass. I shouldn’t have to say that any collision with a trucker isn’t going to have a happy ending.
We’re all about being responsible when it comes to epic adventures like this. Most people shouldn’t drive this route—it’s too risky, and going unprepared doesn’t just endanger you, but everyone else too.
That’s why we recommend joining a tour. Northern Alaska Tour Company offers multiple trip itineraries where you can sit back and enjoy the Dalton Highway tour and visit the Arctic Circle at the hands of a trained, professional driver.
Alaska Arctic Circle Tour & Dalton Highway Tour Options:
There are different variations and tour options from Northern Alaska Tour Company where you can experience the Dalton Highway, Arctic Circle, and even all the way to the Arctic Ocean. Options and itineraries range from one day experiences to multi-day excursions.
We really want to come back and try out another one of their experiences in a different season too, especially winter!
The one-day options are Arctic fly/drive tours. This is what we did and loved it! Half of the journey is done by air in a small plane where you get to see the rugged landscape and the Brooks Range from a bird’s eye then drive the other half of the journey with guides.
It’s a cool combination of both air and on the ground! And there are options to add on aurora borealis viewing too, which is what we did. I will break down that experience fully below since it’s what we can talk about in depth from our first-hand experience.
Another option is the Arctic Circle Drive adventure. This Arctic Circle tour is a full day by land from Fairbanks to the Arctic Circle by land only. You will be with a guide all day each way in a van/bus.
If you’re short on time, you might want to look into the Arctic Circle air tour, it’s a 5-hour trip where you fly both ways, making your way as far north as Coldfoot at the base of the Brooks Mountain Range.
And another air option for those short on time wanting to hit the national parks of Alaska is the Gates of the Arctic Air Tour. You fly from Fairbanks to Coldfoot, then you’ll get on another plane to Gates of the Arctic National Park and then back to Fairbanks by air all in a day.
For people wanting to get a little more into Alaska’s Far North wilderness, you’ll need to commit to two days!
One option is the fly/drive tour Northbound. This gives you an overnight in Coldfoot (mile 175 on the Dalton Highway) which you’ll use as a base to either visit the Brooks Mountain Range, upgrade to a scenic flight through the Gates of the Arctic National Park, or join a scenic float tour on the Middle Fork Koyuukuk River. Your return will be a flight back from Coldfoot to Fairbanks.
There’s also a 3 day Arctic Ocean tour where you spend two full days traveling on the Dalton Highway portion of the tour from Fairbanks to the Arctic Ocean. On the final, third day you fly back from Prudhoe Bay to Fairbanks.
All of the tours are well organized and many offer the chance to add on aurora borealis viewing at the Arctic Circle Trading Post, formerly the Wildwood General Store and homestead. It gives you a heated, cozy cabin to hang out in while you wait for the aurora activity.
This is privately owned by Northern Alaska Tour Company and you’re only able to visit this cool, historic spot with them.
Also, their tours are a well-orchestrated machine. We had multiple guides taking us on different legs of our journeys and it all went so smoothly and was timed so well.
Northern Alaska Tour Company also is an admirable company as they are personally invested in preserving and maintaining many of the stops on the Dalton Highway not only for truckers but for tourism and visiting safely.
Our Experience Visiting the Arctic Circle
The Scenic Flight to Coldfoot
Okay, time to go over our exhilarating day tour! We did the Arctic Circle Aurora Fly/Drive Adventure which started at 11:30 AM (the time we had to be at the airport) and dropped us back off at our Fairbanks accommodation at around 3:30 AM after aurora viewing.
The trip was a LONG but a very rewarding day. It’s definitely one of our favorite recent travel memories.
First, we met at the interior hub of Fairbanks Airport meant for smaller aircraft at 11:30 AM. We got to put in our order for lunch in advance to enjoy at Coldfoot Camp, weigh bags to make sure we weren’t carrying too much weight, and get a quick debriefing about the safety and protocol of our small aircraft we’d be taking up to Coldfoot!
We departed at around 1:00 PM and enjoyed the scenic 60-minute flight over historic gold settlements and remote communities, the Yukon River, the Arctic Circle, and the mighty, majestic Brooks Mountain Range!
Our pilot was great, he would announce when we were passing over any point of interest and we were lucky on to have a really clear day witnessing the snow-covered mountains and remote Alaska wilderness from above!
Experiencing Coldfoot Camp Truck Stop
We arrived in Coldfoot a bit after 2:00 PM, right at the Coldfoot Camp Truck Stop. Located at mile 175 on the Dalton Highway and 55 miles north of the Arctic Circle, this spot is a key service stop for truckers. Expect to see a few big rigs—it’s the last fuel stop until Deadhorse at mile 414!
We were visiting at the end of September/early October so we had a peak fall season experience. We can only wonder what it looked like with snow. Which is why we are itching to come back in the winter.
We really enjoyed the stop at Coldfoot, I mean that name alone is cool! You can sit and have a beer at the saloon here, it’s the northernmost bar in the United States!
If you’re looking for a cool souvenir, you can shop from their small gift area and even purchase postcards and stamps to mail from Coldfoot!
We were given packed sandwiches and prepared lunches to eat or take with us on the tour. Our time here went by a little too fast so we ate in the car vs wasting our precious moments in one of the few communities accessible by road north of the Arctic Circle eating a sandwich!
Originally, Coldfoot was a mining camp until eventually Dick Mackey, an Iditarod dog musher founded this stop which also served as a pipeline-era camp. The name is said to come from the gold mining days when gold prospectors worked their way up here and got “cold feet” and turned back.
Moving South to the Arctic Circle
On the tour, we joined a new guide for our next leg of the journey. She would be taking us from Coldfoot Camp to the Arctic Circle where we’d switch to another guide to take us the rest of the way south on the Dalton Highway.
You’ll be watching the Trans-Alaska Pipeline from out the window the entire journey, there are barely moments that you will lose sight of it.
Our guide was really young and had moved to Coldfoot where there’s a population of around 30 people.
She had moved here from Minnesota and one of the highlights of the experience was listening to her talking about life here in the far north of Alaska and how much she loves the wilderness and remoteness.
She definitely has more survival skills than anyone we probably know and heaven forbid there’s ever an apocalypse, I think the people who live out here will be alright.
Between chatting up our car of passengers, our guide had to listen to the CB radio as all the vehicles driving on the Dalton Highway communicated with one another.
She had to announce everytime we got on the highway and the location to let truckers know. We would learn that this is essential for the safety of the road and also respect that this primarily is a working highway for truckers en route to Deadhorse.
Before reaching the Arctic Circle, we did make a scenic stop at the Middle Fork of the Koyukuk River briefly.
Some members of our group were split into another 4×4 with another guide who made a few more stops than we did, which is interesting that each experience on the same tour may be slightly different!
Visiting the Arctic Circle
We made it! We arrived at the Arctic Circle at 66°33′50.2″ north of the Equator! We were told only 2-3% of visitors to Alaska make it here!
Getting here took around 90 minutes and we only traveled around 55 miles south on the Dalton Highway from Coldfoot. Yes, we made a stop, but this will give you an indication of the roads we were driving on! It was about 5 PM when we arrived.
So what is there to do at the Arctic Circle? Well, take a photo with a sign of course! Stretch your legs and maybe see a few cute Arctic birds flying from limb to limb in the spruce trees (or land on one of your limbs!).
We also bid farewell to our first guide in our smaller 4×4 vehicle that got us to this point from Coldfoot and met our new guide, Will who would take us in a bigger bus for the rest of our journey.
Traveling Southbound on the Dalton Highway
All of our guides so far on our Arctic Circle tour were wonderful. We found it quite impressive that Northern Alaska Tour Company was able to get such a number of quality guides in such remote areas.
Maybe it’s because we spent the longest leg of the tour with Will, but he was not only a standout guide on this experience but one of the best guides we have ever had on a tour in all of our years of travel!
This portion of the trip was a memorable one for us.
First, Will did a great job explaining the rules of the road when it comes to the Dalton Highway and it helped us appreciate and understand what it’s like for the truckers on this route.
In the end, it really made us want to advocate for joining a tour vs opting to visiting the Arctic Circle on your own.
He also was super passionate about Alaska, and its wilderness, and an incredible storyteller. We learned about the boreal forests, wildlife, plus the history of the Dalton Highway and the Trans-Alaska Pipeline.
You’re sitting a lot on this journey and it’s a long day. A guide that doesn’t have the passion, great storytelling abilities, or knowledge of the area could really create a different and less exciting experience. So we felt really struck gold and were fortunate to have Will.
Our entire group loved him and I really loved that in his stories. He also used the term ‘nature is metal,’ to illustrate one of these stories, and we just realized we could listen to him talk for hours, something our shrinking attention span usually has a difficult time with.
We made a stop just south of the Arctic Circle at an alpine tundra. Will showed us the ways of the tundra and I even spotted a wild blueberry, which led to a small group of us foraging for more berries.
It’s not every day you find wild Alaska tundra berries by the Arctic Circle to munch on.
Then we continued on, Will would stop his in-depth nature lessons and storytelling from time to time to communicate with the truckers, especially when we’d get near some of the dramatic ups and downs of the Dalton Highway!
Each of the big hills have names, and the truckers use these names when communicating on the CB radio.
Two of the names I managed to jot down were ‘rollercoaster hill’ and ‘staircase’. These aren’t names you’ll find on a map, but this is what I mean it’s essential that you know these roads, have a CB radio, and move out of the way of truckers if you plan on driving this on your own.
These hills were unforgiving and trucks/cars can overheat on the treacherous climbs. Not to mention, you need to be able to communicate to know when you need to get out of the truckers’ way and do so in a way that doesn’t cause danger to anyone.
We left this experience with so much respect for the truckers and the folks who have to travel on this road regularly.
Dinner at Yukon River Camp
Just after 8 PM, we made it to Yukon River Camp at mile 56 of the Dalton Highway. To reiterate, this is one of only three fuel stations and truck stops on the Dalton Highway.
In late September, we had just minutes left of dusk to peek at the mighty Yukon River before enjoying our dinner. It takes all of 3 minutes to walk down to the riverfront from where we parked and the entrance to the truckstop restaurant.
This is where you’ll also get to see the E.L. Patton Yukon River Bridge, the only bridge that crosses the Yukon River (we also got to cross it when we continued southbound after dinner) which we barely got to see a glimpse of on our plane ride northbound earlier in the day.
After spending a moment appreciating the beauty of the Yukon River, we went inside for dinner and to our surprise this truck stop restaurant was serving up some great food. This isn’t your average truck stop food option.
They had homemade chili, big hearty salads, burgers, and other options that were a bit shocking as we came in not expecting much from this pipeline construction-era modest truck stop. We were also told the pie here is some of the best in Alaska!
Just after our visit, during the winter season, the truck stop restaurant changes to a noodle house with savory noodle dishes and soups during the coldest time of the year. Seeing how good the options were when we visited, we were naturally curious about what those options were in the winter and would love to experience.
There’s also another souvenir section of the truck stop if you wanted to pick up any other fun items to remember this adventure by too!
Aurora Viewing at Arctic Circle Trading Post
After dinner, we made our final 2-hour journey to the Arctic Circle Trading Post, formerly the Wildwood General Store and homestead in Joy, Alaska off of the Elliott Highway.
I want to touch on why this spot is special. But first, talk about the journey getting there. We were now driving in complete darkness, which is a very different experience vs the daytime.
Will showed off the ‘moose beams’ which are superpower high beams that our bus was equipped with to drive in the pitch-black darkness of the Dalton Highway!
The difference with and without the moose beams was jarring and just another random thing from our Dalton Highway tour that we found fascinating.
After the moose beams demonstration, Will gave us a bedtime story about the place we were headed towards to watch the aurora borealis at before giving us time to take a nap.
The location we were headed to was the former Wildoowd General Store and homestead.
Joe Carlson and his family, including 7 kids, decided to up and leave for Alaska. They settled on the Elliott Highway, the highway junction where the Dalton Highway begins.
We were told about their life on the highway. Carlson’s kids started a lemonade stand for the truckers and workers on the pipeline.
The family decided to grow and the Carlson’s would go on to adopt a ton of kids. They ended up having 23 kids in total!
They opened the Wildwood General Store in 1983 (which would remain open until the pandemic). In 2012, the Carlson family wanted to retire, and that’s when the Northern Alaska Tour Company purchased the general store. Tours began here at that time but sadly the general store portion just didn’t make it.
Those visiting the Arctic Circle in Alaska with Northern Alaska Tour Company have the option to add on the aurora viewing here, which is a great option far away from light pollution. And after an exciting day of adventures, this is just the cherry on top of how to end an epic day visiting the Arctic Circle and driving on the legendary Dalton Highway.
This is where we had to say goodbye to Will, our awesome guide. But not until after he handed us our certificate of completion!
Some of the group didn’t stay for the aurora borealis viewing and went back to Fairbanks with Will. A few from our group went with him and apparently they saw a lynx on the way!
For those of us who stayed, we arrived at 11:30 PM and stayed until 2:30 AM. We also had a new guide who prepped the cozy cabin for us and let us know when the aurora activity was kicking off.
The space was really comfortable and cozy. You could rest and relax on leather couches, play games and puzzles, or enjoy the snacks and hot drinks. There were outhouses out back too if you had to use the restroom.
I also loved that they had a contained fire outside so you could use it as a warming station and there was no open flame, so it didn’t mess up your photos of the aurora borealis!
Of all the aurora borealis viewing places we visited on this trip to Fairbanks, this one was the most remote. We kept close to the cabin as we didn’t want to chance bumping into wildlife in the dead of night.
We lucked out with another night of amazing aurora activity, our third night in a row. Even though the aurora borealis was still going off around 2:30 AM, it was time to load up in a van and get dropped off at our hotel in Fairbanks at around 3:30 AM.
This was a long, but rewarding day. The juice was worth the squeeze. We honestly loved this experience so much we really hope to come back and do it in the winter when there’s snow.
It seems like it would be a completely different experience and given the fact that they offer multiple itineraries and tour options, we could switch it up a bit and add on something we hadn’t done yet.
We hope that this guide sparked a bit of curiosity in you and you’ll consider checking out Northern Alaska Tour Company’s tours when you’re visiting Fairbanks! They really are a great company with quality guides. (And no, this is not a paid endorsement! We just really enjoyed our experience).
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