Behind the scenes of Epic Drives: Alaska
A few weeks back my colleagues and I went to Alaska to film an episode of our show on the Motor Trend Channel, Epic Drives.
In this episode Arthur St. Antoine would drive from the Canadian border near Tok Alaska all the way up the Dalton Highway to the Arctic Ocean in Deadhorse.
Along the way Art would stop to partake in activities with the locals. Things like dog sledding with quads...
and learning to fly floatplanes.
Once we got to Fairbanks we even took a ride down on a sternwheeler.
Then it was time to finally hit the Dalton.
The vehicle Art was driving was a 2014 Toyota 4Runner Limited. We opted to mount some Toyo Open Country tires to help tackle the endless miles of dirt, mud, and snow.
Our chase vehicles were two Ford Excursions that had seen some hard days...and were about to see a few more.
It's amazing how endlessly vast Alaska is.
Yet no matter how far into the middle of nowhere you are. You can never be too far from a minivan full of Asian women packing DSLRs.
This is an awe inspiring place. The scenery was constantly changing. Each mountain crest just led to more and more beautiful views.
The mud was a constant reminder of each mile earned out here.
Coldfoot has some really nice accommodations. They have no problem charging $200 a night. If you don't like it the next hotel is just 250 miles down the road.
Well rested we were ready to cross through another mountain range.
Once through we picked a nice spot to make some lunch and coffee.
The view back to the Brooks range of mountains was just as beautiful as passing through it.
At last we made it to Deadhorse.
This may be the end of the Dalton but we were still a long ways away from the end of our journey.
The next day we made it out to the Arctic Ocean. Where a couple of us decided to get our feet wet.
The following day we made the return drive to Coldfoot and then finally back to Fairbanks.
Looking back through the footage, this was truly a trip to remember.
Great people in an amazing place.
And in less than two weeks after we wrapped our trip. I had the video edited and up on the Motor Trend channel. Be sure to check it out at the link below.