Gerrard155

Hello All-

This is something I have been thinking about posting up here for a while now, and it seems like there is no time like the present (and as far as I know there is not a similar thread on this site). This thread is all about adventure in all its fantastic forms. This is an opportunity for one and all to post about an adventure they went on that involved their F150. No adventure is too big or too small. Share your camping trips, hunting trips, cross country moves, trips to the beach-whatever adventure you have been on with your F150! I do think it would be helpful if we had a few guidelines for adventure posts-

1.) Put some detail in there! Tell us where you went, how you got there, why you went, how the truck was involved and how it did. You all know we want to know what fuel economy you got or how the truck towed!
2.) You must have at least 1 picture with your truck in it from the trip-while I love vacations I took 15 years ago as much as the next guy, that has nothing to do with my 2015. A pic makes it legit.
3.) RESPECT-everyone's idea of an adventure is different, and they are all awesome. Let's enjoy each other's company here rather than criticizing the decisions of others (after all, the criticism should be saved for the 5.0/ecoboost threads lol....)

Thats all I can think of. This thread should be an open conversation-discussion on what people have done, what you are thinking about doing, whatever. Just enjoy yourselves here and check out all the fantastic things people do in their 150's!

Gerrard155

So I figured I should post the first adventure here since I started this whole mess. A few months back (January), my wife and I decided to drive up to the north slope of Alaska. We finally had the chance to a few weeks back. Why wait so long? Well The highway up to the north slope from Fairbanks is a treacherous and dangerous road-one of the 12 most dangerous in the world to be precise (https://www.usatoday.com/story/trave...roads/2981471/). It is a little over 500 miles from Fairbanks to Deadhorse (care to guess how that town got it's name?) with almost no population or services on the road up. The road itself is mostly dirt/gravel (over 300 miles of it). Other traffic is minimal, with most of it being semi's who have the right of way at all times (this is the road that the show "Ice Road Truckers" was centered around). So it is not a road that you wake up on a Saturday and just drive up.
Now, to be clear, the road is 500 miles one way-so we drove over 1000 miles total on two days. One thing that a lot of people dont really grasp is just how huge Alaska really is-mostly because of maps they saw in school like this-



Note how Alaska is almost an afterthought, in a tiny little box on the bottom left of the map. Now, to give folks a better understanding of just how large Alaska actually is, I like to show them this map of Alaska overlaid on the continental US-



As you can see, Alaska is HUGE. If you were to split Alaska in half, the two halves would still be the first and second largest states, with Texas in 3rd. Fairbanks is almost dead center in the state, and Deadhorse is just a couple of miles from the Artic Ocean. So, we were driving this route-



So, 500 miles one way in Alaska gets you about halfway across the state-fun stuff, right? I share this as the shear expanse of Alaska is important to understand for this trip.

So, the Saturday of Memorial day weekend my wife and I packed up and got prepared-plenty of emergency supplies like extra food/water, camping gear, etc to ensure we would be safe in the event of a catastrophe. Extras for the truck as well-spare fluids including lots of wiper fluid and an extra spare tire, among other things. We also made sure we had a c/b radio-the only form of communication on the highway as there is absolutely no cell service until you get to Deadhorse. We were totally packed up and ready to go, so we headed out about 7AM that morning.

The first thing that greeted us upon reaching the Dalton highway was this signage-



As we progressed along, we got to see a ton of fantastic scenery. Here are some of my favorite pictures-


The Yukon River


The Yukon River bridge



Looking out at the expanse ahead. You can also see the oil pipeline in this pic as well.


Another great look at the tremendous scenery here.


A picture from when we crossed the artic circle-about 200 miles up the highway.


Coming into Coldfoot Alaska-the only services on the drive and about halfway up from Fairbanks to Deadhorse.

Gerrard155

In front of Sukakpak Mountain.


Coming out of Atigun pass-max height of 4500 feet above sea level and major avalanche risk.


A Caribou that was close to the road.


Coming out of the mountains and onto the flat expanse that is the north slope. You can see how McFilthy the truck was at this point-it would keep getting worse over the trip.


A group of Caribou this time.


We made it! Believe it or not, this photo was taken at 9:30 at night (24 hour sunshine up there right now). You can see the drilling equipment in the background. Ended up taking us a little under 14 hours to make the full trip including stops


A photo of the mileage I was getting when we got to Deadhorse. Its typically about .5mpg optimistic, so I figure I got over 17mpg. Not too bad for a gravel road with tons of hills and elevation.


Headed back into the mountains on Sunday, going back south.


A photo of the "Ice Cut"-a one lane blind corner significant grade road-woohoo!


A photo of an Alaskan Muskox-first one I have seen in the wild.

Gerrard155

Just one of my favorite photos from the trip-liked the way it turned out.


You can see the layers of mud on the truck at this point.


Headed back up into Atigun Pass


The warning signs entering the pass


Coming out of the south side of the pass looking out over the valley.


A juvenile Moose we saw.


A Photo of the truck right next to the pipeline.


And Finally, a photo of the truck next to the highway sign at the start of the Dalton-we made it out Alive!


Overall, my wife and I really enjoyed the trip. Its something I have wanted to do for several years and I am glad we had the opportunity to. I hope you guys enjoyed the pics-I look forward to seeing what fun stuff you guys have to post as well!

mitcdenn

Some of those photos look down right professional from FORD! Great trip, hope to have ones just as good in mine as well.

white15lariat

Fantastic!! I did the haul road on a Yamaha FJR1300 several years ago. Epic trip. The scenery is really indescribable.

Gerrard155

You sir are a braver man than I. There were points on that road that I wondered about the truck-I can only imagine doing the same thing on a motorcycle. Kudos to you!

Soonertim4

Very nice. Awesome pics. Thanks for sharing

Stage3Motorsports

Wow, great pics. What a cool trip to take.

zedster

Awesome trip, pictures, and story. Thank you for sharing. Did the truck clean up okay? It also looks like you had to wipe the mud off the tail lights during the trip.