Mosquitoes!!!!!!!!!!!

A quick post from Happy Valley, an old workers camp 80 miles south of Prudhoe Bay.

In summary, the last two days have been plagued by mosquitoes.  A few miles out of Prudhoe Bay on the first day, I looked into my mirror and all I saw was dozens and dozens of them following me.  The best defense is long pants and a rain jacket, but of course this mean getting too too hot.  The weather has been great, 50s at night, up to 70s in the day.

We’ve got about 160 miles until Coldfoot, where there is a cafe and I’m looking forward to a hamburger or something, until then we have to get over Atigun Pass in the Brooks Range, 4,800 feet.

We’ve got plenty of miles to do today, so I’ll sign off for now.

Pictures of sunny landscapes taken after midnight to come soon.

10 comments to Mosquitoes!!!!!!!!!!!

  • Linder

    i heard if you pee on yourself the mosquitoes will leave you alone….

  • Hjelm

    Welcome to Alaska. Wish I could try to run into you on the road. Unfortunately I am in Nome. Better make use of the long days on the road. And pee most definitely works for warding off the mosquitoes.

  • Karen Kelly

    Hey everyone…Matt called me yesterday (Sunday July 5) to say he made it as far as Coldfoot. I’m working on getting a new blog entry up with more details.

  • Hey everyone,
    I’m Baptiste, Matt’s travel buddy. I unfortunately broke my derailleur on day 3 and had to hitchhike my way to Fairbanks for repair. I’m glad Matt made it to Coldfoot, that’s about halfway from Deadhorse to Fairbanks, and he’s done the hardest part : Atigun Pass. Now just a few days left before I see him again. You can find pictures of us (mostly him, by the way) on my blog (link should appear somewhere).

  • Kjel

    Haha….sounds like a good one so far

  • Dude I wish I was doing this with you… Just need this … Maybe I’ll join you mid way somewhere in some months… Have fun Be safe… Keep posting… Following you religiously… More Interesting if you post a map of your route you have taken

  • Matt,

    I hope you didn’t get hit by thunderstorms too hard on Atigun Pass – I was glad to have crossed it one day ahead of you in beautiful weather. Sitting in Fairbanks on my restday today sipping a latte while you’re probably grinding up one of those many hills of the last 2 days on the Dalton and Elliot Hwy. If you get in to Fairbanks tonight, let’s sync up.

    Cheers, Thomas.

  • Karen Kelly

    Still haven’t been able to post an entry for Matt, so I’ll leave another comment for those who are checking…he called me today, July 8th. He has made it to the Yukon River on the Dalton Highway. He took a day off because the hills had him worn out. He’s doing well, the mosquitoes aren’t nearly as bad as they were before. He should be arriving in Fairbanks tomorrow evening. I will let him give everybody the rest of the details. :0)

  • mattkelly

    Thank you Linder and Hjelm, unfortunately I got your advice later on, so got rather eaten up. But next time I have the chance…
    Thomas, the storm got to me the next day, and what a storm!!!

  • Sara J-S

    Best solution for any itchiness . . . sand paper and rubbing alcohol (at least according to Craig).

Leave a Reply to Baptiste

 

 

 

You can use these HTML tags

<a href="" title=""> <abbr title=""> <acronym title=""> <b> <blockquote cite=""> <cite> <code> <del datetime=""> <em> <i> <q cite=""> <strike> <strong>