Winter returned as we entered the Alaska Range. Fairbanks is great and all, but traveling through this glacial valley rimmed with jagged ice-capped peaks cut by a wild frozen river, felt truly Alaskan. The Richardson Highway is a major artery connecting the coast at Valdez to the interior, and also parallels the Trans Alaskan Pipeline, so crews keep the road plowed and graveled even in the worst winter weather. In fact the highway was originally a pack trail, created by the US Army in 1898 as a way to access the Klondike gold fields. It was upgraded to a wagon road in 1910 in response to the Fairbanks gold-rush and the construction of the Washington to Alaska Military Cable and Telegraph System (WAMCATS). The Richardson eventually met modern travel standards and was paved in 1957.
Canon EOS 60D, Canon EF 17-40mm f/4L USM, ISO-640 f/5.6 @ 1/160 sec
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