July 3, 2003 - Day 6

Our last day on the Dalton. We even didn't try to fish in the morning - the water was so high and muddy after yesterday's rain, we even couldn't approach the river. So we just drove south. We stopped again at the Yukon crossing, then kept going.

We made a big stop at Hess Creek (mile 24). This beautiful creek is known for good fishing. But this was the area where the forest fire took place. On our way back the fire was over, although we saw some smoke far away. Everywhere we could see the results of the fire, however. Apparently, it wasn't devastating, but some forest areas were burned out. The water in the creek was brown, probably because of the ashes, and there was no fishing there. We saw, however, two beavers in this creek.

At the very end of the highway we saw a beautiful black ferret right on the road. It was our last animal on the Dalton.

We left Dalton Highway around midnight. We spent this night on Elliott Highway near Minto, then our last two nights we camped near Chena Hot Springs Road. On July 6 we flew from Fairbanks back to Seattle.