Fairbanks to the Arctic Circle: The Dalton Highway, Mile 115 and Your Options

Somewhere past the Yukon River, the trees thin, the trucks get bigger, and a sign tells you that you have just crossed an invisible line on the globe. That moment is the reason travelers ask how to get from Fairbanks to the Arctic Circle. The route is the Dalton Highway, and the line is at Mile 115.

The mountains and valleys of Alaska · Illustration

How do you get from Fairbanks to the Arctic Circle?

You get there along the Dalton Highway (Alaska Route 11), the road that starts at the Elliott Highway, north of Fairbanks, and runs toward the Arctic Ocean. The Arctic Circle sits at Mile 115 of that road, marked by a pullout with a picnic area and information boards. A sign along the highway marks the spot, and that is the picture most people come for.

The Dalton is a long road, and it is worth seeing it as a whole before you think about the one stop. It is a 414-mile route crossing central and northern Alaska, and it ends at Deadhorse, near the Arctic Ocean and the Prudhoe Bay oilfield. The Arctic Circle is a stage along the way, not the end of the road, which is why so many trips treat it as a turnaround point.

What you find at Mile 115

The Arctic Circle Wayside Rest Area has a short side road that leads to a viewing deck with interpretive displays. You come here to read the boards, take the photo with the sign and stand on the line that marks where the sun does not set at the June solstice and does not rise at the December solstice.

That is the idea behind the midnight sun and the polar night, and the displays put it in context. The place is a pullout with a picnic area, so think of it as a pause in the drive rather than a destination with services. Bring what you need for the stop before you leave the last fuel point.

The rules of the road

The speed limit on the Dalton Highway is 50 mph for its entire length, and headlights must be kept on at all times. You share the road with working traffic: about 160 trucks travel it daily in the summer months and 250 daily in the winter. The full length of the highway was opened to the general public on December 2, 1994.

Fuel is the practical question. Gas stations stand at the Yukon River crossing (Mile 56, closed in winter), Coldfoot (Mile 175) and Deadhorse (Mile 441). The Arctic Circle falls at Mile 115, between the first two, so the Yukon River is the fuel point before the line and Coldfoot is the next one after it.

Place	Mile	Fuel
Yukon River crossing (E. L. Patton Yukon River Bridge)	56	Gas station, closed in winter
Arctic Circle Wayside Rest Area	115	Pullout with picnic area and information boards
Coldfoot	175	Gas station
Deadhorse	441	Gas station

Which options are there?

There are a few ways to reach the line: take a bus tour that runs the highway, drive it yourself, or look at the Arctic from the air with a Fairbanks-based business. The Fairbanks visitor bureau describes the town as a base for adventure in Interior Alaska, and its businesses help visitors reach remote areas, plan adventures or provide needed equipment.

Bus tours up the Dalton

Bus tours along the Dalton Highway typically take two days, with passengers spending the night in Coldfoot. That shape tells you a lot about the road: the Arctic Circle is not an hour-long outing but part of a trip that stretches past it to the one place with services beyond the line.

Coldfoot gives the overnight stop its character. It is a census-designated place in the Yukon-Koyukuk Census Area, and its truck stop appeared on the reality series Ice Road Truckers, first seen in season three. In summer, the BLM, USFWS and NPS jointly staff a small visitor center there, a useful stop for the story of the country around you.

Driving it yourself

Plan your tank around Mile 56, Mile 175 and Mile 441, and remember that the Yukon River station is closed in winter.

Beyond Coldfoot the road gets serious. North of Coldfoot toward Deadhorse there are no services for 240 miles, and the highway climbs over the Brooks Range at Atigun Pass, 4,739 feet at its highest point. For a trip to the Arctic Circle alone, you never need to go that far.

By air from Coldfoot or Fairbanks

Coldfoot Airport has a 4,000-foot gravel strip on the west side of the Dalton Highway, used for air taxi and general aviation. Fairbanks activities also include flightseeing, listed among its tours, and the visitor bureau covers an Arctic region alongside Denali and the Interior. The Arctic looks different from above, and the road becomes a thin line through the country.

What should you know before you travel from Fairbanks to the Arctic Circle?

Know that this is a working road in remote country, with long gaps between services, so you plan fuel and supplies before you start. The Yukon River bridge and its fuel point come first, at Mile 56, and after that the services thin out quickly.

Fuel and services

The E. L. Patton Yukon River Bridge marks Mile 56, where fuel is available. Coldfoot, at Mile 175, is the next stop for gas and the base for the overnight bus tours. Past it, the service gap runs 240 miles to Deadhorse.

If you only go as far as the Arctic Circle, the pattern is clear. The line at Mile 115 has a picnic area and information boards, not a station, so the stops for fuel bracket it on either side.

Trucks and road manners

Truck traffic is part of the Dalton. The count is about 160 a day in the summer months and 250 in winter, and these are the vehicles that serve the oilfield. Keep your headlights on, keep to the 50 mph limit, and expect to share the highway with them.

The light at the line

At the Arctic Circle itself, the sun does not set at the June solstice and does not rise at the December solstice. In Fairbanks, the visitor bureau describes a midnight sun season with the sun shining nearly 24 hours a day, and an aurora season when the northern lights dance overhead.

Those are two very different reasons to head north, and Fairbanks has a tracker for each, plus aurora viewing locations. Northern lights are a chance, never a promise, so treat any sighting as a bonus on the trip.

Before and after the drive

Fairbanks offers more to round out the days. You can explore the Chena River, visit the town of North Pole nearby, or try gold rush history, museums and dog mushing, all among the activities the visitor bureau lists. Local museums and visitor centers in Interior Alaska share the history, stories and local ways of life, a good way to understand the country before you head into it.

At the far end of the road, polar bears can be seen wandering the outskirts of Deadhorse, a chance rather than a promise. Utqiagvik, formerly Barrow, is the largest U.S. settlement north of the Arctic Circle, with about 5,000 inhabitants, though it lies off the Dalton Highway.

Good to know before you go

Fuel is the number to keep in mind, with stations at Mile 56 (closed in winter), Mile 175 and Mile 441. Daylight depends on the season, from the nearly 24-hour summer light in Fairbanks to the polar night at the line itself at the December solstice.

The Coldfoot visitor center is staffed during the summer, so it is a summer stop. Bring the supplies you want for the pullout at Mile 115 before you reach it.

Sources

Wikipedia, Dalton Highway (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dalton_Highway), checked October 11, 2026
Wikivoyage, Dalton Highway (https://en.wikivoyage.org/wiki/Dalton_Highway), checked October 11, 2026
Wikipedia, Arctic Circle (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Arctic_Circle), checked October 11, 2026
Wikipedia, Coldfoot, Alaska (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Coldfoot,_Alaska), checked October 11, 2026
Explore Fairbanks, activities, attractions and tours (https://www.explorefairbanks.com/things-to-do/activities-attractions-and-tours/), checked October 11, 2026
Explore Fairbanks, things to do (https://www.explorefairbanks.com/things-to-do/), checked October 11, 2026