When you think of the summer tourist season, you may not think of a truckstop halfway between Fairbanks and Prudhoe Bay, Alaska. But the Coldfoot Truck Stop is gearing up for the summer rush.
The truckstop is 60 miles north of the Arctic Circle, on the Dalton Highway. Temperatures were hovering in the 20s for Memorial Day Weekend, when the truckstop’s first big tour bus of the season was scheduled to arrive.

Sukakpak Inc. of Fairbanks, which also owns Northern Alaska Tour Co., bought the truckstop in May. The location originally was a trans-Alaska pipeline camp. Today, it's billed as "the Farthest North Truck Stop in the World." Truckers can get the “Truckers’ Special” breakfast: plate-sized pancakes, two eggs, bacon, sausage, toast and hash browns. Gold miners and highway construction workers are also regular summer customers, and the tourists like to mingle with them, according to truckstop management.
“We’ll see a lot of the visitors that come up on the Princess buses who probably have never been to a truckstop out taking their pictures with the big rigs and talking with the truckers about the road and how they handle hauling on the road through all the seasons,” said manager Linda Stanford in an interview with the Anchorage Daily News.