Northern Lights Forecast for Coldfoot

Northern Lights in Coldfoot

Coldfoot is a truck stop and a handful of buildings at mile 175 of the Dalton Highway in Alaska, about 60 miles north of the Arctic Circle and roughly 250 miles north of Fairbanks. It sits in the southern Brooks Range with almost no artificial light around it, and 34 people lived there at the 2020 census. Tour operators run aurora trips here from mid-September to late April. The name dates back to gold rush days. The story goes that prospectors got “cold feet” here and turned back.

Coldfoot Camp and what’s open in winter

Coldfoot Camp is open year-round. It has a truckers’ café, the Slate Creek Inn, the Frozen Foot Saloon, fuel and minor tire repair. Rooms are simple, in former pipeline camp quarters. North of here there are no services for about 240 miles until Deadhorse, and cell coverage along the highway is limited.

The Arctic Interagency Visitor Center at Coldfoot is only open in summer, from late May to September. Don’t plan on it during the aurora season.

Wiseman and the Brooks Range

Wiseman, 13 miles north, is an old gold-mining village with about a dozen year-round residents. Evening trips from Coldfoot to Wiseman are a common way to watch for the aurora. The eastern boundary of Gates of the Arctic National Park runs a few miles west of the highway, and some winter tours continue north to Atigun Pass in the Brooks Range or go dog sledding with a local musher.

The valleys along the Dalton Highway south of Coldfoot get extremely cold. Prospect Creek, just north of the Arctic Circle, holds the US record low of −80°F, set in January 1971.

The Dalton Highway from Fairbanks

Most aurora visitors come with a tour from Fairbanks. You drive up the Dalton with a guide, which takes about 8 hours with stops, and fly back by small plane, or fly both ways. Coldfoot has a 4,000-foot gravel airstrip.

You can drive yourself, but the Dalton is a rough industrial road shared with heavy trucks heading to Prudhoe Bay, and services are few and far apart. Most rental car agreements don’t allow it. Check before you book, or rent from one of the few Fairbanks companies whose vehicles are allowed on the highway.