The end of the road — America's northernmost town, above the Arctic Circle on the North Slope
Deadhorse is the service town for the Prudhoe Bay oil field, America's largest, located on the Arctic Ocean coast 800 kilometres north of Fairbanks and accessible by the Dalton Highway — the northernmost public road in the United States. The area is known for summer midnight sun (65 days of continuous daylight) and winter polar night, and seeing the Arctic Ocean is the pilgrimage goal for motorcyclists, cyclists, and road-trippers who have driven the 667-mile Haul Road from Fairbanks. Polar bears wander through the area regularly, and the 1,200-mile Trans-Alaska Pipeline begins here.
Prudhoe Bay oil was discovered in 1968, the largest oil discovery in North American history — an estimated 25 billion barrels. Construction of the Trans-Alaska Pipeline System, running 1,287 kilometres south to Valdez, was completed in 1977 after years of engineering challenges including permafrost, earthquake zones, and caribou migration routes. Deadhorse itself was established as a logistics base. The Dalton Highway was built as a supply road for the pipeline and opened to the public in 1994 — it remains one of the most challenging and remote road trips in North America.