AKBeemer
01-23-2009, 11:46 AM
For some, riding the Dalton Highway (Haul Road) to Deadhorse is one of the must do adventure rides. Those who complete it have a sense of accomplishment and pride in their feat. Well before you get all puffy chested consider the efforts of the fellow in the story below. He is walking to Deadhorse, while pulling a one man camper, alone, in the dead of winter in temperatures well below -40F at times and he started his trek in South America. He first popped-up on the radar around here in the fall when he was spotted walking along the highway from Tok towards Fairbanks. He speaks little English and rebuffs assistance. A few weeks ago there was an all-points-bulletin out for him because his trailer and gear were found abandoned at a turnout along the Dalton. Turns out he had hitchhiked to Whitehorse to take a break. Forrest, Forrest Gump, indeed.
Links to this and related stories:
http://newsminer.com/news/2009/jan/23/solo-traveler-continues-pulling-cart-dalton-highwa/
http://newsminer.com/news/2009/jan/04/missing-hiker-found-had-abandoned-trek/
http://newsminer.com/news/2009/jan/03/hiker-reported-missing/
http://newsminer.com/news/2009/jan/06/trekker-returns-road/
Solo traveler continues pulling cart on Dalton Highway, one step at a time
Published Friday, January 23, 2009
Fairbanks Daily News Miner
The Japanese adventurer who is trying to pull a trailer to Prudhoe Bay is continuing his slow walk on the Dalton Highway.
Toru Yamaguchi, who started in South America and has been walking for more than five years, was about 16 miles north of Livengood on the Dalton Highway earlier this week.
Scott Houghton, who works at the Toolik Field Station for UAF, was on his way back to town with other crew members when they encountered Yamaguchi Monday.
“We stopped and gave him some fresh oranges, just out the window. He didn’t say much, but the fresh fruit made him smile,” said Houghton. “Well, actually, his eyes lit up. He was bundled up so much that we didn’t really see his face much.”
“His cart camper or cart cabin is quite a big object to be pulling up some of the hills,” Houghton said.
I had the same reaction when I saw Yamaguchi in late November when I encountered him near Fox. Hauling that load, it’s easy to understand why he’s not covering many miles per day.
In December, there was a lot of publicity about Yamaguchi after he was reported missing. It turned out he had been given a ride into Fairbanks just before Christmas and that he planned to keep heading north. He resumed his walk to the North Slope this month and picked up his cart.
A News-Miner reader first reported seeing Yamaguchi on the Top of the World Highway in September.
The only published account I have found about Yamaguchi was in the San Antonio Express-News in Texas more than two years ago.
“It’s my dream, it’s just a dream, I like to walk,” he told a reporter in 2006.
Yamaguchi began walking north in 2002 at the southern tip of South America.
His equipment has changed somewhat in the past two years. In 2006, he was pushing a two-wheel dolly “stacked to his chin with necessities,” the paper said. He had a tent, cooler, clothing and spare provisions.
Now he is pulling a cart and a boxed trailer. He sleeps in the trailer and camps along the road.
When the Texas reporter interviewed Yamaguchi, he spoke mainly in Spanish about his two-year trip through South America and sketched his route on paper. He had previously walked the length of Japan.
“I don’t want help. Only I want to walk every day,” he said.
“I like ‘Forrest Gump.’ Do you know? Forrest Gump is very pure,” he said.
“I only want to arrive to Alaska,” he said in San Antonio in November 2006.
The newspaper talked to Yamaguchi’s mother in Japan who said, “He has very big dream, the dream is walking, walking only, to Alaska.”
Links to this and related stories:
http://newsminer.com/news/2009/jan/23/solo-traveler-continues-pulling-cart-dalton-highwa/
http://newsminer.com/news/2009/jan/04/missing-hiker-found-had-abandoned-trek/
http://newsminer.com/news/2009/jan/03/hiker-reported-missing/
http://newsminer.com/news/2009/jan/06/trekker-returns-road/
Solo traveler continues pulling cart on Dalton Highway, one step at a time
Published Friday, January 23, 2009
Fairbanks Daily News Miner
The Japanese adventurer who is trying to pull a trailer to Prudhoe Bay is continuing his slow walk on the Dalton Highway.
Toru Yamaguchi, who started in South America and has been walking for more than five years, was about 16 miles north of Livengood on the Dalton Highway earlier this week.
Scott Houghton, who works at the Toolik Field Station for UAF, was on his way back to town with other crew members when they encountered Yamaguchi Monday.
“We stopped and gave him some fresh oranges, just out the window. He didn’t say much, but the fresh fruit made him smile,” said Houghton. “Well, actually, his eyes lit up. He was bundled up so much that we didn’t really see his face much.”
“His cart camper or cart cabin is quite a big object to be pulling up some of the hills,” Houghton said.
I had the same reaction when I saw Yamaguchi in late November when I encountered him near Fox. Hauling that load, it’s easy to understand why he’s not covering many miles per day.
In December, there was a lot of publicity about Yamaguchi after he was reported missing. It turned out he had been given a ride into Fairbanks just before Christmas and that he planned to keep heading north. He resumed his walk to the North Slope this month and picked up his cart.
A News-Miner reader first reported seeing Yamaguchi on the Top of the World Highway in September.
The only published account I have found about Yamaguchi was in the San Antonio Express-News in Texas more than two years ago.
“It’s my dream, it’s just a dream, I like to walk,” he told a reporter in 2006.
Yamaguchi began walking north in 2002 at the southern tip of South America.
His equipment has changed somewhat in the past two years. In 2006, he was pushing a two-wheel dolly “stacked to his chin with necessities,” the paper said. He had a tent, cooler, clothing and spare provisions.
Now he is pulling a cart and a boxed trailer. He sleeps in the trailer and camps along the road.
When the Texas reporter interviewed Yamaguchi, he spoke mainly in Spanish about his two-year trip through South America and sketched his route on paper. He had previously walked the length of Japan.
“I don’t want help. Only I want to walk every day,” he said.
“I like ‘Forrest Gump.’ Do you know? Forrest Gump is very pure,” he said.
“I only want to arrive to Alaska,” he said in San Antonio in November 2006.
The newspaper talked to Yamaguchi’s mother in Japan who said, “He has very big dream, the dream is walking, walking only, to Alaska.”