I had an unnatural, burning desire to see all of Alaska, at least as much its 700,000 square miles of wilderness as possible. That fervor was how I found myself on the first mile of the Dalton Highway, surveying the seemly empty expanse of the Arctic. Speed limit 50 next 416 miles—that was our introduction to the Dalton Highway, Alaska’s northernmost road. But 50 was faster than the Dalton typically allowed, potholed and frost-heave ridden as it was. We dodged lose gravel from eighteen-wheelers. The gravel showers were capable of shattering the windshield. The Dalton highway began 80 miles north of Fairbanks and snaked 500 miles north to Prudhoe Bay and…