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Here is some updated info and thoughts from [[User:Panamericana|Panamericana]], a male/female couple hitching the Dalton in June 2012. Most important thing to bear in mind is , claims that trucks and other commercial or state vehicles WILL NOT pick you up on the Highway. It's against their insurance and company policies, and though many are very apologetic and may give you food/water/bug spray/sympathy, you're not going to get commercial lifts. For this reason we would disagree with the Hilltop Cafe as a place to start, but we hitched a ride within half an hour from the road outside the nearby Weigh Station. (This is a few miles from Fairbanks but from town you can walk out to where the road to Fox starts which is the one you want, followed by the Elliot Highway to get you to the start of the Dalton.)However, [[User:Axiomaticdrifting|Axiomaticdrifting]] has successfully hitched rides on the Dalton from commercial vehicles on multiple occasion.
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Good destinations to aim for on your first day from Fairbanks would be '''The Yukon River Crossing''', '''Coldfoot''', '''Wiseman''', or any '''Pump Station''' along the pipeline... all these places will see all traffic on the road, will be safe for drivers to stop, and you'll likely be able to actually converse with drivers in person there. From the aforementioned locales, it's up to you whether you want to go all the way to Prudhoe or not. I would advise against going there unless you're willing to cough up the money for a room or are willing to turn around and try to hitchhike back south on the same day (again, camping can be especially dangerous in Prudhoe with the risk of Polar Bears, but it almost certainly has been done before... so... yeah)
Lots of tourists go to the Arctic Circle (mile post 115) so it seems pretty easy to get there, but after that you're looking for some very good luck.
