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There isn't much in the way of developments on the road, so your rides, though likely infrequent, will be long and far. The best place to get started from the Fairbanks area is probably the '''Hilltop Cafe''' north of Fairbanks... [[User:Axiomaticdrifting|Axiomaticdrifting]] swears there used to be a public bus that ran there from Fairbanks, but he can't find any info about it right now. The Hilltop is frequented by most of the truckers that work the highway back and forth so try and get a ride at least to Coldfoot from here. Coldfoot is a good place to explore the brooks range and still have access to the road traffic, it is also officially within the Arctic. It really doesn't matter where you get a ride to, though, since it's a two way road with pretty much nowhere else to go but north or south... so, really take what you can get, and you'll eventually get where you're going. Any rooms you might find along the way (at Yukon, Coldfoot, Wiseman, and Prudhoe) will be ridiculously expensive ($150 and up), and won't be worth the money, so come prepared to camp. At that, most of the land surrounding the road, with the exception of the land immediately around the oil pipeline, is public, so camp wherever you want unless it's obviously owned by someone.
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)
Here is some updated info and thoughts from a male/female couple hitching the Dalton in June 2012. Most important thing to bear in mind is 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.)
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.
Unless you are planning to pay $45 each for a short trip out to the Arctic Ocean (no individuals allowed. There's big fences), there really is nothing in Deadhorse (the oil camp at Prudhoe Bay.) We'd also add to places being expensive that they're extremely unfriendly, and we weren't even allowed to warm up in the hotel unless we bought expensive food, nor could we share one plate of breakfast between two.
Camping equipment is indeed essential, as is plenty supplies and anti-bug gear. On the way down we got stuck for two days (we were still above the Arctic Circle), but as already said when someone does eventually pick you up, they'll be going your way!
Hope this doesn't all sound too negative as the Highway is beautiful, but just remember its a wilderness adventure.
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