June 21: Prince George, BC to South Hazelton, BC

Posted in Uncategorized at 1:11 pm by jwalters

We are back! After a couple days of living off the grid, we have returned to the land of cable modems and wireless internet. As of writing this, we are in Destruction Bay, Yukon. This place got its name because the strong winds blew away the first settlement here. We’ve had a heck of a time finding internet access over the past few days, but we will do our best to get you caught up. We wrote the entries for the previous days already, so the tense may be wrong, but we don’t have time to go back and change it now. Here we go! This was from June 21st.

We got a late start out of Prince George, because we had a lot of shopping to do. Prince George would be the last big town we would see until Whitehorse, Yukon. Since these towns were more than 1,200 miles apart, we swung by the local Suzuki motorcycle parts dealer, grocery store, hardware store, and a clothing store. We bought a tire pump, since we forgot the one we had at home, and I bought a sweat shirt for the cold nights up north. We also got “Bear Bate” aka sandwich meat, cheese, crackers and some “Candian Cologne” aka bug spray!

Downtown Prince George was not a great place to window shop. We felt uneasy leaving our bikes parked on the main street because there were a lot of locals asking for money. After talking with a construction worker, the next day, we heard that Prince George “left a little to be desired”.

Our first stop was a rest area not too far out of Prince George. On our way we saw two black bear cubs wresting in the ditch and Matt spotted our first grizzly bear! Man, those suckers are big. Not 1/2 mile down the road was a camp grounds… makes you think those RV’s aren’t such a bad idea. :)  We weren’t sure what was worse, camping by the bears, or the Mosquito River Campsite we saw in Montana!

As we made our way west towards Smithers, on the Yellowhead highway, we came across patches of rain. But like all the rain we’ve encountered so far, it was not long lasting and we were able to ride through it. By this time, we had been out of the Rockies for a while, and the landscape resembled northern Wisconson forests but with larger hills.

Not a bad view, aye?

In Smithers, BC, we stopped at a Canadian Tire to get a new mp3 player because mine broke somewhere in the Glacier Park area. We started talking to a couple in the parking lot of the Canadian Tire store (not just a tire store, they sold mp3 players and toilet seats). We noticed then and ever since, that a lot of locals don’t travel very far out of their city. Even the locals that moved to the smaller towns from Vancouver and Calgary rarely leave their small towns once there.

We made camp in South Hazelton, BC at Cataline’s Country Lodging and Camping. What a nice place and the owner was great. She gave us free firewood, and she had the best hot showers we’ve had yet. (Of course, we haven’t had many showers to compare to)

06.24.07

June 22: South Hazelton, BC to Watson Lake, Yukon

Posted in Uncategorized at 2:18 pm by jwalters

We woke up and broke camp. Getting a good start, we were on the road by 8am. About 30 more miles down the Yellowhead we came to the Stewart Cassier Highway! This has been a target on our trip. Instead of taking the Alcan from Jasper north, we opted to turn west and take this less traveled route. We found out up here, the locals don’t call it the “Alcan highway” they call it the Alaskan Highway. Since one person actually corrected me, when I called it the Alcan, I figured I better start calling it the Alaskan Highway as well, at least until we are back in the good ole US of A.

The scenery was worth the detour. We traveled over 500 miles on the Stewart Cassier highway after leaving the Yellowhead, and saw more bear than deer! In one case, we drove less than 7 feet away from the bear. I made eye contact and he told me, to keep moving or else…. I listened. Dad, that’s EQ!

The road surface was great on the southern part of the Cassier until about 15 miles south of Dease Lake.

From here you see how the road started to narrow, and the cars we’d been passing started to get dirtier and dirtier. Also, we started to get closer to another mountain range. The speed limits through the highway were pretty fast considering the remoteness and the amount of wildlife on the road. Matt and I road slower than the posted limits, because of all the wildlife around. I don’t think there was any MORE wildlife in this area than any were else, its just a bit more dangerous because there is no shoulder, the forest is right up to the road, so animals can jump out quickly. Slow and steady…

We took a break at the turnoff to Stewart and Hyder, AK. We were close to Alaska we could smell it! Unfortunately, the bugs were so bad, we had to keep moving. Matt made himself at home here.

The water was up throughout the area. They have been getting a lot of rain. But we must be bringing good weather, because we had only seen scattered showers. Later we found our rain gear useful, but most of the time we can ride through it. Notice the grid pattern on the bridge, that can be fun with narrow dual sport tires.

We stopped in Bell 2, for some gas and a coffee. Only one pump worked, which was a great chance to socialze and get swarmed by bugs. Hell, its the only place in 120 miles, someone had to be up for a chat. Some folks gave us the 411 on the hot springs off the Alcan, unfortunatley we were heading the other direction once we reached it. The skeeders up here, actually like our Canadian cologne, we got nailed while waiting for one RV to finish gasing up so we could put in our staggering payload of fuel…4 gallons.

Well we thought we would take some final pictures of our reletively clean bikes. They’ve seen over 3,000 miles since we left but up to this point they still looked pretty good.

Up here, it is actually cost effective to helo in construction supplies and sometimes its the only way to get supplies to where they need to be. We came across a construction site that was bring in some stuff.

Back on the road, the Cassier highway really does have some great scenery. The road continued to turn from gravel to pavement, but that was good, because this detered a lot of the slow RV and truck traffic the Alcan gets.

Just before entering Dease Lake, there was a pretty rough stretch of gravel that was down to one lane. While waiting in line behind the other cars, a trucker signaled up to the front of the line. First class treatment all the way! Turns out they keep bikes up front, so when they fall they can stop the motorcade and keep track of them. We did not fall, that’s why we brought these types of bikes up here, to handle this rough stuff! But before we left we had about a 15 minutes to burn before the other side made its way through the single lane. We got to talking to the local signaling worker. We cannot recall her name, but she was really nice. She said she was majoring in teaching and worked this job in the summer for extra money. Seems like all the businesses up here need a lot of help in the summertime. I suppose its the only time they can work on construction, and tourism must explode this time of year as well.

In Dease Lake, our bikes finally started to look like they had tasted the Great North!

Here Matt thought he saw a glacier, and take heed from the Japanese tourists. Unfortunately, it was not glacier, and he just looked like an idiot.

We eventually made our way to the Yukon border. Our two bikes parked next to each other, was the deifnition of a Yukon traffic jam. There was NO ONE up here. What we didn’t realize was that it was already 10pm. It didn’t really get much darker than what you see in the pictures below, which made setting up our tents later that night real easy.

After a bit more riding on the Cassier, we finally made it to the Alcan highway. This is Alaska’s artery from the 48 states. The road was created back in world war 2 to get supplies to the Alaskan front. Back then it was dirt, today it is almost completely paved. You just have to be patient with construction, because the summer months is the only time they can work on the highway, leaving all the repairs from the winter for just a few weeks of warm weather.

Once on the Alcan, we headed east to Watson Lake, Yukon, and had to get some mandatory tourist pictures of their sign forest. Then we hit a local camp site. It turned out to be a cheap night, because the office had closed at 11 and we didn’t pull in till around 11:30.

06.25.07

June 23: Watson Lake, Yukon to Haines Junction, Yukon

Posted in Uncategorized at 4:19 pm by jwalters

We got a good start on the Alcan highway. It was much faster than the 50mph we were averaging on the Cassier. We stopped in Nugget City for breakfast and then hit Swift River, Yukon for gas. There was suppose to be a log book motorcyclist’s sign at Katy’s just off the Cassier Alcan junction, but they were closed when we came through, so we couldn’t sign it.

We cruised for about a 100 miles when we pulled into this outpost gas station. We can’t help think the semi trucks they have up here are cool. Check out the axles on that trailer! There is a cheater axle on the tractor as well. The driver said he can haul 105,500lbs with that truck and trailer combination. Pretty cool, gonna stay out of his way. He was impressed that we could haul at least 50 lbs with our axle configurations on these dual sports.

This shot was at the same gas station as the big rig. Yes this is the gas station. Notice Matt hanging by the bikes, incase the meter maid came around and tried to issue us a ticket for parking in a no parking zone.

Here is a shot from inside. This place looks like a true northern outpost. With a little bit of everything, from hardware, to bumper stickers, to cloths, gas and even a diner.

Later we met up with Rick who is into dog sledding. There isn’t much of that in Iowa. He had some neat Alaskan huskies, and all were very friendly. He explained that his dogs in the truck were sprinter dogs and only good for 20 miles or so. They wouldn’t make the Iditarod. He was on his way to Willow, AK to meet up with a fellow musher. He is from New York, and recently retired. He said with the kids out of the house, he can finally pursue his sledge dog passion. Good luck to him!

He even had some 6 day old pups that were with their mom on the trip.

After hanging out with Alaskan sledge dog folks, we hit the road to Whitehorse, YK. Poked around for some internet access for a few hours, but couldn’t’ find anything. So we hit the road to Haines Junction.

Glad we did, we got a motel because it was a bit late and met up with Ken, Ken, Dan and one other guy. All riding KTM 950/990 variants. Very nice guys, and all were seasoned riders. They made our wee dual sports look like the runts of the litter, but all owned bikes like ours as well, and had nothing but good things to say. We shot some pool and had a couple beers. I don’t think I made one ball in pool, I tried to blame it on those Canadian tables, but they called me on that one. (Guys, hope you made it back safe, send me an email when you get this. I hope I got the names right!)

While in Haines Junction we came across this fake cop car. After a week on the road just about anything is funny to us.

This was as dark as it got in Haines Junciton that night. What a nice evening though, no bugs, about 55 degrees. Perfect!

06.25.07

June 24: Haines Junction, Yukon to Tok, Alaska

Posted in Uncategorized at 5:05 pm by jwalters

We got up in the morning and was able to hit the road pretty quick, since we were staying in a motel and didn’t have to break down camp first. We had a look out for a grizzle bear and her two cubs, but didn’t see them. Instead, we saw the neatest wild horse. I think they are actual Mustangs up here (Tammy you can correct me) but it was a light brown, with a black mane. Very cool, unfortunately, it took off before I could get my camera out. From a distance it looked the same color as a grizzly, so we kept our distance until we finally could make out what it was.

We made pretty good time on the Alcan (I am typing this in Alaska now, so I don’t have to call it the Alaskan Highway anymore) All the while, heading towards Tok, Alaska.

The terrain was flat and forested as you can see from the picture below. Also, notice the old roadway next to the highway. This is the old Alcan highway. Some die-hard bikers will actually ride the old road surface, although we never saw anyone on it. The old highway goes from dirt to gravel and even some stretches of decent pavement (outside of Whitehorse for example). We came across some old WWII emergency airstrips as well. There is something cool about abandoned airstrips and roads. I suppose its because these slabs of asphalt use to be the life lines of the communities up here and how strategic the Alcan was during WWII, but are now left to go back to nature, eventually forgotten altogether.

Just before we reached Destruction Bay, Yukon the road started to get a little rough. We stopped for quite a while, ate breakfast/lunch and used there free wireless. I was able to get a couple more posts on the site, but still was a day behind when we decided to hit the road.

From here on out the roads, came much rougher, and we finally saw road conditions the Alcan is famous for. Frost heaves, and gravel. Like the Cassier, this stretch of highway favored our bikes. These smaller bikes really shine on this road. With so much suspension travel, our bikes ate up the washboard ripples in the roadway. But even with our nimble tractors, we had to go slow and be careful, we were along way from anything and occasionally a large frost heave would sneak up on you.

At another gas stop, we met up with Keith and Matt (guys let me know if I got it right). Both on KLRs, one was an ‘06 and one was an ‘07, but you’d never know it. They road these suckers. One even had a nice “custom” duck tape seat, with gel inserts.

We went through the Canadian customs and had 15 miles before we reached the US border crossing. The 15 miles in between, used Canadian road signs, but Matt and I coined this the Canada/USA DMZ. We made it through without a shot fired, and was greeted at the border. Passports in hand, we had no problems, entering or leaving. (Cousin Chad, you can tell us what a real DMZ was like in South Korea with the JSA, aye?)

Here is a shot of the “heavily guarded” DMZ:

Once in Alaska, Matt and I pulled over for some water and a bagel, when out of know where Dog Sled Rick came flying in the turnout was euphoric about making it to Alaska. Excited was an understatement we hadn’t seen him in 500 miles but there he was!  The alcan is a traveling circus, he hung out for a while, and let the dogs stretch out, then climbed in his truck and yelled “Pray for snow” as he took off down the highway making dog howls and swerving back and forth. By far, the most eccentric person we’ve met on the trip. You meet all kinds up here…

06.26.07

June 25: Tok, Alaska to Fairbanks, Alaska

Posted in Uncategorized at 11:45 pm by jwalters

This ride was only a 210 mile stretch, but we were eager to get to Fairbanks, so we could start preparing our bikes for the rough road ahead on the Dalton highway. The Dalton highway, also known as, the Haul Road, is the famous road that follows the Alaskan pipeline from Fairbanks north to the Arctic Ocean. This road is really rough, and recent reports put the condition of the road in pretty bad condition. They are laying new road bed down, so locals tell us we can expect baseball to softball size rock bedding for 10 - 15 miles. This should be interesting…

Anyway, we got out of Tok a little late, but sleeping in felt good. We knew we didn’t have a lot of ground to cover anyway, so it was nice taking a break from the pack’n ride game we’ve been playing all week. We stopped for breakfast at this local joint, where we found free internet access.

We’ve been amazed by some of the places where we’ve found WiFi access (remember the Ramble Inn in Montana), and disappointed in other places where you would expect to see it, and don’t (the entire downtown Whitehorse, YK).

Just down the road from breakfast we pasted another great example of the old Alcan highway. I had to grab a couple shots of it. Here you can see what looks like a fairly modern road, abandoned for the road surface we are pictured on. If we had more time, we’d love to take our small bikes down there, and ride some of these forgotten alleys.

We road by Eielson Air Force base, but couldn’t get in.  Later talking to a 1st Sargent, at the army base, we found we could get a tour of some choppers, but we probably won’t have time.  The ride into Fairbanks we pretty uneventful, but we did go through North Pole, Alaska. Yes it is a real town, and this is the post office we’ve seen on the Discovery channel where all of the Santa letters end up. They gets thousands of letters a year.

When Matt and I were talking about this, I think it finally dawned on him what this meant…

On with the trip, Matt and I headed into Fairbanks’ visitor information center and found a RV camp site just on the outskirts of town. Little did we know it was also a Marina. This Marina was a full service airport. We haven’t seen one boat here, instead the shore is littered with small aircraft. And the runway is about 50 feet from our tents!!! As a plane lover, I couldn’t have found a better site (this location will pay off later) We have planes buzzing our tents as they come in on final, awesome!

We got our camp setup, and for the first time on the trip, we will be staying in the same place two nights in a row. This is real nice, not having to pack up camp in the morning, allowing us to get a early start on parts and some maintenance we would like to do to our tractors before we hit the Dalton.

One Tank At A Time

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