Prudhoe Bay Ride - Day 4

We got up the following morning and went into the oil field worker's dining room for breakfast. We'd also eaten there for dinner the night before. It is a no frills place, but the food is heavenly! Bobby took the time to take a couple pictures of the dining room.



and the kitchen where they make all the good food happen along with part of the window dining room.



After breakfast we rode to "town"



where we got gas, then rode over to the NAPA store that marks the end of the Dalton Highway.





After buying a couple stickers at the NAPA, we went over to the Arctic Caribou where we took a tour of the oil fields. The windows in the bus were small and dirty so we didn't really get much in the way of photos. We saw a lot of birds, different species of geese, swans, arctic terns, etc. and more Eskimo cotton.



After winding through the oil fields we finally reached the Arctic Ocean and were allowed off the bus.



We'd have gone in all the way if we'd had the ability to change. that's my story and I'm sticking to it... We did get the certificates to prove we've at lest touched the Arctic Ocean.



When they were first developing the North Slope many people were afraid the development would harm the caribou herds. Instead, the caribou use the gravel roads and pads as a place to escape the worst of the mosquitoes. Caribou have the right of way on all the roads, and if that means oil transport vehicles have to wait for an hour while a large herd passes, then that is what they do. No one can honk their horns, or in any way try to move the caribou along. The caribou have obviously learned this and completely ignored us.





After the tour we got back on the bikes and turned South for home. It was a grayer day than the day before, and had rained over night. As we left Deadhorse it was in thick, freshly laid gravel. I was doing ok, then all of a sudden found myself in a berm, plowing through the gravel rather than riding on top. The bike went into a major tank slapper and I came VERY close to going down. I focused on the horizon though, and gave it enough gas to stay up right. Whew! That was too close for comfort.

Shortly before I decided to ride in the berm...



The wind was calmer today, and as a result the mosquitos were on patrol. The picture shows several swarming my helmet but is an understatement of what was there. We learned on our tour that the mosquitos are so bad, they'll take 1/3 of the caribou's body weight in blood every summer.



It felt like a different road today. The weather was more challenging, and every time the light changes, the view changes completely,



and the road was a little less friendly also.



I love riding in mud! I get a big grin every time I make it out without a crash!

The beauty of this area never lessened.







Eventually we got back to Atigun Pass. As I reached the top I looked back and saw one of the most beautiful scenes yet. The Pass was rainy and dark, while the valley behind me was bathed in sunlight. Unfortunately the road was very steep and I was on a blind corner where I didn't feel safe stopping.

After the Pass we went through an area with gorgeous rocks off to the side of the road.



Even while the weather on the road was dark, we could always see the promise of sunlight at the end. I think there is a life lesson in that, and maybe in this whole ride. The road isn't always easy, but the difficulties make the beauty so much more worthwhile.



We were spending the night back at Wiseman, but wanted to go back to Coldfoot for dinner. I don't know how these guys got here. All I know is they didn't have much of a smile on their faces when they pulled into the parking lot shortly after we sat down to eat dinner.



Just look at those tires! No wonder they weren't feeling like being conversational!



After dinner we went back to the B&B. We stayed in the smaller cabin this time. It was great being greeted by the owner's children. Leo liked my helmet. His sister looked on with typical sibling disgust and tolerance...



Once again, by the time we were showered and crawled in bed we fell asleep immediately. The down comforters are absolutely to die for!

to be continued...

June Ride to Valdez

We had a friend who moved out of Alaska this Fall. He was one of the people we rode with a lot and knew we'd really miss when he left, so we agreed to go on a trip to Valdez. Our friend met us at our house at 6:30 am. I'm an early riser, but I hate being rushed when I'm getting ready to ride. Still I had to agree that it made sense to leave early so we'd have more time to explore in Valdez.

Our first stop was about 120 miles out of Anchorage at Sheep Mountain Lodge, where we had an ok (not great) breakfast. This was always where we'd go when we were out that direction. On our way home we stopped for dinner at the Eureka Lodge that is about 15 miles further from Anchorage. We like the food there also, and the people who work at Eureka are a lot of fun. Eureka also has a less hazardous parking lot! Sheep Mountain's parking lot is loose gravel and has a strange off camber tilt. Eureka has a paved lot. To spend the night, I'd still definitely go to Sheep Mountain, but for food it is nice to have discovered an alternative.

After breakfast we rode to Glenallen and the Valdez cutoff. We have ridden to Glenallen a lot, but it had been a very long time since I'd been on the cutoff. A few miles in we came to the Wrangel/St. Elias visitor center. The day had gotten somewhat overcast, so the pictures don't do the view justice.

Shortly after the visitor center is the Worthington Glacier. It's huge!

After Thompson Pass, Bobby and our friend pulled over on a gravel road to explore, while I dropped down into Blueberry Lake State Recreation Area. From there into Valdez the guys rode on their own and I rode on my own. The road was rough and dusty, but Blueberry Lake is gorgeous. I'd like to come back with our inflatable kayaks that fit in my husband's panniers and spend a day on the lake.

Bridal Veil Falls is right next to the road, and is impressively high! Horsetail Falls is also right next to the road, but not as picturesque as Bridal Veil.

After getting into Valdez and checking into our motel, we went to the end of the road on the other side of the harbor and took pictures of the Alaska Pipeline Terminus buildings. There were a lot of boats fairly close to shore that were hauling in a lot of fish. I don't know what they were fishing for, but they were fun to watch.

On our way back to town we stopped at the Old Valdez townsite. Nothing really exists there any more. The entire original town was wiped out by a tsunami following the 1964 earthquake that did so much damage to Anchorage. Again the guys went their own way and explored an old wrecked boat that was flying a tattered pirate flag while I went the other way on the beach and explored a gravel and sand spit that went a ways out into the water.

When we got back into town I couldn't resist a couple pictures of the kayaks, and other boats. We also met a group of guys who had rented BMW 1200's in Anchorage and were touring Alaska. They were nice guys and had some great stories. Then it was time for food and beer. (I had wine, but my glass wasn't as cool looking.)

The next morning was foggy and drizzley, so not many photos, but I like Bridal Veil with the fog. Our friend took the ferry back to Anchorage while my husband and I decided to explore some more in the area. We took a lot of side roads just to see that was there, but decided to wait on riding to Kennicott and McCarthy until we had more time. We also drove back to Lake Louise where neither of us had ever been. It is an amazingly beautiful lake with a nice reasonably priced lodge, and the lake is huge!

We got back into Anchorage in the late evening after a great two day escape.

Denali Highway

The Denali Highway is one of my favorite roads in Alaska. The road is always bumpy, and is either dusty or muddy. Rarely is there a happy medium. I prefer the ride from the Paxon side to the Glenn Highway side. This report is from a ride we did in September 2006.

We had no urgent work for a few days so we decided to make a two day mid-week trip down the Denali Highway. We left Anchorage on Wednesday about noon and gassed up in Palmer. For those of you not familiar with the Glen Highway, it runs along the Matanuska River and offers some spectacular views of the river as well as of the Matanuska Glacier. There are also some nice twisties to keep you entertained when you don't feel like just admiring the scenery. We ate a late lunch at Sheep Mountain Lodge, and spent the night in Glenallen.







Thursday we rolled out around 9:00 in the morning in heavy fog. The thermometer in Glenallen said 38 degrees. Brrrr..... Thank goodness for Gerbings! Just outside of Glenallen we turned onto the Richardson Highway heading up toward Fairbanks. The fog was still heavy, and this is caribou migration time, so we had to keep the speed moderately in check.

The fog had burned off by the time we hit Paxon and turned off onto the Denali Hwy. We were stopping for LOTS of photos, so we weren't making the best of time. The first 21 miles of the Denali is paved, and thank goodness there wasn't much traffic. I spent so much time gazing at mountains and the fall colors I probably wouldn't have made it on gravel.




We stopped for an early lunch at Tangle Lakes, right at the end of paved road. The lady there told us it had been down to 28 degrees that morning. By the time we came through it was almost 50. I hadn't been over the Denali Hwy in about 5 years, then it was in horrible shape, ruts, potholes, you name it. This time it was much better. Cages were still doing the 20 mph thing, but we were able to go much faster, just slowing down when we hit the BIG loose gravel.

The views on the Denali are awesome, and always changing. I don't know how many times I've been over this stretch of road but there is always something new to experience. Anyone traveling Alaska who misses riding this road, has missed what would have been a high light of their trip. The Denali Highway isn't the easiest ride, nor is it the hardest, but it will stand out as one of the most memorable.

Riding in the Rain

We left Whitehorse in a rainstorm that lasted the better part of the day. I was warm and cozy with my heated jacket and heated handgrips, even if my pants were wet from the thighs down. At Kluane Lake we ran into miles of road construction that caused the road to be muddy and slick. I was feeling so comfortable though, that I had a great time. In fact, the only thing about the ride I didn’t like, was feeling bad for Bobby, knowing that he was probably freezing cold. We had briefly talked about riding all the way to Anchorage, but by the time we reached Tok, Alaska we were exhausted. We stayed at the same hotel as two gentlemen from Germany who were also riding BMW dual-sports. Bobby and the German guys sat outside on the deck, (the rain had finally stopped), and talked about rides in Alaska and Canada. They were neat guys who had a lot of questions as well as information to share with us about the condition of the road between Tok and Glenallen.
We had called it an evening and were getting ready for bed when the phone in our room rang. That was strange, since no one knew where we were staying. Turns out we had left on the parking lights on my bike, one of the German guys saw it and notified the front desk so my battery wouldn’t run down. Thank goodness for friends!

Riding the Cassiar

DAY 6
We got an early start the next morning. For the first time since we started riding we had cloudy skies. I worried about not having a rain liner for my riding pants, but it was too late to do anything about it. It began to rain just as we left Stewart, British Columbia. The rain was cold enough that I stopped and put the thermal liner in my jacket. I also really enjoyed my heated handgrips. Who needs winter gloves when your hands are this toasty? The water on the road didn’t seem to effect handling at all at the speeds we were driving, and the rain only lasted for a short time. We were dry by the time we reached Meziadin Junction.
I drove the Cassiar highway back in the 80’s with my mom and my brother. I remember an intimidating, very remote road. Either my memory is mistaken, or the Cassiar has changed a lot in the past 20 years. The two thirds of the route was paved and in perfect condition with lots of twists and turns to keep things interesting. The scenery was unbelievable. I love this stretch of road. The last third or so is undergoing construction. Although the waits were minimal, we did have many miles of gravel or hard pack dirt. There were a few places we had to drive on loose gravel or on mud, but overall, the conditions were pretty good.
Then some idiot in an RV stopped in the middle of the road and flagged us down. I didn’t have time to prepare for a stop, the road was sloped, and loose gravel. I slid off the seat and held the bike, but my foot slipped and I could feel the bike dropping. I held it for a while, but the angle was too much. The jerk in the RV just stood in my face and watched me drop the bike in slow motion. Then he looked over my shoulder and asked my husband whether there were any services on that road. Of all the nerve! Finally he helped me get the bike upright and I left my husband to talk with him.
That fall was not my fault. I knew it, but it still frustrated me. I had also hurt my arm again. We finished out the Cassiar highway then drove the 20 or so miles back down the Alcan to Watson Lake for the night. My arm was hurting badly enough that I was having trouble keeping it on the handlebars. By the time we finally stopped, I was crying and exhausted. Neither dinner nor the motel we stayed at was very nice, but I was thankful for the rest, and honestly didn’t care.