Oregon to Inuvik with a Side of Alaska

About a year ago my college friend in Alaska suggested that we go for a ride through Canada and Alaska. I thought it sounded like a great idea so the search was on for a bike to do the job. Due to my short inseam all my bike purchases come down to seat height. What I really wanted for the trip was an F800 GS but I ended up settling for an 2012 BMW F650GS .

So I did a little planning and bought my ferry ticket for the trip and it was on to get the bike set up for the trip. Yesterday was the final stop to get a service and a new set of tires for the trip.




The bike fully loaded with a new set of Heidenau K60s.

Since it was fully loaded I wanted to see how close I was to the GVWR of 770lbs.



Looks like I have 50lbs of room for food and souvenirs




And without the rider, you can do the math. I guess I will get to do some heavy lifting when I drop it.


This is the proposed route.
Google Maps Link

I have to be back in Southern Oregon by August 13th I plan on leaving today or tomorrow.

My progress can be tracked here via my Spot page

I have a netbook and will try my best to keep this post updated during my trip when I can find some wifi.

This will be my first long distance ride (and report) and I am really looking forward to the experience.


Enjoy the ride,


Trailgoon

Safe travels. The rest of us stuck back here in Oregon will live vicariously through you!

Cheers!

Day One

I got a late start (1300) out of Southern Oregon because I was undecided whether to leave Friday or Saturday. Well I decided to leave today (Friday). Before I left I wanted to make sure I could pick up my bike with a full load of gear.


The GS's first nap (intentional)



Its heavy but doable if its off camber or down some sort of slope all bets are off.



I am taking my time up to Prince Rupert Canada where I will get on the Ferry and ride up to Skagway Alaska. I need to be in Prince Rupert by Wednseday, but I don't want to take I-5 all the way up so my route will be using some of I-5 on and off.
Part of the reason for taking the Ferry up to Alaska is to reduce the amount of milage on my fresh tires before we start the Dempster Highway.


My goal for the day was to ride to Corvallis and maybe check in with some of my old college friends. I decided to take a route to I-5 from Trail Oregon to Myrtle Creek Oregon. I found this route on the state published motorcycle map. I found a GPS route for it here
Oregonmotorcyclist.com/
The Myrtle Creek side of the road is paved, the Tiller side is not.

The start of the route


A decent high point with a break in the trees, it looks a lot better in person.



This pond is on the Myrtle Creek side where the pavement starts.



That is the end of the photos for the day. I got some video footage but the netbook doesn't have quite enough power to play it back let alone edit it. I might make a video of the trip when I get back.

The ride to Corvallis was fairly uneventful other than learning that fresh Heidenau's do not like any sort of speed. It seemed like anything over about 70mph produced a speed wobble :eek1. After putting 150 miles on the tires they seem to be getting significantly better on the pavement.

I made it to Corvallis and some of my old college friends saw me riding around campus and flagged me down. I stayed at a friends house in Corvallis and will take off for Portland/ Mt St Helen’s in the morning.

PS if someone could tell me if these photos are too big that would be great. They seem a little big on the netbook.

Subscribed! Wish I was doing all this again

Just saw your RR this morning... sounds like a great trip. I am from Northern California, Redding Area, and graduated from OSU in Corvallis many mooms ago :eek1. Your route etc. struck me as funny in that I am on my way to Skagway where I will get the ferry south

Right now I am in Calgary and will start heading over towards the hwy37/Cassiar hwy Monday.

A couple of suggestions for camping for you to consider:

In Banff Provincial Park, Rampart Creek (pretty close to the boundary between Banff & Jasper parks:





Not sure if you know about the excellent campground in Smithers... it is very nice place to stop if it works out on your route.

I was there last year and plan to stop again on this trip:


In Tete Jaune Cache, just west of Jasper Park the Tete Juane Lodge has both camping and rooms... nice folks owner is a BMW rider





In Prince Rupert the Pioneer Backers Hostel is outstanding:

Just 5 days (thursday night) till your ferry stops here in Petersburg, AK. I have already started piling up stuff in the living room. I plan to get everything loaded on the bike on Wednesday. I will post a photo then.

The weather should be awesome Thursday night so we should be treated to an amazing starry sky, with a slight chance of seeing some northern lights. I assume your going to set your tent up on the top deck of the ferry. Do me a favor and grab me a lawn chair (it will be crystal clear what I am telling you once your on the ferry) cause it will be difficult to get anything real set up at midnight when I finally get on. Also remember that you will want to be at the ferry terminal in Prince Rupert 2 hours before it sails. You clear US customs there, and they tend to be Nazi's if your late. Any earlier and you will just have to wait.

Also watch out for your gear if you spend the night in Prince Rupert. I had some stuff stollen from my Jeep a few years ago when I stopped there for the night while waiting for a ferry.

I hope your planning on $$$ for gas. It was $5.70 for regular in Yakutat, AK yesterday. It makes the $4.70 for premium here sound like a great deal. I didn't check Juneau this morning, but it should be about the cheapest gas outside of the lower 48 on this trip.

Right now the forecast is calling for sunny and mid 60's when we are supposed to be on the Dempster. I really hope it holds out.

I guess thats about it for now. I will have a beer for you

Looks like a blast!! I'm moving to Salem in another week or so... will be nice being back up there. Wish I could join you, but a new job calls. :)

Rob

dang... we try a couple of weeks ago and could not make it... too much rain, mud and when they closed the ferrys.. that nailed it... will try again in two years. GOOD LUCK!

My goal for the day was to ride around Mt Saint Helens. Well I put too much faith into the GPS and it routed me in on the Hwy that goes in and you have to come out the same way. One thing that I noticed was that everyone is trying to get some money from Mt Saint Helens including the state parks. I stopped at the state parks Mt. Saint Helens Visitor center and was not impressed.
Farther up the road is a Forestry learning center with some good view points and nice interpretive center. Its a partnership between the state Hwy department and the Weyerhauser so the displays were mostly about forestry, with some info about the explosion. Still worth the stop since it was free.
The following photos are from that viewpoint


The raods up to the monument are rather boring until you get closer to the monument. Once in the monument there are some really nice hairpin turns. There appears to be two visitor centers Johnson Ridge Observeratory and the main one. The main center was closed but Johnson ridge was very cool. Many interpretive displays and a theater.


I was told that I came on a good day because earlier the place was socked in with clouds and you couldn't see anything. I spent about 4 hours in the monument. A lot longer than I thought.

After leaving the park it was time to find a place to camp, I delusionaly thought it would be easy to find a place to camp in Mt Rainier National Park so that was my direction. I stopped in Morton to get some dinner.

On the highway to the Southwest entrance to the park there is this neat place with metal sculptures.



So I got into the park about 7pm and found out that the campgrounds were full. Anyhow I was already into the park so I rode all the way through ad stopped to take a few pictures. I did not stop at any of the visitor centers though so I don't know if I missed much there.






It was getting late so a lot of the photos might not have turned out as good as they could of.
So I ended up riding all the way through the park and finding a campspot at silver springs campground.

Thats it for now.

Day 3


Today I really didn't have any plans other than heading farther north. I stopped in Seattle to give some college friends a call. At the off ramp I chose I saw a sign for a flight museum. I stopped at the flight museum and wasted the whole day. If you have any interest in flight it is definitely worth a stop. The only thing I didn't get to do at the museum because of time was try out the flight simulator (the models on hydraulics that roll and tilt).












After the museum I continued farther north following the GPS trying to find a campsite. I crossed I-5 three times looking for a campsite. It started to rain so I stopped at the Boxcar for dinner in Stanwood Washington hoping for the rain to pass. It didn't so I ended up getting on I-5 again and heading up to Mt Vernon and getting a motel room.

Day 4

I got late start today leaving the motel room at 11:00 am. The goal for the day was to cross over the border into Canada and head towards Whistler on the Sea to Sky Highway. I crossed over and continued to ride north. I started looking for a Bank in Squamish so that I could get some Canadian Money for the campsites. If its a place that takes a credit card I probably don't want to stay there anyhow. Well I found a bank and went to the ATM and tried to get some cash. All went smoothly until the machine asked for the PIN. I have this credit card for this trip and don't use it very often. The issuing bank issued a PIN and doesn't let me change it. I have never had to enter the PIN before because I have never used it at an ATM. I have no idea what the PIN is. I ended up taking the 35 dollars American I had in my pocket and getting it changed into Canadian Dollars. I stopped at the local McDonalds to stew over my situation and get some stuff to eat.





After devising a secret plan it was time to start looking for a campsite. A lot of the campsites around the whistler area wanted 25+ dollars a night for a place to stay. I stopped at the Whistler RV park and campground and the fellow behind the desk directed me to the the Cal-Cheak recreation site run by Ministry of Forestry site just down the road that cost $11.00 a night. While setting up my tent two other adventure bikes rolled into the site next to me. Turns out it was 2motokiwis. It was really neat to talk with someone who is in the process of a significant journey.





2kiwimoto got a photo of the three of us on their camera it might end up in their ride report.


Day 5


After parting ways with 2 moto kiwis in the morning it was time to hit the road and get some miles down. I rode through Whistler nothing really stood out to me other than the number and money in Mountain bikes present. The Sea to Sky Highway from Pemberton to Lilloet had exceptional views. The rode was a little rough in some places and many of the corners were coated in gravel from people dropping a tire off the edge. Many of the following photos are from my handlebar mounted point and shoot camera.



















I completed highway 99 and continued onto Cache Creek to get something to eat. I stopped at Chumps and ordered a Mozzarella Bacon Burger. It was pretty much a plain old hamburger and nothing spectacular so no picture. After eating it was time to make some ground towards Prince George. One thing is fore sure the Caribou Highway aka hwy 97 is just as boring as the highway 97 in Oregon and Northern California. I stopped in Mclease Lake for the evening because I didn't want to be setting a tent up in the dark again. Tomorrows goal is to lay down some serious miles so I can arrive get a into Prince Rupert so I don't have to wake up way earlier to get on the ferry in the Morning on Thursday.

Great RR and pics... keep up the good work!

I wish I'd found this RR a little earlier - I could have offered you some free camping in our yard, or the use of the spare bedroom. If you wind up stopping in PG on your way south, drop me a PM!

Good luck with your trip and keep posting

I had to go earlier to Inuvik. I wish I could have waited longer it would probably have been much drier weather. Use your credit card everywhere you can. Some business will ding you for american money, that being said you can't even use the canadian paper in the US. I was going to get dinged 5% at Teslip so I just asked for my cash back and used the credit card. Most of the businesses will take US money even up, there is only 3% diff right now anyway.
Good food at the Haines Jct bakery. Grub is $$$.
Have fun, go Comet's!

I know Trailgoon plans to go back through Prince George on his way back to OR at the end of the trip... Thanks for the offer.

Today was all about putting in the miles and getting to Prince Rupert before I stopped for the night.
I got an early start in the morning when I woke up about 5am to rain hitting my tent. I didn't recall a chance of showers in the forecast oh well. I better get out of bed to figure out how to pack up between the rain cells. When I peaked my head out of the door I noticed that the ground was relatively dry compared to my tent. This turned out to be the culprit.




Thanks to the campground host for warning me about the sprinklers LWS (Laced With Sarcasm). Oh well at least I found out that my tent is fairly water proof and it got me on the road early. According to the GPS I had 910km (565 miles) to cover today.




So off I went the roads were so boring. I didn't stop to take very many photos during the day. The stops I made during the day were for Gas and a Lumberjack Grand Slam at Dennys to power me through. And one other unplanned stopped.


Cruising outside of Smithers the opportunity presented itself to make an easy pass on someone. Well the result of that pass, included an unplanned stop and an opportunity to finance the British Colombian Government.




Do'h – This is the first one I have ever got. The law enforcement officer informed me that in BC if you get caught going 40 kmph over they take your bike for a week. I guess I was getting close to that, so I am thankful the officer used his discretion so I didn't put a huge wrinkle into the plans for the trip.


Well I continued on and arrived in Prince Rupert at about 730. The Alaska Marine Highway suggested you arrive 3 hours early before your boat leaves. My boat had a planned departure of 630 so that meant I had to be at the terminal at 330. With about 6 hours I didn't really want to pay for a campsite so I killed some time by riding around town a bit and ended up taking a short nap between my bike and the Jersey barrier while the bike and I sat in line.





So this is the start of a 36 hour boat ride... More to come.

Gotta follow this one!

Made it onto the ferry and got all tied in. The ferry did have some tie downs for my use but I brought my own anyways, I am really glad I grabbed the long ratcheting ones.





After getting the bike tied down I went up to the observation deck and took a short nap. I ate all of my meals on the ferry and found the prices to be fairly close in line with what I was paying for meals in Canada.


In the afternoon I set up my tent to dry out from the sprinkler incident. It took multiple attempts to figure out how to tape down the rain fly just right. I figured out the letter “H” was the answer.





Alaska Marine Highway is really cool, for the first day then the novelty kind of wears off. Its unfortunate that there are only four spots on the mainland where you can get onto the ferry. My itinerary stopped in many of the small towns during the night time when I was asleep. I found it interesting in the stop in Ketchikan how many sea planes there are in SE Alaska.





Ketchikan





Duckslayer joined me on the ferry at midnight on Thursday boarding in Petersburg. The ferry arrived in Juneau Friday afternoon. I took a few shots from the ferry of the Mendenhall Glacier.





It started to rain shortly after disembarking from the ferry so we headed to the local department store for some supplies. After hitting the department store we headed up to check out the Mendenhall Glacier a little closer.




Since it was raining and we didn't want to deal with packing up a wet tent early in the morning to make the ferry we decided to get a motel room in Juneau. We got a pizza that night for dinner from a local non chain place and I was not impressed at all with the pizza. Afterwords we took a quick spin through downtown. Downtown Juneau felt like the typical tourist trap type of town.


Boarding the Juneau to Skagway ferry








If I was to pick a section of the ferry route as the most scenic I would say the north end of the route wins for sure.


A shot from the ferry.





Other bikes on the ferry.





Skagway felt similar to Juneau on the Tourist Trap Meter, maybe a little less. I stopped by the National Historic Monument for the Klondike Gold Rush and took a short look around.


A and B house everyone takes a picture of.





The remaining pictures for the day were of the Klondike Highway that leads out of Skagway towards Whitehorse this area has some really scenic parts and some boring parts.














We finished out the evening camping between Carmacks and Pelly Crossing at the Tatchum Lake Campground.





We woke up the next morning and headed into Dawson city to grab a bite to eat and fuel up before we tackled the purpose of the trip, the Dempster. After getting something to eat we walked over to check out the Yukon River, on the way back Duckslayer says “ Dude you've got a broken headlight!”




Well there is a nice $500 to add to the trip costs. Oh well a piece of a ziplock bag and some Duct Tape will have to hold out for the rest of the trip.


Some photos from the Dempster.























We stopped by the interpretive center along the way. We mentioned to the staff that we were heading up north and had a difficult time finding any bear spray in the Whitehorse (Sunday evening). The interpretive center loaned some bear spray to us for a small deposit.

We continued on and made it into Eagle Plains. There was a thunderstorm rolling in so Duckslayer made the executive decision to get a motel room.


After a good breakfast at the Eagle Plains motel we headed off for our goal for the day, the Arctic Circle,and then Inuvik. We made it to the Arctic Circle and took the photo everyone does.





We then continued on to the two ferry crossings at the Peel and Mackenzie Rivers.

Peel River ferry





Mackenzie River ferry.










We continued on heading north towards Inuvik, then about 60 miles outside of Inuvik this happened.



It seems there is always some sort of road work occurring on the Dempster. We were passing a water truck, there was a small berm left by the grader between passes about 6 inches high. I made it pass the water truck and I was watching Duckslayer in my mirror I, saw his bike go sideways and a large cloud of dust.
I turned around and found Duckslayer and his bike yardsaled across the road. He was unconscious for about 30 seconds when I got back to him and then he came too. He kept asking where we were and what we were doing. I knew these were signs of a concussion. After about an hour we were up and rolling again and heading into Inuvik at a much slower pace. Once in Inuvik I recommended Duckslayer get checked out at the hospital but he declined and responded that he was OK.


In Inuvik we talked to a really friendly local individual in a Red GMC Sierra, that showed us where to get gas, eat, and a potential campground. We ate at the Roost restaurant. The food was ok. I grabbed one of the iconic Inuvik photos on our way out.





We continued to head south and ended the day camping at a rock quarry just north of fort McPherson. This photo was taken at 1130 at night its amazing how bright it is in the the evenings this far north.





The day started out with a light sprinkle on the tent in the morning so we packed up before it got worse. Duckslayer and his bike weren't quite ready to start the day yet and needed one more quick nap.





Duckslayer claims the tip over was due to a sore leg from the previous incident.


We hit the road and it started to rain making the road more soupy. This photo was of one of the milder sections.





As we continued on during the day the rain got worse until we decided to call it a day at Eagle Plains.





We shall see what tomorrow brings.

I was up there a couple of days ago was great weather. Take your time coming down if it's raining. About 30km away from there I recall it being very rutty from the last rainstorm and maybe again due to the rain. Last group to guys I spiel with said they did 15mph the whole way down. Good luck.

We ended up waiting out the rain the next day following the suggestions of the staff at Eagle Plains. While at Eagle Plains we talked to some other riders. One of the other riders, David decided to join us on the way back to Dawson City. A few shots of the Dempster heading south this time.











The calcium chloride off the road baking onto my header pipe.





Duckslayer thrilled to be back to the pavement.





The Demptser all the way to Inuvik and back is conquered.




Waiting to wash most of the Dempster off of my bike.





After filling up and washing down we headed into Dawson City to get some dinner. We ended up eating at the Drunken Goat a Greek restaurant/bar. The food was really good. After eating we parted ways with David and headed north of town to camp at the Yukon River Campground.





We headed into Dawson City to be tourists a bit before taking on the top of the world highway. Just outside of Dawson City is the Dome Hill overlook. It provides some great views of Dawson City and the surrounding areas.










A few shots from the Dawson City Museum.








Dawson City Main street.




Waiting to get on the Yukon River Ferry





A few shots of the Canada side of the top of the world highway. The Canada side is a mixture of paved sections and gravel. During one of the sections of the Top of the world on the Canada side I took my GPS out of its cradle a few times to take a few pictures. Well one of the the times I did this I didn't get it back in the cradle securely. I watched it fall out of the cradle at about 50mph hit the pavement bounce about 15ft in the air and hit the pavement again. When I got back to it the edges had some road burn but it turned back on and continues to work great. Note to self make sure GPS is in cradle securely.











Back into the USA for a bit.





I like the USA side of the highway a little better because it is mostly dirt and provides more traction.





Backside of a moose





We stopped in Chicken and got some souvenir t shirts and fuel. After chicken we ended up putting down some miles going all the way down the Taylor highway to Tok Junction, then into Beaver Creek YT, where we camped for the night at Buckshot Betty's.


When packing up in the morning I did a little rethink about my packing situation and shifted decided to run the dry bag horizontal to move the weight forward.





Today we headed down the Alaska Highway towards Haines Junction to tie into the Cassiar Hwy. Not many views stood out to me along the route other than the views along Destruction Bay.





We stopped in Whitehorse to look at getting some Bear spray, and a new bulb for my headlight, bear spray was too expensive for my taste so we opted just to be careful. Other than that short stop and a few gas stops it was all about laying down some miles today. When we found a campsite just west of Haines Junctin I opened my right box and found that all of my stuff in it was wet. Turned out the jug I was carrying my water in didn't like the aluminum box which rubbed a whole through the bottle and ended up soaking all of my stuff. Oh well. Live and learn I guess.





Today brought on the Cassiar Hwy and Telegraph Creek. Of the paved roads on the trip this is by far my most favorite and a welcome change from the rather boring Alaska Highway.


Cassiar Hwy








We made it into Dease Lake and filled up with gas and headed out towards Telegraph Creek. The first part of the road to Telegraph creek was kind of boring.





Then we passed a warning sing indicating a steep 20% grade was coming. Below are what the signs were referring to.















The 20% grades were a lot more interesting going down due to the steepness, deep gravel, and not being able to keep the front end light. Going up was a lot more fun keeping the back end sliding.


When we arrived at telegraph creek we stopped at where there was supposed to be a store and found it was closed. I really wanted an ice cream bar or soda. Oh well.





We headed back out to Dease Lake filled up and headed down the road towards the Stewart Hyder Junction.





We ended up calling it a day at Bell II a heliskiing resort. They sure had a nice hot tub.


The plan for the day was Stewart Hyder. Duckslayer decided to catch an earlier ferry so he opted to skip Stewart Hyder and head towards Prince Rupert.





A shot of the road heading into Stewart.




This guy was just chilling and eating right next to the road oblivious to the traffic.





I made it into Hyder and stopped at the Fish creek viewing area. This female grizzly was busy stocking up for winter.








After Fish Creek I headed up towards the Salmon Glacier. The road up to the Glacier is one of the most pot hole laden roads I have ever been on. I am surprised there are still funcioning seals in my shock and my wheels are still round after that road.

The Mendenhall Glacier was not as near as spectacular as the Salmon Glacier. My photos do not do it justice.








After Stewart Hyder I headed towards Kitwanga and then onto the 16 towards Prince George. I ended up spending the night in the forest just outside of Houston. One thing that I learned by this point in the trip is that things in my panniers that are assembled like to disassemble in the pannier like my campstove and tripod.


My goal for today was to get into Prince George and find a motorcycle dealer to change my Oil. Two problems with this plan, I had lost track of what day it was, Monday, and motorcycle shops are generally closed on Mondays, and also it was BC day apparently so most places would be closed even if it wasn't a Monday.
I went into town anyhow and found some WiFi at the Boston Pizza and was able to check into ADV and found that GISdood had sent me a PM, about meeting. We got in contact and he helped me out by offering up his place and offering an extra set of hands and tools to change my oil. While there he also fixed my headlight better than my ziplock bag with a piece of film similar to 3M pain protection film.


After getting my bike all buttoned up I wanted to get down the road a ways so I would have a full day for Jasper-Banff national parks. I ended up finding a free campground about an hour west of McBride called LaSalle Lake. It was a nice place with tables, fire rings, and outhouses.


The goal today was to make it through Jasper and Banff National Park via the Icefields Parkway, and exiting in Golden BC. The scenery seemed to get better as I got farther South and East.
















One of my favorite parts of the road was just south of the Icefields Visitor Center is a giant Hairpin. No pictures of it though. I made it into Golden ate at a 50's diner and then headed out of town. I found a rock quarry to pitch my tent in for the night.


I woke up in the morning packed up my tent and headed into Revelstoke to deal with the “Performane Award” I earned earlier in the trip to the tune of $171. After taking care of the ticket it was time to put some miles down so I didn't get that many pictures. I ended the ride putting in 870 miles and over 19 hours counting the short gas stops and making it all the way home. The temperature during the day ranged from tripple digits to the high 40's.





A few shots from along the way.





Super boring north central WA.





Cheif Joseph Dam





Dry Falls Herritage Area





I crossed over the Columbia a couple times. I was not prepared for the giant cross wind the first time. The wind shifted me over a full lane. My bike turned 10,000 miles on this trip.





My bike turned 10k miles on the trip.




I ended up getting home at 1AM.


This photo pretty much sums up my trip.




A few things I learned.

I packed way too many clothes.
I should of bought an extra battery for my camera.
The Tour Master Defender rain suit worked really well. I found myself putting it on as a wind block many times.
I should of bought the rain cover for my tank bag.
Don't put a plastic water bottle in an aluminum pannier.
My tool kit is incomplete for changing my oil.
Heidenau K60's wear like iron but are super sketchy for about 500 miles.
Don't speed to fast in BC.
I went to way to much effort to be able to secure stuff (from thievery) to my bike but found I was too lazy to go to the effort to lock stuff to my bike.
I survived the entire trip without ever having to pick up the bike. Before embarking on this trip I was sure I would drop it at least once. I think I will be looking into a standard height shock because I bottomed out the bike quite a few times during the ride.


I am really looking forward to doing more of this type of riding in the future.


Thanks for reading it all.

Great ride report. I wish I would have gone with someone, but going solo had it's own reward. What did you average for gas mileage?
The pics of the rain really brought back a few memories also, but I was to stubborn to stop in Eagle Plains.

Good job and clean that calcium off your ride as soon as possible.