Solo Ride – Pennsylvania to Anchorage, Alaska and back – 2011

Great pictures... good report! (Sorry you had so much rain.) Lookin' forward to the rest of the story, as well as your return trip!

Thanks for the great pics and RR! Was just in BC in early May (sadly, not riding- cruise vacation with the missus and sister/brother-in-law) and drove up the Sea to Sky highway to Whistler. Stopped at Squamish and learned about "The Chief"- yes, it is said to be a world renowned climbing site.




Incidently, while it was raining throughout much of BC and causing floods at many locations there was a huge wildfire in Alberta that claimed much property around Great Slave Lake.

Day 13 - Haines, AK to Anchorage, AK
775 miles - 16 hours

Yes, 775 miles non-stop. Today was long, beautiful, tiring, and was the end of my trip "to" Alaska. It does not end my Alaska adventure, because I still plan to go to Deadhorse. I planned to go to D2D but doubt I'll make it... Maybe though...

Ok back to the RR!

Today I woke up around 8am. The plan is to ride to Tok, AK, which is about 8 hours away. This will take me through Haines Junction, YT and along the Alaska highway to the alaskan interior.

Open the tent, and wah lah!


Another view:


Quick digression to discuss breakfast: When I was in Yakima staying with Shayne and Leslie, we were talking about eating Lucky Charms (a kids cereal with marshmallows for you non-americans) for dinner. I'm 28. Shayne and Les are a couple years older. What is the greatest thing about being an adult? Nobody can tell you want to do. If I want to eat Lucky Charms for dinner, then I eat Lucky Charms for dinner. I've done it many times, so do Shayne and Les. Other breakfasts have been soda and oreos, cheese and doritos, bread and chocolate, whatever.

Today I woke up and I have clif bars, an apple, and Chips Ahoy. Want to guess what I ate for breakfast?

mmmm! Can't beat the view or the meal.


Ready to roll:


Chips Ahoy are great, but they are not a substitute for coffee. Nancy recommended the Mountain Market in Haines, and damn was that ever a great recommendation!


Got myself a coffee and a turkey/spinach wrap. Mmmmm. Delicious.


Time to get this show on the road:


My brother had been bugging me before I left saying that I need more stickers on my panniers. Ironically my car has a bunch of stickers and he hates them, and my bike has no stickers and he hates that. Well Chris, this one is for you!


I had read that the ride from Haines to Haines Junction was epic, though I had never actually seen pictures of the ride. I figured it was kind of like this, looking upriver:



Hm. Less trees. wtf?


My "hey, check this shit out!!!" pose:


Once I passed through customs, which was quick and easy, the road starts to climb. Fast. Before you know it, you are well above tree line and in alpine tundra! I was NOT expecting this, but WOW what a view:


The other direction, where I'm headed:


I have a bunch of panoramic photos of this spot, but don't have stitching software so I can't put them together.


Hard to describe. Feels like the alps in a way:


Well it was a nice ride over the pass, but after a while it went down into Haines Junction:


YUKON





So after a few hours of epic riding. It ended. While there was endless rain across most of the United States and BC in May, interior Alaska was in a drought. The forest fire danger meter is at "EXTREME" There were and continue to be many interior fires burning, which means fire haze. Eff. This means limited visibility for a long time.

Haze.....


The weather today was sunny (obviously) and about 70*F. The highway passes along Kluane Lake for a while, and it's still frozen in May. Holy shit did it get cold fast! Like a 20* drop in one minute once you round the bend.



Evidence of a forest fire:


Looked like this for a while:


Then like this:


Lots and lots of lakes, little coniferous trees, and mountains flanking the valleys. Very pretty, but hazy at times and humid. This is also a MAJOR, and I mean MAJOR bird migration route across western Canada. Miliions and millions and millions come through here each year.


The road beyond Destruction Bay (middle of nowhere, Canada) is atrocious. On a bike, it's actually not bad. In a car or RV... hell. Frost heaves, slumping, gravel washed on the road, long stretches of gravel and construction (miles on end), dusty as hell. Not the most pleasant 140 miles to the US border. I didn't get any pics here.

Until I arrived at the border, and spotted what is perhaps the most awesome billboard in the history of history:


Finally arrived in Alaska. The border customs guy was asking me about my bike how tall I am and if I could flat foot it, etc. We were holding up traffic and I said something like "oh, perhaps I should go because they are waiting" and he replied "doesn't matter, I can make them wait." lol. Nice guy, I think he said he has a KTM990 and was looking at buying an F800GS.

After stopping for gas, I was on the road to Tok. 80 miles to go.


It was HOT (meaning 75, but hey, I live in Vermont and just rode 4,000 miles in 45-60 degree weather), so I had the vents open, jacket was not cinched on my waist.

HOLY FUCKING jeebus what a mistake. Somewhere just over the border I'm cruising along and then get a massive, searing pain in my lower back... kind of like a really intense bee sting. I stop the bike faster than ever before, jump off (literally, I jumped off the bike) and was stripping clothing like I was on fire. Hm. No bee, no hornet... nothing. I felt my back and sure enough there was a sting.

So I'm standing along the highway half naked wondering where the bee went. I was stung just below the edge of my lower back guard on my pants... there was a remote chance that while I was smacking the shit out of myself while attempting to not crash my bike the bee somehow went down my pants.:huh

Fear and panic struck instantly. Stung in the back. Fine. Stung in the, um, manhood. Time to get naked!

Unzipped my pants in three seconds flat. Look at the left leg... nothing. Look at the right leg... right along my calf, but low enough to be guarded by my boot is this little effer:


By little, I mean 1.5" long. MASSIVE. Biggest damn bee I've ever seen. Like the size of a hummingbird. He was stinging the shit out of my pants. I stood around for about five minutes trying to figure out how to get the bee off my pants (which were still around my waist, though unzipped and flapping about) without getting stung again. Divine inspiration did not strike, there was no "ah ha!" moment. Nope. I just manned up, flicked the fucker off with a little stick, and ran like a little girl.

So ends that saga. Back was throbbing, dignity was only a memory, but I was safe. I collected my gear which was scattered across the highway, redressed, cinched my jacket shut along my waist after looking for other bees, and was back on the road. Perhaps sadly, perhaps not so sadly, not a single car passed me in the 20 minutes I was stopped so nobody witnessed the half naked BMW rider vanquish the King of the Bees. Oh well.

Back to riding:


Speaking of riding. I was really, really ripping on this road. I normally am a pretty collected, calm rider. I stay within 15mph of the speed limit. Not right now. I was driving about 100mph, determined to get to Tok ASAP. Sure enough, I round a corner, and a cop is driving the other way.

Hm.

Well, having been stung by a bee, and being in the middle of nowhere and alone, I had perhaps the best excuse in the world to speed. I MUST get to Tok to get allergy medicine! No, I'm not allergic to bee stings, but hey, he didn't know that.

Pedal to the metal, I book it to Tok. At one point I thought I saw lights, but didn't slow down enough to double check. Arrived in Tok at 7pm and filled the tank, looked for police but saw none. At this point I had a decision to make. I either stop and camp as planned, or I ride on. Id been on the road since around 9:30am, so 9.5 hours already, but was not tired. I asked the cashier what time the sun goes down and he said "um, 'round September."

...you know, I thought it was little humorous, but that all. The kid next to him completely LOST IT. Laughing like a hyena, it actually made me uncomfortable hahaha. I ask some locals how long it takes to ride to Anchroage, and the consensus is five to six hours. But only two hours to Glenallen, where I can get gas and either camp or continue.

As a responsible adult, I called my parents, told them I was safe and heading to camp in Tok, and then completely changed my mind and hit the road. I wasn't tired, it looked like 3pm outside, so why not, right?

I did not take many pictures on the way. Sorry. I was on a mission, and that meant ticking off the miles as fast as possible. AFter my near run in with the law near Tok, I was only going 75mph or so, and I did get a few pics:




F. Rain. After so much sun, it was disappointing. Stopped and put in the liners, and was back on the road after eating some food and drinking water. My rest spot under the roof of an outhouse. Motorcycle riding is glamorous after all. I like this pic because you can actually see the massive water droplets hitting the puddles. Like I have mentioned earlier, it's really hard to capture rain in a picture. Most of the time it just look overcast. Here, finally, you can see what I've been dealing with.


Made it to Glenallen in about three hours, including the rain/dinner stop. It was about 11pm. Mosquitos were BAD, so I made it a quick stop. A family in an RV marveled at my trip (they had passed me when I was pulled over in the rain and honked), but I was back on the road pretty quick. I had swapped from my rain gloves back to my summer gloves. Big mistake, as the temp dropped fast, so I stopped again and put the winter gloves back on....

Sunset around midnight:



Outside Anchorage there is a mountain range. The Glenn Highway, US 1, runs right through them. It is gorgeous. I stopped just as I was approaching the mountains to snap a few pics before the light gave out completely. The sun sets in September my ass. Maybe in Tok, definitely not in Anchorage. Even today, June 22, its dark for an hour or two.


And I still suck at the self portraits. C'est la vie. (did I get that right Renee?)


The ride became very, very twisty, with rocks and some gravel in the road. It was about 1AM when I really hit the windy roads, and I was driving slow (aka the speed limit lol) and watching for wildlife and stuff on the road. It was very tense, I was extremely tired, having trouble concentrating, etcetera but the ride was really, really beautiful as the road snakes down the valley, past a glacier, many cliffs and other cool things to look at. Not the time to be on a motorcycle, but with my eyes on the prize, aka the warm house, shower, and bed in Anchorage, I soldiered on and at 2:30AM, 16 hours after I first hopped on the bike at camp in Haines, my trip to Alaska was over.




I showered, had a bit of whiskey that I had carried since BC, checked out the house, and at 3:30AM, which is 7:30AM east coast time, I called my parents and told them I was safe and sound in Anchorage. It was kind of funny because the last phone call was at 11pm EST when the were getting into bed. Around 4AM I was in bed, and asleep.

This was May 31. Today is June 22. In the past few weeks I have not ridden much other than commuting a bit, but as my commute is only 10 miles to work and Anchorage is flat as a pancake, I bought a nice single speed Specialized Langster Gangster bicycle to ride around town. I still plan to ride to Deadhorse, solo of course, and then of course I'll write up the return trip home. The ride home will take me back to Haines, Prince Rupert, Prince George, and then along the eastern Canadian Rockies to Jasper, Banff, Glacier, and back across the plains to the east coast.

I'll post some pics of the local hiking and climbing trips around Anchorage as the summer progresses. Alaska is impossibly beautiful :eek1, and I'll try to provide some insight into good things to do on a motorcycle if I can.

Until then, I hope you have enjoyed following along with my trip, but for now, it's time for INTERMISSION.

"the beatings will continue until morale improves"


-Jon aka lookaught
Solo to AK and Back, 2011.

Nice report. It was fun to follow your ride. Enjoy your time in Alaska. :slurp

JL

Intermission show:

I haven't ridden the BMW in a while, but here are a couple of pics from AK thus far. If you haven't been to Alaska, it should be on your bucket list.








Two of my roommates at the top of Flat Top mountain, just on the edge of anchorage:


Denali:






Kris hiding from mosquitos:


Savage River on the Denali park road:



Me and Zach trying to high-five without falling off the rock:


Kris sleeping in the car hahaha:


First bull moose sighting!:



More to come in a few weeks. I missed D2D but just did not have the time and energy to get to Dawson right now. Maybe some day...

Great thread. An absolute dream of mine.

If you haven't yet, try to make it to Talkeetna. It's a cool little town, with an incredible view of Denali. You can make it there from Ankorage in a short time (Alaska wise).

Looking forward to your return trip posts.

Be safe.

Thanks! I've been to Talkeetna, all the pics above that are along the gravel riverbank are from the river next to the town. We showed up and camped on the riverbank and got breakfast at the Roadhouse. AWESOME food. Didn't get to go to the Denali brewery because we showed up really late, but it looked like fun.

Time for an update!

I've been in Anchorage for six weeks now and have not been riding the BMW much at all. The occasional ride to work when it's raining, which is pretty ridiculous I suppose... I only ride my motorcycle when it's raining. It's got much better fenders than the no-fender bicycle.

I've been thinking about the ride to Deadhorse, and then scrapped the idea. Then I thought about the ride to the Arctic Circle, and I have now scrapped that as well. I just can't get excited about interior AK when south central AK is so incredible. It amazes me that so many motorcycles go to Prudhoe Bay and yet so few riders make it to southern Alaska when it is, in my biased opinion, much more interesting than a dirt road to an oil field. So my plan is now only to ride out of AK on August 12, until then I'm sticking to camping, climbing, bicycling, and enjoying the AMAZING Chugach, Talkeetna, Denali, and Wrangell-St. Elias mountains along with the Kenai. The skeeters aren't even bad down here!

If you ever ride to AK, trust me it is worth the trip to see the south. Maybe I'll ride to Prudhoe Bay one day, and maybe it'll change my mind, but for now I just don't have the time or interest.

Some pics:

A few weeks ago I rafted the Kenai river (more accurately I "floated" the river) and then camped at Skilak lake before heading to Homer for the 4th of July weekend

Skilak lake:



I have NO idea what I was doing here.


My roommate Zach:


He decided to take a swim:


Camp. You can drive to a parking lot just above here. This is the Upper Skilak lake campground. Free to boot!


Seth, a guy I met on the Ferry from Prince Rupert to Juneau, showed up around 10pm after calling me the day before asking if I'd be in Anchorage. He drove with us to Homer the next day, and we got lost looking for lunch at a town across the bay from Kenai where an old fish cannery sits for us to wander around:


The Homer spit. 5 miles long, about 30 feet above sea level. The tide here is the second or third highest in the world. It was moving about 25' the weekend we were there. THat's 25' in six hours! The lady who checked our camping permit ($8/tent) warned us to not camp below the highest spot or it'll be an interesting night when high tide rolls in:eek1



Spent the night on the spit and then it rained all day on Saturday. Still managed to check out the touristy areas, the farmers market in town, and some breweries. Seth took off to go work at an organic farm for a few weeks, and me and my roommates headed up into the mountains where a friend/coworker/classmate Katie let us crash at her parents house! They cooked an amazing meal of salmon, halibut, three-meat burgers (moose, caribou, and elk) and other homemade sides that were awesome and we ate to this view:




The next day we got up and took a ferry to Seldovia. It's a pretty neat town about an hour away by boat that has a big 4th celebration. We didn't stay for that but hung out for a few hours hiking and walking about. Most of the town was built on piers and pilings that all fell over during the 1964 9.3magnitude earthquate. The guide on the boat said that there was a great trail called the "otterbahn" and then no german tourists understand that joke. hahaha. Did you see in the news that Germans rank dead last in sense of humor? No wonder...

On the way to the ferry, here's the spit again, this time at pretty low tide:


Notice how tall the tide piers are? When we came back from Seldovia the boats were about 20' higher:



Seldovia:






There were a lot of other cool wood carvings but I haven't got the pics from my roommate yet. Seldovia is a cool place to go if you want to be off the bike for a day. Homer is also a really artsy place and I highly recommend it.

Last weekend Zach, Kris and I hiked the Bomber Glacier after work on Friday. The Bomber Glacier gets it's name from a B-29 bomber that crashed on it in 1957 while returning from a spy mission over Russia. Incredibly four of the ten crewmembers actually survived and were rescued, and the Air Force left the bomber after removing the sensitive equipment.

The plan is to drive to Hatcher Pass in the Talkeetna mountains, just north of Wasilla, AK. Wasilla is about 40 minutes north of Anchorage. It's also home to Sarah Palin. And a bunch of strip malls. And El Cheepo mexican restaurant that nearly killed us three back when we went to Denali a few weeks ago. Don't bother visiting Wasilla.

Anyway, the plan is to drive there, then hike about 4-5 miles in through an old glacial valley to Upper Reed lake, a glacial lake in a hanging valley. Camp, then head over the ridge the next day and across the glacier to the bomber, and then back over and down to break down camp and high tail it to the car. It all went as planned, I HIGHLY recommend this hike if you are in decent shape and want some epic scenery. Don't try it in motorcycle boots though!

onto the pics!

The parking lot, where so many great adventures begin:


We hit the trail around 8:30PM:


It's relatively flat for a while until you pass an old abandoned mine site about two miles in:


Time to climb. It's about 2,000 feet I think to get to the upper lake. This kinda reminded me of Hawaii hiking. Brown/red dirt and shrubs:


After a quick boulder field we pop out at the first hanging valley flats:


SUPER clear water, those rocks you see between the white are about six feet deep! Ice cold too.


Looking up the valley:


Passed a lot of other tents as we make it to the upper lake and set up camp around 10:45PM:


Three full grown men in a "3-Person Tent" means sardines:


The low dip on the left side of the ridge is where we are headed in the morning:


The skeeters breed here:


There is no clear trail here. You just scramble on the scree field looking for tiny cairns to lead you. We knew to head for the low point of the pass, but there are a lot of options for routes:



Looking down from about 3/4 the way to the top. If you look really, really, really closely you can see the tent on the green hill on the far side of the lake. It's a speck:


Heading down the other side. THere was a short fixed line to get down the first ten feet then it's a scree scramble and it is really, really loose. Had to be very careful and space ourselves apart because these rocks are all widowmakers if someone trundles you.


Look close, there's a bomber over there:


Starting the decent. This route didn't last long because we hit an ice field just out of sight in the picture. No crampons and no axes = no self arrest. So we had to walk up up up and around:


20 more minutes to go!


Back down toward the plane:


There she is:


Six men died here. It's a very cool hike but you have to respect the guys who died and those who actually made it.







Time to go: First, some bear track next to the plane. Not more than a day old:


Then I was leading and one leg fell into a crevasse. I've crossed glaciers quite a few times in my life. Some on skis, some with crampons and axes, some roped, some not. Today we chanced it because we saw other tracks in the snow but this just shows that the danger is always there. My roommates did not appreciate the danger I think and trudged on without thinking. I was a little weirded out by the feeling of falling through, even if it was only one leg. I was happy to follow the two of them


Life is good:


We tried to cheat and cut over a different spot on the ridge but couldnt cross there, so we had to scramble down some class 4/5 rock. Pretty intense and exposed! I went first and got some shots of the other guys:


Back at the top of the pass, time for the decent:


Almost down. Knees were actually holding up really well


Looking back at the pass. We crossed at the right side of the "W" that is dead center in the pic:


See the little people up there? My camera zoom sucks...


Back at camp it was windy as hell and getting cool. We had already had steady, heavy rain the night before, then fog, sun, clouds, rain, and hail today. After a quick meal in the tent we packed it up and booked it out of there. My favorite type of photography is pictures of trails leading off into the distance. I guess the same concept applies to riding motorcycles and looking out on a great road before you ride it. Just knowing that the road ahead will be a good one...









Kris and Zach like to hike at full speed. I don't. I have learned through years of hiking that I have one comfortable speed that I can keep up for hours, so I hike at that speed. So after breaking camp I had a nice solo hike down, enjoying the views and having some time to think and stare off into the distance. I really enjoy solo hiking, so it was a nice way to finish the trip.

Almost there:


And five minutes from the car I got absolutely dumped on by rain. It felt awesome and I changed into some board shorts at the car feeling really refreshed and in great spirits. This hike is everything you could want packed into less than 15 miles roundtrip. Glacial valleys, lakes, waterfalls, boulder hopping, crossing a glacier, a wrecked bomber... incredible!

This is why it's worth your time to see the other end of Alaska. I hope that some of you make the time to enjoy these areas and don't get tunnel vision on Prudhoe Bay. There's a hell of a lot more to Alaska than oil.

Jon,

Had to check in on your ride report. Looks great, keep in touch as you come back through here.

David

Part II - the return trip

Every Alaska trip has a return voyage, and mine was no different. I am now at home in Vermont, helping with the clean up from Hurricane Irene, but want to take a break to finish this report.

A few things to note:

I forgot my camera charger in AK, so starting in BC they are all iPhone 3GS pics. Sorry!

The general route is identical back to Haines via Tok, then Prince Rupert to Prince George, but then I rode to Jasper, along the Icefields Parkway (:eek1) to Banff, then backtracked to 93 south to go through Radium Hot Springs, into Montana, through Glacier National Park, and then across northern Montana before hitting the superslab back east to Pittsburgh.

Unlike my trip west which was plagued with endless rain and cold, the ride east was 4,200 miles with less than one hour of riding in the rain. It really could not have been any more perfect, and I was very, very thankful for that. I also met some really cool riders and other interesting people along the way, and managed the whole trip without a single tipover or serious mishap.

Stats:
12 days
9 days of riding
4,200 miles
and I rode the stock Michelin Anakee all the way! It was nearly at the wear bars when I left Anchorage but somehow only became slightly corded by the time I made it to Pittsburgh. 11,000 miles on the tire, most with a very heavy load. Incredible!

Alright on the RR! Here's a couple teaser pics and I will post more in the coming days in individual posts for each day. Enjoy!

Im liken it.

Time to get this RR back on the road!

Day 0 - a short prequel to the return. 08/11/2011


A short background before I get riding: I finished work on Thursday August 11 with plans to hit the road around noon on Friday, August 12. Unfortunately I got a nail in my rear tire while on my way to work, so that set me back a little because I had to fix it. Luckily after pulling the tire off in my yard my neighbor was lounging outside and I walked over to this guy, who is about 70, and ask if he has a compressor so that I don't have to use a hand bicycle pump. He responds "yeah, I have one." Into his garage we go to find a 7' tall, like 200 gallon professional painting compressor lol. Needless to say it made pumping up the tire nice and easy.

So after fixing the tire, I had to clean my house, pack all my shit, and box up my other two wheels transport and have it ready to go to FedEx. It took three weeks to get to VT via FedEx ground!

See ya later pedal power!


Now onto the bike. While in Anchorage I went to Alaska Leather and met the crew. Really, really nice people. Barb cut me a custom sheepskin buttpad and gave me some stickers. No more red seat!


Also bought a taller windscreen from another inmate. As it turns out, this screen does not work for me and actually channels bugs directly into my face lol. I'm going to either heat it up and bend it to be more vertical or sell it and put the stock screen back on. Unfortunately my stock screen flew off the back of my bike somewhere near Radium Hot Springs, so I have to but another one.


Finally, all loaded up. This setup is NOT ideal and I worked with it on the trip to make it better balanced. I really need to get a top case...


I also sold my semi-waterproof pants and bought Rev'it Defender pants to match my jacket. They are nice pants, but damn, europeans must be skinny mofo's because I am not a fat man and while my thighs may be more muscular than the average person from hockey and cycling, these pants are waaaay to tight to wear with anything more than underwear and the goretex liners. If I put in the thermal liner I feel like I'm wearing a unitard. Yet at the same time, the pants are too big around the waist (32"-33" waist). WTF are europeans shaped that differently than americans?

Anyway here are my fancy new pants:


I admit, I do like the color. And it was money well spent because in 4,200 miles home it rained for about one hour.

Onward....

Day 1 - Anchorage to Tok - 08/12/2011
333 miles - 6.5 hours

So anyway, after packing, cleaning, and getting ready, I hit the road for Tok at 4:30PM on Friday, August 12, 2011. My ferry is scheduled at 9AM Sunday morning, so I have a very leisurely two days to go 775 miles. I had expected August in Alaska to be warm and sunny, just like the rest of the USA. It is actually a very rainy month in AK. It rained every single day from August 1-11! But on Friday, August 12, the rain clouds blew away, and sunshine was beating down. Time to ride.

Last shot before I left my lovely house in Anchorage:


Made a quick stop at Alaska Leather to buy some more Rok Straps. Beat the traffic out of town, and was on my way. After passing through Palmer, I was into the good part of the Glenn Highway:




This is what most of the ride to Tok looks like:


Look closely, those are all clouds:


See?


Getting darker:



I had chopped off all my hair the day before, and now my helmet fits kind of loose and I get the tri-hawk. lol


Ok into Tok. Not much to see there. It was around 11pm when I arrived, so I just went to the motorcycle campground. In retrospect, the better idea is to ride about 10-15 miles past Tok toward Canada and there is a really nice state campground along a river. I don't know if it costs money or not, but the motorcycle campground was just ok, and I would rather camp by a river. I did meet a french couple who were something like 15 months into a 2 year trek across the world. They had already been to Africa, South America, Europe, and were heading to Asia where I imagine they are right now. They were riding a KTM 990.

Anyway, this is Tok:

Day 2 - Tok, AK to Haines, AK
484 miles - 11.5 hours

After long delay I have a project due this evening and am procrastinating that work by writing this RR, which has been subject to extreme procrastination since August. It's a vicious cycle

Today I woke up not too early and packed up the bike while chatting with a french couple riding RTW 2up on a KTM990 Adventure. They had been on the road for like 18 months already, riding south from France through Africa, then to South America, North America, and were headed to the far east next. Damn.

So around 9:30 or so I hit the road from the gas station:


And headed this way:


FYI there is a free state campground about 15 miles east of Tok right off the highway as it crosses over a small river. I would camp there and avoid paying for the campground in town.

The riding today was beautiful. Sunny, with patchy clouds and heavy rain that was always close but never actually hit me (except once).

Like so:



Rain is close, but not close enough!




It was really incredible that I didn't hit any rain. Amazing. Karma is paying me back for the ride to AK (which was about 2,500 miles of rain in 4,600 miles of riding).

So I passed through the customs house into Canada without any drama. Had to fight off some bees while in line but the weather was great and I was in a great mood. I got back my passport, stuck it in the tank bag flap, and hit the road toward Destruction Bay. WHile on the way I was reaching into my tank bag for my camera (hence the pics below) and then the unthinkable happened... my fucking passport blew out of the bag flap somewhere between Beaver Creek and Destruction Bay. I noticed when getting gas in Destruction Bay, rode back 30 miles looking along the road, being frantic, cursing more than usual (and I curse a LOT without the stress of being in a foreign country with no passport), and really not enjoying the beautiful day. FVCK.

SOme pics:





Ok, here's a life lesson that I learned that day. When things take a turn for the worst, it's really not as bad as it seems. After abandoning hope of finding my passport, my ride to Haines Junction was pretty much ruined. That's a shame because it was a gorgeous ride. I was super stressed because I had a ferry ticket booked from Haines (in the USA) to Prince Rupert (in Canada). See the dilemma? I knew I could get to Haines and into the USA, but once I got on the boat, I had no idea if they would let me into Canada. fuck fuck fuck. Its an extra $500 for a ferry from Ketchikan to Bellingham in Washington, money which I did not want to spend, plus I really, really wanted to ride the Icefields Parkway between Jasper and Banff. So if you lose your passport in Canada while riding, don't stress it! It's not the end of the world, and as it turned out, getting into Canada was easier than getting into the USA. Go figure...

More pics!

Haines Junction



Finally hit some rain on the ride to Haines, but it was still quite beautiful. I'll just let the pics speak:







Dirt!



I messed up the camera settings accidentally and the rest of the pics were kinda fuzzy:


Looks a bit different than the last time I came through in May:


Automatic fishing machine?


Got the camera back to normal:



YES!


And finally, rolled into Haines when it was getting dark. I camped along the inlet in the same spot as before, though this time with some company of four german kids cooking rice and fresh caught fish of some sort. I gave them some whiskey and called it a night.



And obviously I made it into the USA through customs with only a drivers license. I stopped and asked the Canadian customs guy if he thought I'd have an issue getting into Prince Rupert, and he seemed very confident that I would not. At the time, I was not convinced, but in the end, he was right.

The next few days are on the ferry, then, BC.

Day 3, 4, & 5 - Haines, AK to Prince Rupert, BC
~15 miles - 30 minutes riding time, many hours of ferry time

Today I get on the ferry for 2.5 days. The ferry left at 9am Sunday morning and gets into PR at 2pm on Tuesday. That is a full two plus days of sitting on my butt. As it turns out, it rained like hell so it wasn't all that bad to sit on the ferry and relax, though I had only been riding for two days before the ferry so unlike the trip to AK (I had been riding for 8 or 9 days) I wasn't quite ready to get off the bike.

Whatever. Here we go:

Camp at 7:30am or so:


Four germans fit in this tent lol. Must have been cozy.


The bike's resting spot:


Saying goodbye to Alaska... for now.


It wasn't raining this morning, and while in line for the ferry I met Greg, a rider from California who rode solo to Deadhorse and was on his way home. He was on a KTM 690. That was the first time I ever really looked at that model bike and I was really impressed, I immediately wondered if the 690 would have been the better bike for me than the F800GS. It's a thought that plagued me for months, but ultimately I decided that the BMW is the better choice, simply because most of the riding where I live is paved, and the BMW is just better on paved roads and long rides. When I ride South America in a few years, it's going to be a hard choice between these two bikes.

Anyway, this is Greg. He was traveling unbelievably light and therefore wore his one piece suit everywhere haha


The first stop is Juneau, where we have to switch boats. The trip there was uneventful. I was tired and slept a bit, and the views just weren't impressive compared with my trip to AK in May.

Some pics:


Remember this island?


Here's a reminder of the views on the way to AK in late May:



Oh well, I had nice views on way at least.

We pulled into Juneau and per the recommendation of a friend who lived there for the summer we hit up the Hot Bite burger shack. It was pretty good, but not epic. It is only a few miles from the ferry terminal on the water so if you are traveling through and only have an hour or two to eat, I guess it's a good place to go.


Looking back at the terminal from the Hot Bite:


Back at the terminal I was marveling at the similarity yet obvious differences between the Malaspina and the Matanuska, the two ferrys that I took both to and from AK. Both built in the same year, they are the same size and general shape, yet somehow they are really different layouts and have odd little differences like flagpole placement and wings on the smokestack... Can you spot the differences?

Malaspina:


Matanuska:


An excellent carpet tapestry in the terminal building. God I love Alaska!


Home for the next two days:


And it started raining. Hard. It drizzled on me and Greg at the Hot Bite, but once on the boat it let loose and did not stop until the day after we arrived in Prince Rupert.

Raindrops:


This is the high speed ferry:


The view for a couple days:


I'm glad it wasn't this packed:


And then my camera died and I left the charger in Anchorage. Therefore my pics are really sparse :-(

A few things to note for the remainder of the ferry ride: First, the rain never stopped. Second, in Sitka we we in port from like 2am to 430am. I was up so I went to my bike to get my computer to do some work (you can only access the car deck while in port). While down there another rider had come aboard... at 430am... in the pouring rain. Her name is Erica and she had also ridden to Deadhorse and had some pretty awesome stories... she also rode from TDF back to her home in Oregon. Just amazing, she had already ridden my dream ride and did it solo.:eek1 I don't have any pics of Erica but her amazing ride in South America is documented here: http://www.advrider.com/forums/showthread.php?t=435562 .

And you may recognize her from the adv banner:


When we arrived in Prince Rupert, Greg and I had already booked a room in the Pioneer Hostel, the same place I stayed on my ride to AK. My original plan was to get off the boat at 2pm and ride to the west side of Prince George, about 400 miles. With the weather as it was, that plan was quickly scrapped. Erica also went to the hostel and we all went out for sushi that evening and walked around a bit, bought some food, and planned to head out the next day as a trio. Luckily, the next day was beautiful and we had a great ride and a great camp spot along a lake. More to come on that in the next post.

Off the boat and back on the bike!

ps if you are wondering how I made it through Canadian customs without a passport, I had my parents scan and email a copy of my original passport (yeah, from when I was 10 lol) and my birth certificate and the awesome Purser on the Matanuska used the only computer with internet to print out copies. Canadian customs was AMAZED that I had even that much, and waved me through without a second glance. woohoo! Back on the road! (and not paying $500 for a ticket to Bellingham).

The thread title got my attention, then when I saw your user name I thought "I'll bet he's from Pittsburgh." Ha! Excellent sense of humor!

Very nice report, Jon. Thanks for taking us along for the ride!

Tim

Day 6 - Prince Rupert, BC to Lake Francois, BC (just west of Prince George near Burns Lake)
331 miles - 9 hours

This is mostly a reserved post because I don't have any pictures as my camera finally died and I planned to get the pics from Greg but never got around to it. I'm going to email him and try to get them, and will post them later.

But a written recap:

Greg, Erica, and I got up not too early and hit the road after planning to ride to or near Lake Francois today. It was only 331 miles, so it was not a long day of riding. We stopped at a KTM dealer in Terrace to try to get a rear tire for Greg, but no dice. While at the dealer the guy who made the top plate on Erica's bike happened upon us and while waiting for the tire to arrive we all went to town for coffee. After sitting around for more than an hour waiting on the tire, we gave up and headed onward.

Stopped in Smithers for lunch at some cafe. Smithers is such a weird and awesome town... it's like being in Switzerland or Bavaria. Odd buildings, the cafe had old ladies speaking german working behind the counter. I tried to find a charger for my camera but failed, so from now on it's all iPhone 3GS photos.

So we made it to camp along Francois lake pretty early, maybe 6pm which is well before sundown. Erica sweet talked some fire wood from the neighbors and after incorrectly assuming that only she knows how to use an axe because she is a fire fighter and that me and Greg are just city slickers, she split all the wood. Little did she know that my house is primarily heated by a cast iron stove and I burned four cords of wood last winter (a cord is 4' x 4' x 8' of stacked split wood), so I've split more wood that I care to remember. But she was all pumped to swing the axe so I just said nothing and let her go to town. hehehe

So around 11 or so we all went to bed in our tents along the lake. Fun day, it's weird for me to ride with others, but it sure is nice to have company.