BC, Yukon, Alaska, Alberta: pictures and light commentary

[slackmeyer]

Prologue:
Ever since I started really riding- 5 years ago or so, when I started riding up to washington state (and my hometown) every year, and other long-ish rides, I've been scheming with a longtime friend about riding to alaska. Ok, it wasn't actually scheming, it was fantasy. We'd see each other once or twice a year, and the conversation would go as follows.
Me: We should ride to Alaska this summer!
Him: Yeah! That would be cool!

A couple snags existed- he knew how to ride, but his only bike was a 50cc chinese scooter. He has a 1 year old son now, too. And I don't think he had ever done a ride over 100 miles long. Just little things, they didn't get in our way.

So this last winter, when we had our normal Alaska conversation, I mentioned that I had two motorcycles at the moment: my trusty KTM 950 adventure, and a KTM 640 enduro that I had just rebuilt, and not put very many miles on. He quickly figured out that he could spare 2-3 weeks that summer, and the wheels were set in motion.

In June, I rode my 640 up to Washington, leaving Rusty a month to get used to it.

That was about the longest ride I had taken the 640 on, and it did great- comfortable, fairly fast, and it got 55mpg.
I left Rusty a packing list and flew home. He didn't have a ton of time to ride in the intervening month, but he got in a 300 mile ride and some other shorter rides, and bought new tires and brake pads.

So on July 8-9th, I rode up to Washington, changed my oil, helped Rusty change tires and brakepads, sorted our gear, and got ready to ride to Alaska.

July 10:

(Milo, on the far left, was originally going to come-- however, after only 50 miles, it was decided that his machinery was just not up to snuff for highway speeds, and furthermore, the drivers license he had shown us was just a Kix proof of purchase. He was sent home.)

Our route for the day, Leavenworth WA to Mabel lake, park, BC.

Customs at Osoyoos, where it was hot and dry- the last we'd have of that for a while:

The Summerland-Kelowna area is really nice- kind of the napa valley of Canada, lots of grapes and fruit trees, and lots of people around enjoying the sunshine and the lakes. Not that I took any pictures of that, I just thought you should know.

On the gravel, heading out to Mabel Lake Provincial Park:

First Camp- note that I'm already changed into raingear. Didn't rain much, just enough to offer some foreshadowing of the rest of the trip.

 

[slackmeyer]

Keep in mind that Rusty's previous longest ride was 300 miles. I had to keep reminding myself of that.
Our plan was to spend about two weeks riding around BC, exploring backroads, dirtroads, whatever we found. We'd also go to Hyder, Alaska (the first town you can get to from the south by land). And we had some ferry schedules, just in case- though ferries don't come that often, and they're expensive.

Day 2:

Leaving Mabel Lake:

We rode up to Revelstoke, to have a look at it, and to buy some bear spray. Then we headed west and north, by Salmon Arm, and Adams lake, to Barriere, and then west some more, into the woods on dirt roads near 100 mile house (I like how many of the town names retain their imperial units, though the road that 100 mile house is on is only marked in kilometers.)

The next day, we planned on riding dirt roads as far as we could out along the Bella Coola highway- I'd been told that Bella Coola was a great place to go, and it seemed like a worthy side trip.

Buuuuuuuut. . . . it rained pretty hard the night before. And sprinkled the previous day. And it was raining a bit that morning. And some of those roads weren't so good. . . .

I know, in the pictures it looks harmless. And it could have been a lot worse- it wasn't the nasty sticky stuff. But man, that shit was slick- we spent about 40 miles sliding front and back wheels every which way, turning around when supposedly good roads turned to faint muddy tracks, and me hitting my reserve fuel way earlier than I expected (my rear wheel was doing a lot of extra revolutions.) We made it back to pavement near Williams lake, and decided that for as long as it kept raining, we were going to have to stick to pavement and gravel, and avoid the mud. Somehow we never fell over in all that mud. . . . I still don't understand that.

 

[slackmeyer]

Eventually, we got to Williams lake, and took the Bella Coola Highway west, out to Tatla lake (and along the way, met a very friendly French Canadian in an RV, who was very excited that we were riding KTMs- "That's the bike that Meoni rode in the Dakar! Fantastic!).

Nicest campsite of the trip, IMHO:

The next morning, we rode over to the West Chilcotin Trading post, and met the very friendly and informative proprietor Dave.

Unfortunately, Dave's information consisted of telling us that the road to Bella Coola was closed, as of that morning, by a big mudslide covering the road about an hour ahead. No word on when it would reopen. So, we decided to feel lucky that we hadn't gotten stuck out on the other side of that, and headed back into the rain, backtracking to some nice dirt roads near Williams Lake.

Redstone Cemetery on the way back:

Fraser river: we had about an hour of sunshine to eat our lunch here. Then we headed back to Williams lake to gas up, and headed north from there, in what may be the heaviest rain I've ever ridden in.

We made it to Quesnel (pronounced K'nel), and out of the rain, and mention was made of getting a hotel room. But there was plenty of light left in the day, and it wasn't raining any more, so we took the Blackwater road out of town to see where it would take us.

We found an old logging staging area for a campsite, and the rain held off for the rest of the night.

 

[louemc]

Looks like what an adventure should be. :thumbup

 

[slackmeyer]

Looks like what an adventure should be. :thumbup

It was a great ride, indeed.




Next day:

A day to stick to the pavement and cover some miles. Fortunately the weather stayed dry until we got to pavement in Vanderhoof. From there, we took the Yellowhead highway west, to Smithers (I got this picture of a nice 3.0CS, there was a BMW rally in town- I should have gotten pictures of the Z1 and the Z8 I saw)

Passed the south end of the Cassiar Highway, cause I want to head west to Prince Rupert first:

Got our one and only hotel room that night, and tried to dry out some wet gear:

After we got the hotel room, we decided to find a restaurant. After a bit of indecision, we went in what looked like a good one- only to find out that they were closed. We were confused for a minute, but then realized that it was 9:30 PM, though the sun was still up. Ended up eating at a chain pizza place and getting a very expensive Stella Artois. Northern BC is not good beer country, apparently.

Next Day:

Out to Prince Rupert, then back to Terrace, and up to the Cassiar Highway.

Great museum of Northern BC here:

Some sun in the afternoon for 30 or so miles of dirt road out to the Cassiar Highway:

And a nice camp at Meziadin lake, just after seeing our first few bears of the trip (a sow and cubs, right by the side of the road).

 

[slackmeyer]

The day we finally get to alaska:

(We went to alaska on the little jog to the left waaaaaay at the bottom)

Beautiful ride over to Stewart/Hyder, AK.

And after a long day of riding along the Cassiar highway:

That's pretty accurate lighting. It was light for another 1/2 hour or so.


Next day: Yukon and Skagway

Near here (Carcross, YT), we were at a mechanics trying to get a cracked luggage bracket welded, when we met a very cool guy on a BMW R1200GS- I think his name was Losi? He was from Transylvania, had flown to Montreal, got the bike, and was riding as much of Canada as possible. We chatted for a while, he gave us some good beta on where to get free tires, and we headed on down the road (without finding a welder, yet).

Overpriced but good fish and chips in skagway:

 

[WoodsChick]

Nice ride, Zak! :thumbup

I'm digging the photos and the scenery!

So how did your friend hold up on the long rides? Was he enjoying it and hoping to do more in the future or was he counting the days till he could get off that damned bike? I would imagine the 950 was the comfier of the two.




WoodsChick

 

[Cabrito]

Yeah, thanks for sharing your pictures and comments.

Great trip guys. :thumbup

 

[Butch]

Whoa. That is all.
For now.

 

[slackmeyer]

Nice ride, Zak! :thumbup

I'm digging the photos and the scenery!

So how did your friend hold up on the long rides? Was he enjoying it and hoping to do more in the future or was he counting the days till he could get off that damned bike? I would imagine the 950 was the comfier of the two.




WoodsChick

You'd be shocked at how comfy the LC4 is with that bill mayer seat. We traded a bit, though I mainly rode the 950. Some days I rode the 640 all day. Rusty was a bit stiff and sore for the first two days, then he adjusted to riding all day, and was good for the rest of the trip.

Riding together, and in a place like that, we stopped more than I usually do (which was good), but the loooooooooong days let us ride pretty much as late as we wanted- we had a few days that saw us finding a campsite at 10:30 or so.

zak

 

[slackmeyer]

I guess I didn't realize how many photos I'd end up putting in here. . . . I'll get through this ride report at some point.

Day 8- skagway to haines to whitehorse and almost back to watson lake:

7:00 AM ferry from skagway to haines:

We had breakfast at a cool natural food store/bakery/coffee shop in Haines, which was a much cooler town than skagway (which is mainly a cruise ship port). Met some long bearded native folks that told us all the good places to explore, which we didn't have time to capitalize on.

Heading out of Haines:

When we got to Haines Jct, back in the Yukon, I saw a little machine shop surrounded by cars. One of the luggage brackets on the 640 had been cracked for a few days, so we stopped to get it welded- it was one of those wonderful shops/guys filled with tools/parts/part catalogs, so that no one but him could function in it- but he could fix just about anything that came along. He put some nice beads down on the luggage rack, and rattle canned it black, and charged us $20, and then spent the rest of the hour chatting with us about roads and bikes- he had a hayabusa in the yard, and he loved riding over to Haines for a cup of coffee- at 150 mph, it was about an hour each way, and he said he had never seen a cop on the road. It was 30 years since he rode a BSA up the Cassiar Highway from vancouver. Very cool guy- someday I'll be that guy, with the cluttered shop and the greasy overalls, who can fix whatever needs fixing.

Whitehorse- we met a guy on the twin of my bike, and pulled some extra tires out of garbage piles behind the Honda and Yamaha dealerships - thanks for the tip, Losi!

After Whitehorse, everything got rainy for a while, and then we just covered miles and miles of Yukon, stopped late at a dead end road by a river, and had a good peanut curry dinner.

Next day: crossing the top of the Rockies:

In Watson Lake:

We saw buckets full of wildlife this day. My friend Rusty took some good pictures, I'll put in a few of them:

 

[slackmeyer]

The mountains were beautiful that day too, and there were some nice turns around Muncho lake- I highly recommend that area as a destination in itself.

Lunchtime stop at Liard Hotsprings- I prefer the less populated sort of springs, but it was great all the same, and a nice change from cool wet weather.

After passing through Fort Nelson, which wasn't much of a town, we had some pretty straight roads surrounded by clearcuts and gasfields. We finally found a spot to camp along the buckinghorse river; it was getting late and cold.

Next Day (10?) Buckinghorse to Grand Cache

This was my least favorite day- lots of construction, towns that I didn't like, not enough mountains. The one bright spot was a grocery store called Dave's No Frills Food. Kind of like a Trader Joes, which is a hell of a luxury in a town like Dawson Creek.

Oh, and the 640 turned over 24,000 miles:

Nice campsite by a lake south of Grand Cache:

Next Day: Into Jasper and Banff

If you haven't been to Jasper and Banff National Parks, go buy a 2012 calendar and pencil in "Canadian Rockies trip" for next summer. I'll try to exercise restraint in posting pictures, cause really, you have to see it for yourself. I went a couple years ago on another trip. I plan to go again. What can I say, I like mountains.

Crazy sheep at Miette hot springs, Jasper:

Hint: look for antlers.

 

[louemc]

Man-O-Man, that's some major miles...You guys did right good for a couple of Chichako's
(have no idea how it's spelled) but means Greenhorn, Or one that hasn't spent a winter there).

I'm astounded at the great pictures taken.

 

[slackmeyer]

Man-O-Man, that's some major miles...You guys did right good for a couple of Chichako's
(have no idea how it's spelled) but means Greenhorn, Or one that hasn't spent a winter there).

I'm astounded at the great pictures taken.

Thanks Lou. I'm almost through. I took most of the in-flight pictures, Rusty took some great photos from off the bike- he carried a DSLR, and I was really impressed with some of the shots he got from it. I always give up on any sort of wildlife photography, it's just not worth it with a point and shoot for me. But his camera with a telephoto lens makes a big difference.

We actually met a few folks on that ride that were doing the ride from key west FL to Prudhoe bay, and then back to the east coast. Those guys were doing more like 12-15,000 miles in a month or a bit more. Sounds like fun, but usually they seemed like they were on a pretty tight schedule, not much time to explore.

zak

 

[boney]

Wow. What a great trip (so far.) Looks like a lot of fun. :ride

 

[louemc]

We actually met a few folks on that ride that were doing the ride from key west FL to Prudhoe bay, and then back to the east coast. Those guys were doing more like 12-15,000 miles in a month or a bit more. Sounds like fun, but usually they seemed like they were on a pretty tight schedule, not much time to explore.

zak

That's the usual problem with "Trip Goal" rides, there is a schedule..,so not much is discovered and tasted.

I'm just the opposite, no route plan (it unfolds as I look at the weather) and no time schedule, it takes what it takes. I'm there to see, and I don't know what I'll see, til I'm there.

I have a Spot In My Heart for the land you were in, because it is close to where I finished Grade school and did High School, and a little more.

That was Juneau Alaska, so the other side of the mountains from Hyder and Wrangel Mountains. And Been to Haines and Skagway and Whitehorse And British Columbia, etc.

Touring by Motorcycle, with mini shelter on the bike, has been one of the greatest parts of my life. Seeing what I couldn't come close to seeing (money wise) any other way.

By Bike it is (in my case) free, because it costs more to stay home.

 

[boney]

That's the usual problem with "Trip Goal" rides, there is a schedule..,so not much is discovered and tasted.

One of my friends and I call that "goal fixation." When anything short of the ultimate goal won't do.

It's a good way to ruin a ride.

I have to admit that I'm guilty of it. At least twice.

 

[slackmeyer]

That's the usual problem with "Trip Goal" rides, there is a schedule..,so not much is discovered and tasted.

I'm just the opposite, no route plan (it unfolds as I look at the weather) and no time schedule, it takes what it takes. I'm there to see, and I don't know what I'll see, til I'm there.

Touring by Motorcycle, with mini shelter on the bike, has been one of the greatest parts of my life. Seeing what I couldn't come close to seeing (money wise) any other way.

One of my friends and I call that "goal fixation." When anything short of the ultimate goal won't do.

It's a good way to ruin a ride.

I have to admit that I'm guilt of it. At least twice.

Yeah, it stops being a ride, in the sense of goal vs. process, and becomes a means to a destination, or bragging rights, or something like that. There are times when I'm too focused on covering some amount of miles or getting to a certain spot on a certain day, and having someone else along (well, the right person along) helped me forget about that. I tend not to travel with a master plan for the trip.

This trip is a good case in point- I had in mind something more like Boney's trip of a couple years ago, consisting mainly of dirt roads in BC. Weather and what we were interested in riding changed that, and we were happy with the result.

Oh, and a note on trip expenses- gas is pricey in canada, but we didn't spend all that much on that trip because of the way we travel- we paid for camping every third or fourth night, we mostly cooked our own food (though we wouldn't deny ourselves a hot chocolate and soup when riding through a rainstorm), and we picked tires out of the dealers' trash pile.

zak

 

[boney]

Oh, and a note on trip expenses- gas is pricey in canada, but we didn't spend all that much on that trip because of the way we travel- we paid for camping every third or fourth night, we mostly cooked our own food (though we wouldn't deny ourselves a hot chocolate and soup when riding through a rainstorm), and we picked tires out of the dealers' trash pile.

zak

We found that most of the Reservations had low-test gas tax-free and filled up there as much as possible.

How about that campground at Meziadin Lake? No phone. No cell service. Wireless internet for $5. :laughing

Tires from the trash pile. Hmmm. Never thought of that one.

 

[slackmeyer]

We found that most of the Reservations had low-test gas tax-free and filled up there as much as possible.

How about that campground at Meziadin Lake? No phone. No cell service. Wireless internet for $5. :laughing

Tires from the trash pile. Hmmm. Never thought of that one.

I didn't think much of that campground. . . . You forgot to mention, the water pump has a "Do Not Drink" sign on it, and they still charge you $19 a night.

We were on a few reservations, and plenty of places that only had regular unleaded- you had to pay tax everywhere we went, unless you had a first nations identity card. We probably weren't out as far as you were, I suppose that's the difference.

We ended up carrying those tires all the way back to washington, waiting for our tires to wear out- I put on the new front tire for the ride back to Berkeley, and we put on the back tire on the LC4 so it would be ready for me to ride down here next weekend.

zak