California to Yellowknife, NWT

[jmcgilroy]

My first long trip since purchasing an "almost new" 2012 ST last year. Obviously a BIG upgrade from my GenII KLR. Although the KLR took me to the top of Alaska twice so I can't complain about its capability.



Load up KLR on the Dalton Hwy near the Yukon River Crossing.

The Northwest Territories trip this year totaled about 5500 miles, with the route from California - Nevada - Idaho - Montana - Alberta - NWT - British Columbia - Washington - Oregon and back to California. 15 days total.



My first stop in Canada.

 

[jmcgilroy]

The weather was not my friend on a lot of this trip. A rainy day crossing from Idaho into Montana past Flathead Lake into Kalispell.





Sparwood, Alberta on the Crowsnest Hwy.

 

[jmcgilroy]

The day I crossed into Canada my planned stop was to be around Calgary but I found it to be too early to stop and Calgary is just another one of any large city so I pushed on to Edmonton and found it to be exactly the same with horrible traffic. The farm land to the north was less stressful riding and I settled in for the night in Westlock, Alberta.



Farm land for miles and miles of northern Alberta finally gave way to some forested land.

 

[jmcgilroy]

Westlock to High Level, Alberta was mostly flat and straight but free of traffic and only a few stops for road construction. The temps were cool in the 40's and 50's (F) but no rain today.



The NWT border at 60' north latitude. There is a good visitor's center with hot coffee and friendly hosts.

Yellowknife and the Great Slave Lake is still hours away driving through sparse forest. Much of the forest is recovering from a fire that looks 2-3 years old. The roads were in good repair, zero traffic and some wildlife around most corners.




Most of the critters were camera shy, hundreds of deer, a black bear, a timber wolf all retreated as soon as I slowed. These guys couldn't be bothered. I guess that if you're as big as them, some fool on a motorcycle doesn't worry you. I passed about 40-50 of them between the NWT border and Yellowknife.

 

[jmcgilroy]

I found Yellowknife to be a bit of a disappointment (sorry if I offend any residents) but the capital city of the Yukon, Whitehorse was far nicer. Junk seemed to permeate Yellowknife. Broken down car, campers, boats were front lawn ornaments just about everywhere. Chain link fences kept out a large population of alcohol infused natives. 4x8 sheets of plywood cobbled together by amateur builders was the siding of choice for most homes and most everything in the city was in disarray. I couldn't wait to leave...which I did early the next morning.

Back through the burned forest full of bison, back though the farmland headed for the Canadian Rockies and Jasper National Park. All was clear sailing until I arrived in Hinton, Alberta and got a good look at my rear tire. I had been less than happy with the rate of wear during my morning pre-ride checks. At about 6,000 miles on the tire I was hoping that it would last until at least across the border into Washington. It did not. At 7100 miles, I was down to the cord in several spots. Rain and a hail storm in Hinton was no place to be riding on this tire. This happened to be on a Sunday so I found a motel and started to plan my options. There were two repair shops in Hinton, neither stocked tires. Edson was 50 miles away with two dealers shops. The Yamaha dealer did not have any brand or style tire that would fit. The Honda dealer found a 150/80 -17 in a street tire which would at least get me home. The other options were in Edmonton (200 miles) which would involve renting a car and driving the wheel in and back because I would not have chanced that distance with tire cord hanging out of my tire.

A opted for the Honda dealer in Edson and the street tire and babied the bike in. Once there, and after clearing away about 4 years of dust from the tire it was discovered that this tire was "Front Fitment Only". So I had a choice of selecting a new (but very old) street tire instead of dual-sport Adventure tire, wrong aspect ratio, front only tire or waiting another day for a correct choice. Fortunately, the motel across the street had a good restaurant and a nice pub with 2 very good looking young ladies working behind the bar.

The distributor had a limited amount of tires in stock but had a Bridgestone A -40 in stock and it arrived and mounted up for a departure time of 11:00 AM. I was headed off to Jasper with a new skin.

Jasper National Park, Lake Louise, Banff --- WOW! Whatever disappointment I had in Yellowknife was gone.



Cow elk were all over the place but this guy and his buddy were most impressive.










It was hard to put the camera down.

 

[jmcgilroy]

Leaving the park I took secondary roads into Revelstoke then down Hwy 23 to the ferry crossing on Upper Arrow Lake.





This road and Hwy 6 follows the lake for miles into Castlegar then crossed back into the U.S. to Washington. I tried to stay off the interstates and was successful most of the trip.



I'll end this with a view of Mt Shasta in northern California. The remaining 400 miles were Hwy 5 and mind-numbing tedium.

 

[jmcgilroy]

Well, that's it for this trip. Northwest Territories filled my bucket list as it was the last of the 50 U.S. states, 10 Canadian province and the two territories that you can drive to. (Nunavut will have to wait until they build a road). Until then, I consider that I've been to all of them.

The tire issue was my only real problem and I'm less than happy with Metzler Tourance EXP's. I'm sure that some will say that 7100 miles is normal but I disagree. These were worn out at 6000 miles, only by necessity did I stretch it to 7100 and visible cord. Two years ago I did a 10,000 mile trip to Newfoundland on a DL1000 Vstrom with Bridgestone Battlewings. Those tires lasted the entire trip and then some. I've owned several full dressed Harley's running Dunlops and have always gotten 10-12000 out of the rear tire. Last year I took my current Goldwing from California to Key West, Florida and back, 8000 miles on that trip on Bridgestone Exceda's. There's 10,000 on that tire now and no where near ready to replace it.

The front Metzler has also reached its lifespan at 9100 miles, worn and cupped badly. So I'm done with them!

Now so I don't end with a sour note...at all costs...go to the Canadian Rockies. You owe it to yourself!

Jim

 

[nondairycreamer]

Interesting. Yellowknife, Tourance and pics. Thanks.

 

[Maxified]

Look like a fine excursion. Still have not made it to Yellowknife but it is on my list as well. Sometimes I get a little envious when I read reports & see pics of other folks adventures.

 

[hojo in sc]

Thanks for sharing, I'd love to make the trip. I will make a nice trip later with my wife, but the only way I can get her to go is to let her take the Goldwing...I'm the designated driver ::001::