Dempster, Dalton, and Denali

[eemsreno]

Yukondood
I think I will have to pass on the winter trip up the Dempster. That would be a whole other world up there at that time of year. It's already a whole other world in the summer. It's the one road I'll never forget.

 

[eemsreno]

Day 7-August 3rd
Eagle Plaines to Tok "Alaska finally "
525 miles

When Eric woke up this morning he said dad did Troy and Scott ever make it in. He must of been tired last night when I told him of their crash. We got an early start leaving Eagle Plaines and the sky was clear and very nice. This is the morning that we rode 165 miles before we even seen another vehicle and ended up only seeing 3 people on the Dempster today, 2 motorcycles and 1 truck.

On the way out it is like being on a whole other road heading in this direction.

Dempster Highway KTM 990

When we put in our extra fuel I forgot and left my tank bag sitting on the back of my bike and when we hit about 70 it flew off and skidded down the Dempster. That was the end of my good water bottle but everything else survived.

Landon was waiting for us in Dawson and we explored the town some and went to the overlook way above the city.

This is one of the gold dredges still in the creek by Dawson.

Then we ferried across the Yukon River and went to the Top of the World highway.

While ferrying across the Yukon I took this picture and it shows the picture Michelle gave me to put on my bike for this trip. I had been wondering why she gave me a picture that was 20 years old and I realized that she doesn't like getting old either.

When we started up to the Top of the World highway Eric noticed an old road bed that looked like the original Top of the World road. We ended up riding that for hours exploring and most of it paralleled the real Top of the World highway.

This cub looks like a pomerainian dog.

You can see the real Top of the World highway far below us.

Lots of wild life. Caribou.

Old mining relics in the area too.

When we finally made it to the Poker Creek border crossing Landon was there waiting for us and a little frustrated in us off gallivanting around all the time. I convinced him that he is going to have to go see things and have fun himself because we can not stop riding these trails, that is what we came up here for.

On the way to Chicken these caribou were running down the road.

In Chicken there is another old dredge to look at.

While at the dredge I got out this pride and joy shirt that I bought for Michelle to show Eric. He said what in the world did you buy that for mom for. I said why. He said did you see the size, it is a 1X. She will think that you think she is huge. While in Inuvik I went in the store and seen the first nice shirt hanging there and bought it for Michelle. I am not a very good shopper and completely forgot to look at the size. I was about to panic on what to do when I figured out that I will just tell everyone that if they see a lady wearing a blue shirt that is way to large for her and everyone thinks her name is Inuvik just say hi, it is probably Michelle.

On the way to Tok Eric and I came screaming up on the back of this truck at about 75 mph. I thought we better not pass so we followed him for about a mile before Eric said just pass him. As I passed I looked the other way so I wouldn't have to read his lips as I went by.

In Tok we stayed at Thompson's Eagle's Claw Motorcycle Park. Lots of motorcycle campers there and a very fun place to stay. This is Donnie. We talked to him most of the evening and his wife of 39 years, Sheryl, passed away the day before he was to leave on this trip. He has been to Yellow Knife, Deadhorse, Inuvik, and is riding nonstop I think just to ease the pain. (Donnie, I hope you get home safe and hope to meet you again some day)
You can see Donnie's trip report here.
http://advrider.com/forums/showthread.php?t=708584

 

[eemsreno]

Day 8 - August 4
Tok to Wiseman
505 miles

As we headed north on highway 2 to Fairbanks off to the west we could see huge mountains and everyone we seen we thought must be Mt. McKinley. I finally asked a lady which one was Mt. McKinley and she kind of laughed and said if you have to ask this question you haven't seen Mt. McKinley. We may not have seen Mt. McKinley but every mountain we seen was very large.

In Fairbanks I sent Eric off to the motorcycle shops while I sat in the McDonalds parking lot and tried to send off the posts at the beginning of this ride report. Eric went first to the KTM, Suzuki, and Yamaha shop. He rode in on a bike that was obviously loaded for the trip of his life time and even looked like a seasoned traveler. When he went into the dealership there was 4 guys watching a dunebuggy video that only glanced his way for a second and no one even bothered talking to him while he was there. When are these shops going to wake up and notice they actually have customers coming in an wanting to talk. It is no wonder everyone up there is riding BMWs. I will guarantee you if you rode into Gina's BMW in Iowa City, Iowa on an adventure bike looking like that she would be out the door so fast wondering where you were from and where you were going and offering you a cup of coffee.

Back at the McDonalds where I was trying to send off the posts and the computer kept restarting, deleting my entry, and just causing general havick, I got so mad that when Eric showed back up we just got on our bikes and took off towards Coldfoot. I was still steaming for about 20 minutes when I realized we had left Fairbanks with about 80 miles on our gas tanks without refueling. We did barely make it to the Yukon River crossing where they sold fuel, but my point is if you have distractions in your life on a trip like this get rid of them before you get hurt. I never did get back on the internet with that computer again.

I think this is called Beaver Slide.

The Yukon River.

The bridge is built on a slant with a wooden floor.

From here to Deadhorse the pipe line is usually pretty close by.

We rode to Wiseman, an old mining camp north of Coldfoot.

Lots of mining equipment still laying around.

Horses can't be tethered or corraled or grizzly bears will get them.

This is the Wiseman post office.

 

[eemsreno]

This looked like a good place to camp.

No better place to camp then with the river 5 feet away, the sound of rushing water all night drowning out the sounds of bears walking by.

 

[eemsreno]

Day 9 - August 5th
Wiseman through Deadhorse back to Coldfoot
503 miles

Getting to Coldfoot is like getting to Eagle Plains,[easy highway]. Past Coldfoot is where the adventure begins. The road turns to a pothole filled mess. Atigun Pass is a must see though. That was the most awesome pass we went over on the trip.

Dalton Highway by Motorcycle

Dalton Highway ,Mud made just for motorcycles, The good stuff!

This shows the mud we play in.

We made it to Deadhorse with some time before our Arctic tour so we ate and looked around for a while.
Our tour was the evening tour and it was a beautiful day out tonight. [ as they say in Deadhorse ]

This guy was from Austria and had this flown to Buenus Aires and is touring all over.

On the tour the guide said these tires are 12 feet tall and are used to move the oil rigs only in the winter and they go 1.5 mph for 30 seconds and have to let them cool down. the oil rigs weigh 350 million pounds.

We seen 3 snowy owls near the Arctic Ocean.

Yes I'm a member of the Polar Bear club now.

We didn't leave Deadhorse until about 9:00 pm and rode back to Coldfoot.

Some of the north slope road is bad.

You can see fresh snow on the mountains.

I thought we would be on top of Atigun Pass at midnight in a blizzard but it just wasn't to be.

We stopped around 2 in the morning to put in the rest of our fuel and when I took off my glasses I seen that I was still wearing my sun glasses. It was still so light out that it didn't make any difference when I put on my regular glasses. We ended up just camping in a field in Coldfoot because the fuel pumps were shut off for the night.

 

[eemsreno]

Day 10 August 6th.
Coldfoot to Gulkana Glacier just north of Paxson
458 miles

We got up late [about 7:00 am] And stopped by the Arctic Circle.

On the way to the Yukon river we stopped by the Hot Spot Café, the best burgers in Alaska! Eric said from now on he will compare all hamburgers to the Hot Spot’s.

They had some good pictures on the wall.

The Yukon river , you can see the angle of the bridge.

Then back in Fairbanks we stopped at Adventure CycleWorks to pick up a spare tire, My Shinko wasn't going to make it all the way home. He is a neet guy. [Dan Armstrong]
We went south on highway 2. On the way we spotted an old road that might have been the old highway, so we rode that.

You can just barely see the real highway 2 down by the river.

It sure snows alot up here for being in August, That's all fresh snow on the mountains.
You need to be very prepared for cold and rainy weather.
I have Yamaha Adventure pants on and a Kilamanjaro coat both are water proof and I would put my rain jacket on too in the worst weather.
We ran heated vest almost all the time once north of the USA border. the only time it was actully warm was near or above the Arctic circle. [24 hour sun ]
The tour guide at Prudhoe Bay told us that the day we were there it was one of the nicest days they had all year.

Then we started looking for a place to camp, We ended up riding up as close as we could get to Gulkana Glacier.

 

[eemsreno]

Day 11 - August 7th
Gulkana Glacier to 45 miles west of Glennallen
485 miles

We woke up to the crappiest day we have had on the trip so far. It started raining when we headed west on the Denali highway, and by the time we got to the pass, about half way up the Denali highway it turned to snow. The snow stayed with us until after we left the Cantwell Cafe.

I have read that the Denali Highway [gravel road] is one of the top 10 prettiest roads in the world, We couldn't see any of it.

When we got to the Cantwell Cafe there was 2 BMW 800s outside covered in snow. Inside 2 German couples were making the motions of being cold. Eric lifted his electric vest cord and clicked his switch on and off a few times at them. They were all speaking in German about it and one guy in broken English said, Electricity for wimps (pause) May I buy it?

Then we headed south and went up to Talkeetna, the best viewing location of Mt. McKinley.

This is probably the closest we got to viewing Mt. McKinley.

So we headed south and started up Hatcher Pass Road. On the way up a moose stuck his head out of the trees and was watching us go by, and I was watching him a little to much and when I looked back up the road had turned to sharply. Instead of going down I headed for the ditch and rode it out. I was fine until I turned around on the bank on the other side and looked back to where I had just come from. When I put my foot down it didn't touch the ground and I fell over.

In this report you have seen the good, the bad, and now you'll see the ugly.

You can tell by this picture that it was a steep down hill ditch that I rode off.

On Hatcher Pass there are lots of side trails to explore, so we took off up what looked like one of the best ones.

There was also old mining relics to look at and cabins.

Then it was back to the Hatcher Pass Road and at the pass was a lot of fresh snow.

Hatcher Pass

When we came down off of Hatcher Pass Eric said, I'm tired, lets head for home. I said, Yahoo!! I'll be riding my Super Tenere in about 1 week.

We pulled off the road 46 miles west of Glennallen and made camp. We forgot to get our shotguns out and put them together and it started raining right when we got in our tents. At about 1:00 in the morning I woke up and thought this is crazy not having a gun so I got up in the rain and got Mr. Hatson out and brought it in to the tent.

 

[eemsreno]

Day 12 - August 8th
West of Glennallen to just east of Haines Junction
501 miles

It started off as our second rainy day. Today wasn't much on picture taking. We mostly just rode.

Riding in the rain you really don't see much and the day went by fast. At about 6:00 pm I looked at my Wee clock and I noticed it said [am] I kept thinking surely it isn't "am" it has to be "pm" by now, we have riden too far today for it to be "am" This went on for 10 minutes then I thought If I don't know for sure if it's "am" or "pm" there is somthing really wrong going on with me. I told Eric we need to start camping earlier and getting more rest. With this much sunlight you can really get messed up on the time of day. Time just starts to lose it's meaning and is more just for reference.

This is Kluane Lake,It was just before here that it quit raining and got nice for the whole rest of the trip. Two half days of rain on the whole trip wasn't bad at all.

At Haines Junction we got some supper then went down the road a bit and went way up in the woods to make camp.

About two months before we left on this trip a guy named Bruce heard that we were going and he would bring me things into work to give me for this trip. He gave me jerky, gum, trail mix and a little flash light for my key chain. Bruce said he coudn't go with us but he wanted to be a part of our trip. Bruce was the only person to give me anything for this trip. Kindness like that did not go unnoticed Bruce.

I hope you like red hats Bruce. Thank You.

 

[eemsreno]

Day 13 - August 9th
East of Haines Junction to Dease Lake
502 miles

When we got up this morning the sky had cleared and we seen beautiful mountains from our camp that we couldn't see when we camped.

We stopped by the Yamaha shop when they opened in Whitehorse.

Guess who road up, none other than Pat. He must ride a lot.

When we stopped for fuel the owner said we could wash our bikes for free. now this is how I like to wash my bike, when he seen me take this picture he made me finish washing it.

We turned down the Cassiar Highway

This is Boya Lake. We decided to go for a swim.

There is some gravel on the Cassiar but it's fine, hard pack, nothing that would slow down any touring bike.

At Jade City I really wanted to get Michelle something but it was way out of my price range, I thought besides I got her that nice blue shirt anyway.

We stopped for the night at Dease Lake and set up camp right by the water. No one around.

This far north you have to get used to sleeping with it light out or you would only sleep for a couple hours.

I bet these feet stink!

 

[jajpko]

Great ride report. ::012:: Hope I can do the same soon.

P.S.. What seat cushion are you using? Kinda looks like a boat, throw cushion..

 

[eemsreno]

On the next day we have a close encounter so stay tuned.

This was taken with a pocket camera

 

[eemsreno]

Great ride report. ::012:: Hope I can do the same soon.

P.S.. What seat cushion are you using? Kinda looks like a boat, throw cushion..

That was a Menards knee cushion that Michelle got me the day before we left. It was a butt saver!!!!

 

[eemsreno]

Day 14 - August 10th
Dease Lake to Kiltwanga
482 miles

It was beautiful start to the day today, but Eric's bike thermometer said it was 32 degrees for the first hour of riding. The Cassiar highway is more scenic than the Alaskan highway. You just have to watch out for all the bears along the road.

Then we turned off on the Stewart and Hyder road.

This is at the turn off to Hyder.

This mother bear was grazing on clover tops and when Eric pulled up beside her the weeds behind her starting shaking and jumping all around, she whipped her head around and stares and the weeds got real quite again. I think she just told her cubs to shut up and be still.

This mountain looked like it had the glacier on the very top of it

This is Bear Glacier.

This is the town of Hyder. It was one of our favorite places.

We rode through Hyder to the end of the road to the Salmon Glacier.

The whole canyon along the Salmon River is just beautiful.

Then on the way back down to Hyder we noticed some jeep trails heading up into the mountains so we rode them.

We were way above the Salmon Glacier.

Close to Hyder there is a creek coming off of the Portland Canal that had the salmon spawning.

This is what brought the bears to the creek.

When this big guy came all the other bears wouldn't get in the water.

These two had to wait until he had his fill.

The big guy moseying down the river out of sight.

Back in Hyder we went to The Bus for fresh halibut. This is a must stop place.

We rode out on the causeway.

There is no gas stations in Hyder so when we left we stopped in Stewart and their gas station was closed for the evening. We left town with 167 miles on our tanks. (not a good idea) We rode south on the Cassiar and made it to Gitanyow way after dark and their gas station was still open. We had almost 300 miles on our tanks using our spare fuel. Behind the pump we could see a slide and a swing so when I went in to pay for the fuel I asked the lady if we could just set our tents up in the park. She said in what park. I said it looks like there is a city park behind the gas pump and surely no one would care if we camped there tonight. She said you can sure camp there if you want but I wouldn't. The river runs on the other side of that park and we have 3 griz and 3 blacks. She told me down the road 15 miles at Kiltwanga they have a city park they let you camp in for free, and I said great they only have 2 griz and 2 blacks. Eric wanted to camp behind the pump anyway but I insisted we go on down the road.

In Kiltwanga it was to dark to find the city park so we just seen a vacant field and camped there. I just threw my tarp on the ground and slept on it. In the morning when we got up and got up on our bikes and pulled up onto the road there was a big blackie grazing in the ditch.

 

[troll]

Great ride report Steve, you fellows really got an adventure of a life-time with this ride... ::017::

 

[eemsreno]

Great ride report Steve, you fellows really got an adventure of a life-time with this ride... ::017::

Thank's Troll it was a great trip!!

 

[jajpko]

It just keeps getting better and better! Great pics. ::012::

 

[eemsreno]

Day 15 - August 11th
Kiltwanga to 100 Mile House
536 miles

After being in Hyder the day before. It was so beautiful I didn't even take a picture the next day. We ended up camping up in the woods south of Horse Lake.

Day 16 - August 12th
100 mile House to Thompson Falls, Montana
616 miles

I tried to get back into the swing of taking more pictures today. It's plenty pretty in southern Canada but after Hyder everything is just so,so.

We dropped out of Canada into Washington St. and rode through the north east area.

That night we camped in a city park in Thompsons Falls and three bucks were watching us, I guess that is better that three griz.

 

[eemsreno]

Day 17 - August 13th
Thompson Falls, Montana to10 miles east of Buffalo, Wyoming
507 miles

We got on interstate 90 in Montana but couldn't stand it for very long, so we dropped down into Wyoming to ride over the Bighorn Mountains.

Eric got tired and wanted to sleep for a while so I changed to my new rear tire. I was hoping the Shinko would get me home so I could save this Heidenau for my Tenere.

We got off of Alternate 14 in the Bighorns and went up the old Alternate 14 highway and hiked into a water fall.

Looking west from the water fall out over the prairie.

That night we just pulled off of Interstate 90 on a gravel road and camped in the prairie east of Buffalo.

This is the last picture I took on the trip. The next day was just riding hard to get home. We went through Sturgis the day the rally ended and passed thousands of Harleys on the way to Sioux Falls.

Day 18 - August 14th
Buffalo, Wyoming to Batavia, Iowa
950 miles

I did save the very best picture for last. Are you ready for this.

 

[eemsreno]

Thank you all for reading. I will be putting up a few more pictures of some good ones I missed putting up the story. And if Troy ever gets his camera back and I get his pictures I'll put up some of his. He lost his camera in a taxi in Vancouver when he was trying to get home.
Steve

 

[Buckeye56]

Wow, what an adventure! I rode to Hyder twice. While it is beautiful, I cannot imagine living there. But I bet the folks that do cannot imagine living in Ohio! Anyway, thanks for posting your trip, I really enjoyed reading it, it brought back some great memories!