Need advise on upcoming trip to Alaska!

[Tenerester]

Rode with another Tenere friend from Phoenix June 6, 2015. 8868 miles/21 days....EPIC ride!
I started out with my OE tires on my 2012. Rode to Wallace Idaho to visit a friend on day 3. He made us ride 81 miles on dirtbikes and a quad instead of letting us relax and drink beer on our only 135 mile day. The first 2 were over 600.
My buddy lead most of the way because he had a '14 with cruise control. We developed leaky fork seals from the construction in Canada. Seal saver helped but the leaks never went away. Make sure you get protection before you go. Take the seal saver just in case.
I put on new K60's in Fairbanks. (scheduled stop). My buddy started out with new K60's from Phoenix. He ended up with 10k miles before he changed his rear tire. Neither of our Teneres gave us any problems on the entire trip except the forks seals. We didn't want to camp being our first trip up there and not knowing what to expect. We didn't need reservations but we had them all the way to Deadhorse. We winged it on the way back. Never had a problem finding a room. The cheapest was over a bar in Hyder...$60.
There were lots of places to camp all the way up there. I will camp some on my next trip.
We entered Canada in Idaho at Kingsgate border crossing and went up through Jasper then headed towards Dawson Creek to Mile 1 of the Alaskan Highway (The Alkan) and then on to Fairbanks. Deadhorse is about 500 miles north of Fairbanks. We did it in 2 days not knowing how the road was. We could have done it in just 1 day. The road wasn't like I have heard about it and there was no rain...just construction with wet roads here and there. You can camp at Coldfoot or get a $200+ room with 2 single beds. The grub was good and we had time to go across the street to the visitor's center. We had 12 days of daylight with no sunset. You could ride all night if you had it in you.
On the way back we took the Taylor highway at Tetlin Junction and rode through Chicken and crossed the Yukon river on a ferry to spend the night in Dawson. Most of that is a dirt road. We rode it on the Solstice which was also the ride called "Dust 2 Dawson". Lots of riders on the road then....pretty cool.
From Dawson, we rode the Klondike Highway to Whitehorse and backtracked a little to just before Watson Lake and turned south on the "Cassiar". Like someone else said...go to Hyder AND go a little farther to see the Salmon Glacier. The bears are just past Hyder starting around first of August...YMMV.
After that we just wandered south to cross over into Washington to head home.
There is a book Called "The Milepost". It has all the info you could need. I would buy it again for my next trip. There is also a tear out map in it for route planning.
Don't over pack. Bring rain gear. I had two 1.5 gallon flat gas cans on the back of my Jesse Bags. Might have made it all the way to Deadhorse from Coldfoot, but I don't like running fuel all the way down. Don't pass up an oportunity to buy fuel. Coldfoot only had 87 octane when we were there. Happy trails 8)

Thanks for taking the trouble to write so much. Looks look a ride report. Lost of valuable information. Will definitely invest in a pair of fork savers and sealmate.

 

[colorider]

If you haven't already, I'd recommend browsing through the section on the first Tenere rally up in Whitehorse.

http://www.yamahasupertenere.com/index.php?board=50.0

Quite a few of us continued the trek on north to Deadhorse.

A lot of good info!!

::024::

 

[eemsreno]

Hyder bears

Salmon Glacier

 

[magic]

Sounds like a great trip. There is a lot of good advise here. I would just add that with 4 bikes making the trip you can divide up some of the essential items. There really isn't a need to bring 4 complete tool kits or 4 air compressors for example. Figure out what you really need and split it up between the 4 bikes, but make sure you have the tools to change a tire, like tire irons, something to break the bead and a patch and or plug kit. I like to travel light on my trips. I bring lots of cash and of course your credit card. You can always find a Walmart to buy more tee shirts, sox and underwear. Also, make sure you have a 27mm wrench for the axle nuts on your S10.

 

[Cycledude]

Rode to Prudhoe June 2016, was 9,200+ Miles round trip, gone 22 days and it rained every day, some days it rained all day, had camping gear along but never used it because after riding in so much rain we really prefered a nice dry motel and yes that got expensive ! Took a heated jacket along but never used it, the coldest temperature we saw was 30 degrees on Gunison pass, we were both spinning going up Gunison in the rain but we were lucky enough to make it, from Gunison to Prudhoe the road was very tough going with lots of rain and wind, we had made reservations for a room in Prudhoe $230 a night but that included all the food you could eat and free laundry, we got there about 9pm and there were 2 young ladies checking out, they were riding bicycles to Fairbanks ! They asked if we could haul some of their gear to Coldfoot for them but we said no because we were already overloaded with our own stuff, when we got to our room my buddy says check the weather forecast , well iPad said rain and snow for the next 3 days, next morning yup it's still raining and very windy so my friend is worried we might not make it over Gunison pass so he says let's see what Carlile trucking would charge to haul our bikes to Fairbanks, so we walk over there and ask, $160 per bike wow that sounded great to us ! Then we walk to the airport $350 each so ok it's a deal, the bikes showed up in Fairbanks the next morning just like they told us, it was an extra $500 but in my opinion well worth the money to avoid the possible problems, the next day Prudhoe got 6 inches of snow. On the way up My low fuel light was flashing for about the last 10 miles before prudhoe so i figure i had plenty left but my buddy was riding a 800 GS with only a 4 gallon tank so he had to stop and add extra gas he was carrying before we got there. Bears we saw 12 grizzly,brown and black this time and they were mostly in canada , in 2007 we saw about 30 and on that trip we mostly camped, we had fantastic weather for our 2007 trip. After the early June 2007 trip I thought maybe early June was the ideal time to ride to Alaska but after this trip I think July or august might be a better choice because a lot more of the road construction might be done, we are planning to go again in 2018 but it most likely won't be in June.

 

[sparkyduc]

The Plexus does not take up much room & makes it to where stuff is easier to clean . Sometimes there isn't any water around. I went with 2 others & we shared 1 can.

 

[Tenerester]

Sounds like a great trip. There is a lot of good advise here. I would just add that with 4 bikes making the trip you can divide up some of the essential items. There really isn't a need to bring 4 complete tool kits or 4 air compressors for example. Figure out what you really need and split it up between the 4 bikes, but make sure you have the tools to change a tire, like tire irons, something to break the bead and a patch and or plug kit. I like to travel light on my trips. I bring lots of cash and of course your credit card. You can always find a Walmart to buy more tee shirts, sox and underwear. Also, make sure you have a 27mm wrench for the axle nuts on your S10.

Noted. Thanks. We usually prefer not to be inter-dependent just in case someone has to cut short the trip and return home due to an emergency or is just tired doesn't want to ride further. May need to rethink this though.

The Plexus does not take up much room & makes it to where stuff is easier to clean . Sometimes there isn't any water around. I went with 2 others & we shared 1 can.

Thanks. Will check it out.

 

[Tenerester]

Rode to Prudhoe June 2016, was 9,200+ Miles round trip, gone 22 days and it rained every day, some days it rained all day, had camping gear along but never................ I think July or august might be a better choice because a lot more of the road construction might be done, we are planning to go again in 2018 but it most likely won't be in June.

Thanks. Interesting story, but a bit worrisome. We have pretty much decided in the dates...so only hope we will have your 2007 June weather.

 

[ABBlender]

No point stressing about the weather. Pack for some extremes (bugs/rain/cold/heat) which will allow for enjoyment no matter what happens. I will bet 100% that you will get some awesome weather mixed with some not-so-awesome weather and some days with bugs and days without bugs...it is what it is. Some people also get tied into timelines and take risks in bad weather in order to not fall out of schedule. Allowing reasonable flexibility in your days (and destination) will remove this. To avoid this altogether, best to stay home, buy a prius, and join the metrosexuals at the local hipster coffeeshop where everything is the same and excitement is a new coffee topping.

 

[Cycledude]

Since bugs have been mentioned i have to say the biggest mosquitoes i ever saw in my life were in Canada ! But out of the 2 trips ive made to alaska mosquitoes were only a problem one night, that was on our first trip, they were so big and thick it was almost unbelievable but it was only one night like that so really not that big of a problem.

 

[Checkswrecks]

If riding to Prudhoe, the biggest threat to your safety is YOU. When it is sunny all but for about 2-3 hours/night, it's really hard to stop riding at a reasonable hour when you still have light, find a place to sleep, and get a good night's rest.

 

[bob dirt]

I forgot to mention...you can't ride your bike to the Arctic Ocean. You have to pay for a shuttle. I think it was 50 bucks. You also have to have a background check at least 24 hours in advance. It was well worth doing that.

 

[Tenerester]

No point stressing about the weather. Pack for some extremes (bugs/rain/cold/heat) which will allow for enjoyment no matter what happens. I will bet 100% that you will get some awesome weather mixed with some not-so-awesome weather and some days with bugs and days without bugs...it is what it is. Some people also get tied into timelines and take risks in bad weather in order to not fall out of schedule. Allowing reasonable flexibility in your days (and destination) will remove this. To avoid this altogether, best to stay home, buy a prius, and join the metrosexuals at the local hipster coffeeshop where everything is the same and excitement is a new coffee topping.

Fully agree! I am a firm believer that an adventure is about the journey and not the destination. So will go prepared for all the surprises in store and enjoy every minute of it. Thanks.

 

[Tenerester]

I forgot to mention...you can't ride your bike to the Arctic Ocean. You have to pay for a shuttle. I think it was 50 bucks. You also have to have a background check at least 24 hours in advance. It was well worth doing that.

Heard about the shuttle but not the background check!! Are you serious?

 

[Tenerester]

If riding to Prudhoe, the biggest threat to your safety is YOU. When it is sunny all but for about 2-3 hours/night, it's really hard to stop riding at a reasonable hour when you still have light, find a place to sleep, and get a good night's rest.

Good advise. Thanks.

 

[Checkswrecks]

Heard about the shuttle but not the background check!! Are you serious?

Yes. You are being transported through oil fields which supply the TransAlaska pipeline.


On the up-side, pretty much everybody in modern society has some type of check so often that these are done really fast.

 

[OldRider]

The Dalton changes from day to day. We left Fairbanks at 4:00 am and the road was great all the way to Coldfoot. Just North of CF the weather changed. The fog was heavy and it started raining which called for much lower speeds. The rain didn't last long, but the road was wet for most of the rest of the trip to DH. The trip North took us 13 hours. The next day going South we had bright sunshine and the road was dry all the way back to Fairbanks. It took 11 hours to go South. The Dalton is really a good hard packed road and when it's dry there are a lot of places that you can ride 60-70 mph with no problem, plus there are several stretches of blacktop road too.

The first thing we learned is to watch for a change of color in the road. When a section gets full of potholes the first thing they do is attack it with one of those super graders with the large claws that rip up the road which leaves a surface with a lot of large loose gravel. Next they dump a large berm along the side of the road that is a mixture of sand, chat gravel and calcium chloride. They will take a grader and rake the mixture across the road so now you have a loose surface several inches deep. My first experince with this was at about 50mph and it was all I could do to keep the bike upright. That's when I learned to watch for the color change. The road went from a dull gray to a dark color. After the trucks pack the sand/gravel mixture down, you have a very good hard packed road.

You'll hear a lot of horror stories about the truck traffic. My experence with the trucks was great. The best I remember is that we met about 30 trucks on the way North and 60 or better on the way South. All but two trucks slowed down and moved over as far as they could and we did the same. The two trucks that kept the hammer down were both heading up a steep incline and it was understandable why they didn't slow down.

Over all my experince on the Dalton was great. Every one has different riding skills and being that the road is constantly changing, no one can tell you what your day will be like. My advice is watch for a change in the color of the road and if it's wet, give it a lot of respect. Also I was running TKC 80's which I think helped tame the road. I was glad I wasn't riding on street tires.

One last thing, if the Hot Spot Cafe is still in business make sure and stop in there on the way back. I paid ten bucks for a ham sandwich, but it was the biggest, best ham sandwich I've ever had. They also had Dalton related hats, shirts and stickers.

 

[rem]

Yo, Tenerester ...... please be advised that you are most welcome to stop by the Chateau Rem-o just south of Whitehorse. I am pretty well out in the boonies. I can offer you lots of ground space, maybe some floor space inside, garage with lift and tools, water, shower, cooking facilities, etc. It's a nice spot. Just give me a head's up as to when you might be passing through. Or if you're going to motel it, come on out anyway and service your bike. I'm about 2 miles from the Alaska Highway, and then another two miles from the Yamaha dealer. You boys be careful. Hope to see you. R

 

[Doug C]

Yo, Tenerester ...... please be advised that you are most welcome to stop by the Chateau Rem-o just south of Whitehorse. I am pretty well out in the boonies. I can offer you lots of ground space, maybe some floor space inside, garage with lift and tools, water, shower, cooking facilities, etc. It's a nice spot. Just give me a head's up as to when you might be passing through. Or if you're going to motel it, come on out anyway and service your bike. I'm about 2 miles from the Alaska Highway, and then another two miles from the Yamaha dealer. You boys be careful. Hope to see you. R

::008::

 

[bob dirt]

Another thing you might want to know...While in Canada, watch for little orange cones along the right side of the road. They indicate a problem area such as maybe a frost heave or a big pot hole. Took me a while to figure that out, but finally my common sense kicked in.

AND, when you come up to stopped traffic at a construction zone, move up to the front of the line....that's what you do in Canada while on a bike ::001::