Ride To Alaska

[Scratch33]

Posting from Inuvik in the Northwest Territories.

From Fairbanks we rode to Tok again, then Tok we rode the 'Top Of The World Highway' to Dawson-which consisted of about 187 miles of dirt & gravel, with great scenery along the way.  Good practice for the next leg of our trip, the Dempster Highway.  The Dempster is, I think, just about the gnarliest road I've ridden to date. Unpaved as expected; the Milepost states that its condition is "fair to excellent". However, during the warm season the road crews get enthusiastic about laying down as much gravel as they possibly can and they've got about 24 hours of daylight to do it.

We stopped in Eagle Plains night-before-last. The stretch from Dawson City to there, 263 miles, was okay until about 20 klicks outside of Eagle Plains. Then we encountered a stretch of freshly-laid sand & dirt that left me wishing I'd put knobbies on instead of Tourances and left about half my gear at home. We crawled through that for miles, doing about 15 mph, until we arrived at the hotel, checked in, hit the bar and ate, then collapsed.

The hotel at Eagle Plains is also a hub for the road crews and some mineral exploration companies. Lots of heavy equipment, two helipads with choppers landing and taking off about every 20 minutes or so, constant truck traffic. On the way up from Dawson Tam Redfox and I met a group of riders consisting of 3 GL1800's and on K1200LT. Some hours after we arrived these guys pulled up - they'd hit that same bad stretch and two of 'em had laid it down. One guy's nose had a deep gash and he'd bled all over his bike.  We spent some time talking with them, great guys. They had planned to ride all the way to Inuvik but after that episode, and after learning about the road conditions northward, decided to bag it after riding 21 miles further up to the Artic Circle signpost. One guy gave me some postcards to mail from Inuvik if we made it that far.

Second day's ride out we were warned by truckers and road crews about the fresh gravel that awaited us. They weren't kidding - although it was a shorter distance (about 196 miles), it took us almost 12 hours of plowing, skidding and crawling along through 3"-4" of loose gravel, interspersed with softball-sized rocks. The worst stretch was from Fort McPherson to the next ferry crossing; I don't think I got out of 2nd gear the whole way. And of course when the semi's came blowing past, all we could do was inch our way to the roadside and stop until the dust storms abated. Here in Inuvik we've met a good share of BMW GS riders, with knobbies, who were also talking about how challenging the Dempster is right now.  At one point we came upon a poor soul, 'Carl' from Newfoundland in a rented Jeep who'd blown his spare tire after blowing his standard tire. He'd been stuck there for nearly and hour w/o rescue. I needed a break and so did he, so we stopped and I successfully plugged & inflated his tire. Road Karma, ya know.

On the last ferry, we met a really great gal, Julie, who happened to be the Deputy Fire Chief in Inuvik. We talked for a while and she invited us both to visit her at the Fire House and wash our bikes. We did so this morning, spent an hour or so just talking with her, 'Al' the Fire Chief, and whoever else happened by. We also used the hose on our riding gear, which by that time had turned from black to light tan from all the dust and dirt. So far every person we've met have been great. Inuvik especially has people who've been friendly, open, talkative and full of helpful advice.

Well, this is about as far was we can go without a paddle. Time to start heading back I guess.

[ridetherejk]

Can't wait to see some pics. Riding to Prudhoe Bay has been a goal of mine for about 3 years now. Want to do it within 5 years. Have fun, ride smart, and be safe.

[Mrs. DantesDame]

I'd like to do the Prudhoe bay trip in 2008 or 2009.  But I'm not sure my job will afford me the luxury of an entire month off.  My next available window to do this (without possibly quitting my job) is 2011.

A month would be nice, but remember that Zarly and I did it in 18 days.

Scratch - it sounds like you're having a great time! I can't wait to get back up there and check out the roads I missed the first time around! I hope that you're taking lots of pictures... they really help jar the memories later when you look at them. Besides, they're fun to show off to family    

[rc30boy]

I'll be right behind you, I'm headed out for Inuvik tomorrow.  I'll ride up to Seattle from Ashland, and then up through BC to the Yukon and up the Dempster.  My selfish hope is all that gravel will compacted by the time I arrive.  We'll see.  Anyway, congrats on a great ride, and I hope to make it all the way too.  

[rc30boy]

What was the most important piece of equipment you brought?  Did you find that you over packed?  Thanks

[alphabet man]

Wow sounds like a great ride, can't wait for some pictures. IIRC it took us over 3 hours to ride the last 100 km to Eagle plains in the pouring rain, isn't that mud/snot just a ball of fun   Enjoy the rest of the ride and ride safe.
 how does the scenary compare on the Dempster to the run up to Prudhoe Bay?

[Ant]

What was the most important piece of equipment you brought?  Did you find that you over packed?  Thanks

I'm gonna guess it was the bike  
I'm sorry, I'll be good  

Come on guys, get the trip over with and get your asses back so you can post the picks and a full ride report!!
 

[photomd]

That sounds like quite the adventure!  

Now how about some pic's!  

[Redfox]

Well we made it back, depending on whose odo you look at it was something like almost 9k miles. On the return legs we rode the rest of the Alaska hiway and stayed as far north as possible across Canada to avoid the heat, crossing the border at the Rainbow Bridge in Ontario. I'll let Scratch fill in more details when he gets to the computer. We have something like 500 pix and I'll need to spend some time sorting them out. It took a day and a scraper to take the top layers of yuck off the bikes.

[sleazy rider]

 

AND DETAILS!  I'm in the planning stages for '08 or '09, depending on the other guys I ride with.  It will happen before I sell off the GS Adventure.     Sounds like you all had a great trip.  Well, any trip you survive and make it home from is good in my book.  LOL!

[desert_rider]

Sounds like a great time!  I'm planning to do Prudhoe in summer of 08 and after reading you posts I want to leave now!

+1 on the question of gear? What was the one thing you wished you had and what didn't you need?

[Scratch33]

Testing....

[Redfox]

I guess as for gear, we really didn't need the camping gear. We ended up mailing it home after we rode the Dempster. We dont camp on trips and really only brought it along should a bike break down and we became stranded while waiting for a truck ride out. In any event the riding became alot more enjoyable without the extra gear and weight.
I ended up buying extra sweat shirts for warmth and often wore one over my electric vest and under my Killie. Most days started out around 4-8 degrees C and ended up in the mid teens. Fairbanks had a high of around 21 C (which felt like a heat wave) while Prudhoe was just slightly above zero.
The insects are ferocious and on you as soon a you stop, Deet was critical. I'm convinced thats the real reason the Caribou migrate.
After a stop at Engineer Creek along the Dempster I renamed it the "Valley of the Bugs".
A workable cell phone might be a great idea in case you have a bad spill in the soft gravel and need a ride out. The Dempster does have occasional truck traffic if you could manage to make yourself visable along the road after a crash. In many stretches the road is perhaps five meters above the tundra and very crowned. The edge is also quite steep and very soft. The dust clouds are huge and can take a while to settle so I just stopped when a vehicle approached and waited rather than risk riding over the edge in the blinding dust.

[Scratch33]

Ahh.  Finally slogged through the couple hundred unread emails awaiting me yesterday morning.  I'm uploading pics of the trip to Flickr bit by bit.  http://www.flickr.com/photos/37559878@N00/sets/72157600728766526/

What was the most important piece of equipment you brought?

For me I'd say the Kolpin Jr. Fuel Pack, even though I only used it twice.  But it looked good stuck on the back of my pannier; very.... GS-ey....  The most prevalent bikes I saw up there were BMW GS's; followed by VStroms; then Harley's; then KLR's.

Did you find that you over packed?  Thanks

Yes indeed.  As TamRedfox said, we packed along camping gear but didn't have to use it.  And my Mesh gear and Underarmor hot weather shirts got worn one day out of the entire trip.

[toddrod]

thanks for the pics finally!!!

looks like you had a fantastic trip....absolutely fantastic.  

[Scratch33]

What was the one thing you wished you had

More time.

And Popeye's chicken.  I was really jonesing for Popeye's chicken.

[Rincewind]

   Looks like a real good time!   I'll be checking your pics.  

[Capirex]

Nice.  

[Scratch33]

We have something like 500 pix and I'll need to spend some time sorting them out.

Awright Slackergirl - all my pics are up on Flickr.  Time for ya to get crackin' so's we can do some kinda trip report.

[bluepoof]

   Yay! I love Alaska photos.    I really want to get to the NWT someday...