Healy, AK: Day trip to the Susitna River

We set out for a day trip along the Denali Highway, a dirt road. The views were great, and included glaciers and a few peaks over 11,000 feet. For those of you who like camping, this is THE road to take--you really can't go wrong here, and we figured you could spend at least a week out here exploring. When we reached the Susitna River, we crossed the wood and metal bridge and took a side road that led up to an old gold mine. The guide book said, "We don't recommend travel on this road beyond one mile," so of course, we had to check it out.

Sometimes, the road was a little under water...

It was a great ride and we returned to our comfy digs at the Denali Bluffs for a hot shower after a full day of exploring.

Odometer: 5775 miles

Healy, AK

We enjoyed a day of relaxation in Healy at Bruce and Roxy's place. I did some laundry and played fetch with their dog, Reno. I am convinced that Mark and Bruce were separated at birth--they are birds of a feather, and joined forces to adjust the valves in Mark's KTM. Later in the afternoon, Roxy took us to the park for a little tour, where we spotted a cariboo!

Reno, the family wonder-dog. Cow dogs are the best!!





Our evening ended with the Fly Denali family (the company Bruce and Rob fly with) at the Salmon Bake, a fabulous restaurant down the road from Healy. I recommend the halibut tacos!!

Odometer: holding steady at 5606 miles

Fairbanks to Healy: OVER THE TOP!

After stopping by Bob's to pick up the stuff we left at his place a few days earlier, we went south on the Parks Highway, which links Fairbanks and Anchorage. Our destination: Healy, AK, which is just outside of Denali National Park. Last spring, I mentioned to a friend, Roxy, that Mark and I would be traveling in Alaska during the summer. She said that she and her family would be in Healy and that we should stop by her place. So we did. And Roxy, her husband Bruce, her daughter-in-law Kim, and her son Rob rolled out the red carpet for us in a huge way!



We showed up at the airport in Healy (Rob and Bruce fly--Bruce has just a little bit of experience in the air--he stopped counting at 22,000 hours--and he taught Rob to fly at age 14) where the family works, and called Roxy. She zipped right up from their place to meet us. As we were waiting, Kim said, "Oh, let's get you on the summit flight at 5 p.m., OK?" My jaw dropped.



We followed Roxy down the road and dropped our motorcycles off. We met Bruce, who asked us how long we were staying. He let us know that he really wanted to get us up to the glacier (his plane has skis on it so he can land there) and also said that he had gotten us a room for two nights at the Denali Bluffs Hotel. Again, my jaw dropped.



But wait, there's more...after our flight, we were invited to a BBQ. Kim had caught a couple of halibut last week and a family friend, Shaw, had just returned from down south with some salmon, which had been swimming the waters of the Kenai peninsula only 24 hours ago.

Here is Rob, pilot extraordinaire. His commentary was phenomenal, and I am convinced that he has ice water running through his veins--the ride was bumpy and he was as cool as a cucumber.

The view from the top of North America. I think Mark and I are still in shock that we actually got to experience this, as I write about it 2 days later.

Later on, we enjoyed great food, excellent company and tales of Alaska!! Below, Bruce works his magic on the grill.

The evening ended with Roxy's homemade apple pie. She is an amazing cook. She and Bruce owned the Big Creek Lodge in Idaho (they joked that it owned them) for 10 years in the 1970's and 1980's. Roxy would regularly make breakfast for 100 people who would fly in to the backcountry airstrip there, so taking care of us was a piece of cake.

Odometer: 5605 miles (plus a ride to 21,000 feet!!)

Galbraith Lake to Fairbanks: Day 3 of the Dalton

Great weather for the final day! We hammered out, just a few super-slippery spots, but no crashes to report!! Here is Mark approaching the Brooks Range from the North. The fires continue to burn around Fairbanks, and at the Yukon River, the visibility was less than a quarter-mile.

We made it!! This is the "after" photo. Our motorcycles need a bath badly, and so do we!

Odometer: 5477 miles

Marion Creek to Deadhorse to Galbraith Lake: Day 2 of the Haul Road

Mother Nature threw us the variety pack of conditions today, ranging from rain, sleet and driving winds to sun. I had a variety pack of impressions of the ride today, ranging from, "Errr, check your joy buzzer at the door, people" to "SPECTACULAR! You've gotta be kidding me". The morning was wet, cold and slippery in places. We climbed to Atigun Pass. It is quite something to see how they threaded the road through the Brooks Range, which is massive. It is the longest East-West range in the world.

On the north side of the Brooks Range, some wonderful things happened. Here, the pipeline utility zone abuts the Arctic National Wildlife Refuge. I was riding along, minding my own business, when a grizzly crossed the road, not 20 yards in front of me. This is the first time I said aloud, "You've gotta be kidding me". There was a car in front of me with two people, and a couple on a motorcycle behind me, so I figured, after assessing the area to see if the bear had any traveling companions, that I could stop. I only had a one-in-five chance of being charged, and my accumulated crust of mud and dust made me decidedly unappetizing, right? I uploaded the papa-large file, so you should be able to click and zoom in on him. I wish I had a video camera, and I wish I were faster with the camera. WOW!!

After watching for several minutes (he ended up running down toward the pipeline), I started my motorcycle up again and headed down the road. About a mile later, I said, "You've gotta be kidding me" again. To my left, a very large gray wolf crossed the road. We stared each other down for about 30 seconds, I went to grab for the camera, and he was gone...WOW!!

I finally caught up with Mark (for those of you who have ridden with him, you know that he is like a rocket-ship). The terrain thereafter flattened out, and we ran into some construction--the road was really torn up and we had to stand up on our motorcycles to negotiate some of the glop. As we approached the end of the road at Deadhorse, the wind started to blow--I was hanging over the side of my bike to keep it upright. There was snow on the Franklin Bluffs to our right. And straight ahead, four motorcycle headlights gleamed in the distance...it was our friends the Mexicans!! We laughed and waved--they had completed a successful trip to Prudhoe Bay and were on their way out.

This is the northern-most gas station in the United States. The gasoline has to be trucked in 400+ miles from Fairbanks...a little ironic, eh?

We did not stick around Deadhorse--it really is just a work camp for the oil industry. On our way back, we had some more rain. I realized that all accounts of the Dalton Highway are true--the road conditions really change hourly. There is nothing predictable about this road.

We camped at Galbraith Lake. It has been the site of quite a bit of archaeological work--apparently, people have been camping here for 12,000 years, since they crossed the Bering Land Bridge.

Odometer: 5114 miles

Fairbanks to Marion Creek, just outside of Coldfoot, AK: Day 1 of the Dalton Highway

We started out of smoky Fairbanks on our trip to the Arctic today. There are quite a few fires burning, so the air quality is not great. We had spoken with lots of folks about this road, the Dalton Highway, and every account was different, ranging from "no problem, perfect conditions" to "nightmare". First, let me say that they use the term "highway" loosely. If a highway is a combination of road surfaces including pavement, chip seal, loose gravel, slippery clay (slighly more grabby than a hockey rink), mud, washboard, and 6 inches of glop, well then, this is a highway. The road was built in the early 1970's in an amazing 7-10 months (depending on the source)--that is pretty incredible--it is about 400 miles long and passes through some unfriendly terrain.

At the start of the Dalton, the road is first remarkable for how steep it is--I am amazed that 18-wheelers can make this trip, and they do it all year round. For some heavy loads, the trip takes over a week. I was also surprised at all of the twists and turns. At the crests of hills, I would count for several seconds as I rode, all the while staring down over the front of my bike, to try to see the road appear in front of me. The road is that steep.

The smoke made things kind of creepy, and the not infrequent roadside memorials did not help. Below is your friendly neighborhood big rig--they own the road.

Here is Mark coming over the enormous Yukon River, with the pipeline on his right.

These guys were on their way back. Their account made me scared--tales of sloppy conditions and tough riding. You can't see it well in the photo, but the gentleman in back was riding a crashed motorcycle--the front of it was all smashed up. It used to be ridden by the front guy's wife, until she went down and headed back to Fairbanks with some bruised ribs. The friend was riding it out for her.

We made it to the Arctic Circle today!!

We gassed up in Coldfoot, Alaska. This is a photo of me before we really started to get covered in dust and mud, sort of a before picture. Coldfoot is the home of the Interagency Arctic Visitor Center, which is full of great educational information about the Arctic--we lingered for a long time at this place, and it is a "must-see" on your way north.

The Marion Creek campground was really nice. We took a little hike in the evening and went to sleep to the sound of rain on our tent...

Odometer: 4730 miles

Fairbanks, AK: Bob is the MAN!

Our quick trip from the campground to Fairbanks was uneventful--the usual morning moose sighting. After some coffee, we headed up the ridge to see Bob, a guy who is the man to see for KTM woes in town. He was the former KTM dealer in Fairbanks for years. His shop was something else...

His business came complete with a vicious guard dog, Frodo. He was easily subdued with belly rubs and ear scratches.

Bob also had a phenomenal collection of vintage BMW's, even one with a sidecar!

Here is a photo of the vicious guard dog, the cat (who performed an 11 point inspection on my motorcycle by climbing all over it) and Bob's daughter.

While Bob and Mark worked on his motorcycle (putting on a new chain and sprocket and other various things), I changed the oil and filter on my motorcycle. Bob was nice enough to offer to keep some of our stuff to lighten our load as we head up the Dalton Highway toward Deadhorse tomorrow, as we will be back in town on our way south in a few days. He got Mark all fixed up and I headed to the Suzuki shop to pick up an extra chain and sprocket for myself. I ran into the four Mexican guys again at the motorcycle shop and they asked me if I had left my husband. I paused and said, "Not yet." We will certainly see them on the road tomorrow.

In short, Bob is an all-around great guy and has the KTM back in tip-top shape. Hooray Bob!!

Odometer: 4461 miles

Congdon Creek to Harding Lake: Alaska!!

We continue to see wildlife daily...moose, bear, and today a huge golden eagle and I rode along together for about a quarter mile in the morning. He was just a few hundred feet beside me--pretty incredible. I'm certain he was admiring my DR, which continues to run like a champ. We had stunning mountain views the entire morning as we skirted the St. Elias range. All along the way, we passed massive culverts, huge bridges and the enormous rivers that they crossed. The frost heaves were big, too. More roller coaster fun!



Just before we got to the border, we met 4 guys from Mexico. They had ridden here from 2 hours outside of Mazatlan, and were headed in the same direction we were. All except one were on BMW GS 1200's. The odd man out was on a KTM 990, Mark's dream bike.

We stopped for a late lunch in Tok, Alaska. As I was pulling away from the gas station, a guy on a DR 650 pulled up behind me. I went over to our lunch spot, parked my motorcycle, turned back to look at the guy, and walked back over to chat with my fellow Suzuki rider. As I looked closer, I saw that he had a puppy...

Meet Ross and "Keet," his new traveling companion that he picked up in Talkeetna. Ross had taught himself to ride a motorcycle one year ago, and now, 10,000 miles later, was on his way back to Philadelphia after a dream trip to the Arctic. He could not resist the pup, and Keet willingly rode on Ross' chest, in a backpack worn backwards. I told Ross to hop to it back to Philly, as Keet was part Mastif and would soon outgrow the backpack.

The rest of the day was fabulous. We finished the Alaska Highway at Delta Junction and started on the Richardson Highway, along the Tanana River. Just down the road, Denali came into view. I was blown away. Lots of hootin' and hollerin' over the autocom.



Stayed at Harding Lake campground, just 44 miles outside of Fairbanks. We had ridden a gorgeous stretch of road over the last couple of days.

Odometer: 4411 miles

Teslin to Congdon Creek on Kluane Lake

In the morning, we had a very pretty ride outside of Teslin to Whitehorse, YT, which was a booming little town. We stopped at their outstanding visitors' center and we also purchased a small grease gun for the bikes--now Mark was unstoppable!! It is important to mention here that his choice of dinner was also purchased in Whitehorse, which included a ribeye steak, and as a predinner snack for him, his favorite, canned herring with tomato sauce.

The ride just got better and better. Just as on Roger's Pass, I could not stop taking photos--it was just amazing. We came right up to the eastern edge of the St. Elias range in Haines Junction, and continued to head north on the Alaska Highway.

This is a local landmark in Haines Junction. The town is great, and there is a little village bakery run by a German gal who makes everything from scratch. They also host a salmon bake every Friday evening. Too bad it wasn't Friday...

In approach to our campground--too bad about the view, eh? The view below I didn't like so much, especially in light of my husband's grocery purchases...

Oh yeah, I would be sleeping soundly tonight...these soapberries were EVERYWHERE!! And then Mark opened his can of herring, and its contents went everywhere the soapberries were not!

I lived through the night to see this view in the morning, with the bear spray in my pocket, of course...

Odometer: 4010 miles

Watson Lake to...Teslin, YT: an itinerary change

Hi everyone. First, sorry about the photos--I know that you used to be able to click on them to make them bigger. I have had to resize the photos because they otherwise take so long to upload to the blog. In so doing, somehow they are getting tweaked so that you can't enlarge them when you view the blog. If anyone has any suggestions regarding how to fix this, send them our direction!!

Well. We had a discussion in Watson Lake about where next to take our dog and pony show. Mark's KTM was an issue--his chain and sprocket were darn near done, and our original plan had been to ride at least 2000 more miles, mostly on dirt, before getting to Fairbanks, where parts were available for him. Rather than run into mechanical problems in the middle of nowhere, we decided to head west, rather than north, to Fairbanks. This was all on the paved Alaska Highway. So we switched our rear tires back to the more street-friendly set up, and had a relatively short, 174 mile trip to a campground outside of Teslin in the Yukon Territory. Here we are, looking calm as we fuel up at the Teslin station. In reality, I kinda needed a beer because i had just ridden across the longest metal grate bridge of my career--hard to keep the ol' DR 650 goin' in a straight line on those things.

Odometer: 3753 miles

Fort Liard to Watson Lake, Yukon Territory

A bit more dirt riding in the morning, after making a rapid escape from mosquito central. Road conditions, again, were sometimes good and sometimes not so good. We finally hit the intersection with the Alaska Highway and headed West. The Milepost has been really helpful along the way (it is a book put out every year about travel in and on the way to Alaska). One ad caught my eye. It claimed that their place was "the cinnamon bun center of the galactic cluster." I had to see for myself. Karen, you can retain your title as the maker of the best cinnamon buns anywhere, ever, and YOUR house is the cinnamon roll center of the galactic cluster, despite what these folks might say! We did enjoy the best split pea soup in the universe, however.
Goodbye, flat tundra, hello (again) Canadian Rockies!

More critters.
And more rain!

Odometer: (big, big, big, big day) 3578 miles

Sambaa Deh Falls to Fort Liard/Hay Lake

Onward we went on the Liard Trail. The going was pretty good at first, but the road sort of deteriorated as we went along. We were VERY glad that we had the knobby tires. No crashes to report, fortunately. In the morning, Mark was involved in a classic standoff: man versus bison. We've seen this so many times before in our madcap world. And we had our first moose sighting!We camped at a place outside of Fort Liard. Nobody was there, as previous visitors had all been devoured by DEET-resistant mosquitoes. Beautiful spot, but we are both now missing several fingers and a pint of blood. Waiting for the symptoms of West Nile Virus to set in...

Odometer: 3163 miles

Yellowknife to Sambaa Deh Falls

Hi there. So, I've looked at your comments and will try to please...Grant, I have been trying to put a map in along the way, but I am lazy! Working with Googlemaps on this tiny netbook is too much of a challenge. I do better with a bigger screen. So, y'all get out your maps and have a look at where we are. And I will try to get more glamour shots in of our motorcycle gang!

We headed back south out of Yellowknife. More bison (this one looked like he was fixin' to cash his chips in sometime soon) and birds, but no bears on the return trip. Did I mention the frost heaves in the road? They are huge, which was actually really fun on a motorcycle. Kind of a roller coaster ride. In a loaded stationwagon, however, picture sparks flying every 50 yards...

We hit the dirt on the other side of the Mackenzie River. This road is called the Liard Trail, and is about 440 kilometers of non-paved, skeleton-jarring action!! We stopped at Sambaa Deh Falls Park to camp. The theme of fluffy, inviting kayaking play wave followed by insane waterfall downriver was repeated here. This particular falls, for those of you familiar with the South Fork of the Payette in Idaho, made Big Falls look like a Class III rapid. We took a hike below the falls to a great fishing spot. Major Arctic Grayling session!! Alert the media--AP has landed a fish.

Odometer: 2891 miles

Yellowknife--for a day or a lifetime!

So, we arrived in Yellowknife and found a great campground. Camping on the tundra can be challenging, but these folks up here have it figured out! We had a great little tent platform. Right as we arrived, a flock of seagulls tried to fly off with our dinner--and we were worried about bears! Seagulls are sort of like goats--they will eat anything. We did not try the bear spray on the seagulls. Our dinner was saved!

I neglected to mention that on our way up the road to Yellowknife, we stopped by a little burn area to see what might be going on in the mushroom world. This year I didn't find a single morel in Idaho. I just had to travel 2500 miles up to the Northwest Territories to find them! Not a bad camping dinner...









In the morning, it was time for motorcycle maintenance. I do not recommend doing any work on your motorcycle in a Wal-Mart parking lot, because everyone within a 400 yard radius will wander by to tell a tale or offer advice, and you may end up staying a fair bit of the day there!! Fortunately, after tightening up one of the bolts on the head, Mark's oil leak problem was solved. The chain continued to be an issue, and we will be picking up a new one and a sprocket in Fairbanks. The wind was really blowing during the oil changing process, making it a little messy. We changed to knobby tires, too, because we'd be hitting the dirt soon.



We explored the town a bit. Yellowknife sort of came to be when gold was discovered here in the 1930's. Recently, diamonds have been found and that is the big deal now. There is an old part of town here that has a little artists' community and a bush pilots' memorial. At the visitors' center, this fish was on the wall. Is was a trout caught in the late 1960's that weighed a whopping 74 1/2 pounds! They estimated that it was 120 years old.

Overall, Yellowknife is a great place--lots of fishing, some art, good restaurants, really nice people. I'd like to come back in the wintertime to see the Northern Lights. Mark would like to come back to be an ice road trucker.

Hay River to Yellowknife: Wildlife!

We left a bug-infested Hay River for greener pastures up north. Stopped at Lady Evelyn Falls.


We took a ferry--and the captain really ferried--across the mighty Mackenzie River. This river freezes over in the winter.



Believe it or not, they are constructing a bridge to cross this river. Not sure how they figured out how to do this, given the fact that the river is frozen solid. Can't imagine that the bridge will be too happy during the ice break-up period in the spring...


We headed north to Yellowknife on the straightest road I have ever traveled. We saw wood bison (there is a large sanctuary on the side of road for about 200 miles), sand hill cranes, and even a baby brown bear. You are going to have to take my word for it; I did not want to stop to take a photo, and I think you might understand why...


Yellowknife is a great town!! We set up camp and planned to spend the next day exploring and doing some not-so-Zen motorcycle maintenance.

Odometer: 2591

Twin Lakes to Hay River, Northwest Territories: paddling anyone?

As we were leaving our campsite, Pete, the campsite manager, came by to chat. He told us that there haven't been many campers recently because of bad weather. Just a month ago, they had a wind and hail storm that destroyed the place. Golfball sized hail does not make for return customers, I guess. Pete suggested we go down the road to the Twin Lakes Lodge for coffee before we set off into the mist. Let me tell you, this "lodge" is a little diamond in the middle of nowhere on the Mackenzie Highway. It was totally unmarked, and the only way you'd know anybody was that there was a tiny "open" sign out front. Their marketing squad isn't too stellar, apparently. Coffee and breakfast were great--homemade bread and the kind company of our hostess, Rosie. They even put out a newsletter called Gone Fishin' to let everyone know what is up in the area. The population is 4.

We made it to the border after riding through fog and blustery winds. I was getting blown all over the road. Had I flown off the highway, i think the landing would have been soft and splashy; the route was plunked down on a marsh for miles and miles...I have no idea how they built this road. Our electric jackets that we wear under our outer coats were essential today, as it was only about 45 degrees.

Oooh, look! A yummy, fluffy playwave, perfect for paddling. Errrr...is that a horizon line I see below?


Oh, yes it is. It is Alexandra Falls on the Hay River. Believe it or not, somebody ran this in 2003 but his sprayskirt blew off and he had to swim, so it didn't "count". Two other fearless young men, one from Montana and one from California, ran this in 2007. Rush Sturges, from California, wound up in the cave behind the falls. Scary, but he made it out OK. The Missoulan, Tyler Bradt, worked all 107 feet of it, setting a world record for the time being. In April of this year, he nailed a 186-footer in Eastern Washington, breaking the existing record of 127 feet.

And Louise Falls is just a few kilometers downriver.

We will be spending the night in Hay River, NWT, on Great Slave Lake. My little DR 650 is running like a top (knock on wood), but Mark is having some excessive chain wear and oil leakage on his KTM. He spent some time working on these issues. Team mechanic, don't fail me now!

Odometer: 2279