Chapter 18: The Klondike Highway
Chapter 18: The Klondike Highway
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| July 14 to July 20, Carmacks to Dawson City, Yukon. |
July 14, Monday 50? miles (5281 + ~20 missed) Carmacks to Minto campground
I had my first serious confrontation with mud! It rained more last night and this morning, and several times during the day, turning sections of the road to slippery, sloppy, sticky, messy mud which clung to all parts of the bike, clogging the chain and gears to the point where the chain skipped so much I almost couldn't make the hill I was on. Of course the odometer stopped working; the reason for the uncertain mileage. It rained lightly several times and then poured this evening just before I got to the Minto Campground. The pouring rain was Unicorn Luck - if it hadn't rained so hard I would have just gone on to the Pelly Campground without noticing the front tire, two inches of which had torn away from the bead, saved from a blowout only by the cloth I had wrapped around the tube. That could not have lasted much longer.
I parked under a woodshed and had a bite to eat, and I must have been quite a sight, soaking wet and plastered with mud, because a kind, sweet lady came out of the camper parked nearby and asked if there was absolutely anything she could do for me. She offered some hot water, and I decided that some hot chocolate would sure be nice, so I accepted. It was then that I noticed the tire. To fix it, I put the Sekai 1-1/8 inch inside the Schwinn 1-1/4 inch. I found I didn't have to cut off the beads. I wish I had left them on when I did the back tire. It looks like it may work, but riding will tell.
*You may recall that a month ago in chapter 10, when I was in Montana buying tires, I wrote about my somewhat arbitrary decision to use a narrower tire on the front wheel, and I said that decision would end up being critically important one day for an unforeseeable reason. This is that day. Had I run the same size tires front and back, I would have had the same size spares, and would not have been able to put one tire inside another on each rim. Spoiler alert: this was a genius hack!)
Just as I finished, a man from Germany pulled up on a BMW with sidecar, and we talked for several hours, until he went to bed. I was going to just write in my journal and go to bed also, but the other party camped here - a group of four from Ohio, had invited me to hang out with them, and they seemed like fun folks, so I joined them in sitting around a fire, and I ended up not going to bed until 2:00 AM, by which time it was already starting to get light again - it never did get fully dark. It was a beautiful evening - full sky sunset, and then a bit of fogginess after midnight. Seems like the first clear night in a long time.
I had some more "too long in the rain" feelings today, and a lot of flashbacks to scenes from long ago times when it was raining and I didn't have to worry about it.
July 15, Tuesday: 75 miles (5355) Minto to Moose Creek campground
Long day! The ride itself wouldn't have been bad, but the mice kept me awake last night until 3:00, and I finally just took my bread and granola into the sleeping bag with me, which then made sleeping uncomfortable. I slept fitfully until 8:00, and was riding by 10:00. In Pelly Crossing, I stopped to talk with a couple who were hitchhiking to White Horse. They live in the bush somewhere between Pelly and Dawson I guess. She was a genuine bush woman - veins bulging in her arms, a hunk of rope for a belt, and she carried herself in a way that left no doubt that she was extremely capable. With all her ruggedness and bush sense, she was still unquestionably a woman, and a pretty one at that. She was very friendly - more outgoing than the man she was with. She encouraged me to do the Dempster Highway, and also said that I'd probably never leave Alaska if I spent a winter there.
As I was about to leave town, it started raining, so I pulled my bike into an abandoned motel until it passed. It had been a gorgeous day up to that point, and I knew it would be just a quick shower. Sure enough, the sun came out hotter than ever, so I went to the nearby campground and wrote a letter and hung out with 4 canoeists till the road dried up. There was no happy medium though - soon it was dusty again, and there was more traffic, including an incredible percentage of inconsiderate selfish slobs who just roared past me on the narrow road with no thought to my safety or comfort. I was cursing them at the top of my lungs. Just when I was convinced that there wasn't a decent driver on this whole highway, a little red Mazda pickup drove up from behind, slowed way down, pulled over to the left as far as possible, and passed me as carefully and safely as he could, and even went slowly after he got in front of me, so that he wouldn't raise a cloud of dust. I looked at the license plate and it was too perfect: "Minnesota - the Safe Driver State!" A little while later a guy from British Columbia, (the Reckless Driver Province) stopped and gave me a can of soda which was welcome, as I was low on water.
I'm getting to be quite the tourist attraction. I had my picture taken once or twice yesterday, and 4 times today.
Coming out of Pelly Crossing, I had 27 miles of uphill without any significant downhill. I made it to the Moose Creek Campground, 12 miles past Stewart Crossing, but only by riding till almost midnight.
I went into the cafe at Stewart Crossing to use the bathroom and get some water and when I got back to my bike, I couldn't believe what I saw; in that short time a squirrel had already torn huge holes in both the bread, and the bag of granola that were strapped to the top of my gear. I was furious.
July 16, Wednesday: 79 miles (5434) Moose Creek to Klondike Campground
Well I'm sure getting into Northern Summer Standard Time. I mean, where else can you dawdle around till 4:00 in the afternoon, and still ride 80 miles before it gets dark? I slept late, and then waited for it to stop raining, so it was probably already afternoon before I even got out of the tent. Then I cooked blueberry pancakes. As I was about to pack up a couple on bikes came down the road. I went out to talk with them. They're coming down from Anchorage/Mckinley; almost a reverse of my route, minus the Dempster (if I do it... I'm feeling fairly certain that I will.)
While I was talking to them, a #$&* ground squirrel got into my tent and started tearing up the bread again. I was so mad I wanted to kill the varmint. Then as I was packing up, the bread was sitting on the picnic table not three feet from me and a gray jay hopped up and without a moment's hesitation went straight to the hole the squirrel had made and pecked out a piece of bread before I could even scare him away. That was too much. I wanted to kill every living thing in the Yukon at that point.
The miles seemed to go slowly, and I was riding hard, too. I saw the couple who were hitchhiking in Pelly yesterday. When I got to the campground before Dawson at 12:30 A.M., I ran into one of the four guys from Ohio who I met at Minto Landing two nights ago. I camped in their site.
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| The Klondike River. This photo was taken just minutes before midnight! |
I rode into Dawson, and the first thing I did was get my mail. I got several letters, every one of which was forwarded from at least one earlier place. Nice to get mail!
I checked around town just to be sure there was nowhere I could get tires. I didn't have to check very far - it was a futile quest. Then I found a coin-op place where I could take a shower. I just used cold water so it didn't cost anything. I also washed my helmet and my nylon shirt, so I would have at least one clean thing to wear. I've been rinsing the dust off myself in streams, but the last time I took an actual shower was in Jasper, so I surely did appreciate being clean. While I was there I met a local who has a bike, and asked him about tires, just to spread the word around and check out any possible options. I saw him later in the day and he said he would think about selling the tires off his bike. I putzed around all day, and this evening a couple my age accosted me, asked me The Questions and what I was doing tonight, did I want to lock my bike in their van while we went to see the show at Diamond Tooth Gertie's? That's what we did and we got to Gertie's early and got a table right up front. Soon after that the Ohio 4 came in, with two women who had camped next to them, and they all sat next to us.
The show was OK - a little bit funky, like everything else in Dawson City, but the big moment was when Diamond Tooth Gertie came out, and within the first 10 seconds came right over and looked directly at me - not just a glance, but a lasting eye-to-eye look, so obvious that everyone else in the front row looked at me, and the Ohio 4 kidded me about being Diamond Tooth Buzz the rest of the evening. I almost died - my heart was palpitating!
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| Sadly, I have no photos of Diamond Tooth Gertie flirting with me, but I do have a photo of a very similar incident from many years later, when a "Dance Hall Girl" in a street performance in Jackson Hole picked my 12-year-old son out of the crowd for special attention. Unfortunately, (or fortunately?) he was too young to really appreciate her charms. |
After the first show Andy and Janice and I went back to their van for some supper, and then we went back to Gertie's for the 2nd and 3rd show. We ran into Les, a bush pilot from Anchorage, who Andy and Jan had met along the way. (They came up from California.) He had won some money gambling so he bought us beers and sat with us for the One O'clock show. Then we all went out to a spot he had found along the Klondike River, as it was closer and less crowded than the government campground. Andy and Jan invited me to sleep in the pop-up tent cot in their VW van so I don't have to set up my tent.
July 18, Friday: 4 miles Dawson City
We slept late, (noon?) and then went up to Bonanza Creek to see the gargantuan dredge that they used to use for mining gold. We went back to Dawson and parted. I hung around looking for Al, the guy who might sell me his tires. I waited till 8:30 or so, checked all the bars in town, and finally headed for the campground across the river. I rode around looking for someone I knew, thinking I might find Dave and Duncan, the canoeists. I didn't find them, but halfway around, someone hollered to me, so I hung out with them for a while. They were quite inebriated, and when they invited me for dinner I almost turned them down but then I figured what the heck, and joined them. They bought half a loaf of bread from me for $1.30. They were all going into town afterwards, so I just rode around the campground till I heard some folks singing. I went over and before I could ask, they invited me to join them. They're on a Canadian Adventures bus tour. I got out my flute and played along for a while. Then we started playing games, number games etc. Crazy but fun. Of course I got a crush on half the women there.
July 19, Saturday: 8 miles Dawson City
I puttered the whole day away without leaving the four square block downtown area of Dawson City. I checked for more mail, and got a twice forwarded letter from Dan. Went on a tour of the SS Keno, the last sternwheel paddle steamer to navigate the Yukon River. I also checked out the old post office, and in general just dawdled around. The most important activity was searching for Al, the guy with the possible bike tires, and that was still fruitless - no one had seen him all day. Dave and Duncan the canoeists arrived this afternoon. It's sort of funny - it seems like I know half the people in this town - like Lake Louise only more so.
This evening I went back across the river and set up my tent, right with the tour group this time. I had dinner with them - steak! Oh yeah! We sat around the fire singing and playing instruments for a while and then went into town. We were in the Westminster beer joint till it closed at 11:30, and then since there was such a line at Gertie's, we went to the Eldorado. There I found Dave and Duncan and the four guys I met at Pelly Crossing! Like I said: half the town! After last call there, we went back to Gertie's and this time we got in. It was a lively show, and a packed house. Coming back to camp on the ferry, I met a guy who lives in Fairbanks and got his address so I'll have a place to crash when I get there.
July 20, Sunday: 18 miles (5478) Dawson City
The roar of the tour bus woke me up this morning - they had already completely packed up. I jumped up just in time to say goodbye, and then I was left to the sad, empty campsite and the crystal bright morning sunshine. I wrote, and sat around with two women I invited to share the campsite. They're Pam and Lee Anne and they're hitching from Toronto to Alaska and then down to Mexico.
I went into town and rode around till I finally found Al, but he had decided not to sell the tires. He did help me root around though, and I do mean root! We followed every possible lead. I even went up to the dump to look there. Since the dump is part way up the Dome road, I figured I might as well ride up to the Dome. I didn't know what I was getting into. It was so steep I was very seriously afraid that I would break a crank or the chain. (I had everything on the bike when I did this.) Halfway down the brakes started making noise, so I stopped to check them out. Just for fun I grabbed the wheel to see if the rims were at all warm from so much hard breaking. I burned my hand. I was shocked that the rims could be that hot, and figured I'd better let them cool down or I'd melt the tires.
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| The view of Dawson City from "The Dome," a small peak overlooking the town and the Yukon River. The "Top of the World Highway" to Alaska is visible on the hill across the river. |
I had an appointment with a man in the fire hall to get tires from a bike he was trying to sell, if all else failed. All else had certainly failed, so he drove me to where the bike was, and I took the one good tire off the bike. It was a super cheapo "Golden Boy" $3 special, but I had told him I would give him $10 if the tire was any good, so I did. Ever since I put two tires on each rim, I have been without any spare tire, and the Dempster has a reputation for eating tires, even on cars and trucks.
I went back to the campground, set up, had dinner, and started reorganizing my packing system. It's funny that after 5000 miles there are still improvements to be made. I also whittled a parking brake - my latest invention: a little wooden wedge that will hold the brake lever in place with the brakes applied, so now I can park the bike even on a slope.
The days here have been fun - lots of good company and entertainment, but I'm feeling itchy to be moving again, and tackle the Dempster!
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