Bike to Alaska

Chapter 16: The Yukon!      July 3, Thursday: 70 miles (4706)  Slow start this morning. I cooked potatoes and pancakes, and got going at 11:00. Very mixed road conditions; mostly not as good as yesterday. Had a few stretches of calcium chlorided road, and one stretch of freshly graded surface, but most of the day it was bumpy, dusty, and lots of loose rocks and gravel. No flat tires, but two broken spokes. There also seemed to be slightly more traffic today, a few more trucks. I had a tremendous 19-mile hill coming up from Stikine Canyon to the top of Gnat Pass. Elevation profile of today's 70 mile ride. The dip is Stikine Canyon, the high point is Gnat Pass. As I was climbing the steepest part, it was sweltering hot, the sun blazing down on my back. Then as I got to the more gradual grades, it started pouring down rain and hail - pea-sized pellets stinging me. It turned the road into a twin river, and I'm sure it was awful for the bike to be ridden through such stuf...

 Chapter 15: The Dirt Road! The start of British Columbia Rte 37, known as the Stewart-Cassiar Highway. The first ten miles were beautiful, brand-new blacktop!   June 28, Saturday: 55 miles (4394) I got a real treat while I was writing this morning; a family of grouse passed right by my tent, apparently completely unaware of my presence. The mother sat nearby, clucking softly, while the 4 chicks walked around picking bugs off the plants around my tent.  In New Hazelton, I caught up with the 5 bikers from Missoula that I had met in Glacier and again in Jasper. It was good to spend a little time with them - I feel better about sharing the same route now. They showed some respect for the distance I've already come, which they didn't much do in our previous meetings. One of them said "He's already gone farther than our whole trip will be!" They were impressed with my modifications to the bike, (bike-stand, extra spokes, tied-together shift cable) and the fact that i...

    Chapter 14: June 20-27 Solid = paved. Yellow dots = gravel.  Red = Al-Can.  Blue = the route that I took. There were (are) two ways to get to Alaska by road: the Alaska/Canada Highway ("Al-Can"), or the Stewart-Cassiar and Campbell-Klondike highways. They were both almost entirely gravel road then, but the Al-Can was more heavily traveled, especially by trucks, so I opted for the longer scenic route. That meant I had a little over 500 miles of pavement left before the real adventure began.   June 20, Friday: 62 miles (3927) "MAIL! Yahoo!  I knew there was a reason things were so screwed up yesterday. I got letters from Kate, Don, Dottie, the Lindvigs in North Dakota, and someone in Havre Montana, the latter two with newspaper clippings about my trip. I met yet another  biker who's going to Alaska, and it turns out he knows one of my friends at the Wilderness School! He's riding fast and hard, so I don't have to worry about catching up with him. Rai...

 Chapter 13  Icefields Parkway to Jasper The road from Banff to Jasper is just insanely spectacular, so more photos than usual...   Just any old view along the parkway! Mount Sarbach and Kaufmann Peaks, Saskatchewan River June 17, Tuesday: 90 miles (3839) Longer day than I wanted, but I had to make Jasper because I was out of food. The weather was the traditional British Columbia mix of gorgeous blue skies...  building clouds,  and lovely "refreshing" precipitation! "I had my most serious rain since Minnesota, and it came at the top of Sunwapta Pass, so it was a cold rain. Even so, it didn't last too long, and I just put on my rain jacket - no chaps, no mittens, though I really could have used the latter if I hadn't been so lazy." It wouldn't be the Icefields Parkway without some icefields. Athabasca Glacier. Some wildflowers and wild life! Back to blue skies and happy clouds. Athabasca River, which goes over...   Athabasca Falls, of course! All thos...

 Chapter 12: North to (not) Alaska (yet)! June 9-14: Glacier National Park to Lake Louise June 11, Wednesday: 78.0 miles (3503.9) "Whew! Another day among days. It feels like I started the third leg of the journey today; I'm heading north, and I'm back in Canada! I entered British Columbia this morning, which also means I'm now in Pacific Standard Time, 3 hours behind Connecticut."  "I was worried that I might not have the required amount of money to enter, but the customs man didn't say anything when I said $600, so I guess that was enough. That was a big relief." The scenery continued to be stunning... I can see why they call it 'Beautiful B.C.'  "My 'Trip Magic' seems to have returned. I stopped at a provincial park, but they were charging $3 a night. I went in anyway, hoping I could get out of it somehow. It was actually a terrible place - the gravel wouldn't take tent stakes, the outhouses were smelly, there was no view,...