Server is finally back up!

UPDATE: July 19, 2010: I am back from Spokane Raceway and will resume updating both Journal Entries and Pictures. I’ve found that processing and sorting through all of the pictures is taking a lot longer than I anticipated.

Hope to get all of the Journal Entries up to 9 updated with pictures, and then post the rest of the Journal Entries.

UPDATE: July 16, 2010: I have up to Day 9 currently posted. I am going to work on going through pictures to add to each of the entries.  I realized I’m going to get way to far ahead of myself if I keep posting Journal entries without pictures.
I took nearly 3000 pictures, so I need to start at Day 1 (Which is the easiest day) and sort through them to find pictures I want to add to each post as I read through them and match them up with the area’s.

I’ll be gone this afternoon through Sunday Night without internet, so I hope to get all of them posted up before the I head out for the weekend. We’ll see.

UPDATE: July 20, 2010: I have pictures now posted in each journal entry up to Day 9!  I will be working on getting the rest of my Journal Entries up over the next day.

UPDATE: July 23, 2010: All Journal Entries are up to date! Enjoy! Note: All entries are post dated to the appropriate day.

Day 20

I woke this morning just before 6. I didn’t sleep to well last night due to anticipation of getting home today.

I was quickly packed, mainly due to me preparing the night before by packing almost everything up minus the items needed for the tent and to sleep.

I made my way out of the park just before 7am and made my way into Quesnel.

Passing through Quesnel, I topped off my gas tank, and noticed a Denny’s.

Knowing I had a long day ahead of me, I decided to stop in and grab some breakfast.

My waitress inquired about where I was heading to, and I said home to Seattle. She said I had a long day ahead of me, and she moved my order up so that I could get out quickly.

I ate quickly and left her a good sized tip equal to the cost of my meal for her generosity (Still have a ton of loonies and twonies on me).

Soon after I was on my way.

And on my way I was.

I didn’t stop. I rode like mad for hours straight, only stopping for gas, but never leaving the seat of my motorcycle.

Construction seemed to plaque 97 where they were widening it.

Eventually I hit Cache Creek and was headed down Canada 1.

Now, while the Fraiser River Valley is beautiful, and I really enjoyed the ride through this whole section of road, OMG Canada!

Road Construction seemed to plague this section of highway every 5 miles! This wouldn’t be too bad, except for the truck traffic, and the slow slow moving of said trucks up the hills!

I passed where I could, and continued on as the day heated up.

Eventually I made it to Hope, where Canada 1 meets with Canada 5 and headed towards Abbotsford.

Once in Abbortsford, I followed the signs to the border crossing and soon was at the Canada/US Border.

The line was short, and the wait was short as well. Within 10 minutes I was up to the border and greeted by a Fellow American.

He asked the standard questions of where I went, what I had on me, yade yade. I answered them, and he soon let me on my way.

I pointed my direction toward Bellingham, and not long after I was on I5 heading south.

Just 90 miles and my trip would be complete.

As I was heading down I5, I decided I should pull into a rest stop, and take a brake.

There, I took a brake, called my parents to let them know I was state side, and had a couple pieces of Jerky while resting under the shade of a tree.

After about 20 minutes, I hopped back on and headed south, my last big push of Highway in front of me.

The time seemed to fly by. Soon I was passing Everett and on 405 I headed.

Coming into Bellevue, I sighed a sigh of relief.

I was finally back.

Now… Most people would most likely rush home.

Not me…

As I got on to the 520, I took the first exit, and up the road a bit to Eastside Motosports.

I needed to order a brake line, and no, it could not wait!

With that, I pulled in, and was greeted by the staff.

I hung out for awhile then made the last couple mile ride home to be greeted by a dead web server, and 3 weeks of amazing memories and a shower.

I’ve looked into why the webserver is dead.

It comes up for a bit, but then goes back down. I think it may be a bad hard drive. I’ll look more into it in the morning.

Right now, I just want to go get some dinner at Yummy Teriyaki and some rest.

Until Next Time…

It wasn't long before the mountains towering above me, moved into the distance

Day 19

I awoke this morning around 2:30 to see complete darkness for the first time in several weeks.

This actually made me rather happy, as I was able to fall back asleep rather quickly.

I awoke later around 6am. I sat there in my tent thinking of the last couple of weeks and what may plans would be.

I had originally intended to be home around Thursday or Friday, but with making up more distance the day before, due to not exploring Telegraph Creek or the abandoned town of Cassiar, I was much further down the Cassiar than I had originally planned.

I got up and took a shower, and went back to my camp to start packing.

I thought about maybe heading over to Hyder, but after a bit, I realized that what I really wanted to do now, was just start heading home. I’m close enough home, that I figure I can take a few days and explore this area some more being that I live so close to the Canadian Border.

So with that, and being all packed up, I finally set out.

The morning was a bit chilly, which I noticed when I woke up.

Leaving Bell II Lodge, I crossed over the Bell River (Crossing #2 of 2) and made my way down the highway.

As I rode along I stopped a couple times and snapped some pictures and eventually crossed over the Bell #1 crossing.

It wasn’t long before the scenery started to change. The mountains that once surrounded me, were now receding further into the distance.

Wooden Decked Bridges such as this, are common on Highway 37

Further down the road I crossed over the Nass River, took some photo’s and pushed onward.

Eventually in Kitwanga, I fueled up and had some lunch at the gas station on the Junction of Highway 37 and Highway 16.

The little restaurant inside was not bad.

I ordered fish and chips and was surprised that it also came with fresh made soup, a decent side saled, and a bowl of coleslaw.

Only wanting the Fish and Chips, and to be on my way, I ate quickly, and soon left heading East on Highway 16. A highway I had been on just a couple weeks back when I set off from Jasper to the Junction to Highway 40 to Grande Cache.

I decided that I would push on to Prince George and make my decision how far South I would continue.

Most of the rest of the day was spent riding along, and stopping only at the road construction area’s.

Fueling up in Burns Lake, I pushed on through to Prince George to hit Highway 97 South.

After fueling up outside of Prince George once on Highway 97, and taking some time to rest a bit while eating some Jerky and a Cliffbar, I looked over my map on where I would plan to stop for the night.

Noticing that Quesnel was not too far South of Prince George, and being that I was back where the sun set, I decided that would make a great place to stop, as I noted the Campground just outside of town on the map.

I put my mind on auto pilot and continued to ride south, eventually reaching Quesnel and setting up camp at 10 Mile Lake Provincial Park.

10 Mile was a bit different then the other parks I have stayed at in the past. Instead of dropping off your payment to be collected, the Park Host drives around and takes your payment from you.

I was greeted by the park host about an hour after I had arrived, with camp already set up.

Looking Down The Nass River

The host was a sweet young lady, and she was more than happy to take my handful of looney’s, as she said she could always use the small change to break the larger bills people pay with.

With that, I paid her, and she asked if I minded taking a survey. It was hard to resist, and I did, and eventually she took her leave and I decided to sit down and make dinner for the night of Biscuits and Gravy.

After dinner, I went over my map, and calculated my route home.

490 miles to Seattle, I decided that I could easily do that the next day.
I figure if I made it out of the camp around 7, I would be able to make it home around 5 or 6, depending on construction, traffic, and the border crossing.

I mentally made notes of my route, heading to Cache Creek, hitting Canada 1, down to Hope and across to Abbotsford before crossing back into my home State of Washington in Sumas.

Thinking about it as I write, I am looking forward to finally being home. I could definitely spend more time riding around and camping, but being this close to home, all I can think about right now is my own bed.

Speaking of bed, the sun has set, and it probably would be a good idea for me to get some rest.

A small lake not far down from Jct 37 on the Cassiar Highway

Day 18

Woke up around 5am this morning not feeling well, so instead of getting up to start packing, I decided to sleep a bit longer.

Finally rolled out around 8, and took a shower, still feeling a bit under, the shower helped a little, but my head still bothered me, so I took a couple ibuprofen.

First thing, I checked the JB Weld to make sure it set up overnight. It seemed to have, so I went ahead and checked my brake fluid level.

I still had “some” Fluid in the reservoir. Not much, but I bled the brakes a bit, and got some pressure.

Good enough.

I then packed up camp, and headed out down 37, the Stewart Cassiar Highway around 10am.

Not but a couple miles down the road, I saw a sign greeting me to British Columbia. Passing the sign, I noticed on the left hand side, a small bear hanging out, eating roadside vegetation. I stopped to turn around, in hopes to get a quick picture, but it decided to wonder off into the woods.

The start of the highway reminded me much of what I’ve traveled much of my trip, but soon after, the mountains begun to rise around me, and more and more rivers and streams appeared. Little ponds and lakes seemed to pop up as often as the tree’s themselves.

I rode on a bit, stopping a few times for some pictures, before finally coming to Dease Lake. I’d heard about Mamma Z’s cafe here for some time, and wanted to stop in and grab some breakfast.

A quick stop in Jade City to buy some trinkets

After fueling up, I rode down the road. There I found the cafe, closed.

It was a shame to see, as I heard such great reviews of the place, specifically their cinnamon rolls.

Disappointed, I continued down the road

Not far out of Dease Lake, I came to the Gravel Section that everyone had been talking about that I heard from travelers that had brought 37 up to the Alaska Highway.

First thing I noticed, is it wasn’t bad at all. Very smooth, hard packed, and they had construction going on in what looks to be preparation to surface this section of road.

I used my rear brake lightly, the JB Weld job I did seemed to hold up, as I continued to use it lightly, mainly for stability in the corners.

As I came to the end of the gravel stretch, I knew I was through the worst of my journey home from this point forward(if you could call it that, it wasn’t bad at all. I’ve now learned that what may be terrible for people who grew up on tarmac their whole lives, is just another day for a farm boy).

I continued on, and finally made it to Tatogga Lodge.

This is another place I’ve heard about many of times, that they have the best hamburger in Canada.

I stopped in, and they were open, yet extremely vacant of any travelers.

I was greeted by a young women and her sister. After a few minutes of sitting around, I realized the lodge was ran by a Mother and her two daughters.

I ordered up the tatogga burger, a ½ pound double patty burger with cheese, bacon, and it also comes with mushrooms, but I don’t like mushrooms.

Highway 37 offers some breathtaking views

After ordering it, I noticed the young women in the kitchen, patting out each patty.

Made from fresh ground beef, I was looking forward to this burger.

When it finally came, I also took notice of the extremely large pile of fries. Much more than you get at most other places.

I loaded up my burger with some ketchup and mustard before finally biting in.

The burger was fantastic.

Cooked through, juicy, and tasty.

The bacon was thick cut strips of smoked bacon, cooked not too crispy as to give it some density to stay in once piece while biting through.

Although a bit on the upper end of what I’d pay for a burger (Bill came to 15.40 with coffee), it was well worth it in many ways.

I finally got dressed back up in my gear, with my full belly, and set out.

I came across several places that I wanted to take pictures. Many of which were just beautiful views of the mountains and river. However, their was not much shoulder to pull off on so I waited for a pullout in hopes to find one that offered a great view.

Finally I found one such pullout, and pulled off. I took a few pictures, and continued on down the long stretch of highway ahead of me.

It wasn’t long when I came to a hill that offered another great picture opportunity, as I was going down it, I noticed a turnout and the mountains behind. I pulled on my front brake, and slammed on my rear forgetting the delicate nature of the brake line. The rear gave a bit, then nothing. After finally stopped, I looked at my brake line and it had served all it could serve.

The view from my camp spot at Bell II Lodge

For the most part, I am happy that it lasted that long. I wasn’t really expecting it to work at all. But it performed its duty for the most needed section. From here on out, I would need to just take it easy, and plan my stops well in advance.

A couple spots I tried to stop quickly, the front brake just doesn’t have the ability. They quickly heat up, loosing much breaking power, and with the combined downshifts, makes for extremely long stopping distances. I continued to ride on, stopping several times, taking photo’s here and there, and just admiring the whole of this route. Next to the Brooks range, this ranks up there with shear beauty.

As I finally came into Bell II Lodge for fuel and to camp, I reflected on the day. There was much out here, but the traffic was extremely light.

I wonder why more people do not take this route. Either toor from the Alaska Highway.

I thought about it, the towns, and the people along the way, and I will save my thoughts for a separate article. But for right now, as I am halfway down the highway, I can’t imagine a more pristine piece of area than this.

Crossing back over the Continental Divide

Day 17

Slept really well, and woke up just after 7.

For the hell of it, I decided to take another shower. It felt good the night before, and the warmth of the water will help me wake up, and energize me for the day to come.

I packed up, and finally got out around 10:30. I’m in no rush today, as it’s a pretty short jaunt from Whitehorse to Junction 37 where I plan to camp for the night.

All packed up, I pull next door to the fuel station and fuel up before heading out of Whitehorse.

Not long after leaving out of Whitehorse, I hit some rain. Nothing terrible, but today I’m a bit more prepared.

I checked the weather, it says 20% everywhere. I learned my lesson yesterday, so today I am not just wearing my comfy warm gloves, but I am also sporting a full cold gear under armor.

Even though my jacket works exceptionally well (I have yet to get any water on me), without the liner in it, the water sucks your body heat away pretty fast, so wearing some extra layers will help prevent that.

I ride straight to Teslin, where I stop for fuel and decide to get some breakfast.

Forgetting the last time coming through, that they don’t serve breakfast all day, I settle for a terrible bacon cheeseburger.
It was dry, tasteless, and overall just terrible.

After my meal, I push on to Junction 37.

In and out of rain most of the way (See, 20% is pretty close to 100%), I finally stop at the Continental Divide. I wanted to stop my last time through here, but the rain prevented it. This time, I was in a dry pocket, and took the opportunity to snap a few photo’s of the sign.

Safety Wire and JB Weld is the new Duct Tape and Zip Ties!

Back on the road, it was a quick ride to Junction 37, where I finally ran out of the rain about 10 miles before.

Once fueled up, and tent spot paid for, and made my way to my spot and quickly setup my tent, knowing the rain would most likely make its way here.

Not 5 minutes after setting up my tent, the wind and the rain came.

The rain lasted maybe 5 minutes. The wind never stopped.

I decided to look my bike over again for anything out of the ordinary.

I had noticed the night before, that the kickstand was a bit wet, but shrugged it off, thinking it was just water.

Noticing that my kickstand was wet in the same spot again, I began to worry.

I got down to see if it was gas leaking on it. It wasn’t, but had a bit different odor, that of battery acid.

Again my heart sunk. Did I manage to crack my battery?

I pulled the side cover and battery cover, and was relieved to find out that my battery was fine. What I saw was from the battery, but the drop tube had come off, so the boil over was seeping down the cover and dripping on the kickstand.

I put the down tube back on the battery, and hosed it off.
Next I decided to see if I couldn’t come up with some clever way to attach my brake line.

I went through my supplies and got out the JB Weld, and some safety wire.

Using the safety wire to firmly keep the hose aligned on the break, I applied JB Weld around the area.

Letting it sit until firm, I removed the brake line from the caliper, and applied another layer of JB Weld followed by coiling more safety wire around the length of the area,with another layer of JB Weld.

It doesn’t look pretty, but I’m hoping it holds. In testing it later on in the evening with what little fluid was left in the line, the fluid flowed fine through it. I will need to locate some brake fluid on the Cassiar, I’m hoping that Dease Lake will have some at the service Station.

After fidgeting with my brakes I went to the store, and made a call to my parents to say “hey”, and pondered on whether I should wait for the wind to stop, or just walk across the road to the Cafe and grab some dinner.

I inquired to the store clerk if the Cafe was good and when it closed. He said it is good food, home cooked, fresh bread, and they close at 8.

With that, I walked across and ordered a bacon cheeseburger.

Unlike Teslin, this burger was excellent.

Fresh pounded patty, 2 pieces of cheese, thick cut slices of bacon, all piled on a home made bun.

I finished up my dinner, walked back to camp, and planned out the rest of my trip.

I’m thinking of pushing on to Bell II Lodge tomorrow, and camping there instead of in Dease Lake. I want to explore the abandoned town of Cassiar, as well as Telegraph Creek, but without knowing how the rear brake will hold up, I’m going to have to save those two spots for another adventure.

Breakfast at Momma Z’s in Dease Lake, a Tatoga Burger in Tatoga for lunch, and then I’ll cook dinner if the wind cooperates. I just do not feel like having to cook in my vestibule with my wind blocker around my stove.

Tuesday, I hope to push on to Kitwanga, then Wednesday to Williams Lake or Cache Creek.

Thursday is my planned return to home, and the end of this trip.

As much as I have enjoyed every bit of this trip, I am really looking forward to getting home, seeing familiar faces, and sleeping in my own bed.

This Two Brothers Exhaust just never had a chance against the Dalton Highway

Day 16

First off, I’m going to start off by saying “F The Weather”.

Hit rain just outside of Tok. Not bad, just enough to switch from summer gloves to my Warm and Safe for the added comfort and the little squeegee.

Then outside of Tok, it cleared up.

Then, about 10 miles before the border, WAM, worst rain I have ever been in.

Almost couldn’t see, water was running down the road like a river, and the wind was blowing so hard it was blowing the water UP HILL!

Then, to top it all off, there was some serious lightning going on.

Ok! That’s off my mind!

Slept in, no need to wake up, need to hit up Shawn and Dan at Adventure Cycle Works at 10.

Get up, get ready, packed, and head off.

Finally get my exhaust, put it on, and while taking off the old one, I got to finally see the abuse it took from the Dalton and other various roads.

There is nothing left. Chunks missing out of it, all the screws missing. If it wasn’t for the bracket, it would have fallen off. I’m guessing any much more of the Dalton, and it would have fallen off, as a crack almost encircles the whole thing.

I say my goodbyes to Geoff, he continues to makes fun of my over packing

With new exhaust on, I say my goodbyes to Geoff.

It really was a pleasure to ride with him the last week and a half, and I hope to meet up with him in his travels again, before he sets off home in 10 months.

I make my way out, and eventually hit the Alaska Highway, heading South.

I cruise at a comfortable speed, eventually getting to Delta Junction for some gas.

While at Delta, I figured I better lube my chain, since the night before we washed our bikes off, to get the calcium chloride off.

After lubing the chain, I checked my oil. It was a bit low, so I decided to fill it up some.

I just finished topping it off, put the cap back on, pulled the bike up to check the level one last time, and the bike came up… And continued to come over.

Jumping back, I let the bike fall, as I would rather it fall on the ground, than on me.

I quickly jumped up, and started to pull it up.

2 guys came running over asking if I needed help, but I already had a firm grip, and the bike was heading on its way up, and I told them I had it.

After dusting myself off, and my pride, I jumped on, and rode away towards Tok, my next stop.

Just outside of Tok, I hit some rain, so put on my warm and safe gloves.
In Tok, I fueled up, took a quick break to eat a couple pieces of jerky, and a cliff bar, and set off for the border.

That’s when I ran into hell. The storm was amazing though just in shear size. I rode in it for over 30 miles between the time I hit it, to the time I passed the Canadian Customs.

When I pulled up at customs, the rain was still coming down hard. I pulled my helmet off, handed over my passport, the lady asked a couple questions “Where you heading to, how long you plan on staying in Canada, yade yade”.

I answered I was heading home from a trip to Prudhoe Bay, and that I only planned on being in Canada for 5 to 7 days on my way home.

She looked at me, and told me to pull off into the covered area.

Damn, I’m going to be searched.

Not that I have anything illegal or whatnot on me. I pull over into the covered area, and start unlocking my boxes.

She walks out, hands me my passport, looks at me, and says “It looked like you needed a break from the weather. Your good to go, but the rain should let up soon”.

It was nice of her to have me pull over into the inspection bay. I waited about 15 minutes until the rain let up some, and then took off to Beaver Creek for fuel.

I fueled up in Beaver Creek, where a Harley Rider came over to ask if I had any Alcohol on me. Odd question, and I know he saw the bewilderment on my face, cause he then said “Oh, I mean for my gas tank, I think I got water in my fuel, and I cannot keep my bike running”. I responded I didn’t have any, and he told me not the fuel up at the gas station at the other end of town.

I left, heading towards Whitehorse.

Rear brakes work best when the lines are one piece

It was along this stretch of road, that I finally found out what Gus was talking about when he was telling me about the “Terrible Frost Heaves”.

This stretch of road is relentless.

Frost heave after frost heave, dips, cracks, holes, you name it.

I finally thought I was out of it, sped back up, came over a rise, and BAM. Hit a heave sharply at speed going downhill.

The KLR lifted from the ground, and for a moment, that pig flew. But without wings, it came down hard.

I shook it off, and decided to pull off the side of the road to make sure everything was ok.

As I pulled off into the gravel, I applied a little rear brake.

Nothing…

The pedal went all the way down without any resistance.

I down shifted down, lightly pulled on the front brake and came to a stop, and dismounted.

There, I saw my rear brake line busted at the fitting closest to the caliper.

My stomach sank, giving me that uneasy feeling.

I am more than confident that I can handle a bike without a rear brake, I’d just rather have one in case of an emergency stop than anything.

I looked the rest of the bike over, didn’t notice anything out of the ordinary, and pushed on, taking my time.

One thing I hate more than rain, is wind. I hate riding in the wind. I hate how it pushes you around, I hate how it slows you down, forcing you to consume more fuel.

I had lots of wind.

I finally stopped at Destruction Bay and fueled up.

While there, I asked the store clerk about the wind, and he said that it should die out around Haines Junction, another 66 miles down the road.

Noticing they had a cafe, I decided to grab a bite to eat. I was hungry, it was late, and I really needed the rest, as the other thing about wind, it fatigues you rather quickly.

Once finished with my dinner of Fish and Chip’s, I headed out. I knew I had enough fuel to make it to Whitehorse, another 166 miles.

The wind continued, but the sun was out, keeping me warm most the way.

Finally, after over 12 hours of riding since I headed out after putting on my exhaust, I finally made it into Whitehorse at around 11:15pm.

Tired, I opted against a campsite, and rode into town to the Stop Inn Family Hotel, the same hotel I stayed a week and a half prior, where I parted ways with Doug, and began my Journey with Geoff.

I was lucky, they had a room left, and with that, I unloaded my bike, sat down, and tried to unwind the day’s events writing this.

I’m going to post some pictures of my exhaust on facebook, and then hit the shower before heading to bed.

Returning to the Brooks Range

Day 15

Woke up early this AM, just after 5 to thick fog and 33 degree temperature.

Started packing the bike right away, and Geoff and I got some breakfast, before finally setting off back down the Dalton.

While leaving Prudhoe, I reflected on what Prudhoe is.

While I originally had picked to go to Inuvik, mainly due to it having some cultural heritage, I realized that Prudhoe in itself was a very interesting place.

A true “Company” Town, Deadhorse is by all means, a modern wonder.

How they built the town, how they prepare everything, and how they due their work.

The idea that we have inhabited one of the most northernly parts of the planet year round, is a wonder in itself.

After about 30 miles, we finally rode out of the wall of ice fog, and into the bright morning sunshine.

Looking back, it was almost a line had been drawn.

Brooks Range just North of Coldfoot

You could stair, miles to the west, and miles to the east, and see a great wall of fog, stretching hundreds of feet into the air. An amazing site to see, and looking back on it, I wish I had stopped to take a photo, however, today was going to be a long day.

We passed over the same roads as before, but to our surprise (And what we have heard from others) it holds true that the road changes day to day.

We pushed on without much trouble, and finally we stopped about 120 miles into our journey back to Fairbanks, at the same Atigun River Crossing we did just 2 days earlier where I had thought I had left my backpack stranded.

We dismounted our bikes, and both went straight for the DEET. Mosquitoes here are terrible. Within moments of parking, we had swarms of hundreds of mosquitoes around us. With DEET on, and my insect shield hat (which does work), we took our break, hydrated, dehydrated, and set back off towards Coldfoot.

The rest of the ride to Coldfoot was great, with little troubles. I stopped momentarily to take a couple photo’s after stopping to let a pickup pass me, who was in much more of a hurry than I was.

Waiting for the dust to settle, I noticed a cloud formation that looked interesting and so I took the photo.

Once in Coldfoot, we fueled up, took a break to eat some lunch of whatever we had on us, and set back off.

Holy Cloud!

The road just passed on by, as we finally made it to the Yukon Crossing.

Taking another break, we decided to not fuel up there, and instead just make it to fox. Both of us well within distance of Fox with our fuel reserves.

It didn’t seem like it took long, but soon enough we turned off of the Dalton, giving the bang bang hand signal to the Dalton Highway sign, hit the tarmac and rode to Fox, fueled up, before hitting McDonalds and finally the dorm.

A shower, Dinner, and Laundry later it was time to settle down for the evening.

Tomorrow I’ll head over to Dan and Shawn’s to pick up my exhaust and install it. I have a heck of a ride after to Whitehorse. I’m hoping to get in around 9.

Weather shows 20% chance of rain in Tok, with 20% in Beaver Creek, Haines Jct, and Whitehorse. Hope I make it through the 80%. I’m kinda getting “Rained Out” if you if know what I mean.

Only a few tree's remain of the once heavily wooded Prudhoe Bay National Forest

Day 14

I woke up this morning realizing it has now been 2 weeks since I left Washington on this trip, and today would mark the completion of one of the great adventures I have dreamed of completing for many years.

With being in Prudhoe Bay, the last thing to do is take the tour to get to the Ocean, to step foot in it, and say “I’ve Done That”.

Now, we went to bed a bit early the night before, and luckily we have darkening shades to our room that keeps the sun out. Being that the sun stays high in the sky here, it is hard to tell what time it is outside, and inside you depend on a clock.

The only clock I have is my phone, and while I keep it around me most the time, I seldom check the time on it.

So it was no surprise when I woke up, feeling rather refreshed from a nights sleep.

I put on some clothes and walked down to the cafeteria to grab some coffee before heading back to the room to get on my netbook and surf around until Geoff woke.

As I was leaving, I noted the time on the clock that was on the wall leaving.

2:30…

It was 2:30 in the morning…

I kind of looked at my coffee, not yet actually drinking it, and looked down the hall at the bright sunlight through the doors.

I kinda shook my head and walked back to the room, dumping my coffee in the bathroom sink along the way and went back to bed.

I awoke again at around 5:30am to the sound of a loud diesel engine outside my window I decided to just stay up this time, and headed down for a coffee, my second this morning.

Our tour was to start at 8, so that gave me plenty of time to get ready, have some breakfast, and get on our way.

Geoff was already up when I came in from coffee and washing up, and so we both headed down to the cafeteria for some breakfast.

What an amazing selection of breakfast foods.

There was bacon, eggs, sausage links and patties. Breads, French Toast, and Pancakes.

There was biscuits and gravy and all types of hot oatmeal, various brands of cereal and tons of fresh fruit. They really know how to feed their people here.

So I loaded up on some bacon, eggs, and sausage, along with a couple pancakes, and a biscuit with gravy.

After breakfast, we grabbed our identification, camera’s and set off to the Arctic Caribou for our tour.

The tour started off with orientation, discussing what and what you cannot do, such as plunging into the ocean. Boo

Next, we watched a 15 minute informative video on the discovery of oil in Prudhoe Bay, and the construction and how it has transformed over the years, including drilling practices and other safety and environmental precautions they take here. Basically a huge BP Infomercial with the message “We are not completely evil”.

Next it was time to verify Identification and load the bus.

Taking a seat right at the front so we could hear our driver (which didn’t matter, as he had a PA that he spoke in to), the tour began.

He explained each of the buildings, how they get water, and how they do exploration.

It was interesting to hear how they do it all. They do not disturb the tundra in the summer at all. Instead, they wait until everything freezes, which means all exploration and drilling actually happens in the winter.

He showed us around Prudhoe Bay, pointing out various pieces of equipment, and what they did.

Such as a funny looking transportation vehicle that they use to drive on the tundra.

It has several large balloon tires on it, each with less than 3psi.

Not only is the psi in these slick tires low, but the actual vehicle footprint is less than 3psi!

Telling us of a story of a guy who had parked one, thinking it was in park, he got out, and started to walk away, when it had dislodged and rolled over him.

He got up, and chased down after it, unharmed.

Next he showed us the various contractors, some names I recognized, others were new to me. He explained the functions of each company and each contractor at the base camp.

In front of the Halliburton Office was a few large cutouts of pine trees with a sign that states “Prudhoe Bay National Forest”. Our driver, jokingly said that at one time the whole area was covered in tree’s, but that it gets so cold they had to cut them all down to make a big fire and stay warm.

Everyone kind of gave a chuckle, except for one woman who exclaimed “That’s Terrible”. Not understanding he was joking, nor the fact that the treeline is some 150 or so miles inland due to the severe cold, preventing tree’s to grow.

Finally, we came to the checkpoint, passed through, and we were on our way towards the ocean. The whole time he pointed out area’s such as the first drill site, where the power is generated, how they transfer the oil down the pipeline, etc.

We finally came to the Arctic Dunes, an area of Sand Dunes before the ocean.

The Tundra does receive very little rainfall each year, enough to classify it as a desert, and this small, possibly ¼ mile swath is all that resembles desert. The rest of the tundra is a swampy marsh with a peat moss like vegetation growing on top of it.

The causeway to the Arctic Ocean at East Dock

Finally we came to a stop, the door opened, and outside us was the shore of the Arctic Ocean.

The fog was extremely thick here, and they call it Ice Fog.

He said that Prudhoe Bay only see’s a few days of sunshine each year, due to the thick fog that covers it.

Even the airport is setup with the latest in landing and takeoff systems for modern aircraft so that the planes can land and takeoff without the need of a pilot navigating it.

As we made our way towards the ocean, and the shore came into better focus, you could hear the birds in the distant fog.

We walked down the long causeway of rock and sand before finally coming to a stop at the edge of our northern most ocean.

I had arrived, I had made it. With that, I took off my boots, socks and rolled up my jeans, and walked out into the ocean, to feel for about 30 seconds the cold surround me feet, before they finally went numb.

I am pretty sure North is somewhere that direction

At that point, I just walked around, keeping an eye on the pristine crystal clear water for any metal objects that may have found their way to the shores.

My journey North was now complete, and as I hopped on the bus I realized that my journey had brought me to the furthest northerly point I could travel on this trip, and the rest of it would be heading home to the south, starting with the bus ride back into Deadhorse.

The rest of the day was spent just hanging out in our room, surfing the net, researching, etc.

About 2pm, I decided to go outside to walk around a bit, and to my surprise the sun was out.

SOB, I thought to myself, we should have taken the 5pm tour!

I went back in, grabbed my camera, and begun to take some photo’s of Lake Coleen. Mainly just for the hell of it.

Not long after, I hopped on my KLR, and went and fueled it up, and brought it back to the hotel where I saw Geoff talking to another biker who had just shown up on a KLR.

After talking for awhile, Geoff and I walked around front, and we found 2 people who had just come in.

After a couple minutes, another couple bikers came in (Popular place) and to our surprise one of them was Carl, one of the guys who stayed at the Hostel in Dawson.

We talked to Carl for awhile, then he went and filled up, came back and grabbed some lunch, before he took back off.

It was only a “To and From” Trip from Coldfoot, no sticking around, just a picture in front of the Hotel, and that was it.

It was around Dinner Time by the time everything settled, so we grabbed some dinner, and begun to go through our things to repack for the ride out in the morning.

I also decided to head out back and go over my bike.

The fog lifted and everything turned blue - Lake Coleen

So far, everything on the bike is good except the exhaust, which seems to be getting much worse, as a huge chunk is now missing. I just hope that the chunk does not get hit by an weary traveler and it causes a problem. That would make me feel terrible.

I went over it checking all of the fasteners and made sure they were all still snug, and also lubed the chain, and checked the oil level.

The level was down a bit, but not terrible. I added a little just to top it off, and went back inside to take a shower.

After a shower, I finally sat back down on my bed, and surfed some more, just looking at weather, and planning my route home.

As it stands now, It looks like we may do a full day trip to Fairbanks, at which point I will pick up my exhaust, install it, and be on my way to Whitehorse Saturday.

If all goes well, I’ll be in Lake Watson Sunday, then take a few more days to get home before the following weekend around Thursday or Friday.

Brooks Range - Alaska Pipeline in the foreground

Day 13

Woke up very early this AM. But went to bed very early in the PM.

4:30 I awoke to the rustling of Geoff already beginning to pack. I let the air out of my sleeping pad, and went outside to see what the situation looked like.

It had rained a bit the night before, it had woke me up around midnight with it’s loud thumps against the outside of my rainfly.

I am glad that I had decided to pitch my rainfly, although the sky was overcast, I wasn’t sure if it was going to rain. The forecast mentioned nothing of it for the Coldfoot area, but I take weather reports with a grain of salt, living in the Pacific Northwest, you soon realize that they are typically wrong.

It wasn’t bad, it seems that the rain was louder than actually fell. The ground, although not dusty on top, was still dry below, without much disturbance.

We packed up all our gear, and soon set off around 6am, when “quiet time” is over. With my exhaust the way it is, I didn’t want to completely piss people off.

We pushed on through the morning, coming up on some spectacular views, and while the road wasn’t great, it was good enough to sustain a comfortable 50 to 60mph.

We wanted to make sure we conserved as much fuel as possible, so even the area’s that we could push harder, we chose not to. It is 240 miles between Coldfoot and Deadhorse, with no Fuel Stops along the way.

The Northern Slope of Atigun Pass

Eventually, we came to Atigun Pass. The highest pass crossing on the Dalton.

As the tree’s thinned out, the features of the mountains were much more noticeable. The way they jig jagged across the terrain, their pointy rock formations pointing out every which direction in sharp contrasts to the smooth rolling hills below.

They looked so spectacular in the early morning sun that broke through the clouds in area’s, with the green vegetation that covered them from the valley below to the tops.

As I pondered it, and looked at them, it reminded me of photo’s I’ve seen of New Zealand. When Geoff and I finally came to a stop, Geoff said they are some of the most amazing mountain features he’s seen.

I commented to him, that it reminded me of the photo’s and video’s I’ve seen of New Zealand, and he agreed that they are very much alike. Having been there himself, he would know.

As we winded through the landscape, there always seemed to be a water feature within view. Not once through this stretch did my eyes not catch a small pond, lake, river, or even a stream.

The water is so clear, it reflects everything around it, standing at it, you can see clearly to the bottom of the shallow ponds.

A look back at the Brooks Range as we head North to Deadhorse

We finally came to a bridge, with a small turnout. We decided to take a break. We were just over a 3^rd of the way to Deadhorse.
Taking a break, I removed my Hydration Pack. I’ve been wearing this every day since leaving, as it is a easy way to access water when thirsty on the road.

We took some pictures, had a snack, and before long we set back up the road.

About 6 miles in, we came across another wonderful lake. We took some pictures, and begun to take off, when I realized I wasn’t wearing my pack.

I motioned to Geoff that I was turning around and for him to go on. The only place I could have left my pack was back where we stopped.

I raced back as fast as I thought safe on the roads, scanning the area for my pack.

About 5 minutes later, I came to the pullout, and no pack to be seen. I got off my back to double check along the bank, and as I walked back to my bike, there it was, hanging from my gas jug.
A strap had caught, and prevented it from falling off of the topbox, where I had left it.

Had I taken the moment to check my bike over before heading back, I could have prevented the waste of much needed fuel.

Now I was stuck with a 14 mile round trip, as speeds well over what we were traveling.

A small lake looking back towards the Brooks Range

I met Geoff not far up from where I had turn around. He was on the side of the road putting on a sweater, as the climate was starting to chill a lot more at this location. Much contrast to the warm weather we experienced in Coldfoot, we were actually dropping in temperature with every mile we traveled it seemed.

He thought I had went back for more photo’s, not realizing I had thought I lost my pack.

With that we pushed on again at our normal fuel ration pace.

As the miles counted down, I was constantly doing math, I knew how far it was to Deadhorse, how much fuel my tank held, and how much it had on reserve.

Figuring at the low end of my fuel mileage, I would have to surpass 170 miles before hitting reserve, and then eventually breaking into my 1 gallon spare fuel tank.

If I made it beyond 214 miles, it would mean I would just have to use reserve.

As we pushed on, 170 miles came up. Then 180, then 190. Still no sputter to reserve.

200 miles crept up, still no reserve. Then 214, 215. Still no reserve. At this point, I sighed a huge sigh of relief.

I stopped looking down what seemed to be every 5 seconds, and forced my concentration on the road, as we were now coming up to the hardest parts.

First it starts off as gravel, instead of the hard pack surface. The berms pull you from side to side, the washboards rutted into the ground shake you, while bouncing the bike all over. This reminded me of our roads in summer time on the farm after potato harvest.

Caribou!

The trucks in and out of the fields would just destroy the roads, making them extremely bumpy, but this situation was very common, and it did not make me feel uncomfortable once bit.
Then the construction area’s.

They put water down on top of freshly disturbed road bed. Your bike slides side to side, you feel as it pulls you, and your only defense is to hope it doesn’t pull you down, or off the road into the marshy tundra.

Then you come up on a small patch of Pavement near Happy Valley, you sigh a bit of relief as you dodge the potholes, but then the road goes back to gravel. Wait, no, this isn’t gravel, this is ROCK.

Huge pieces of rock litter the road. It is like they put down the roadbed and said “Ok, that’s good enough”.

You bounce side to side, hoping you do not catch one wrong and tear the sidewall of your tires. You find the best possible route, and scan ahead constantly for oncoming trucks. Large chunks of river rock the size of your head litter the road, and before long I made a game out of it. The most entertainment I’ve had in weeks!

As a truck was oncoming, and I began to move into my right hand lane, that’s when the sputter happened. Just 14 miles out of Deadhorse. I quickly turned the valve to reserve, and continued on.

I looked down, and I was now 240 miles in. (226 miles traveled on the highway)

I was in good shape, the calculations came that I was in excess of 48 miles to the gallon. Much higher than I have ever achieved before.

Lake Coleen - Deadhorse, AK

I also realized, that had I not had to make the high speed detour, I would have made it to Deadhorse on my tank alone without the need of its reserves.

We finally pushed on through the last of the rocky road, and were back into a mixture of hard pack and gravel.

At this point, we also hit Road Construction. It looks as if they are widening the road, and they were running water trucks up and down, while dumping dirt, rock and calcium chloride down.

This mixture made a rather sloppy top layer that was a bit squiggly on the overloaded KLR, but reminded me of making a mess of the irrigation holding ponds after we had let them start to go dry at the end of the year. Again, nothing that made me feel uncomfortable, as it was something I grew up riding in.

Soon, the outline of massive equipment, pipes, and buildings became visible in the fog, as we inched closer and closer, the outline of a settlement appeared, and soon, we made a 90 degree turn to the left, and we had entered Deadhorse, the official end of the Dalton Highway, and the end of the road.

We first stopped at the Arctic Caribou Inn to make sure our Tour Reservations were scheduled, and to pay.

We then went to locate the Prudhoe Bay Mote

Dirty Bikes! - Deadhorse, AK

l.

After finally locating it and checking in, we took a moment to rest ourselves before heading out into the “streets” of Deadhorse.

There are a lot of Multi Purpose shops.

The Napa acts as a General Store, Automotive Supply, and Post Office. We walked to this part of town, getting the glance by everyone passing us in their pickups and other various vehicles. I do not think very many people walk the muddy dirt roads of this place.

A true “Industrial” Village, as there is no Grocery Store.

All staff live in the various residences that are provided to them, with meals round the clock.

For tourists, it’s 110 dollars at the Prudhoe Bay Hotel per person for a 2 bed room, that includes meals as well.
Dinner was much better than I had expected.

Strip steak cooked to your liking (Medium Rare for me) it was both cooked properly, tender, and tasty.

It is buffet style here, with fresh cooked meals. The food is actually damned good.

Reaching the "End of the Dalton Highway" - Deadhorse, AK

Other things I realized. Cell Service, and WiFi!

Although Wifi is at charge. It’s not free, but at 20 dollars a week, it’s not terrible either. There are longer term options, but the 20 dollars a week is cheaper than buying 3 days of it.

After Dinner, I went to the Post Office, and mailed out a few Post Cards, and came back to our room, sat down and started to go through pictures, and eventually type this.

I’m looking forward to our tour tomorrow, finally I will have made it to the Arctic Ocean, putting an end to a part of this incredible journey I have made. Although thousands of people have done it in the past, it is still an achievement I’ve wanted to complete sometime in my life, and finally that will come to an end.

Getting this far, has been an amazing adventure, and I hope that one day, I will be able to replicate it, in some other part of the world.