Seward Holiday

We returned from the Kenai Fjords fishing trip to stay in Seward over the 4th of  July and go fishing on a party boat.  Apparently everyone from Anchorage makes this same trek to the Kenai Peninsula over the holiday and the town in packed.  No room at any campgrounds, so we stayed here...

Ditch Hotel

It was common practice, we followed the lead of others.  The price was right, too.  Since the town was packed, w made our own restaurant which served halibut for every meal the week we stayed there.

Livin' It

After fishing, we went for a walk in the woods.  We saw a glacier, and the mixing of glacial run off with stream/rain water run off.  Neat stuff.  We drank some glacial water, and let me tell you the marketing strategies of water bottle companies is pretty good.  Iit doesn't taste as well as they'd lead you to believe.

And then this.  

Maybe we should haveve brought the shotgun with.

Fishing Camp

Bellies now full of a delicious halibut appetizer, freshly tossed halibut salad, salty and savory halibut main course and rich halibut dessert we slept contently.  And woke up to this view.  Lucky to be alive.

fishing camp

Halibut

halibut is the best tasting fish ever

Seward to the Kenai Fjords

We ride two up for the last 100 curvy miles to Seward AK with some "turn at the big tree, just after the waterfall" directions to get to the campsite.  We roll into camp @ 2am, after being up for 24 hours for the second time in 3 days.  Somehow we find camp and get about 4 hours of sleep.  Wake at 6, shower & eat, and get stuff down to the water taxi by 8am.

next 4 days

water taxi

Miraculously, we made it.  1,000 miles in 60 hours.  8 hours of sleep, gas flavored beans burritos and coffee. Our reward is relaxing on the 2 hour boat ride to our campsite and viewing the wildlife along the way, such as Dall's porpoise, who ride the pressure wave off the front of the water taxi.  Pretty neat.

This is where we will be spending the next few days.  Not too shabby.

Time to set up camp and take a nap before heading out in the kayaks to find some halibut.

Two Up to Seward

We wake up @ 2 am next to the river.  Ride in the rain towards Seward AK, gotta be there @ 5 pm. We stop in Anchorage at Brad & Emily's place to get gear for a 4 day kayak fishing trip in the Kenai Fjords Nat'l Park near Seward.  My dad has flown up from Minnesota and is meeting us in Seward, we've been planning this for a few months now.

About a half hour out of Anchorage, the sprocket issue has raised its ugly head again.  The chain comes off, and is completely wrecked.  We lay in the ditch at 4 pm, wondering how we are going to make the last 100 miles of curvy road to Seward.

After lots of phone calls, 2 wreckers, and some wonderful people named Ben and Stacie in Girdwood who let me store my bike in their shed, @ 11 pm, we leave Girdwood AK on one bike.  The water taxi leaves @ 8 am and we must be on it.

A huge massive big ups, thanks and gratitude to Ben and Stacie.  you rock.  

butt to nut.  must like fishing alot.

400 rainy miles, 2 sprockets, 1 chain, 2 tow trucks, packing for 4 day kayak fishing trip, 100 miles to go two up.

Arctic Ocean Round Trip, day uh

Dalton Hwy, check.

scumbucket hoooooo!!!!!!!

scumbuckets wear sunscreen

even the engine is scummy

Arctic Ocean Round Trip, day 4 and-whatever

scumbuckets are continuing south.  still light out when we reach our previous nights, or was it days campground.  No need to think of what time it is, its light out, we're not wearing sunglasses, we gotta half pack of smokes, full tanks of gas.  Hit it!!!

Near Galbraith Campground

scumbucket shadow

what looks like a smudge is just a big mosquito

when they made the roads up here, alot of the supplies were flow in with helicopters.  due to the distances and weights, they needed to be re-fueled after dropping supplies.  A few got filled up about half way, before the construction crew realized that it wasn't a helicopter, just a big mosquito.

looking forward to Atigun Pass again

Every mile further south, the flora became taller.  No trees, but taller grasses.  We made the mistake of stopping, the mosquitoes tried to take me away.  Good thing I had 15 extra pounds of "food" in my stomach from the Arctic Caribou Inn, they couldn't get me airborne.  We couldn't even keep our visors open they were so bad.

The pass was shrowded in death clouds again.  As we approached, they cleared to let us through.

well used guard rail on Atigun Pass

But once we had stopped, the death clouds sensed another couple of victims, so they closed back in upon us in two seconds flat.

We sped out of the grasp of the death clouds and continued south.  There started to be trees!  That furthest north spruce tree again.  Every mile we could feel the weather getting warmer, the trees getting taller, the animals getting bigger.  many Moose, um Meece? Mooses? Meeses? Mice?  they are early risers, we see.  Is certainly morning, we begin t see cars.  Dang, we need to be in Seward, AK in 36 hours.

I'm trying to figure out how we are going to make it there.  I was told there would be no math on this trip, but it seems prudent to attempt some algebra now.  So if two motorcycles with scumbuckets are heading south at 50 mph, and they have 750 miles to go, can they make it in 36 hours?  I think to myself we need to just ride though the night... wait we already did that!  We need to ride through the day!  man, our schedules are messed up, that's when we should be sleeping.

We stop to eat breakfast and discuss if riding through the day is a good idea.

One bite into our typical beans, rice, cheese & hot sauce burrito, we realize something isn't right.  Could just be the long night, uh, day?... whatever.  A sip of coffee could help maybe.

BLEH!  nope, same taste.  what the hell?

We figure we need to ride the entire way without stopping to make it to Seward on time.  We think more of that awful taste.  Then we realize that Harper's awesome old-school stove was stored on top of the food and has leaked gasoline into everything.  the burritos, coffee, cheese, even the raisins taste like gasoline.  We are so hungry though, we force it down.  Uh.  Don't pack stove fuel and food in same saddlebag.  Uh.

Wake up in Canada Again

when we open the tent in the morning to this

and step outside to this

its hard to leave the Top Of The World

June 13, 2010 - truckers & snow

Harper and I continued north on the Cassiar Highway through Northern British Columbia.  After the turn-off to Hyder, it gets even more remote and desolate.  This is not a place that one would want to have a break down or accident.  We had just begun to grasp the secluded isolation we were entering in, as we turned the corner and saw this scene.

Apparently, falling asleep while driving on the Cassiar can be a problem, who knew?  A passerby told us it just happened a day ago, and the driver was alright.  The scene left us with something to think about regarding "drowsy driving" and we continued north, at a very sane pace.  The overcast sky, somber scene, and desolate roadway results led to reflection and contemplation, mile after mile... or kilometer after kilometer, since this is Canada, eh?

The road turned to gravel as it led down a valley into the river bank.  The enduros were handling well on the first stretch of gravel, so we started thinking less and riding more  Especially once we rose out of the valley and saw a storm front trying to head us off at the pass.  We kicked up the pace again in order to outrun the rain only to find... SNOW!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

June snow storm

We waited for it to pass.  Worth it.