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

The Top of the Top of the World

With our stomachs full, we hiked to the Top of the Top of the World highway, and were the best of the best of the best.

and practiced bear protection

Finally Alaska?

Time to get a move on, the AK border crossing closes promptly @ 9pm.  Its 7:30pm, and 60 miles to Alaska.  We gotta full tank a-gas, half pack a-smokes, its never getting dark out and we’re wearing helmets.  HIT IT!

But then we get sidelined by the views.

Which means 5 minutes late at the border, therefore… No Entry.  We gotta sleep in Canada again. dang, it woulda been nice to make it, especially because the only campground was 60 miles back, near the Yukon River.  Since the scumbucket motto is never go back, we find a wide spot alongside the road.

Also, time crunch that we were on to pass that hitchhiker and make the border, we forgot to fill the water bottles up.  We only have about a half-liter of water between the two of us for the night.  On the Top-of-the-World Hwy, there is no water because the whole road is on a ridge.  All our food is the dehydrated variety, except the few packets of Indian food that Mama Z set with!!!  Curry, whiskey and a side of mosquitoes it is.

the evening's route: 106 km


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You know you’re taking your time when…

After a night of changing tires, and a rainy morning of pushing my flooded bike around without spark-plugs to clear the cylinder out (I need to remember to shut the fuel valve OFF when I stop), we got rolling towards Dawson City.  We need to jettison some excess tire weight.

We don’t see any other vehicles for about 60 miles, this is remote country.  As we ride into Dawson City we pass miles and miles of huge fan like-morraine-looking things along the side of the road, they are the dredgings from the gold mining.  They now build houses on top of them!

At the last fuel stop before we enter Alaska, we see that same hitchhiker and his dog again.  You know you’re taking your time when you get passed by a hitchhiker.  We quickly grab a cup-a-joe and jump on the last ferry across the great Yukon.

 the days route 352 km

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The Alcan

We hobbled through the end of the Cassair Hwy  and entered Yukon Territories from rainy British Columbia, after what seemed like a month in BC.  It was actually seven rainy days now that I look back.  Huh, time flies when you’re having fun… fixing blown out tires, gingerly riding through packs of bears, rain that only lets up for snowstorms, enduring cheap Canadian whiskey and nursing worn out tires the entire way.

It was here that met the famous Alaska Hwy.  Compared to the Cassiar it was a two lane freeway, what with its smooth pavement, wide shoulders, rest stops and traffic.  We talked to a guy on a bicycle who had ridden from Montreal.  He was planning to go to Prudhoe Bay and then south to Tierra Del Fuego on that bicycle.  It made our trip seem like a breeze, even on waning tires that were down to threads with 1,100 km to go to Anchorage.

On the first sunny, hot day we experienced so far on this trip, we hobbled into Whitehorse, YT, only to find no over-priced tires in Harper’s size.  Tires in Canada are ridiculously expensive.  Not even any realistically priced tires.  After speaking with the parts guy, we convinced him to let us see the pile of used tires out back.  We found a used rear tire for Harper, plus two complete sets of perfectly good super-knobbies for the Haul Road!!!!  Threw the parts guy $2 for each tire, YES!!!

We packed up and headed up the Klondike towards Dawson City and it got remote again.  At a fueling station we saw our first hitchhiker, whom had a dog with him and thought the rides must be few and far between on this road.  At camp, Harper started the magical change-out, aided by the ever-handy firewood/bike stand multi-tool.