The Dempster Highway Northbound, Part 1

Having a  campsite reserved about an hour up the Dempster Highway at Tombstone Mountain time was killed in Dawson driving up to the top of Midnight Dome and getting in a tour at the Dredge out in the Bonanza Creek Goldfields.  I can highly recommend the Dredge tour.   

The threading the weather needle thing was still looking to the good after I got all the gas (next service 240 miles), and headed north.   The road was about as good as an all season gravel “highway” can be.  In fact I found myself setting a pretty good pace until 15 or so miles before the campground when the drizzle that had been threatening all day made its appearance; perfectly timed for when I found myself traveling on a dirt road freshly sprayed with Calcite.   Slippery would be an understatement.  Gearing way down and slowing right up safely got me to my destination and I managed to with reasonable success set up my tent and get all the gear stashed away in a manner that suggested being away from the rain.

After the first night in a tent on this trip - rarely a great nights sleep- I had a leisurely prepared coffee and rehydrated scrambled something and slowly got my everything packed up.  First stop was the park visitor center to check on the status of the road.  I had heard yesterday that the Peel River Ferry was not running because high water had obliterated one of the loading banks.   The closure was confirmed this morning with no ETA for opening.  There was also a note about “difficult” road conditions over an approximately 100km section of the highway South of Eagle Plains (where the gas station is, 180 miles away).  But the morning was looking really nice so both pieces of road beta were shelved, probably on a lower shelf than appropriate; and I was off.

And the day was marvelous, chilly to start but dry and the skies more than clear enough to expose the full aspect of the Tombstone Mountains and everything else in view from the highway.   There are not nearly enough pull offs to enjoy the vistas for any Yukon Department of Transportation road engineers who might be reading this.   And as promised at kilometer 265 the road turned rough- but in this bike in its current setup a fun rough.  Then the rough was replaced by mud.   Lots and lots of mud.  100 yard section after 100 yard section of unruly rutted squishy mud.   No bike setup could make this “fun”.   Fortunately the sun was out and getting warmer which would have been great if I hadn’t been layered for a near freezing morning and no real place to stop delaminate.   

Now in my mind I had the end of the troublesome section at 325km so was counting down the markers as they appeared at the side of the road in that evil taunting way they do in a situation such as this.   At kilometer marker 324 there was thankfully a pull off where I was able to take a break, have a snack and adjust my clothing appropriate to the updated weather conditions.  I was also close to gleeful thinking that there was only another kilometer of the mud so when kilometer marker 326 passed and not only was there still mud it was getting worse I was ready to turn around and ride back to the Visitor Center and update their data (definitely a euphemism for something), And it continued to get worse for another 20+ kilometers.

The road finally returned to its previous state but the effort required to get through had me rethinking my destination for the night.  As Eagle Plains (the gas station) approached I decided that if the ferry was still closed this would be as far as I got today.  

To be continued…

Bunked Down In Dawson City

Ya, that whole looks like a perfect weather forecast thing from a day or two ago…. poof, gone just like that.   This time instead of running off somewhere (like Juneau) senselessly chasing “better” weather I opted to bunk down in Dawson City and wait for a maybe possibly promising forecast starting the upcoming weekend.   With Dawson City basically at the start of the Dempster Highway I can be heading North the moment the weather turns to the better,   I was always planning a few days in Dawson but for recovery from the Dempster not in anticipation. 

The first morning in Dawson was a little reminiscent of the first morning in Whitehorse - going over the bike and making sure everything was in good order for the next segment.  The zipper on the waterproof duffel has also started not fully zippering so I explored the limited store options in town looking for any that might stock zipper lube/wax.  None did but the hardware store was well stocked with Crayola crayons, and now I have a selection of colorful options for all my zippers 

When sitting down with all the maps, calendars and other trip planning stuff it was quickly apparent that I could be someplace interesting for both Canada Day (July 1) and July 4.  Plan A was formed to be in Inuvik or Tuktoyaktuk July 1 and then Chicken Alaska July 4.  With the weather not cooperating, Plan A fell apart as did the July 4 segment in any plan.  But current geopolitical circumstances considered I thought it more important to proudly stand with the Maple Leaf fluttering in the wind than play a part in the chorus heralding an orange messiah.  So Canada Day in Dawson City it was to be - and this is no second tier alternative in the pecking order of interesting places.  The town came out strong for the parade with everyone in town it seemed dressed in red and white… although I didn’t get that memo.

With the weather forecasts all more or less aligning towards a drier week ahead it looked promising for a Friday afternoon departure with the intention of camping overnight at the Tombstone Mountain campground.  A short-ish 45 or so miles north up The Dempster Highway.   While there was a definite chance of some light rain with cool to chilly temperatures through that first night and start of the next day I would be threading the weather needle early on regardless of when I left unless waiting out until the middle of the week.  An (other), extension for the room I was in was not possible and the only other available option was pitching a tent somewhere in town.  And seeing as I was also running out of Parks Canada guided tours to join figured the signs were all there to hit the road.

The Juneau Diversion

As mentioned I was hoping to avoid some dodgy weather up north by doing a U-turn and heading South to Juneau for a few days… but ended up riding right into some nasty cold and wet along the Haines Road which from all reports is surrounded by magnificent mountain scenery - but I am unable to confirm those reports.   It did dry out by the time I arrived in Haines and have to say does have some magnificent scenery surrounding it.   I can also confirm that you can order a mighty fine plate of fish and chips in the harbor side restaurant/bar where conversations with the locals can be interesting.

The ferry down the coast from Haines to Juneau has to be one of the great transportation deals around.  Where lots and lots and lots of folks pay thousands and thousands of dollars to "cruise" those same waters ensconced in their behemoths of luxury the Alaska Marine ferry costs only a few hundred and the scenery and destinations are the same.

A couple of nice days in Juneau turned into one that was nice enough for walking around the town and the second reserved for museums and other inside pursuits.   And just like in Haines a very good plate of fish and chips can be had at the harbour side restaurant/bar.  Although the conversations were most definitely missing any local flavour and not all that interesting. For future reference I think I might look for a cheaper hotel back towards the airport or ferry.  While the location of the cheapest room I could find close to downtown was great it was spendy.  The local bus service is probably good enough to get one in and out of the center without too much hassle.   Putting on my tinfoil hat, I find it suspicious that the local bus service has a stop over a mile away from the glacier (a glacier within the city limits btw), and I am sure that that has nothing to do with the huge number of tourists operators offering bus excursions out and back.  Excursions that I’m sure cost far more than the $2 bus fare.  Tinfoil hat off.

A 5AM check in Sunday morning had me in line at the Juneau terminal waiting for the ferry to Skagway and then from there back up to Whitehorse for the night.   Once again I had been madly watching the weather forecasts and while on Saturday things were looking good by Sunday morning maybe a little more questionable.  I think one of my issues is that I needn’t look at ALL the forecast sites but just settle consistently on the same one or two.  I just have to trust that I have landed on the correct one or two forecasting resources.  Plan is to ride up to Dawson City Monday and see how much the forecast has changed with Tuesday being the first possible day on The Dempster Highway.

64 Hours In Whitehorse

 It was always the plan to spend a few days in Whitehorse after the 1600 mile/4 day ride from home.   This would be a welcome break from the road and a chance to address any bike maintenance issues that may have arisen on the way here.  I had put on a new chain a few weeks before leaving so I was expecting to have to adjust the tension but found that it was still well within spec when I measured it Monday morning.  I also had some concerns about coolant consumption having had to top up the tank but found it to well above the min level bar.  With maintenance issues all sorted spent some time in town doing some touristy bits and picking up a few odds and sods (bear spray mostly) that I had bothered bringing up from home.   

The second day was nice enough and with nothing else to do I decided a ride down to Alton BC was on order.  Now Atlin is one of those end of the road places in the world where it’s closet neighbour is not in the same geopolitical area code as it self.  In this case Atlin is in the province of British Columbia and to get there you have to go through the Yukon Territory.   For as long as I was aware that Atlin existed I have wanted to go there and today was that opportunity.  A great ride down through a mountain valley eventually to the town itself.  Not a lot going on on a Tuesday but the bakery was open and a coffee with an apple fritter was thoroughly enjoyed.   The whole town was a bit of a museum piece including this relic from 5e past just sitting there on the corner out in the open.

Originally I had considered exploring a little of some southern parts of The Yukon before heading up The Dempster but scanning all (and I so mean all) the weather forecasting resources there appeared a likely weather window opening up on the Wednesday so I made plans... and then the forecast changed dramatically.   I had made one rule for the ride up in The Dempster: don't ride it wet ( or at least not too wet for too far), and boy did it look like it was going to get wet and cold.  With the long range forecast looking promising the following week new plans were made - this one coming totally out of left field.  What does one do when the weather forecast is questionable pretty much everywhere?  Get on a ferry in Haines and take the long ways to Skagway (which is basically across the fjord from Haines) - via Juneau for a few days.

4 Days To Whitehorse

If nothing else this trip is really all about riding up The Dempster Highway to Tuktoyaktuk and camp for a night on the shore of The Arctic Ocean.  This presents a logistical challenge in that the start of The Dempster Highway is in the Yukon Territory, Canada - approximately 1600-miles from my house in Bellingham Washington.  There are only two ways to get up into the Yukon (by road): from the East along the Alaska Highway or via the Western approach on BC Highway 37 (the Stewart - Cassiar Highway for those traditionalists amongst you).   While I have ridden up and down BC 37 several times I have only taken The Alcan once and that was riding South, so I had firmly entrenched the idea of a Northbound Alcan route to get my ass to the Yukon.   The next challenge was that NE BC/NW Alberta have been decimated with extended and catastrophic wild fire seasons these last few years and the reason for calling off one previous attempt.  Thankfully for whatever reason the fire forecast for that part of the world this year was for normal to below normal through July which then defined my window of opportunity - that and a dentist appointment.    

So with the calendar set and general route planted the details filled themselves in with the help of a little math: 1600÷4=400.  It was then a fairly straightforward matter of finding places to stay overnight that were about 400-miles apart.   And one of them had to be The Northern Rockies Lodge on Muncho Lake, because The Schnitzel.  Fortunately that is about 400-miles from Fort St. John and about 400-miles from Whitehorse YK.  And with Quesnel BC being about 400-miles from Fort St. John and about 400-miles from my house the route was decided and reservations made.

As the departure date approached I was all consumed with trip prep work.  It's been awhile since I went out on one of these self supported motorcycle rides and with camping likely the only lodging option available at times there was a lot of bits and pieces that needed the dust shaken off.  As it turned out most everything was functional and at most only some minor maintenance attention was required - that still required continually visiting the local REI store on a far to regular basis.

A brief future me aside here but one of those prep tasks was to transfer the pertinent information (fuel, food, lodging, viewpoints) from the infinitely helpful but unimaginably bulky annual Milepost magazine to 5"x8" index cards I could then fit into the window of my tank bag.   Initially this was to be honest just busy work to keep my mind in the game but I was mildly pleased with myself as to how useful they have been so far - especially on the Alaska Highway section.

And just like that it was June 18 and off I went, riding the motorcycle down my driveway then "turning left"; heading North to the Arctic Ocean. The first day through the Fraser Canyon to Quesnel was warmer than the weather forecast promised but easily managed.   A routine was quickly established that was to be followed for most of the next 4-days.  The day was broken into 80 to 100 mile sections where at the end of each section I was at a gas station fueling the bike or at a rest area taking a break, having a snack and/or addressing any bodily functions of concern or arrived at the day’s destination.   In Quesnel a pleasant evening was had with dinner at the Barkerville Brewery followed up with a Dairy Queen Blizzard in the town square/parking lot, listening to the tortured renditions of everyones' favorite elevator music songs performed by a bunch of local kids lead by a far too enthusiastic middle aged adult who you would think would know better.  Full points to the kids though for getting on stage.

The destination on the second day was Fort St. John with a planned divergence through Dawson Creek and the Mile 0 sign just to make the whole Alaska Highway thing official.  A day of no consequence other than the utterly useless service provided by the Pine Centre Mall  Starbucks, a 1-star review was duly posted.  With the menacing clouds reinforcing the weather forecast rain gear was adorned about 80 to 100 miles North of Prince George.   Other than a few drips and drizzles this bark was worse than it's bite    At Chetwynd I made an executive decision and opted for the more scenic route through Hudson's Hope over the Instagrammabke moment in Dawson Creek.   I hade made this same ride 10-years ago almost to the day, and all along were signs posted as to how high the future Site C dam reservoir was too reach.  And from memory with the reservoir now flooded it sure looks like they achieved those goals 

The third day was up and over to The Northern Rockies Lodge and The Schnitzel.   It was also going to be a chance for me to try out some new extra gas containers I brought with and to confirm just how far I could go between fueling stops.   This was going to be extremely relevant on The Dempster Highway where that distance exceeds 230-Miles (400 km?).   The plan was to ride 50-miles, empty the first extra gallon into the inline auxiliary tank then ride another 50-miles and empty the second extra gallon.   With Fort Nelson 240-miles (400 km?) away from Fort St John I figured that if I ran out of gas before then I would have to recalculate my approach for riding The Dempster.   The good news is that I had plenty to spare at the end of the test; with some back of the hand figuring indicating I should expect at least 300-miles (500 km?) when all fueled up.  The bad news is that it was a miserably cold, windy and rainy day that had finding dry enough windows of opportunity to transfer fuel between open tanks on the side of the surprisingly busy highway a challenge.  But I managed.   The guy from Quebec on the red Honda however, who I had being playing hopscotch with on the highway all day had had enough upon arrival in Fort Nelson and headed straight to the office of the hotel/gas station to get a room for the night.  But I had a date with The Schnitzel so off I went towards Muncho Lake, and quickly reconsidered the wiseness of my decision as the weather got far worse.  However it all cleared up on the other side of Steamboat Summit (as I kinda of suspected it would) and made it to dinner in time not withstanding the construction work delays through the Provincial Park.

The fourth day was an absolutely glorious run along the BC-Yukon border into Whitehorse.  Final roadside wildlife tally was a few bison and a handful of bears - one grizzly and the rest blackies.  Regretfully this bike that I'm on this trip has been woefully underused these last few years.  So much so that for the majority of the 4-days my buttocks have been trying mightly to reassert dominance over the "comfort" gel pad installed in my seat.  As the ride progressed towards Teslin I was happy to find that my buttocks had indeed been victorious and my comfort should be ensured for the remainder of the trip.  Even more comfortong news found my glamping tent at the Whitehorse Motorcycle Park upgraded to fully powered but at the unpowered tent rate I had booked it at.   

Tap Tap Tap - Is This Thing Still On?

Getting all one’s ducks in row is a lot more work when you are retired… especially if it’s been awhile since you’ve had to get all your ducks lined up.  Anyways, I’ve been in trip prep mode for the last few weeks and making sure all the tech still works is next on the list.  So ya, this is a test.   

Just Like Riding A Bike

 

The last I had travelled substantial away from the 4th Corner was way back at the first week of March 2020.  I was scheduled to get on a plane Sunday March 1, bound for Kansas City to run a week of training sessions.  Foreshadowingly (that's now a word) Kansas City was where I had led my first sessions under the newly bestowed label Technical Trainer - the training department has since been obsolete and I was transitioned into something else. On that Friday word came down that all corporate travel was immediately suspended (the pandemic, d'uh) and explicit permission was required from the highest level of C-Suite executive before proceeding.   Against the easier-to-ask-forgiveness instructions of my then "manager" I went ahead and requested (and received) said explicit permission - the submission form letter HR had sent out late in the afternoon helped.  While the amount of traffic through Sea-Tac that Sunday was normal it certainly was not upon my return the following Saturday.  The term deserted comes to mind as I recall walking through the terminal to the car park shuttle bus.  475-days later I find myself trying to remember how to ride a motorcycle, 400-miles a day, day after day day after day.... and getting in and out of hotel room without forgetting anything.