OP Alaska 2011

[GDW]

2 July, day 8, 650 km to the Arctic Circle and back. *We leave early in the morning reaching the Dalton around 09:00 am the adventure begins.

The weather is on our side warm and sunny, off we go, the road is a bit rough but not to back we can do about 60 km/h. *Then I see something that I was not waiting for, pavement, on well let's go faster. *The first 100 km is nice pavement and gravel, we get to the Yukon river about *1 hour later and stop for gas and coffee. *We meet another BMW rider going south and tells us the road is nice, cool.

From the river to the circle the road is so good we think that we are on pavement, we get to the circle way faster then planed so we decide to head back to Fairbanks. *Good thing because it rained like hell once we get close to Fairbanks, some guy in a car hits a water puddle and soaks me from head to toe, LOL.*

Back in Fairbanks and wet we get another room and go to a restaurant for supper and stuff our faces. *Back in the room we relax and go to bed early.

[GDW]

At the campsite in Tok we meet Coburn and Erin Black who are their third week of a long bike ride across the Americas. *It was great to talk to them during the evening with beer with a good fire. *They both ride the F650GS Dakar model. *Here is the link to their web site;

http://www.ridetheworldtogether.com

[GDW]

3 July, day 9, back to Tok and the eagle claw campground. *We left Fairbanks in the fog, no rain and warm. *We made the required stop in North Pole to shop at the Santa Claus house, 75$ later we are back on the road.

We have lunch in Delta and then get back on the road. *Not long after we stop to put on our rain gear, again and fuel the bikes.

More rain all the way to Tok, we get their first and are able to pick which camp site we want, the tent wall. *Two more rides show up and set-up camp, cool people to talk too.

We take advantage of the steam bath again to relax while drinking a bottle of captain Morgan, the bottle is empty when we go to bed.


Make a wish









Back in Tok for two days




The steam house


The cleaning station

[GDW]

Rest day

4 July, day 10, rest day not much to report other an did maintenance on the bikes and had some beers.

More photos of the trip at
http://www.gajo.smugmug.com

In folder "OP Alaska 2011"

[TomDac]

Awesome adventure you guys are on.. Color me green with envy.

Travel safe!

[rickgiroux]

Thanks for posting. Nice pix! Makes me want to do it again.

[GDW]

I am now home but will finish my ride report.


5 July, day 11, Tok to Burwash Landing, 340 km easy day of riding a lot of construction on the Canadian side. The road also has a lot waves.

We stayed at the Burwash resort for $10 and get a campsite with peace and quiet. After a quick walk around the camp we go inside the restaurant for a coffee and desert. A young Germany couple walked in and we starting talking with them, they are on trip to Argentina on pedal bikes. We talk about their trip and after awhile we wish them good journey.

Near the Can/US border


Taking a break, us too.


Me setting up our tent site


Photo op of the wife

[GDW]

6 July, day 12, only 250 km to Whitehorse.

The first part of road to Whitehorse provides us with amazing scenery, only after Haines Junction does the road get boring. Well not that much, you see more road construction, more gravel, and pilot cars.

We take a room at the Family Hotel and do our much needed laundry. We also go shopping to resupply ourself on camp fuel, dish soap and food. Later that evening the power goes out, hell I only got 10 photos uploaded. It's 9:20 pm local and no power yet and half my stuff is not fully charge yet. I try again in the morning to upload more photos but the connection is bad I keep losing it.

On route to Whitehorse


Big and badass


DC-3 wind-vane

[GDW]

7 July, day 13, 450 km all the way to highway 37 junction.

Before leaving Whitehorse we stop at the deli shop for some beef jerky, very good. We then go to the airport to see the DC-3 and the elephant. We take the turn off to take the scenic route south, 100 km detour that was not all that scenic. At Teslin I take on the steel grated bridge and win, with my 50/50 tires it's worst then driving on loose gravel.

We are almost at the turn off for highway 37 and Josee is on the intercom telling me to stop she has lost something. Well that thing is her pannier cover and it's in the middle of the road with a transport truck coming. No harm done the driver drives around it, cool, thanks buddy. Once I get the cover and her wind pants and make my way back to Josee I then inspect the cover for damage. The hold down bracket has a broken rivet and I will need to find a bolt. At the Nugget City we take a room and I find a mechanic to help me. 2 hours later he comes back with a cheap bolt that will not last and will need to be replace ASAP. Oh well he didn't charge me anything any way.

The busted cover


Repaired and secured

[GDW]

8 July, day 14, 655 km all the way to Stewart, BC. We had a good breakfast at the motel, a little on the costly to good never less. We pack all our kit and get the bikes ready to go and the rain starts to come down, oh well another day of rain.

The ride down when well a bit of contraction here and there, mostly at the end and a few black bears. After Bell 2 we stop and make our supper rice with tuna, very good. Near Stewart we see an amazing bear, the cream colored one, a rare viewing indeed.

The 37A is an amazing road filled with lots of turns mountains, rivers and rapids. We find a campground and call it quits for the night after a movie.

Downtown Stewart, BC


The Glacier past Hyder AK

[GDW]

9 July, day 15, 400 km from Stewart to Smithers BC. The was overcast but not raining.

We leave Stewart for Hyder, AK to see bears and the glacier at the top of the mountain. We skip the bears for now and carryon for the glacier, the road is a bit rough but drivable. The road seams to be going up forever, it does, we first see the glacier at 800 meter above sea level. By now we are in the cloud cover and don't see much, then we see four BMW bikes out of the clouds so we decide to continue. At 920 meters we turn around because of the cloud cover is so thick see can not see anything.

Back down we catch up with the 4 bikes at the bear watch area, we share stories before departing our separate ways. Since the salmon have not returned yet the bears are not here to eat the fish. Two guys from the US and a couple from New Zealand.

Since now it's noon I decide that we should eat at one of the restaurants and we do. The 4 bikers show up for lunch too, cool. We talk a bit more and I find out that they don't have the mile post and ask them if they want one and give them mine. They are more then happy since they are traveling north without it.

Back on the road we ride to Smithers and get a motel room for $109 per night, very clean room.

Photo op


Me filming


New friends

[GDW]

10 July, day 16, 740 km from Smithers to Jasper AB. Right after PG we see where the road was almost washed out, the road is now down to a single lane. The amount of damage is amazing. And of course the rain was part of the party again, this time it came down hard for 40 km then it when away.

At the Jasper gate the girl let's us in for free, saved $20 cool. We get a room in town and get a very good rebate $40, very cool indeed. So in the end the $160 room only cost me $100.

Anyone want to go fishing??


Supper, yum


Home for the night


My bike, see the Chicken sticker?

[GDW]

11 July, day 17, 350 km left to do before getting home.

On route we stop in Edson for coffee and two guys walk over to ask questions about our BMW, which I gladly answer, I also notice that Josee bike has blown a fork seal oh well easy fix back home.

Back home we first stop at our friends who have just moved to Alberta, both have BMW (GS) and have a drink or two before unloading our kit. That nigh they invite us over for supper and we tell them what a wonderfully journey we made and talk about next year.

In all our days of traveled only one day it didn't rain, too bad I was hoping to get rain very day. The rain never lasted very long so it was not that bad.

We traveled a total of 7500km, spend $3600 CDN, met new friends, 500 photos in RAW, 25 hours of movie clips and had a blast oh and also memories to last a life time.

More photo on my smugmug site

http://www.gajo.smugmug.com

To all the people who helps us, thank you

To Denis, a very special thank you, you are the best!

To Vanessa, you are the best host in all of Alaska, you provided us the travellers the much needed rest and relaxation.

Garry and Josse
Fort Saskatchewan, AB

[Bruce_H]

NICE!, keep the photos and story coming...