Alaskan Adventure Gallery

Here are all of the pictures from the trip!  Hope you enjoy...

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Day 70

Aug. 7

Since my last report Michael O'Donovan and I rode from Valdez to Kennecot, AK in the Wrangle St. Elious NP then to the Nezbeth Gold Mine also in Wrangle.  After spending time exploring things in the park we rode to Tok where we had lunch on Friday the 20th of July and then parted company. Michael headed for Skagway to catch the ferry to Bellingham, WA and is headed on to Central America. I left Tok and took the Top of the World Hwy to Chicken, AK and then on to Dawson City, YT where I spent a day before heading to Inuvic, NT. The trip to Inuvic was as ambitious a trip as was the trip to Prudhoe Bay consisting of 500 miles of dirt and gravel roads winding deep into the Arctic. I elected to make the trip alone and left on Monday the 23rd. I planned on spending two days going up, one day to rest, and two days coming back which is exactly how it worked out.  As with all of these unpaved roads in the far north there are really two roads (or four depending on how you look at it):  wet or dry and coming or going.

 

Thank the stars above that I put new tires on in Tok because it did nothing but rain for two days from Dawson to Inuvic and the road was mud for 300 of the 500 miles.  It took me 19 1/2 hours over two days to get to Inuvic. The trip back was dry and wonderful...beautiful scenery...passing through three different mountain ranges and unforgettable views of wildlife. There were lots of bears, both grizzly and black, moose, Lynx and caribou.  This trip to Inuvic left me with a real sense of accomplishment.  I had done it alone and I had meet people from all over the globe who had shipped their bikes to this frontier just to make these trips:  up the Dalton Hwy to Prudhoe Bay and the Dempster Hwy to Inuvic. I now belong to a unique group of adventure motorcyclist who have these rides on their resume. 

After resting in Dawson City for a day my direction turned south and I'm headed for home.  I traveled down the Klondike Hwy from Dawson and took the Thompson Hwy for another 300 miles of dirt and gravel to Watson Lake where I hit the AlCan Hwy then headed south to the USA border.   I stopped in Edmonton, AB to have the bike worked on and am now in Great Falls, MT. Yesterday I visited the Louis and Clarke Museum and now am headed to the Charles Russell Museum.  From there I plan to head to Cody, WO.

More will be revealed.....

Day 47

At the moment I am sailing from Whittier to Valdez on the Aurora of the Alaska Marine Hwy. It has been raining for the past 24 hours which seems to be the norm for the Kenai Peninsula.  My gear is dry and I have been dry and warm but my tent was packed wet this morning at Kenai Fjords N.P. in Exit Glacier Campground and there is no way to dry it out today.  I'll be arriving in Valdez around 8:00pm...oh well, that small inconvenience well work itself out one way or the other.

I have been told by other travelers that to date this is the coldest July on record for Alaska.  I have not kept count of it though most days have not reached 60F and it rains every day...cold rain.

Yesterday I made a hike to the Manning Ice Field in Kenai Fjords N.P.  The hike was 4.2 miles up to the ice field and return by the same route.  The Manning Ice Field is the largest ice field in North America and gives the observer a picture of what much of North America looked like 12,000 years ago during the last Ice Age.  There are over a dozen glaciers that flow from this ice field.  The hike took eight hours to complete and was led by two N.P. Rangers.  From the beginning to the end of the trail the ascent is 3,500 feet.  I thought I was in pretty good shape for a 61 year old guy and in some circles I may be but the type of people I meet in Alaska have redefined what active lifestyle means.

I'm headed to the town of McCarthy and the old company mill town of Kennecot.  The town of McCarthy is located about 60 miles off the Richardson Hwy and the last 30 miles is built on an old railroad bed and is said to be pretty gnarly and the drive stunning.  I’m also planning to visit Wrangle/St. Elias N.P.  It is the largest park in the system at over 13 million acres.  The drive from Valdez back out to the Glenn Hwy is supposed to be spectacular.  I do not know how long this leg of the adventure will take but more will be revealed...

Day 42

Well it is back to Anchorage for the third time...got picked up in Denali yesterday afternoon after having a real adventure.  Something I would not have tried alone but as you know I have been traveling with Michael O'Donovan for nearly two weeks.  Michael has a vast amount of experience hiking and climbing mountains all over the world...Himalayas, Andes, Alps, Kilimanjaro in Africa to name a few so having the chance to go on this little "walk about" with him in Denali was quite a treat!  The fourth morning the mountain showed itself to us.  The temp had dropped into the mid-20s by 7:00am when we rose to heavy frost.  The water at the edges of the river where we camped was frozen.  As soon as we saw the frost we knew that the skies had cleared hours ago and we rushed up a ridge to see Denali for the first time.  It is truly a giant mountain.  When you see it you know why the indigenous people call it "The High One."  The mountain is so large that it creates its own weather.  All the surrounding mountains will be clear but Denali will be covered in clouds.  It is truly strange to see.  This season fewer than 30% of the visitors at the park have seen it.  Michael and I were about 10 miles from it and to give some scale of how close we were Denali can be seen from Anchorage on a clear day which is over 200 miles.

 

I also saw my first grizzly bears.  The nearest was about 300 yards.  She was a sow with two small cubs...quite a treat.  In total I saw seven other grizzlies, many caribou, a few moose, several golden eagles and countless small game.

The wilderness trip into Denali is going to be hard to top but after I rest up a few days in Anchorage it will be off to Seward and walk around on some glaciers...at least that is the plan...more will be revealed.

Day 36

July 4

Staying here in Fairbanks one more day to rest and do a few things to the bike.  Tomorrow I will head south to Denali N.P. for a few days of camping and hiking within the park and hopefully get to see Denali though reportedly only 30% of visitors have seen the mountain this season.  It has been a rainy and overcast season for this part of the world so far this year.

The trip to Deadhorse and Mainley Hot Springs and return to Fairbanks took five days and four nights and was almost 1200 miles of mostly dirt and gravel roads.  Michael O'Donovan and I made the trip together and are going to Denali together tomorrow.  The trip to Deadhorse was quite challenging because of the rain which made the roads very slippery and the going rather slow.  We camped at Marian Creek, about five miles north of Coldfoot which is the half-way point.  From Coldfoot to Deadhorse is 240 miles.  The first night at Marian Creek was dry and we arose to a cloudy but dry morning but before we could get packed up it began to rain and we packed up our tents soaking wet.  It rained on us until we reached the top of Antigun Pass through the Brooks Range and began the descent to the North Slope and the tundra.  We were, in fact, entering a desert where north of the tree line and land only a few inches of soil thaws for a couple of months of the year. The tundra is quite wet because what water there is has nowhere to go because the permafrost is as much as 2000 feet deep. I did not see much wild life on the trip but did see a couple of moose, doll sheep, and assorted small animals...no grizzlies, musk oxen or polar bears.

Six months ago the thought of riding a motor bike to Deadhorse, Ak was not even a dream...the Arctic Circle was my goal and that seemed almost like going to the moon.  So far this trip has done nothing but wet my appetite for more adventure travel and tomorrow I will continue the adventure.  More will be revealed...

Day 28

June 26

Well guess what???...the plan has changed again.  I'm still in Anchorage but will be leaving for Fairbanks in the morning.  Michael O'Donovan, the Irishman from Australia I met in Lake Louise, AB, and I are planning to leave Fairbanks for Deadhorse Thursday the 28th and ride together.  The trip will likely take four days.  It is 500 miles one way of mostly gravel roads 350 miles of which are within the Arctic Circle and the weather is very unpredictable.  It can be 60F, beautiful, and sunny or 30F and raining with gale force winds or both. Anyway this was my goal to accomplish on the trip.

After getting back from Deadhorse I will probably need to make a trip to Tok where the Postmaster is holding a set of tires that I shipped to myself before leaving L.A.

Next week I plan to spend several days in Denali National Park.  That may be better since the forecast is for clouds and rain over the next few days and would leave the Denali obscured by the clouds.  Last night two brothers on motorcycles from Utah that I stayed with in the cabin at Haines were here at the Alaska Backpacker Inn.  They had just come from Denali and gave me a lot of information about where to stay and what to see.

I plan to get an early start in the morning for the 6 - 7 hour drive to Fairbanks in good weather. If it's raining and foggy it could easily take 10 or more.  Oh well this is what I came for and I'm very glad that I dared to do this adventure.  More shall be revealed....

Day 27

June 25

Left Homer this morning in the rain...cold rain.  The temp is 50F and the forecast shows the same for the next week here so I'm skipping a trip to Seward for now and headed back to Anchorage for the evening.  I’m planning to head to Denali N.P. tomorrow...weather forecast looks better there.

The tires on my bike are showing the wear and I have shipped another set to the Post Office in Tok that I will need to pick up and mount on the bike before heading to Deadhorse.   I will probably make the detour to Tok after leaving Denali.

Right now I'm just stalling...the rain is coming straight down and though my gear keeps me warm and dry it is not fun riding.  Oh well...if I don't hit it I'll never get to the warm room awaiting me in Anchorage...more will be revealed...