One interesting thing I’ve noticed in my two weeks back in the states is that my stops have been getting longer.  Part of this is I got spoiled in Alaska where you could ride well into the evening so now if I start early I think I have tons of time to get where I’m going.  The other is that as the list of places I’ve gone has grown on my panniers I get lots of questions from people about where I’ve been and what I’m doing.  I can nearly always tell when this is going to happen as I’ll see the stares as soon as I turn in to park.

– Lonely Hills of Hells Canyon

– Lonely Hills of Hells Canyon

I’m still totally happy with my choice of motorcycle.  It’s gotten me where I’ve wanted to go everytime.  I met up with a KLR rider yesterday and we split a camp last night.  He said he tries not to go over 55 or the gas mileage drops way down.  On my sprint back to Lake Louise I was doing 75 most of the time and still barely dropped below 50mpg.

That sprint did do some damage to my chain.  The one time I’ve bought a proper chain lube from a bike shop and it wouldn’t last 200 miles compared to at least double that with cheap stuff.  I was able to self-diagnose that and confirm it at the HU Meeting.  Even though this is my first bike and I’m still learning lots of the parts are right there to look at and figure out.

I bought a new chain and sprockets in Boise and am carrying them on the bike now.  The chain is slightly loose and out of adjustment.  Still I’m going to try to get back to San Diego and do the work there figuring that is only about 1,500 more miles.  I’m strongly thinking about ordering a center stand to put on then as well to help with that and tire changes.

The HU meeting gave me lots of ideas about what I should be carrying on the

Hose Clamp Cruise Control

bike and how to do a few new jobs.  I’ve already added a couple of items since then such as spare valve stems, baling wire.  I’ll be giving some strong consideration to tire levers after this trip and adding to the tools I carry.

One of the best (and cheapest) ideas was using a hose clamp on the right hand grip for cruise control.  It’s a poor man’s throttle rest.  All it does is let your thumb rest against the nut when you’re at full speed, but that’s enough to let the other for fingers open up and give your wrist a break as well!

Once in San Diego I know I’ll be leaving more behind than adding to my load.  I’m looking forward to that primarily to give me some spare space to make packing easier.  It will be interesting to take a good look at everything and figure out what I haven’t used at all.

I’ve also started to see much more steady, and growing, traffic to the site.  I’m really happy about this as I’ve been working hard on it to provide interesting and useful posts.  Getting comments, tweets, and emails from new random people is exciting for me and lets me know I’m doing something right.  Thanks to all of you for coming by and helping to get the word out about my motorcycle travels.

No related posts.

Riding through Oregon on US-20 I pulled into the first gas station in 68 miles to discover they were already closed at 7pm.  Normally not an issue, but you Oregon requires an attendent to pump the gas for you.  Or at least they do for cars on the bike all they’ve done is swipe my card for me and hand me the nozzle.  Rather than push on 20 miles I probably could have made, but not definitely, I went a mile back to a rest stop.

There I heated up dinner, ran my 6′ cable lock through all my bags, laid my tarp on the ground next to the bike, and put the thermarest and sleeping bag on top.  There  I was for the night.  Only 50 feet from the highway laying on the dirt.  Earplugs took care of most of the road noise at least.

I took care of business in the morning and ended up on some really fun roads going to Bend.  A few miles of dirt forest road, but most it was freshly paved, empty, and twisty.  They didn’t bother putting up many speed suggestion signs for the turns so I was kept on my toes as they approached trying to anticipate how little I needed to slow down for each of them.

– Crater Lake

– Crater Lake

My primary goal in Bend was to find a place with wifi that would be open Sunday morning so I could do my fantasy football draft.  That project was derailed early on as I got to talking to a local who took me around to a couple of his favorite bars until it got dark.  All of a sudden I had to find a place to stay at night and didn’t know where to go in the morning.

Luckily, a National Forest was nearby taking care of the first problem and I found a laundromat listed with wifi with google maps on my iphone.  In the morning, my lack of searching earlier became apparent as I was in a ritzy vacation community trying to find the laundromat without standing out too much and getting asked to leave.  I found wifi everywhere, but no inconspicous place to get on it and have a plug.  The only outlet I found was an extension cord right in front of a grocery store.  At least they had benches and shade so I setup shop there.

An hour into this setup someone came by to ask if that was my V-Strom in the parking lot.  He has toured around on his Goldwing before and was curious about my trip.  Within 10 minutes he was drawing out directions to his house and offering a shower, laundry, food, and his sons were there who had all the fantasy football magazines and advice to offer.  Awesome!  I packed all my gear up and set off.

– Across Crater Lake to Wizard Island

– Across Crater Lake to Wizard Island

I ended up getting all that, plus dinner, and slept in a bed for the first time since Gallup New Mexico!  They had four generations staying there for the week and adding one more person didn’t seem to be a big deal to any of them.  By the next morning I was already turning into Tom’s favorite new son so I had to get out before any sibling rivalries started.

Despite the generous hospitality I was anxious to get out and go see Crater Lake.  The pictures of it are always gorgeous and everyone said don’t give you the scale of how big it is at 6 miles across.  I found out a few hours later for myself and it lived up to its billing.  The blue of the water was even darker than that of the clear sky and absolutely pristine.  The lake is over 1,000 deep on average and almost 2,000 feet at its deepest point.

– Crater Lake from Mt Scott

– Crater Lake from Mt Scott

I drove the entire rim road stopping frequently to check the views from all the angles.  I also took the 2.5 mile hike up Mount Scott to the highest point in the park.  My main motivation was to see the view of the surrounding forests expecting the crater rim to block much of the lake.  That wasn’t the case though and the view of the lake was fantastic from there as well.  Its a park well worth visiting and easily seen in a day even with travel.

No related posts.

I’m currently at Burning Man and out of communication for the next 8 days.  I DO have posts scheduled to come out during this time.  If are inclined to help spread the word on these posts for me that would be great.  There are buttons at the top of each post to share through Facebook, Stumble, and Twitter to make this easy.  I’ll be responding and thanking all of you for the help on the other side – Brian

Remember that post I did a while ago (ok just two weeks ago) about where I heading to next?  Apparently, I don’t either because those plans changed nearly as soon as I hit the publish button.  In fact most of that was written before I changed plans to go back to Lake Louise and didn’t put out a post for two weeks.

What do those two times have in common?  Saying “Yes” to a better opportunity.  While it sounds like the easy and natural thing to do it isn’t always.  We’ve all had those pangs of regret looking back wondering, “why didn’t I talk to that person” or “I wonder what the gross local delicacy actually tastes like”.

Yes, I’ve taken a step that many never do in deciding that I wanted to take control of my life and do something different with it.  That doesn’t make me any less guilty of missing opprotunities.  In some ways it’s worse since there are so many more new experiences presented to me.

Also going against me in my natural inclination to blend in and not be the one who needs to be taken care of.  Saying “No” is easy for me.

“No, I don’t need a chair, I’m fine standing.”

“No, you have the last serving, I’m good.”

The good is that is something I’m aware of and working on.  If you’ve been following along on my journey you’ve seen how many people I’ve met along the way who’ve helped me out or just swapped stories with.  You’ve also seen all the incredible places I’ve been and may be wondering what the hell I’m talking about.

– Reflection On Emerald Lake

The thing is that everytime you choose to do one thing, you are also choosing NOT to do all the other options.  I choose to go back to Lake Louise both to see another part of that area I missed the first time and to spend time with someone I’d just met.  At the same time I was deciding not see southeast Alaska which is an area I was looking forward to.  Skipping the Pacific Northwest meant missing out on its coast and my friends there so I could go to Burning Man.

Burning Man isn’t an event on my bucket list or even somewhere I’d pictured myself going.  And I think that is why I decided to go this year.  Why not go see what it’s about, who goes, and what really goes on?  I know other people who have been, they all survived and some go back every year now.  Maybe I’ll find more in common with the people there than I expect or a part of me will find something its been looking for that I wasn’t aware was missing.

If I don’t go, I won’t know.  All we can do is try to make the best decision at the time and then go forward and make the most of it.  Southeast Alaska and the PNW aren’t going anywhere anytime soon.  Sure Alaska’s glaciers may melt and put Seattle underwater before I get back, but now I can say I’ve climbed mountain peaks in Canada and by the time you’re reading this I’ll be hanging out with hippies in the Nevada desert seeing things I’ve probably never imagined.  So before you say “No” to the next random idea or offer you have think about what you may be giving up by not saying “Yes”, I know I’m trying to.

No related posts.

– Relatively Freshly Shaved

– Relatively Freshly Shaved

Monday morning I was off for my parts to discover both shops closed.  No worries, I’d ignored my blog for two weeks while I was mountain climbing.  Plenty of work to do for a day.  That day of blogging turned into two (much like what is happening to me right now) and the parts stores wanted to keep me around for a week for them to come in.  This was turning into Fairbanks all over again.

This time around I had choices though.  There were more stores to choose from than just Anchorage.  I was headed towards Seattle next and could have a chain and sprockets waiting for me there.  Now should I go straight over or cut down to Hells Canyon first like I’d intended?  Wait a second, lets throw in a newly considered third idea as well, Burning Man starts in two weeks in Nevada.

– Having the Cemetery on the Way Makes It Easier to Keep Up W/The Population Count

– Having the Cemetery on the Way Makes It Easier to Keep Up W/The Population Count

After asking for opinions on my Facebook Page and even talking to the host of SideStandUp during my second interview (Episode 280), nearly all said Burning Man which is the way I was leaning as well.  Ok, now we’re talking!  Hells Canyon is on the way to Boise and off I went.

I first heard about Hells Canyon National Recreation Area from Chris and Al, of ETAUnknown, the Kiwi couple I met in Yellowstone.  Great place to ride AND the sun was actually out.  I went in through the Oregon side and didn’t have to go out of my way to find some fun rides.  The reason for this is that the main road to Hells Canyon was closed.

– Rough Forest Road

– Rough Forest Road

– Ascent Road from Hells Canyon

– Ascent Road from Hells Canyon

I decided to go see for myself and ended up on a 40 mile detour over 4wd drive forest roads.  Plenty of rocks along the road and a crew was adding/replacing culverts along the way so lots to watch out for.  It really had been a long time since I’d done a few hours in a row like this, but I kept the bike up the whole way.

It did add several hours onto the trip and I zipped up to the Hells Canyon Dam and back down as shadows were setting in the canyon.  Taking another dirt turnoff I soon found an unexpected (and unofficial) camp overlooking the canyon.  I was sold and up went the tent.  After 4 months of traveling and camping I’ve gotten pretty good picking out where its ok to stop and when I have to watch out.  Only one car came by the whole time I was up there.

No related posts.

– Motorcycle Campers

– Motorcycle Campers

I knew that getting to one of these meetings was a priority for the summer.  When the schedule came out the location and timing of this one was perfect and over 160 people must have agreed.  That’s more than double the number that went last year and they organizers did a fantastic job to accommodate everyone.

Actually, I not only attended, but was one of the presenters.  Due to my change in plans of going to Lake Louise I didn’t leave the time to prepare that I hoped and ended up getting things ready on the ride to Nakusp.  This began very evident when I discovered that I didn’t even have Powerpoint on my netbook.  A small detail right?

It was one I had to work around at that point so I pulled up a few pages from my website, downloaded a slide show program for a few slides, and set up a photo slideshow in Picasa the program I use for all my photo needs.  On arriving I set up camp then discovered the registration area about an hour before dinner was to begin.  ”Oh good, you made it.  Can you do your presentation tonight instead of tomorrow?”

“Sure, why not.”

The nice thing about being a presenter was that the camp fee and registration was waived, plus I got a free shirt.  Since I’d originally signed up to be an attendee I actually got money back when I got there.  The only thing I had to pay for over the weekend was the dinners each night of about $12 which are optional and other meals on my own.

– Horizons Unlimited Tire Changing Class

– Horizons Unlimited Tire Changing Class

Grant and Susan Johnson are the founders of Horizons Unlimited and did the first talk on how they got into motorcycle travel over 25 years ago.  After that was Rene Cormier about his trip around the world.  I thought I was next and relieved to find out there some else had to go as I knew I wasn’t going to come close to the previous presentations.

I was the last presenter Thursday night finishing around 11pm and survived knowing it wasn’t really up to par.  Still the most frequent comments to me the rest of the weekend were that they loved my pictures and what kind of camera did I use.  There were several surprised faces when I pulled it out of my pocket to show them.

The good thing is that now my part was done for the weekend, lots of people knew my story, and I could now go about trying to gain information rather than pretend I had knowledge to share.  Friday and Saturday had similar schedules with more informational type meetings in the day time and inspirational world journey tales at night.  I know every continent was discussed at one time or another and it doesn’t even seem like many countries could have been skipped either.  With talks ending at midnight both nights and people rising before 7 there wasn’t much time for anything else during the weekend.

– Nakusp Shoreline

– Nakusp Shoreline

A few riders went out during the day to enjoy the beautiful location, my bike didn’t move until Sunday morning.  The sun arrived in full force Friday and clear skies became the norm.  Something I hadn’t had in months.  Eating lunch on the lake boardwalk with my new Romanian friends (now in Edmonton) on Friday was just what I needed.

I was particularly interested in the maintenance talks during the day knowing that this is a big area of improvement for me.  Both to fix what I break and to stop breaking so many things.  The tire changing session would have been great a month earlier, but I’m sure something I’ll be doing plenty more down the road too.  I’ll also being attending more of these meetings as well.

Related posts:

1. Win A Travel Book #5
2. Win A Travel Book #3
3. Win A Travel Book #1

– Point to the Summit of Mt. Carnarvon

– Point to the Summit of Mt. Carnarvon

The weather was an ever present issue as we tried to pick the clearest days for the highest peaks.  The fact that the forcasts were wrong most every day didn’t help.  Clear mornings with clouds in the afternoon predictions became rain in the morning and cloudy later.  In the end there wasn’t a single clear day in the next week and 40 minutes of sleet at the top of one mountain.

The next two days we actually didn’t get to the summits.  At Mount Weed north of Bow Summit we climbed and climbed reaching narrowing chutes with loose rock all around waiting for an excuse to come down and still no summit in site.  We decided to turn around taking our time to make sure the person below was clear before the next descended.  This lasted for 15 minutes until we saw the clouds rolling in began to hurry.  Rain and wind came first followed by thunder and lighting as we hurried down from 10,000 feet across open ground.  Not a good place to be.

– Temple Mountian

– Temple Mountian

The next day we drove 2.5 hours to Canada’s Glacier National Park.  Jana had not one, but two pairs of crampons with her for glacier hiking.  Turns out they don’t have a glacier to walk on and our glacier crest trail turned us back right next to the top at which point the clouds were so thick you couldn’t see 15 feet.  Why bother to go on if all we were doing was getting cold and wet?

This was about the time that two independent solo travelers began to really notice that they weren’t used to being around someone else all the time.  Our pattern didn’t change too much over the next few days, but the quality of the trip did.  We each took a trip to Banff on our own over the next two days.  I found mine incredibly refreshing to remember that there were other people and things going on in the world.  I was able to get online for an hour, get glue to try repair my hiking boots that a weeks worth of climbing had pretty much destroyed, and unwind on my own.

– Rocks Ruining My Shoes

– Rocks Ruining My Shoes

There were a few close calls, but we continued climbing; the Tower of Babel near Moraine Lake, Little Hector Mountain, and finishing with Mount Carnarvon.  The final mountain was outstanding.  Starting at 4,250 feet and finishing at 10,175 it was almost a 6,000 foot climb and barely seemed like half that to me.  A long way from the 3,000 foot ascent that I struggled through back in the Grand Canyon.  This hike started at the beautiful Emerald Lake in Yoho NP went through 3 miles of forest before reaching Hamilton Lake.  From there it was a 3 hour ascent up 3,000 feet.  A gorgeous glacier stayed in view on our right and the climb was just the right amount of challenge and rise.

– Hamilton Lake Was Even Better When We Arrived

– Hamilton Lake Was Even Better When We Arrived

As we neared the summit sleet began falling, but we could see sun coming so we waited it out on the top.  The end of our time together was near and both of us were realizing that it hadn’t been so bad after all which was nice as well.  Staying up here for well over an hour we experienced nearly all 4 seasons and could see for miles in every direction.  To finish off the day we spent the last mile of the hike picking huckelberries and blueberries along the way.  Sorry bears you’ll have to go hungry this year (or search the plants not directly on the trail).

Jana was setting off for another 4 day backpacking trip in Yoho and I was on my was to Nakusp BC, just 200 miles away for a Horizons Unlimited Motorcycle Travel meetup.  My detour wasn’t actually so far out of my way after all, just took me back somewhere I didn’t expect to be again and moved up my departure from Alaska by about a week.

No related posts.

– Summit of Mount Richardson

– Summit of Mount Richardson

Buggy barely begins to describe the camp.  Mosquitoes everywhere.  Occasionally the flies would run them off for a minute and we also had to watch out for the hard biting horse fly.  At night it was into the tent by 8 just to get away.  Going to bed that early was helped by the 3,500 feet climbs up and back down we were doing to get to the peaks around us.

The first morning I still wasn’t sure exactly what I’d gotten myself into.  I knew that Jana walked fast, though with a pack on and uphill our paces matched fine, and that we were climbing mountains.  We’d spent the last 3 days together except that she was in her car and I was riding so it wasn’t a social visit.  Now she started pulling out photocopied pages of the peaks around us and the ways up them.  You may remember that I’m not a huge fan of heights, or at least steep drop offs from them, but the peaks I could see looked ok from down below.

We set off to Mt. Richardson due west of our camp past Hidden Lake.  The trail ended soon and we made our way over fallen boulders arriving at the first steep climb.  It was a semi grassy slope on uneven rocks.  Midway up 3 bighorn sheep appeared 30 yards uphill from us.  They took their time making their way to the side as we scrambled up.

– Yes, I’m Looking At You

– Yes, I’m Looking At You

Near the top of the grass we sat watching them and the sheep started making their way right back over like we were now part of the herd.  We spotted two more below us as the other 3 came back within 10 yards of us.  We both could have spent all day there watching and listening to them graze, but the call of the peak eventually took over.

A ridgeline waited above speeding up our progress and leaving us at a loose rocky slope with snow covering one side at the top.  Reaching the crest I thought I was at my first summit only to find that the summit marker was on the far side of the peak (an experience that kept repeating itself).  The view on the way up kept get better and now we had a 360 degree panorama of the area and an eye level view of the other mountains on Jana’s list.  We signed in on the summit register noting it had been two weeks since anyone had been there, took photos, and simply enjoyed being where we were.

The guide showed a path to another summit from where we were, but the snow and sideslope required to get there (actually the drop below the sideslope) was more than I wanted to tackle on my first climb.  Descending we made plans for the 2nd peak over, Mt. Ptarmigen the next day and maybe a day hike the last.

– On Mount Redout Looking At the Other Summits We Climbed

– On Mount Redout Looking At the Other Summits We Climbed

Climbing the next day was much different terrain, more loose rocks, and a more consistent slope.  Also, we could see the summit most of the way so you knew just where you were headed.  An easier climb than we’d anticipated and I found myself starting at the peak east of our camp quite often.  Not as tall as the ascents we’d made, but it had a vast sheer rock wall along its whole western edge making me wonder if and how someone could get up.

Jana’s interest was quiqued as well and we checked into Mt. Redoubt on our return.  Not as high as the other peaks, it was still rated more challenging as you had to hike halfway up from the north, give up half of that cutting across a U in the middle to the south side and follow the ridge up from there.  That was our new plan and the third peak we tackled in as many days.

Mount Redoubt offered several new challenges mainly pshycological as you descended through the U watching the peak get further away and ascending near the cliffs edge on the other side.  Along with that was the steepest and loosest rock we’d had to scramble up yet.  Still we made it with no major issues and savored the view once there.

– Jana At The Summit (and Edge) of Mount Redoubt

– Jana At The Summit (and Edge) of Mount Redoubt

The whole time I was trying not to think about the climb back down which is worse than going up on loose rock.  Plus it would be a lot harder to aviod looking at the really far down areas.  Knowing I’d already gone up and going slow to find solid footing made the worry unnecessary and we were breaking down camp in early afternoon and hiking back to the vehichles.  In all we hiked about 15 miles that day, climbed over 3,000 feet, and did the last 5 miles with our packs.  Once my knee made it through that I knew it was finally fully recovered from the Teton’s.

No related posts.

For the last hour I’d been hiking in Kenai Fjords National Park.  Now and then a glimpse of the Exit Glacier  would appear only for the trail to turn back north.  The next valley over was green and lush.  I kept contrasting the two sites so close together and so different.  How was one full of years of snow and ice and the other thriving with flora?

That’s when I crested a rise and saw the Harding Icefield and “WOW” was all that I could say for the next minute.  It was the closest I’d been to a glacier, the furthest towards it’s beginning, and I was eye level with ice.  I was caught off guard at what exactly would be forming the glacier I’d been watching.

– Brian at the Harding Icefield

– Brian at the Harding Icefield

There were miles of ice extending up the mountain with crevices shooting downwards marking the glacier with tiger stripes.  A couple at the same lookout asking me to take their picture as did I.  They were as spellbound as me.  It took a few minutes of staring before I could even begin to try taking a real photo and I don’t think there is a wide enough lens made to show it all.

Continuing uphill to get even closer I came across my first bear while hiking.  A black bear with one cub who took a look and made her way along the hill away from me just like it’s supposed to happen.  At the top of the mountain the size of the icefield continued to improve, but detail was still hard to discern.  The ice blended right into the clouds making it impossible to tell where one ended and the other began.  Look closely at the picture below and you can see a person silhouetted against the icefield giving you a sense of scale.

– More of the Icefield

– More of the Icefield

As I was taking a lunch break and staring at the glacier a girl walked up looking around like she owned the mountain.  Unusual enough until her eyes settled on me and stayed there.  That part was really strange.  Did you see my beard in the first picture???

Eventually, our paths crossed closer to the glacier and we started questioning each other.  I was even intrigued enough from the beginning to remember her name after the second time she told me.  She’d just finished an 8 day backpacking trip, driven overnight here, and then was turning around for Lake Louise the next day.  The claim to be from Los Angeles kept up until I said I was going to be in Prague in December.  ”Oh that’s my country.”

– I’m on the Ice

– I’m on the Ice

The hike back was more like a sprint with Jana (pronounced Yana) leading.  I wasn’t sure if she was trying to leave me behind or not, but she never told me to get lost and I managed to keep up.  In the parking lot my complete inability to have a clue what women are thinking reared it’s head as I gave her my email for a copy of a picture we took together and expected that to be the end of it.  Luckily she didn’t give up quite so easily and we eventually moved along to having dinner.

Spending the evening together got me to wondering about where to go next.  Jana had a suggestion for a 3 day trip in the Wrangle mountains she’d just left.  I wondered if her three day would be a 5 day trip at normal speed.  Aside from floating around a couple more seaside cities, what I really wanted to do was see the sun.  I’d been in clouds and rain since Wyoming.  The next morning I didn’t want to split up yet and decided to start caravaning with her as she had to be in Lake Louise Aug 2nd or 3rd.  By midday I’d decided I’d go as far the Canadian border.

In the afternoon I was going at least to Watson Lake where Highway 37 splits to the south in BC and by the evening – why not go all the way (driving guys come on)?  If you think we can share a permit then let’s go climb mountains in Banff.  Sounds more interesting that what I had planned (nothing of course) and she certainly was more interesting than talking to myself.

That decision was made Friday after a 12 hour day, with plenty of stops, where we went about 550 miles.  Once it was made, and she figured out her permit started on the 2nd then our goal was to be in Lake Louise by noon Monday.   Which was only 1,650 miles away and two time zones away.  D’oh!

Backtracking over my previous path on the Alaska Highway we met our goal of going at least 700 miles Saturday and Sunday allowing us to pull into Lake Louise at 11:30 Monday morning.  I found it so weird going over familiar ground again and recognizing places after seeing nothing, but new sites for 3 months.  Also strange was that it got dark while we were driving Sunday night.  Hadn’t seen that in weeks.

No related posts.

Not only do you drive a lot of miles, but gas is expensive too, inspite the big pipe full of oil going all the way down the state.  Anchorage is cheapest at $3.35/gallon, every station in Fairbanks was $3.50.  Outside of those two places it was $3.65-$4.00/gallon.  The upper end is about the same as what I paid in Canada.

– Yummy – I Went With the Reindeer Sausage

– Yummy – I Went With the Reindeer Sausage

After moving around then you need to eat which is expensive too – $10+ for a burger and fries, $15+ for fish (even though it was just caught there).  Groceries stores were the same 150%-200% higher than the lower 48 in most cases.  The other place they try to get you (or at least your money) is in the activities.

I totally agree that much of what they are offering can only be done in a few places in the world and they need to buy their expensive gas and food so there are going to be premiums.   But are you really supposed to take the flight to Mount McKinely for $600 one day, fish from Homer the next for a few hundred, take a glacier cruise on day 3 for another $200?  Yikes, there goes $1,000/person in 3 days.

I really would have liked to have seen more while I was there.  Cost was a minor factor in parts of this as there are usually ways to get part of the experience for much lower prices if you have time.  My shortcomings were more a function of showing up with a motorcycle needing repairs, wetter than normal weather, and leaving a week earlier than planned (more on that next post).

– New Tires Finally!

– New Tires Finally!

Things I missed are going further north than Livengood on the Dalton Highway.  It wasn’t a priority of mine to go to Prudoe Bay, but the option would have been nice.  Similarly I couldn’t go to Dawson City in the Yukon because the road washed out (twice) while I was there.  The route south, Highway 37, from the Yukon was closed due to smoke on the way out too.  Couldn’t go north or south. Good thing I was headed east anyway.  Last was getting down to Valdez and the Elias-Wrangle mountains.

No matter where you go in the state or what you pay to do you’ll find things that blow you away.  For me this was coming over a hill at the Exit Glacier in Seward and seeing the icefield behind it.  Years and years of snow and ice were stacked up behind the glacier.  I couldn’t even tell where the ice ended and the clouds began.  Eventually the clouds cleared slightly and a few lonely peaks began visible.  These are mountains where only the very tops are visible and ice has built up in all the valleys leaving random tops sticking up here and there in a field of ice.

An area I thought would bother me and I ended up enjoying is the 24 hours per day of light.  I stayed up later than normal, usually going to bed around 11 then would sleep fine till around 8am.  Never seeing stars was weird, though the clouds would have blocked them anyway.  The really nice part about this is that I could stick around where I woke up all day, start leave at 5pm and not worry about riding in the dark at all.

Reasonable camp sites could be found, not surprising for a such a big place.  I only paid for camping a few places; Denali NP of course, 2 nights at a hostel in the middle of Fairbanks, a night in Homer right on the beach, and a city park in Seward.  Aside from that it was just pulling off the road or a normal free undeveloped site in a recreation area, and a few (wet) days hanging out with a friend in Anchorage.

All in all, I’m still glad that I went and satisfied with the overview I got.  There’s plenty left for me on another trip and I wouldn’t be at all surprised if I end up back there another time down the road.

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Back in Wasilla I did most of the maintenance I’d planned to; new tires, rear wheel bearing, oil change.  In Homer I put on the air filter I picked in Anchorage.  The only thing I skipped that my manual is telling me to do is replacing the spark plugs and now I’m due for a chain and sprockets too.

I’d planned to leave Alaska on the Top of the World Highway to Dawson City which everyone says is a really neat town.  Unfortunately, that road washed out for the second time since I’ve been in Alaska.  I did just get a good tip on where to see bears salmon fishing in BC for free so I can easily fill the time I’d planned for there.  Didn’t make it there due to returning to Lake Louise and Highway 37 going south was closed due to smoke from forest fires….

I’m in Post Falls Idaho right now and will be touring eastern Washington/Idaho before working my way over to Seattle and skip up to Vancouver for a bit by early September, those two cities could get reversed.  I want to get over to the Washington and/or Oregon coast after that as I’ve never been to the ocean up there.

Forest in Olympia National Park

I have a flight from Portland to San Diego on September 17th for a wedding on the 25th.  Returning to Portland on the 27th I’ll head south staying inland.  Places I’m thinking about on that part are the Redwoods, Yosemite, Joshua Tree, and Death Valley.  I’m planning to get my coastal drives in up north and then can jog over to it as needed in California to see friends.  That should get me to San Diego in early November where I’ll stay for a month before getting the backpack out and going to Europe.

Death Valley California

There’s a chance I may be riding back to Seattle for my Europe flight in December.  That would be a much faster paced ride.  I’ve got several things to hash out before then and I’d have to find a place to park my bike for a few months.

So once again I’ve got a rough plan, probably more detailed this time since I know the area better.  It looks like I’ll be busy riding down though the distance between spots will be closer together than they have been for the last month.  I’ve also got friends in all three states that it would be nice to see along the way.  It may end up being tough to balance those visits with what I want to see too.  A good problem to have at least.  Certainly if I’m headed your way let me know and we’ll see what we can work out.

Olympia NP and Death Valley photos courtesy of Everything Everywhere Travel Blog

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