Picto Diary - 14 June 2016 - Closing the Gap

Day 7. Tok, AK to Delta Junction, AK and back to Tok. 220 miles. 14 June 2016. 2012 BMW F800 GS motorcycle.

Above: Bishop at Delta Junction. Terminus of Alaska Highway. 14 June 2016.

Today's short ride completes the 1422 miles of the Alaska Highway, by 2012 BMW F800 GS motorcycle, from Dawson Creek, AG, 11 June 2016, to Delta Junction, AK, 14 June 2016.

Also, today's ride closes the gap necessary for me to claim having motorcycled, at different junctures, circa 5000 miles of continuous pavement, from Marathon, FL to Deadhorse, AK (via Park City, UT.)

Above: Alaska Highway between Tok, AK and Delta Junction, AK. Direction Tok. 14 June 2016.

I was struck by the atmospheric clarity of the distant ranges as I rode. I stopped to capture the impression.

Reflections

As I ride today I muse about the oddity of Delta Junction being my longest penetration into Alaska on this ride.

Fairbanks, a more typical destination, is only another 100 miles.

And then, of course, there is Anchorage, 250 miles southeast of Delta Junction.

I mean, shouldn't I at least go to Denali National Park, south of Fairbanks?

Has anyone ever ridden a motorcycle from the lower forty eight, half way up BC before joining the Alaska Highway for the 1422 miles to Delta Junction and then stopped there only to turn around and head back?

Seems weird.

Nevertheless, I had not lost sight of the original focus for this Alaskan motorcycle trip. It was Haines, AK, at the top of the Alaska panhandle, the world center for bald eagles, one of two road access from the inside passage, the Alexander Archipelago, to the Alaska Highway, that was the objective for this trip.

Our ride leader, John Galt, and his wife, Dagny Taggart, lived in Haines for twenty years. Galt flew helicopters there for a living (after having sold a successful large scale photography business in Seattle). He built a couple of homes in Haines. He created an electricity company to bring power to an isolated part of the Haines area... the area where he and Dagny chose to build. Galt wanted to show his rider friends the town that was such an important part of his and Dagny's life.

I was elated at the opportunity to Haines as the end point of an Alaska motorcycle ride. I understood that riding there would mean not completing the entire distance of the Alaska Highway. So what! I had, at a previous time, ridden a rented motorcycle from Anchorage to Prudhoe Bay and back - 1600 miles round trip. It wasn't as though I was really missing anything by turning back before completing the distance of the Alaska Highway.

Haines' attractions as a destination are well known. The Haines Highway borders Canada's Kluane National Park. The 160 mile long Haines Highway is notoriously one of the world's most beautiful roads.

And, then there's funky Haines... a collection of characters... trappers, hunters, independent types. There is Haines' notorious environmentalist community, mostly self righteous coupon clippers up from the lower 48, in Haines to take up where Chris McCandless left off. The environmentalists and the indigenous bear hunting locals are often at loggerheads when it comes to local politics. Finally, Haines is a center for extreme skiing by helicopter.

Earlier in the trip I mentioned to John Galt that some other time I would come up to complete the link from Haines Junction, on the Alaska Highway, to Anchorage, which would establish my achievement of a continuous motorcycle ride from Park City to Deadhorse (Prudhoe Bay).

Galt thought for a moment and then said, "you don't have to go to Anchorage to establish that link. You can go to Tok. And, its not that big of a deal for you to go to Tok on this trip. You'd miss a day in Haines, but, you could get to Tok, spend the night at Fast Eddies, and come back to Haines and meet us with a day to spare before we have to catch the inside passage ferry to Prince Rupert. You must have passed through Tok on your previous ride. You don't need to wait for another trip to close your gap. You can do it on this trip!"

I checked the map. I had not passed through Tok on my earlier, six years ago, motorcycle riding trip in Alaska, Anchorage to Prudhoe Bay and back on a rented motorcycle. . But, I had passed through Delta Junction, 100 miles beyond Tok.

Galt said, "well, then, you can still do your 'close the gap' ride and fit within our overall schedule. We have to make a ferry in Haines, AM Thursday 16 June 2016. You can make a two night deviation from our Haines plan. You can split off from our group at Haines Junction. The three of us will ride on to Haines on the Haines highway. You can continue the 275 miles to Tok on the Alaska Highway. Stay and eat at Fast Eddies, then head out the next day to Delta Junction, 110 miles. Come back the same day to Tok. Spend another night at Fast Eddies. Then, the next day, Wednesday, you can ride the 460 miles to join us at Haines. We have a dinner that evening planned at friends. We'll take the ferry out to Prince Rupert, PC, the next day... Thursday, 16 June 2016, ... as originally planned."

This, hypothetical, "supplementary ride" to close the missing gap of a continuous motorcycle ride from Park City to Deadhorse would mean a total 720 mile deviation. It sounded like a lot to bite off. But, after riding the long distances of the Alaska highway through BC and Yukon, and doing the long ride in the last four days, the prospective gap closing ride also seemed very doable.

I contemplated the expected "high" of achieving (albeit in two segments, six years apart) a continuous motorcycle ride from Park City, UT to Deadhorse, AK... almost 8000 miles, round trip.

I decided the "close the gap" ride was worth a try. Cal Poly said he wanted to join me.

So, Cal Poly and Mwah (sic) started the 'gap ride" yesterday, 13 June 2016, in Whitehorse, YK. We rode in more than light rain with John Galt and Wyatt Earp for 110 miles to Haines Junction, where Galt and Earp split off to head for Haines, 160 miles. Cal Poly and Mwah (sic) continued along the Alaska Highway, direction Tok, about 300 miles from Haines Junction.

Cal Poly,made it as far as Destruction Bay, on Kluane Lake, 60 miles beyond, Haines Junction, when after sensing an engine abnormality in his Harley, decided to turn around and join the others back in Haines.

So here I was... riding most of the 720 mile deviation to Delta Junction by myself. Lonely, haunting, brain stimulating, exhilarating... the purr of the 800 cc twin of the beemer is music as the bike glides through the Yukon and Alaskan wilderness.

Addendum:


I remember a Black Bear sighting while staying at the Post hotel which included mother and child. They were both crossing the railroad tracks, don't remember if you were around. We also stopped in Yellowstone and saw a baby up in a tree. Just want to see if your memory still works-:)
Mr. Z3
Ojai, CA

No memory. You were with someone else. I remember one time at the Post Hotel in Lake Louise, AB riding with you, losing my wedding ring in the room we shared. The hotel manager called me two or three days later when we were riding in John Day, OR, saying they had "found" my ring. Apparently they gave a room cleaner the third degree to get it.

What a fun adventure; I personally always enjoyed the BC area. I have to look it up on the map but I think I have been to Whitehorse. Why didn't U ride the Ducati -:)

Mr. Z3
Ojai, CA

As far as I know you have not been to Whitehorse. Its way up there in the Yukon.... as far from Lake Louise is going north as it is to Park City, from Lake Louise, going south.

Dear Steve,

Thanks for the memories re: Alaska Highway travel.

The first time I drove it was in 1973, when my younger daughter was only 5 months old and the older one was not quite two years old, in a VW microbus- which was rather like driving inside a snare drum as the road was not paved in Canada beginning about 20 miles north of Dawson Creek, B.C. (with the exception of a ten mile stretch at Whitehorse, Yukon). What a relief to reach the Alaskan border where the pavement started! The paving of the Canadian section of the road has sure opened up that area for development and I see from your photos that they still cut back the trees to allow the weak sun to melt as much snow as quickly as possible. All in all, a great trip.

If you are so inclined, I would recommend your riding the Cassiar Highway, route 37, on your way south- it is paved and rather scenic- and riding that way south and then riding the Yellowhead Highway east to Prince George, B.C. is about 200 kilometers shorter than the Alaska Highway to Dawson Creek thence to Prince George.

Enjoy the riding in such magnificent country.

Ahn Rhee, Larkspur, CA

Cassier for another ride.

And yet quite another on foot :-)

Jack Aroon, Mahwah, NJ

Sounds like big fun - have you seen any of our Eagle friends 😎

Mr. Z3, Ojai, CA

Not yet.