« Day 10 - Fort St John (Mile 40) to Toad River Lodge (Mile 402) (Mon 7/28/14) | Main | Day 12 - Teslin, Yukon to Alaskan Border »
July 29, 2014
Day 11 - Toad River, B.C. to Teslin, Yukon Province of Canada (Tue 7/29/14)
Above: Driving up the Alaska (ALCAN) Highway from Toad River, B.C. to Teslin, Yukon Territory, we saw this Black Bear eating berries on the side of the road.
(Tue 7/29/14)
Update: I am alive and well and resting peacefully on the banks of the Nisutlin Bay at Km 1293/Mile 804 on the Alaska Highway in Teslin, Yukon Territory Canada.
Starting Odometer: 17,923
Ending Odometer: 18,314
Miles Driven Today: 391
Miles Driven This Trip: 3,661
Map of where we drove today.
So, tomorrow, I'll get up early and try to do a long ride of 460 miles to Whitehorse (Mile 880). However, the forecast for Whitehorse looks wet. So, if the weather is bad, I'll stop at 370 miles in the Yukon Motel at Mile 772.
My gas list looks like this:
Mile 417 Toad River Lodge
Mile 566 Contact Creek Lodge
Mile 623 Nugget City
Mile 772 Yukon Motel
Mile 880 Whitehorse
Today, I get up and clear out of the Toad River Lodge. Rolling north and west slowly up the Alaskan Highway. Somehow, I'm on a KTM 990 Adventure and barely able to outrun a 30 foot Mountaineer Trailer.
I keep pulling over to take photos, and this slow lumbering trailer keeps catching up to me. And I'm shooting, and pulling out in front of him to race a few kilometers down the ALCAN highway before I stop to shoot again.
Eventually, the terrain changes enough that I don't have to shoot as much. There's so many animals you just can't know. Road construction. I meet a guy named Ben on a KLR, and we decide to ride together. We're dodging stone sheep, bears, caribou, birds, chipmunks, buffalo.
We' re winding up the Alaska Highway. I should mention here the comraderie of the road. Every motorcycle you pass waves at you. We always stop to offer assistance to any biker that's stopped. It's almost like a cult. It's so cool to be a part of this rolling community.
And part of it is that we're all on vacation, I think. Having the time of our lives. But honestly, the scariest biker guys are really the nicest people you could ever meet.
We passed this guy today. This is the first one I've seen since Yellowstone.
Photos in the Extended Entry.
Above: Driving up the Alaska (ALCAN) Highway from Toad River, B.C. to Teslin, Yukon Territory.
Above: Driving up the Alaska (ALCAN) Highway from Toad River, B.C. to Teslin, Yukon Territory.
Above: Driving up the Alaska (ALCAN) Highway from Toad River, B.C. to Teslin, Yukon Territory.
Above: Driving up the Alaska (ALCAN) Highway from Toad River, B.C. to Teslin, Yukon Territory.
Above: Driving up the Alaska (ALCAN) Highway from Toad River, B.C. to Teslin, Yukon Territory.
Above: Dodging animals I've never seen before. I was told these are Stone Sheep.
Above: We passed this airplane parked on the side of the Alaska Highway. The runway was just a short gravel lot. The plane has milk crates full of stones anchoring the plane to the ground.
Above: Driving up the Alaska (ALCAN) Highway from Toad River, B.C. to Teslin, Yukon Territory.
Above: Driving up the Alaska (ALCAN) Highway from Toad River, B.C. to Teslin, Yukon Territory. Here, Ben drives by a buffalo walking down the side of the Alaska Highway.
Above: A buffalo is walking down the side of the Alaska Highway like it's no big deal. I'd hate to hit one of these things on a motorcycle.
Above: Driving up the Alaska (ALCAN) Highway from Toad River, B.C. to Teslin, Yukon Territory, we saw this Black Bear eating berries on the side of the road.
Above: Driving up the Alaska (ALCAN) Highway from Toad River, B.C. to Teslin, Yukon Territory, we saw this Black Bear eating berries on the side of the road.
Above: A black bear on the side of the Alaska Highway.
Above: Driving up the Alaska (ALCAN) Highway from Toad River, B.C. to Teslin, Yukon Territory.
Above: Driving up the Alaska (ALCAN) Highway from Toad River, B.C. to Teslin, Yukon Territory.
Above: Ben and I stop for gas along the Alaska Highway.
Above: The Alaska Highway in the Yukon Territory is a nightmare of road construction and bridges that make it very difficult to control a motorcycle.
Above: Driving up the Alaska Highway, we crossed back and forth between British Columbia and the Yukon Territory several times.
Above: Somehow, Ben was aware of the Sign Post Forest at Watson Lake on the Alaska Highway. I had no clue this place existed, but I think his parents had told him about it?
Posted by Rob Kiser on July 29, 2014 at 3:06 AM
Comments