Caladin's 2010 trip: Arctic bound

[Caladin]

I have wanted to travel up north for some time. But to go where I would like I needed time off in June-August. My job does not give me the option of taking time off in the summer for the time being.

However this year due to the Vancouver Winter Olympics I lucked out and was able to grab some days off in July!

I had a plan of either touring around Alaska and riding the Dalton Hwy, or I could do a little of Alaska much of the Yukon and the Dempster Highway.

I planned out 2 different general routes for this trip and decided that I would let the weather decide what one I should do. Should it be raining while in the Yukon I would head for Alaska and the Dalton

in hopes of better weather.

I used 2 different cameras. My old one has a scratch on the lens so I purchased a new one just before I left. Shots that I took while moving were the old camera. I didn't get a chance to adjust to the new

camera so not everything came out right. All video is unedited. Some days I covered a lot of ground so there may not be many shots. Here are the pictures from my trip. Hope you enjoy.


Day 1: 744km / 462mi - Abbotsford BC to Prince George BC.




Bike loaded up and ready to roll. People always tell me the bike looks new.


Starting Mileage. 85,168km / 52,921mi. A little bit of a late start to my day.












Day 2: 839km / 521mi - Prince George BC to Fort Nelson BC.

 

[Caladin]

This is in the Peace River region of BC.

 

[Caladin]

 

[Caladin]

Day 3: 988km / 614mi - Fort Nelson BC to Whitehorse YT.






There was not a lot of places to stay in Fort Nelson. It is an oil/gas town and was packed with workers.










Entering Stone Mountain Provincial Park.


Mountain Goats.


I'm guessing it was some tasty road salt on the side of the road that had their attention.

 

[Caladin]

I love riding over steel grate bridges.

 

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[Caladin]

Sooooo when I first saw this sign I was a little surprised. It has to be the worst welcome to sign I have ever seen. Turns out it was not the actual provincial sign. The highway crosses back and forth over

the BC/Yukon border several times. So the actual sign isn't till further along


I had seen at least a dozen bears already. Most run as you get near. I tried to snap a picture of this black bear as I rode by.




That's better! Welcome to the Yukon.


Sign Post Forest - Watson Lake Yukon. I believe they have over 30,000 signs here. Ranging from street signs to license plates.

 

[Caladin]

You can find signs from all over the world here. And ones from close to home.


Nice people live here - Yes, nice people who steal signs.

 

[Caladin]

Day 4: 761km / 473mi - Whitehorse YT to km254 Dempster Hwy YT.








Getting a nice collection of wildlife started!

 

[Caladin]

Some where near this point i past through a long construction zone. The road had been dug up and was a mix of gravel sand and mud. They keep the ground wet to keep dust down as a pilot car leads you across. One section was so soft my tires bit in and I just about went down. I was second guessing myself after that as to if I should try ride the Dempster highway.

 

[Caladin]

At last! I was very excited to finally reach the start of the Dempster Highway. I decided that I would start out right away. It was only 7pm, so i figured I would ride till I felt like stopping.


This sign is an stern reminder that one must behave while traveling the Dempster. Failure to do so could result in a very bad situation. You are basically on your own, with the exception of my Spot tracker

letting me call for help if needed.


A mere 370km (230mi) to next fuel service. I was not really sure how far I could go on a tank. I know my range to be around 425km on average with highway riding. I worked out a absolute worst case fuel

mileage for a tank and figured out that bringing an extra 4L (1gal) would be more then enough.

The road has a couple of KM of pavement before it quickly turns to gravel. I had done extensive reading from others who had traveled this road on motorcycle. The highway is built upon a gravel pad that

has a thickness of 1.2 m (3 ft 11 in) up to 2.4 m (7 ft 10 in) in some places. The gravel pad is to prevent the road from sinking into the soft ground when the permafrost melts on the surface in the summer.

I'm guessing the pad insulates the ground bellow to allow it to stay frozen year round and thus not have the road sink. In many areas vehicles travel in the center and only move to the side to pass another vehicle. This makes the edges of gravel pad very soft in places, so you must be careful not to stray to close to the edge or your tire may sink into the uncompressed gravel.


It wasn't long before I spotted a black bear running for cover. They really don't like having their picture taken.


I had gone a few km of the gravel at a very cautious pace. I was coming to a small hill that I could not see over. As I approached I saw a very large cloud of dust being thrown in the air heading towards

me. Knowing that a vehicle was approaching I moved to the far right of the compressed section (avoiding the very soft shoulder). As I reached the crest a semi truck/trailer came FLYING over the top, it felt like he passed doing about 100km/h and within a few feet of me. I was SHOWERED in rocks that pelted me as high as my shoulders. That was a rather interesting experience - cant say I care to do that again. I saw 3 large trucks while on the Dempster. Its the way most goods are moved to Inuvik.

 

[Caladin]

It does not take long for the scenery to start to change. I will let the pictures speak for themselves.

 

[Caladin]

Squinting into the sun.


Everywhere you look there seems to be great photo opportunities. The pictures by no means even come close to doing justice. This place is just breathtaking!

 

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[Caladin]

This is a runway for small aircraft. Can't you tell?


This arctic fox was sitting on the road. As I approached he ran off and around behind me.


Arctic fox change color from white in the winter to brown in the summer.




Once he put a little distance between us he resumed relaxing on the road.

 

[Caladin]

The road was really wide at the top of this pass. I had stopped to take some photos and walked away from my bike. Let me tell you, one feels VERY VERY small out here.


This moose sat still just long enough to get my camera out.






At this point I began looking for a suitable place to camp for the night. It didn't take long to find a secluded spot off the road on the top of a hill. By now it was midnight.


This is what 12:05am look like in July under the land of the midnight sun. How cool is that!?

 

[Caladin]

Looking out away from the sun at my camping spot.






I put bug spray on my hands and wore a mosquito net over my head. The mosquitoes have a voracious appetite. I had to walk away from my tent and then run back and get in quickly to try not end up with any in my tent. It didn't take me to long to fall asleep once I got use to hearing the buzz of the many mosquitoes trying to get in my tent. What a day!


Day 5: 700km / 435mi - Dempster Hwy (km 254) to Dempster Hwy/Klondike Hwy.




Good morning! I awoke at about 9:00am. By then the sun had moved across the horizon to start its slow journey again.




This thing is called a bear vault. You put your food, deodorant, toothpaste and other items inside that could attract bears. Its a hard plastic container that should be grizzly proof. You store it a good distance from your camp so as to keep the bears away from you that do do try get in it. I had bear bangers and bear spray with me as well.

 

[Caladin]

Time to hit the road.


Fireweed lines much of the road you travel. It often grows where there have been forest fires or the ground has been disturbed.












Eagle Plains! The first fuel stop along the Dempster highway. They have a restaurant and hotel here as well.


In the end I did not require ANY of the extra fuel I had brought. I was surprised as I spent a fair amount of time idling while taking pictures. And even a little backtracking.


Distance since last fuel stop.

 

[Caladin]

I had no cell phone service since leaving Whitehorse. But the Eagle Plains hotel/restaurant had WiFi. They get their data connection from a microwave antenna system that links the northern communities to the outside world. I find it amazing that you can be somewhere so remote, and yet still be able to e-mail a few pictures to family/friends.










Just about to the edge of the arctic circle.


Hooray! I don't think there have been to many FZ6's to travel here before me.


These two pictures were actually taken on my way back down. As when I arrived at the marker there were several people hanging around in all the pictures.




Continuing northward.

 

[Caladin]

Welcome to the Northwest Territories! Another goal of my trip completed.


Apparently birds from as far as northern Africa migrate up the the arctic circle in the summer.


How far to go to the end of the line.