Parklife

Days 15-19

We're now deep in the heart of the Canadian National Parks in the Rockies. Getting here from pretty much on the West Coast in Hyder, we passed out of the Cassiar mountains and onto the Yellowhead Highway to ride East, going from forested mountains to farmed flatlands and then back to mountains again as we approached the Rockies. The traffic has increased steadily along the way too: whereas in Alaska we could ride for half an hour without seeing another (non-wildlife) road user, we're now never out of sight of another vehicle.

The first sign of the real Rockies was Mount Robson; an imposing pyramid, it's the highest peak in the Canadian Rockies and still in British Columbia. Just a short hop on from there and we were into Alberta, and Jasper National Park where we had our first “rest day”. That means the first day on our trip that we haven't packed up the tent and put it up somewhere new. Instead we knackered ourselves out by hiking some of the spectacular trails in the park among some stunning peaks, glaciers and wildlife!

Yesterday we drove the Icefields Parkway - a truly awesome stretch of road between Jasper and Banff with hundreds of glaciers and spiky mountaintops on both sides, and a few thundering waterfalls and deep canyons to stop and walk around.

Here in Banff we're now having our second rest day. We're actually resting today because we're exhausted and it's raining outside (and we've found a great little cafe with wifi)!

Weather extremes

We've been learning about our temperature comfort range the last few days, leaving Stewart in a wet and chilly12C and then heading East into temperatures up to 35C in the space of just a few days. The low end of that is fine with all our warm and waterproof gear on (and we could have added another layer or two), but over 30C starts getting uncomfortable with a hot sun and a high humidity level, even after we'd peeled off the thermal and waterproof layers (once we realised how hot it was getting!). We're starting to get a bit concerned about the Nevada desert in August...

Since arriving in Banff we've also experienced the heavier end of the rain spectrum. We had a massive thunderstorm last night that just went on and on. We sheltered in the tent with puddles forming around us for about an hour and a half, but hunger eventually drove us into town and then we got soaked on the bikes. The waterproof gear works, but it seems like it does have a limit after which the moisture finds its way in round the edges!

So hopefully the moderate weather will return and make this camping malarkey more comfortable again. The only upside of the rain is that as we can't possibly cook our own food we've had to resort to the local eateries for all of our meals – shame.

You Wait Two Weeks For A Bear...

Days 11-14

“Super, Natural British Columbia Welcomes You” reads the sign and it certainly does!

We're no longer looking out at forests and mountains, we're riding through them and it's beautiful. Over the last couple of days we've also had our first bear sightings! The first was a smallish black bear on the stretch that we mentioned in the last post. We saw him on side of the road on our way to some beautiful natural hot springs, along with a good number of buffalo. Yesterday we popped into Hyder, Alaska for a few hours to watch grizzlies fishing at Fish Creek – one of the rivers that salmon swim up from the sea to reach their breeding grounds. Just seeing the great big salmon swimming up stream was quite a sight. We had to be pretty patient, waiting for around an hour for a bear just to walk down the river; but then another hour later one came and caught a fish and ate it right across the bank in front of us. Just as we were thinking we'd seen what we came for another bear showed up – an older, bigger one, that chased the first downstream a bit – they share the section of river, but the more senior bear gets the best fishing spot. They then took it in turns to do some more fishing which was spectacular to watch. Only our hungry tummies could tear us away after a few hours – we too had fish for dinner after seeing how good they looked! We couldn't leave right away, though, because another, younger bear turned up and was blocking the exit.

Now of course bears are everywhere: we had to make a pretty abrupt stop en route to see some old totem poles for a black bear crossing in front of us.

We've continued to meet more and more other travellers on the roads, both those in some of the massive RVs (Recreational Vehicles, like camper vans but some are as big as a commercial coach, and tow a large pickup behind!) and fellow bikers too, and have enjoyed chatting with everyone. Just in the last couple of days, though, we've started re-meeting some people who we came across days before, which makes for a nice friendly small-world feeling.

The Alaska Highway

Days 8-10

We've spent the last few days on the AlCan highway travelling through Canada's Yukon.

The Alaska Highway, or AlCan as it's known locally is actually quite an amazing thing. You can see for miles around, and there's no sign of human trace anywhere – it's utter wilderness. Then you take a look at the map and you realise that in fact there's nothing at all for hundreds if not thousands of miles in any direction – not a road, cable, pipe, building, track – nothing at all. And then we learnt how the road came to be: all 1400 miles of it were first carved out in just 8 months in 1942. All just staggering really.

The road is mainly pretty good these days, with just a few strong winds to watch out for. However when we stopped at a cafe for lunch one day we learned that two motorcyclists had died over the last two weeks on the 200 mile stretch we'd just done. Probably road bikes travelling too fast over gravel sections, but it's a good reminder to take it easy!

We're now in Watson Lake, home of the signpost forest (tens of thousands of signs – see photos). The mosquitoes are bad here, and even the birds started dive bombing us over breakfast so we'll be moving on tonight. Our only disappointment so far (except for the mosquitoes) is that we haven't seen any bears! We met some people who saw 8 bears on the stretch we'll do today, so let's see if we have any luck...

Onward And Downward

Days 4-5

We went on our tour of Prudhoe Bay, dipped our toes in the Arctic Ocean and collected a few stones to put back into the sea at the end of our trip. Then we prepared to journey back down the Dalton Highway a bit before setting up camp for the 'night'.

It wasn't just the threat of the 6 foot grizzly in Deadhorse that made us want to move on that evening. Some of the worst bits of road had been slushy parts towards Deadhorse but as it had been a scorching day we thought these might have dried up, and didn't want to risk hanging around too long in case the weather turned (we'd heard stories of people wading through foot-deep slushy gravel when it had been raining). We were also revitalised by a shower and some food and feeling wide awake, so we rode through the midnight sun and made it 3.5 hours or 140 miles down the road that night.

Our gamble paid off – the roads were much better than they had been on the way up and it started raining the day after we got off the Dalton Highway (and we also saved spending another night with the dreaded mosquitos!). We did have our first 'incident' on the way back down though... We came to the top of a shallow hill to find a section of road that was down to one lane due to some roadworks - it was OK on the way up, so we stuck at our fuel-efficient 40-50mph. It wasn't fine anymore. Ric went in first and shouted 'huge rut' (or was it 'aghhh') down the radio and had a serious moment but managed to regain control. Emily managed to reduce her speed significantly, point the bike the right way and change down a gear before stalling, switching on the indicator and heated grips, 'placing' the bike down against the side of the rut and hopping off, all in one swift movement! 'Oops, sorry' came the call down the radio and Ric ran to her rescue. A quick lesson in ruts, the only topic covered in Ric's off-road course and not in Emily's, ensued. It was only a while later that we thought to photograph this bit of road for reference, but as it was a one way section with limited visibility at either end, it's probably best we didn't.

We finished the rest of the Dalton Highway the following day and made it safely back onto the tarmac of Fairbanks. We did manage to see a bit of wildlife this time: some caribou up in Deadhorse, a moose by the side of the road, an eagle which circled Ric a few times on the highway, a fox cub, and many many gofas which generally tried to kill themselves under our tyres (only one succeeded).


Days 6-7

Not much can follow the excitement of the Dalton Highway! We gave the bikes a much needed clean with a pressure hose and then gave ourselves a much needed clean in nearby Chena hot baths. We're now journeying South on the Al-Can highway and should be in Canada by tomorrow! We've had a few beers to celebrate Alaska and also the fact that there are very few mosquitos here, despite the rather sinister sculptures at the tourist information center in Delta Junction, where we're staying tonight. (see photos).

As an aside, there have been questions asked as to whether Emily was allowed to bring her rather frivolously oversized camping pillow on this trip, from some of those that heard the debate over it. She was, and Ric is hoping to buy one next time we see a camping store :-)

To The Top Of The World

Apologies for the delay with the first update - we got a bit carried away with "hitting the road"! Alaska's been great so far: beautiful countryside with very friendly people and surprisingly dry and hot. Here's more of a blow-by-blow account to date...

Day 0

We arrived in Anchorage after over 20 hours of fairly mundane airport and aeroplane time. We weren't able to sit next to each other on the second flight, but Emily got some 'good chat' from the two Texan brother's who were sat on either side of her. We slept very well that night despite being in a shabby, small tent (ours was still on the back of our bikes) in the back yard of a hostel and it not really getting dark!

Days 1-2

We got up nice and early and mentally prepared ourselves for a frustrating day trying to get the bikes out of customs. As it turned out, the hardest part was walking between the Fedex building and the Customs office a few times in the Alaskan heat (yup, it's 30 C here!) and the bikes were out without any hassles. We were so excited that we started out straight away without even bothering to checkout downtown Anchorage. We made it to a campsite close to Denali National Park, which we looked round the following day. Apparently the park has bear, moose, wolves, caribou and sheep. We saw a beaver.

That evening we drove to Fairbanks in time to drop by the very helpful visitor centre to get all the information we needed about the Dalton Highway and our trip North.

Days 3-4

The epic trip North on the Dalton Highway. This is the bit we'd been warned about, repeatedly – books we've read, people we've chatted to who've done the trip, people on the plane over, and even a friendly truck driver at a gas station just before we left. It's about 500 miles from Fairbanks to Deadhorse (as far as you can drive North), and it's a mix of tarmac, dirt, gravel, mud and slipperiest of all gravelly mud. We've been incredibly grateful for our knobbly front tyres, without which we're sure we wouldn't have managed to keep it shiny side up all the way, judging by some of the fish-tail manoeuvres in the gravel and mud (and gravelly mud). Getting to grips with the terrain wasn't helped by the extra pressure of no fuel stop for the last 240 miles when our tanks generally only get us 200 miles. Economical driving really pays off it seems – on arrival in Deadhorse our bikes are telling us we've still got another 60 miles left! That bodes well for the long desert stretches in Patagonia...

The scenery up here at the top of the world is just breathtaking, especially going into the Brooks Range, after which the trees stop and the land flattens out towards the coast. It would be so nice to be able to sit and enjoy it for a while without being eaten alive by mosquitos... they're absolutely the worst that we've ever encountered anywhere by far – swarming on you within seconds of stopping anywhere. Our hippie non-deet mozzie repellent is having practically no effect and we're both already covered in bites – Emily even managed to get bitten through her motorbike trousers!

Not being able to stop for fear of being bitten to pieces has meant we've arrived in Deadhorse a good few hours early for our 'tour' to the Arctic Ocean, which has given us time to update you on our progress. Once we've done the tour we'll be heading back down the Dalton Highway a bit before camping for the 'night' with the mozzies at the side of the road. We can't really justify the $200 room at the prefab inn in Deadhorse and as there's apparently a big bear outside right now (!) we think we're just as safe quite a few miles away but out on our own...

The Adventure Begins Tomorrow...

Deadline number 1, one week ago today: Drop of bikes at Heathrow. NOT our house keys. We still needed them.
Check.

Deadline number 2, lunchtime last Friday: Finish work for the year.
Check. ('Finish' as in handover to others to do in a blind panic.)

Deadline number 3, last Friday evening: Pack up the house.
Check. We were outta there by midnight. Hope the attic doesn't cave in while we're gone.

Quick break to France, Saturday to Tuesday. Obviously we can't go on a long trip without a holiday first.

Deadline number 4, at the crack of dawn tomorrow: Get to Heathrow for our flight to Anchorage, having completed the many things left on the 'To do' list.
To be seen.

The excitement is growing but it probably won't sink in until we're on the plane to Anchorage, or even until we're on the open road with our bikes, that we're starting our 'trip of a lifetime' NOW. We'd better make it a good one...