6 Dempster Highway (Alaska)

[Whip]

When we first started planin this part of the trip Mr Olson made it very clear he wanted to ride to the Arctic Circle on the Dempster.

 

These are the events that lead to that faithful day.

 

Leaving Teslin.....

 

 

This poor bear...we had just seen his friend in the bushes waitin on him.

 

I was beginning to enjoy road construction, let's see what they can throw at us this time.

 

 

 

 

 

Dawson City

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

The local report.

 

The plan was to get up early the next mornin, ride up to the Arctic Circle and back. Over 500 miles of "fun filled"

dirt road.

 

Are you ready Mr Olson.

 

I'm not!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

 

The next set of pix are prolly out of order. I'm gonna do my best, but they have been put together from

three cameras sorted and resorted several times.

 

This looks easy enough...where's the dirt?????

 

What a nice dirt road.

 

Time to let some air outa the tires.

 

It changed color.

 

WTF...it can't be that tough, look!!

 

The road changed color again

 

 

 

 

 

 

The weather changed as fast as the roads.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Somewhere in the first 100 miles I was startin to get nervous the road was getting worse by the mile and after almost dumpin it I needed to take a break.

 

The road had turned to soft deep gravel, two up with 10 gallons of gas, bottles of water gatorade and sammies in the bags. It was gettin to be work.

 

Mrs Whip was startin to wonder what we were doin.

 

The road surface.

 

 

The sidestand was sinkin...

 

Mr Olson road on ahead to check out the road conditions. I just sat down and rested for a few minutes.

 

I needed to reset the nerves meter...

 

After a while I felt a lot better and Mr Olson came back with a positive report, "I'm goin on with out you, like it or not, ya poser"

 

Okay.....On we went.........

 

 

 

 

 

One of my Favorites

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

I thought I had seen everything

 

Mrs Whip had to get off the bike....I jumped the mound of gravel....she got back on the bike...we passed the plow and got back in our lane..

 

This happen twice.

 

 

Now the water is changin colors.

 

 

 

Almost like it was paved.

 

Almost there.

 

We made it to the gas stop....Eagle Plains

 

On to the Arctic Circle.

 

This is what I had been warned about.....when it rains the roads turn to shavin cream on glass.

 

 

 

 

Nothin to it...

 

 

 

I'm gonna turn the story over to Mr Olson from here......he had an adventure all his own on the way back.

 

I'll post more pix after lunch.

 

Whip

[tobyzusa]

Thanks Whip. Great way to start the day!

[GelStra]

Absolutely amazing!!

Now, why the decision to go the Canuck route instead of the Alaska side?

 

 

Did those incredible vistas make you feel small? It looks, thanks to the great photog you brought with you, amazingly huge!!

 

 

Oh, and glad you shaved for the Arctic Circle pics. You were looking a bit.....shaggy!

 

[Jacqueline]

Beautiful .

All that beauty.... and no one else around.... Oh what a feeling.

[chrisolson]

Absolutely amazing!!

Now, why the decision to go the Canuck route instead of the Alaska side?

I guess I'll answer that 'cause when Whip and I were planning this trip, he wanted to go see all of Alaska, and I wanted to do the Arctic Circle ... so we compromised and did both!

 

The reason for the Dempster was because it was the less traveled route and potentially harder ... why ride 3000 miles and then do something easy that everyone else does

 

I'm a bit behind on stuff today (had to go fly the elec model while the wind is calm) so it'll be later this afternoon and I'll post my adventure on the way back from the Arctic Circle that Whip mentioned ...

[chrisolson]

Some more shots around the Arctic Circle

 

 

.. its a real rest stop ...

 

It was quite beautiful with the storm cell on the west but blue sky to the north ... this is a long way from Phx

 

for some reason Whip didn't want to get up close and personal with this local ...

 

shortly after this picture ...

... I looked at my bike and discovered something did not look correct. (I wasn't smart enough to take the picture there, this was later after getting back to Dawson)

 

 

The entire tail light / license plate assembly was gone. The tail light was not so much the concern, but I thought the license plate would be a problem. At this point we were 60 miles out of Eagle Plains and I believed I knew where it happened.

 

I'd hit a pothole hard about 10 miles out of Eagle Plains. I felt I didn't have a choice and made a snap decision to go back and see if I could find the plate. This might mean going all the way back to get fuel and loose 4 hours in the process.

 

Whip said he'd head back and rent a car and try to come back and make sure I got home OK. So, with that, I left riding as fast as I could thinking I'd be going most of the 60 miles back. However, in about 20 miles ... what do I find in the middle of the road...

 

 

No sign of the lens assembly, but at this point who cares! In reality it was a miracle that I found anything at all. There had been several large trucks on the road, but here it was not crunched at all.

 

However, now it was decision time. At about 40 extra miles I was right on the limit of fuel if I turned around and headed for Dawson. I really didn't want to go another 80 miles round trip to Eagle Plains. I'd burned extra fuel racing along, but I decided I could make it.

 

I first thought I'd catch Whip as I figured he's spent extra time before leaving and he'd not be going fast by himself. We'd planned all along that I could siphon gas from him to supplement my fuel.

 

So I tried to keep a good pace ... but after a few miles, I figured even over the remaining 150 miles, being 40 miles back would be hard to make up. So, I kept it to around 60 whenever possible as I figured it would be the best speed/range combo.

 

This was a great ride ... I'd found the plate, the weather was perfect and the fact that the road had dried and for the next 75 miles was in really great shape just put me in a zone ... this was a fine adventure .

 

At one point I figured I had to at stop and take at least one picture ... one that I'll probably print and hang on the wall. This was taken at about 10 at night ...

 

 

The funny thing is Louise also took a similar shot ... looking at it, I wan't that far behind them, but I didn't know that at the time.

 

 

The fuel light came on about 15 miles earlier than it had on the way up which meant I was getting worse mileage. I hadn't reached our first stop on the way in yet, but I was close. I couldn't remember if it was 85 miles out or 65 miles. If the former, I'd probably make it, if the latter, well Whip was coming back in a car so it'd be OK. But then it occurred to me there ain't no rental car place open at this time of night !!! ... so I slowed to 50 to try to conserve some fuel 'cause I might be on my own.

 

When I did reach where we'd first stopped, I was able to coast for a few miles on a long downhill section. Then I could see that in general the remaining 60 to 80 miles was all down hill. I was able to mostly coast along in 5th gear with very light throttle and make a fairly steady 40 mph. It seemed to take forever, but eventually I saw the stretch of pavement that meant I only had 2 miles to go!

 

Rolling into the gas station at about 11:30, the sun was just trying to set ... I'd put 269 miles on one 4.3 gallon tank.

 

Back into Dawson I pulled into the parking lot and surprised Louise as she was coming out of the hotel. She hurried off to find Whip and let him know. As I suspected, there were no cars to be had to rent at midnight but he was getting ready to bribe someone!

 

There actually was a bar/restaurant that was serving till 1 am, so we all went off at 12:15 to finish off the day with some food and refreshments prior to collapsing for the night.

 

It had been a long day for all ... but the weather had cooperated, the road construction was minimal and everything contributed to this being a successful and worthy adventure.

[eddd]

Great story. Like I always say, a little adversity makes for a great adventure.

[Dances_With_Wiener_Dogs]

 

I always like shots like this one. Thanks folks!

[motorman587]

Cool pictures, brings back memories, good memories.

[Highway41]

Between you guys and da Hoon, I've seen more of AK and Canada than I ever thought possible. Many thanks. Bill

[HappyMan]

This is fantastic stuff. Thanks for sharing!!! I'm about two years out in the planning stages for my trip and you're living my dream.

[flyingreg]

Awesome, totally awesome pictures and story. I wish I could have been there, just makes me want to go that much more.

 

And I didn't need to double check. I was invited. Definitely, my loss.

 

There will be a next time, whipster?

[Huzband]

Maybe next time you'll sign up for Big Dan's Dirt Ridin' School.

 

Nice pics though.

[ian408]

Some great shots and a great tale to go with!

[ESokoloff]

Great images & stories guys & gal

 

More please

[Whip]

 

 

I went for a short hike on a rocky hill.

 

Survival in the arctic...

 

About the time I took this pic I heard a deep growel......I thought it would be a good time to return to the road.

 

As I turned to head back I found this....I still have it.

 

We thought we were pretty tough till we ran into this group.

 

 

It looks like someone just dumped a bunch of dirt on the side of the road, but no dump truck is that big.

 

 

 

The sun doesn't really set in early August in the Arctic it just kinda goes around in circles.

 

After getting back to the pavement we saw somethin in the road?????????

 

Ya think these would flatten my tire?????

 

I went in search of a vehicle to help Chris when Louise found me, to tell me that he had arrived, I was about to bribe a bartender into letting me use his truck.

 

Anyway next weeks teaser....the floatin bike.

 

Ya'll have a great week.

 

 

Whip

[bakerzdosen]

As always, great pix Whip (and Louise and Chris).

 

However, I have a question: How come we never get to see your support crew and "fixers" in the two SUV's?

[Whip]

As always, great pix Whip (and Louise and Chris).

 

However, I have a question: How come we never get to see your support crew and "fixers" in the two SUV's?

 

We couldn't afford the gas. Had to send em back.

 

 

.......now we only use em when we are in Torrey.

 

 

[Francois_Dumas]

Can you tell I've been working all through the weekend? Didn't have time to watch/read this thread until now.... AWESOME guys !!

[Bill_Walker]

As always, great pix Whip (and Louise and Chris).

 

However, I have a question: How come we never get to see your support crew and "fixers" in the two SUV's?

 

We couldn't afford the gas. Had to send em back.

 

 

.......now we only use em when we are in Torrey.

 

 

 

Plus, we forgot the SUVs and brought our street bikes. D'oh!

[Rider1200RT]

[roydog007]

Nice shots Whip, Thanks Again