Fresh Air

[TeePee]

[TeePee]

OK, Enough teasing, here's a double update.



I left Montana along route 200, again avoiding the interstate. I took it slow, enjoying MT as long as I could, as I knew I had Eastern Washington to face in front of me.



Montana was easily my favourite state of the trip, possibly of all time, and it was a shame to leave it behind. I stopped for lunch (Subway) in Sandpoint, as I cut across the top of Idaho. Then took a deep breath and had to face my demon. I've spent a lot of time in Eastern Washington, a place highly suitable for Nuclear Testing. Spokane has the worst drivers in the World, and they lived up to their reputation on this trip. Fortunately, I was able to dodge most of their attempts at murdering, and luck was with me. Then on to the other reason to hate Eastern Washington.



170 miles of nothing. No pretty landscape, not even 'Beauty in rugged desolation', just fields and farms and flat and straight. I tried my best with the day's obligatory 'bike in front of stuff' picture.



The Cascade range was a relief as it came into view, and I found a nice camping spot near Wenatchee.

[TeePee]

The next day began with a fantastic start. The winding Stevens Pass through the Cascade range down into Western Washington. I skipped Seattle, (I lived there for a while) and turned North (Sorry Twiglet fans!), I took route 9 up to the less traveled border crossing at Abbortsford, and entered Canada! (eh).

Route 7 through the foothills of the Cascades was very relaxed, with hundreds of other bikes out riding.



Then turning North onto the Trans-Canada highway at Hope. The road wound for miles through a beautiful canyon. I did find a small town to buy the essentials.



Then it opened out into a High Desert area, with open roads and light traffic it was another great ride. I stopped for the night at Cache Creek. Stayed in a hotel to rest up a bit and get some laundry done!

[TeePee]

What kit have you taken with you?

The Bike, of course, is a 2005 BMW F650GS Dakar, with a bunch of add ons like extra lights, handguards and racks and boxes from Happy Trails. The handguards are nice, because between them and the heated grips I can wear light summer gloves and not worry about my fingers getting cold. The trip has been mild, but there were a few places I really needed them!

I am wearing and Olympia AST2 jacket and trousers, Gearne Balance oiled boots, and a Nolan N104 helmet.

Camping gear is an REI Halfdome2 and Campbed, and a Kelty SB20 Down sleeping bag.

Tech:
Asus Transformer,
Canon Powershot 340,
ContourHD,
Garmin Nuvi,
DeLorme inReach.

[TeePee]

Sounds gruelling and hardcore - more than 4 hours in a day riding and I'm pretty tired, 6 is about my upper limit. And that on a nice comfy VStrom.

9 hours? - no way!

The day through Yellowstone was closer to 12, thanks to the traffic! I did think had about using a WeeStrom for this trip. It would certainly be a lot better on the road parts of the trip(spoilers!). I found the BMW for sale for a steal, and the rest is history. It's pretty comfy, much better than the Ducati, but I am a little sore at this point. I'm slowing down, getting into the more adventurous areas where there is a lot more to see!

[Zak33]

look at that



awesome!!

[TeePee]

The next day was fairly relaxed. I rode up from Cache Creek to Saint George, then across on highway 16 toward Prince Rupert. Beautiful country. Just stunning.The High Desert around Cache Creek gave way to meadows, lakes and mountains.

[Zak33]

man you're covering EVERYWHERE!!!

[TeePee]

Next day I continued on highway 16. It just got better and better as it became more rural. Around midday I made a right turn onto the Casair Highway. Of the two roads which go North, the Casiar is the least traveled and the most picturesque. It's 540 miles of fantastic mountain roads. Mostly a hard surface, there were some dirt sections and lots of Chip Seal further North. The bike really started to be a good choice thanks to that long suspension travel. I made a detour out to the small town of Stewart for lunch at the fantastic Dash Bistro. A blended Elk and Venison burger was probably the best meal of the trip so far. I also crossed the border into Alaska for the first time into the town of Hayden. No US border control, but very strict to go back into Canada five minutes later.



One of the unique challenges of the Casair: Having to turn the camera sideways!



Bear Glacier on the road to Stewart.



Heading North out of Stewart the road got worse and I started to see bears. I wasn't stopping for pictures! There was a long stretch of about 140 miles between gas stations. Not too bad on a bike with a 200 mile range, but one does not simply ride past a gas station.. I camped that night at Lake Kinaskan Provincial Park, an awesome campsite that was very popular, which was very important to me in Bear country! The site was right on the lake, maybe the most beautiful so far!

[wasabi]

One of the unique challenges of the Casair: Having to turn the camera sideways!

Simply spectacular scenery. Jealous

[Zak33]

is THAT A GLACIER?

[neonplanet40]

Yes ^^

[Zak33]

I have NEVER seen a glacier.. retreating or otherwise.. what an awesome shot!

[neonplanet40]

I climbed one in New Zealand. Was great. They are very nice!

[Macman]

I'm jealous. Utter f' jealous.

Whos up for robbing him of his bike and finishing the journey for him?? (I kid ofc)

Definetly something on my to do or my LONG LONG to do list...

[TeePee]

The next day's ride up to Whitehorse began with much more of the same. Another couple of hundred miles of winding roads with spectacular views of mountains. The quality of the road got even worse with sections of dirt, and some lengthy construction areas. but still really not too bad. The BMW handled it with ease. The vast majority of traffic on this road is slow moving RV's and motorcycles, many of them loaded down with a Kitchen sink's worth of adventure gear. At the campsite I met a guy from Australia, riding north on a Harley Davidson. He had not been enjoying the rough road, but hadn't had any trouble. He was deathly afraid of bears and had had a close encounter the day before.








Then there was this guy, hanging out on the road. He must have been a big BMW fan, as he started to run over when I stopped. Unfortunately we didn't get to talk motorcycles, as there was a pick up truck coming the other way which scared him off the road. This is a Black Bear, but there were plenty of Grizzlys along the road too.



This area was ravaged by a fire about 30 years ago. The regrowth is very pretty. This was actually one of my favourite sections.



At the end of the road, now out of BC and into the Yukon, a left turn took me onto the Alcan, the main highway to Alaska. Traffic was still light and mainly RVs and adventure tourists. Very little commercial traffic comes to Alaska by road. The weather got worse, the father west I went. I stopped for lunch at a promising diner that had another 650GS parked outside, along with a Weestrom (told ya!). I'd been there for about 20 minutes when a downpour started. The Australian Harley rider arrived a few minutes later and ran inside. We waited with the other riders for the storm to clear. They were heading South, but one of them gave me some maps he had made up for a route I'll be doing later.

The rain stopped and we all used the opportunity to get back on the road. The afternoon continued with light showers, when I reached the scariest part of the trip so far:



The road surface of the bridge was a metal mesh which had exactly zero traction. Trying to keep the bike upright was a nightmare! I arrived in Whitehorse cold and slightly damp after a pretty long day.