OK, trip is over and the bike/rig is getting a well deserved service and a few repairs.. I left for the Yukon and NWT a little over a month ago with plans to really explore.. I did most of what I planned but fires and just not having the stamina that I had when I was 60 changed those plans. Still I got done most of what I set out too. Mostly a slow ride up the Dempster, just taking the time to absorb our remote Canadian North.
Get ready for lots of pictures with a Sidecar in them. 🙂 . I'll try to make notes as I post. Normally I make notes as I go on a trip but this time, nada, I just didn't take the time and didn't really care, just enjoyed it day to day.
Loaded and ready for take off
Didn't get far before I remembered I forgot My Tooth brush. 🙂
My usual departure route, Adams Lake forest service road then agate bay road over to Barrier and Little Fort. These little town name won't mean much to most of you but if care to look them up you will see the route I take as I go.
Wasn't long and hit my second favourite road. The west side of the Fraser river. Not the busy Highway 97 most take. You peel off at Soda Creek just after Williams Lake.
You cross on the Ruby Johnson Bridge. Brought the 2 sides of the river together when it was built. Had my first good yak with a fellow rider as I took this picture..
The plaque
You get way better views on this side. The other side is spent trying to get by semi's or run over by them.
As it happened I was able to connect with my good riding buddy and his wife. They had just passed me as I left the main highway and we connected in Quesnel for dinner.. He is testing out our new charging stations with his electric car.. Headed to visit his brother in the Yukon.. He made it there and back but our paths did not cross again. I did connect with his brother later.
My first Camp. All alone in a free Rec site on the Black water River FSR.. Got rained on over night but the rain had stopped by the time it was time to pack up, Nice smooth gravel all the way.
First day, more to come
First Night is always a bit chaotic, even though I have a pretty good entrenched camping routine. Just getting familiar with every thing and to which dry bag which stuff goes and such.. I get pretty good at set up and take down over the course of a trip.. This was the first time I had set up since last year.
Debated as if I take the Pelican FSR but in the end elected to just go to pavement.. A tad too early in the trip for rough gravel.
A tad too late to warn me now 🙂
The Black Water river. There is a nice little rec site just after this bridge which I was trying to make the night before but being tired and not pushing my self as I usually do at the start of a trip, I was happy with where I stopped
This back road is where they routed the First Telegraph line to connect with the gold fields in the Yukon. There is a trail apparently but it is not maintained..
A pee stop, so grab a photo. :). there will be a lot of these.
Needing a break in Vanderhoof I pulled into the Timmie's. Guess who was sitting at one of the tables.. Known as Grizzlee over on ADV and he has a You tube channel, Rubicon adventures.. He and some buddies were on a route finding adventure. We had a good visit and Lee sent me off into an area I hadn't been to yet but was planning to see. Down into the Nechako Reservoir or Oosta Lake as it is called now and Francois Lake.. Both really worth the side trip.
The Kenny Dam. Turned out Lee had left his Garmin Inreach at a rec site here.. I was able to connect the gal who had it and Lee, so he got it back.. nice to be helpful 🙂
Oosta Lake Camp
A beautiful spot for sure
More to come, Day 3 was a long one even though I didn't plan on it.
Damn having trouble getting picture loaded in the right order.. Work in progress. Someday I will figure this site out.
There is a nice free ferry across Francois Lake- I just made it.
Having stretched my fuel range the other day and having a choice of an easy ride up to Burns Lake and fuel or the longer gravel route over to Huston, I put my emergency fuel in and took the gravel 🙂
Some wonderful spots along the lake before it turns into nasty wash board and an industry road.. Regrets, not a chance
There was a collection of houses with a nice view of this island and part of the lake.
Random Rec site
Stopped in Smithers for a look around, planning an RV trip North with dear Kathy, next year, found a wonderful soup and sandwich shop
It was great 🙂
Damn tourists will park anywhere !!
As it was getting later in the afternoon I made tracks from here. Maziadin Lake provincial park as my destination.. I am slowly ticking off all our BC parks, camping as I can.. Made it but was tired after a 400 mile day. Picked a spot and started to set up. Ranger comes over and says you can't tent here.. WTF! Grizzly Bear problem, it was later explained but not then.. A Sow with a couple yearlings and a fresh set of triplets has found that tents are easy pickings.. so BC parks sent me off to camp in the wilderness with the bears instead of taking my chances with the bears and people around.. So I had the choice,, Down to Stewart, I've been there a bunch and hadn't planed on it or head to Bell 2.. Another 80 miles or so.. I dithered looked at maps for camping but nothing struck my fancy.. off I headed. Got to Bell 2 and they have closed their campground and turned it into a work camp.. Mining all over up here. Anyways having seen numerous black bears and one grizzly, not close luckily, I headed back to the rest stop a couple of K back.. A bunch of RVs had stopped for the night.. I asked nicely if I could set up between a few of them.. Sure.. Two Swiss couples traveling with young kids and a French couple with similar age kids..all of them had imported their RVs from Europe. The young ones were fascinated with some old guy and all his stuff..I had to pantomime as none of kids spoke English. The Adventure is just getting started
Great pictures, and write up, Brian. Happy to follow along on this adventure.
Two Million Mile Rider
Exploring the World in Comfort
@mgv8 Definitely enjoying your adventure, vicariously! Looking forward to the rest of the story!
Thanks guys, Thought I would write it up here as opposed to elsewhere.
Definitely enjoy your "trip reports". 😎
Hold my keyboard and watch this! 🙃
I was up early the next morning, quietly took down camp and had a bite to eat. Coffee, glorious coffee. I failed to mention previously that I was headed up the Cassair Highway. Of which I could have gone into Stewart/Hyder but I have been there several times so they were not on the agenda this time.
It was a beautiful morning so I stopped lots just to look. Or to pee, that glorious coffee 🙂
the Cassair is a much more relaxed route. It still has traffic but now where near the traffic the Alcan has
My pictures are a bit jumbled. This is Dease Lake. The one main fuel/grocery stop this route offers. There is fuel at most places along the way but not necessarily food
I had started to go down to telegraph creek but got twenty k down the road and they were doing grading and calcium application.. A 4 inch deep slurry of wet mud.. I turned around and explored down to the lake instead. Just couldn't bring myself to get real dirty yet!
About half way up, there is a wonderful Provincial park at Kinaskan Lake. needing a break, I stopped in to take a break and make a coffee.
I am still planning on dragging Dear Kathy up this way at some time. This would be a great place to chill for a day or two and kayak the lake
There are also a few spots off the road where one could just boondock. Lots of people were or had.
Seeing as I had had no Cell coverage for the entire route I hadn't touched base with home. I carry an old spot so Kathy can track me and I send a message each time I stop for the night so she knows I am OK but it is nice to text or talk every few days. I'll update things some day so I have two way communication. That said, I got stopped just past Dease Lake for construction, the young gal running the stopping point had a Starlink set up so she could talk to her counter point on the other end, too far for radios, I guess. Maybe she was just surfing to pass the time. Anyways she let me sign on, so I was able to send a text off. Kinda fun.. I might have to get one of the mini ones as cell coverage is spotty all over Canada especially up North. I see a lot of the RV people using them now. but this was the first time I saw one being used in this way.. Love him or hate him, Elon does have his uses. 🙂
My stop for the night was Boya Lake. I try to time things so I can camp here any time I am up this way. I got here just in time to get one of the last campsites. There is a nice spot right by the lake but it is sort of reserved for the bicycle crowd. It was empty this night but my camp is just a bit too large so would have taken up the whole space. Once camp was set, I went for a walk, then went for a swim..brrrrr. It had been hot so I had been sweaty in my gear and maybe a tad smelly. It was refreshing and made me a tad more presentable. :). After on another stroll, I had a good visit with the couple from California who I had camped with at the Rest stop.. They were well set up with a camperized Sprinter van type of RV, and also had the starlink going.
Boya has some wonderful trails that take you around the lake. Also some Kayaks for rent if you choose to explore that way- next time.
I also had a minor repair to tend to.. One of the reasons for not wanting to venture into the Calcium Slurry. I had replaced my driveshaft for this trip. I was at the mileage that BMW recommends for it's service so had bought one expecting to do this.. Any time I am in there I put a bit of grease on things to help the boot/bellows seal.. Thinking back, like a doofus that I am, I used the wrong grease this time and it was effecting the rubber.. The boot was not staying in place. I had found some Automotive GOOP ( brand name) at Dease Lake. So I cleaned and applied some to the offending bits.. I was not expecting a good result.. I am totally surprised, it held for the entire trip. The boot is stuck so good now I will have to destroy it next time I need to service the driveshaft splines. It will need replacement anyways as I have already destroyed it.. 🙂 Idiot that I am. !!!
more to come
Packing up slow and sleeping in made for a late start. I had planned a bit of a shorter day so wasn't worried. Still I did have to get moving so I did.
Stopped for a picture and to finish my morning coffee as I crossed into the Yukon.
Then I stopped for fuel and another coffee as I made the turn onto the Alaska Highway
They are fixing the Teslin Bridge.. Half a kilometre off metal grate.. Fun at the best of times.. They are building a new massive one. So soon riders are going to miss all the fun and white knuckles. Actually the old one almost washed away a few years ago, big melt year and a lot of the village was under water too. It's time
After a second break in Teslin and talking to Kathy I headed for Johnson's Crossing. Finding it closed, no more cinnamon buns 🙁 I was going to get one for breakfast.. Seems all these small operations just can't make a go of it any more. I have gradually seen many of them closed up in my few treks North
Anyways made the turn into new territory. The South Canol road.
As most of you should know, the American Army built the Alaska highway during WW2. We did eventually pay back the cost but it took a bit.. 🙂 At the same time an oil pipe line was built to get oil from Norman Wells to a refinery in White Horse and then on to the coast.. It was abandoned shortly after the war.. Still a bunch of oil in Norman Wells, not sure how they get it out, there is no summer road, just a winter one. The pipe line route is now in two sections, the North and the South, with the last bit in the NWT of the North just a rough hiking trail. I intended to ride both as far as I could, more on that later.
So as I bounce along, trundle would be a better word. Slow and careful, there ain't no help on this one.. I see relatively fresh bicycle tracks. With the zig zag who ever is riding must be struggling with the hills. I only see one other vehicle except the truck who let me by right at the start. About 45 k in I come across Barabra. 64 year old gal solo on a loaded gravel bike. I stop to chat and we decide that I will go ahead and stop at the nearest camp site. If she hasn't got there by 6:00 PM I will come back and check on her. By the way lots of big bear scat on the road !!! so I trundle off, go down to the camp site and it really doesn't strike my fancy.. Basically a launch point for those who canoe the river down to Teslin. The Nisutlin if you must know. I figure I should let Barabra know I won't be there so a go back the 15 K to where she is really struggling up a hill. There are several worse ones ahead.. I offer and she accepts, maybe too fast, that we load her shite onto the rig and we at least get her to the next camp site.
What the hay, load more on an over loaded rig and pound over the pot holes 🙂
As we truck along, had to readjust things once but the load carried just fine. Barb rode pillion behind me on her sack of laundry. We passed the meh camp site and checked out the next one.. Lots on Mosquitos and no real lake access. South Quite lake. We elect to head to the next one a further 20 k up the road. This one is better. Right on the lake and minimal mosquitos.. We set up camp, have dinner and chat a bunch.. Quite the gal. Has bicycles in several parts of the world, has ridden most every where. Retired early and just does volunteer work or odd jobs to keep herself busy.. No hubby or kids and likes it that way.
Up early the next morning and we load up, she is admitting now that maybe she had bitten off a bit more than she should have.. Could have done it I am sure but getting a ride to Ross river was admittedly better. I complied.
Some left over road equipment
There are some nice bits once you start getting a bit further North. a huge Valley with lakes and a river meandering with the odd pass to climb through.
We stop lots to rest, Sitting on a sack of clothes can't be all the comfortable. It is a 140 k of pot holes and rough gravel. Plus I am fussing with the front fender on the rig.. It is constantly coming loose and rattling like hell.. I try a few things but they are all a total fail..( more on that later)
Close to the end we stop for a short lunch snack. The Yukon must be planning something because they put a multi million dollar bridge here in the middle of nowhere.
Sort of a tourist spot I guess, if they knew about it. ???
Nice canyon
Shortly after we merge with the Robert Campbell road and head into Ross River. Barabra and I part ways.. She had the one and only B+B booked but is a day early.. no issues. She is very thankful and was actually impressed.. Sitting up high she could see more plus the fact she didn't have to concentrate on the road could look around.. Me, not so much, I had to concentrate to make the ride the least impactful that I could. I really enjoyed the company but am now happy to be making tracks again.
Came across a little slip of an old lady just south of Canarvon a couple of decades ago.
She was on the almost last leg of peddling around Australia.
2nd time as well.
Hard to guess her age but mid 60's minimum.
Actually saw her again weeks later about 10klm from her destination (Fremantle).
Some a tougher than they look.
Obviously crazier as well.
Let's see if we can hurry this along a bit. Of course I was in no hurry this trip, except 🙂 After leaving Barb at Ross River I picked up the pace, blew by Faro, thinking I would visit on the return. Had a resupply of goods, fuel and a lunch in Carmacks. Looked at camping options ahead as well.
Some of my first views of the Yukon River, Five fingers rapids
Found a nice spot to camp shortly after- First time I deployed my Solar. The gal beside me called me Mary Poppins as I kept pulling more and more stuff out of the rig as I set up camp.. Ha!
Talking with another camper, retired Biologist who worked for the Yukon, I got lots of tips for little side trips. Interesting guy who had been involved in all sorts of research on Yukon Wildlife and put a foot on just about every part of the territory
Looking down on Pelly Crossing
One of the Side trips, part of the old wagon route before the Alaska Highway
Which way ??
A little puff of smoke the would effect things over the next few days
Arriving in Dawson, I rode around town to reacquaint myself with things. Not much had changed, some new construction, maybe some new housing and accommodation happening. Found the triple J where the Dust to Dawson was happening and as luck would have it, Khud had seen me ride by and texted me. He and his Wife were having lunch/dinner on the patio. I joined them. It was nice to connect so far from our respective homes. They are both involved in the organization of the the Event so were busy and we didn't really connect again. I had planned to spend a few days just sight seeing in Dawson but road closures due to fires West and South of us sort of enforced that plan. I camped across the river in the territorial Campground so avoided some of the chaos that town was. Tourists in panic because they can't go anywhere.. Funny how people react, some take it in stride others are in full stress mode. Me, I had no schedules to meet so was happy just sitting. I hung out watching ADV riders do their thing at the Triple J but got a bit bored so ventured out to explore town a bit. There were a bunch of Paragliders in town for the Solstice. I watched them land then headed up the Dome. A little mountain above Dawson, to watch them launch. Got some insight into a sport I probably never will participate in. Ha! Like my feet firmly planted on the foot pegs, read ground. Anyways had fun yakking with them and made some connections.
The plan is to take off before Midnight and Land the next day. 🙂 Several accomplished this. Some had made as many as six flights that day. which is huge apparently
The Adventure crowd gathers
Lots of prep for a flight and the wind needs to be just right.
Midnight where every one gets their sticker 🙂
The camp across the river, I had shared with a guy from Bellingham. Had made the trek all the way and was waffling on going up the Dempster.. The fires had him a tad spooked. We connected later and he had made the turn and gone all the way to Tuk. Good for him and I am happy my encouragement help in that decision to just, Do It.
Having a whole day, I first walked over to check out the Paddle wheeler grave yard.. When it became redundant to use the river boats in the mid fifties they just discarded them. The beached them just out of town and let them rot.. Kinda sad actually and they probably regret it now but that is what we do.
Then I went and took a look at Dredge 4 and wandered around the discovery claim. The first big Gold find. Interesting story as to how it all came down. Plus the history of the rush to get to the Gold Fields after word got out. Then the efforts after to dig it out of the ground. The dredges were amazing bits of kit, huge. #4 worked 30 years on one river, then they moved it to Bonanza Creek and worked it 18 more years. Only took a small crew to operate but had a huge crew working ahead of it thawing out the ground so it could scoop it out of the creek bed. Driving pipes into the ground and pumping in steam. Huge effort for a shiny metal.
Pictures in random order
Summer Solstice, midnight on the Dome. The smoke is moving in
One of the last of the grand old stern wheelers
Some European Imports. They import their RVs and spend a couple years exploring
Massive ones
Glamore Shot
McLaughlin Buick left to rot
Gold History
Remains of a by gone era
Solar deployed. All for cold Beer. 🙂
