Alaska 2018....out of adversity..!!!

After a nice day off it was time to head off across the Yukon River on the free ferry. You don't realise how big and fast flowing that river is until you are on it.

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And it was onto the Top of the World Highway which is a fantastic road to ride as it winds it's way across the top of a range of hills. You rise up and down between 4 and 5,000ft on easy dirt roads. Last time we rode this in 2016, it was the worst conditions I'd ever seen with heavy rain, mud and zero visibility. Today however was loads better but the clouds were down so visibilty wasn't brilliant. The road was easy enough and dusty as they hadn't seen rain for the previous 3 weeks.

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Then it was through the most northery Canada US border at Poker Creek and a laugh with a couple of comedic border guards. Rare for them to be so friendly.......

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Once you get on the US side you get 20 miles of superb tarmac which is bizarre but you are sonn back on the dirt.

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This represents a major junction up here so as we had loads of time, we took a right for a quick run up the road to Eagle. Rode a way up there but as we couldn't reach Eagle with fuel load etc, we turned back and headed towards Chicken.

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Passing a few gold mines on the way. Attractive locations they aren't.......

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And into Chicken which was very quiet. Grabbed a quick coffee and had a mooch around another Dredge before heading off.

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There were some roadworks on the way to Tok and it seems Mutley of this parish has taken a summer job working the stop go signs.

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I think we'll turn right.

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We got to Fast Eddies at Tok in good time so being good citizens we thought we'd clean the air filters on the bikes as the day had been very dusty. Took the snorkel of Keiths 1200GSA and found teh air filter stuffed down into the air box. It was obviously miss fitted and had been there for a while but it didn't affect the bike although Keith had said it was a flyer and felt nice and loose.

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Fast Eddies is the only place in town so after a wander around a gun shop, we had an exceptional Prime Rib dinner. This was teh mediul 14oz piece of gorgeous beef.......vegetarians, look away now.

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Keith and Shakey look at their dinners in disbelief as they thought they'd ordered Ribs!!

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As it's a truck stop of course I had to have a wander about and these babies were all from the same fleet.

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Not only trucks there but also this lovely old motor.

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Lots of other bikes at the motel but why on earth do people carry bike covers?

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Just before we retired to the bar and the worlds most miserable barman, we had a chat with this guy who was panning for gold. He'd got a couple of bucket fulls from Chicken and had already found about $100 worth which has to be worth a couple of hours of time.

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Sgt Bilco said:

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Click to expand...

Now that's just being greedy

More please..

Early start again and the weather gods had decided we'd had enough sunshine so let loose some wet weather as we headed north from Tok to Delta Junction.

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Nice stop at a bridge to look at a typical Alaska scene and it's how it should look in my opinion. There is something very evocotive about the clouds in the mountain and it's a gorgeous view. We'd stopped as we'd just seen a big old Moose but didn't stop in time to get a picture. Oh, and it's why I don't hurtle around up here and keep a constant steady speed. There are lots of animals including Moose, caribou and long horned sheep which can suddenly run out and ruin your day!!

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We then arrived in Delta Junction to top up with fuel and the start of the Alcan Highwaywhich goes all the way down to Dawson Creek in Canada. I've ridden it many times and it's a fantastic road full of stunning scenery and if you get bored up here, you need to dig a hole and fall in backwards.

The Alaskans have dubbed their section The Purple Heart Highway after veterans and there is a nice little museum at Delta explaining the history.

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A nice statue of the state bird of Alaska and some of them seem to be that big!!

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There was an interesting comparison here of the oil pipeline sizes over the years.

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We then headed west into the gloom but even then the scenery is stunning and the roads utterly empty.

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Stpped here to just look at this fantastic mountain view and can only imagine how much more spectacular this would be on a sunny day.

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And then it was in to Denali National Park.

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Time for a lunch stop and warm up and the excellent Tangle Creek cafe and motel hove into view. Wonderful establishment and bang slap in the middle of nowhere and served bowls of hot a tasty soup which hit the spot.

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Not a bad view from inside the cafe.

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This chap on a cracking old airhead was just leaving. He had a number of bikes but loved riding this most of all.

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Shakey better top up with fuel as we are heading to the back of beyond although no V Power here.

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Call that a knife? This is a knife.....!! This belter was hanging up and had been hand made by the owner using the jaw of a Grizzly Bear!!

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And then we headed north on the graded gravel through more beautiful scenery.

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Shakey on the gravel and now feeling very confident in the slippery stuff.

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We finally get to the fantastic Alpine Creek Lodge. This wonderful establishment is halfway up teh Denali Highway and about 90 miles from the nearest main road and shop. The road is impassible in the winter and as they are open all year round, they have rely on skidoos and a jeep with tracks.

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They are self sufficient up here so there are plenty of dead animals on the walls. The family hunt and trap for food and fur and the 15 year old son is saving up for his college education by selling the pelts he hunts. Not many 15 year olds like this lad as he shoots and prepares Bear, Moose, Wolf and everything else he gets in his sights. It sounds a bit macabre to us but it's perfectly normal and natural up here and there isn't a shortage of anything around here.

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Fantastic view from teh balcony and that forest is full of all sorts things which want to eat you.

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After a long day we obviously retired to the bar and promptly drank them out of Alaska Amber so had to make to with Miller. They built their own bar and we spent a very good night with the owners listening to the story of how they built it and how good Trump is..........very republican up here!

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Great view from the bar at about 10pm

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Woke up with a slightly sore head to another wet day and a pannier full of water.

<a href="https://chrisbiltcliffe.smugmug.com/To-Denali-2018/i-8MGqJk2/A"><img src="https://photos.smugmug.com/To-Denali-2018/i-8MGqJk2/0/2df93641/X2/2018-08-05%2008.40.52-X2.jpg" alt=""></a>
<a href="https://chrisbiltcliffe.smugmug.com/To-Denali-2018/i-QBSLz2Z/A"><img src="https://photos.smugmug.com/To-Denali-2018/i-QBSLz2Z/0/5375b7c2/X2/2018-08-05%2015.42.45-X2.jpg" alt=""></a>

We headed back to Anchorage in pouring rain and no pics unfortunately as it was real monsoon. My waterproof trousers failed miserably so ended up sitting in a cafe in nothing but my Merino wool technical gear as the rest of my sopping wet kit dried out in a tumble drier. Not a great way to end the trip but hey, this is Alaska and you have to expect everything.

We took our bikes back to the rental company with no problems and that was that. Just a quick note about Alaska Motorcycle Adventures to say how accomodating they were and they sorted us bikes out at the last minute. Nancy and Keith know their stuff and will go out of their way to make sure you have a great trip. We had a couple of issues but I guess that's normal for any rental and it's definitely something I'll be considering doing again in the future.

<a href="https://chrisbiltcliffe.smugmug.com/To-Denali-2018/i-LM9z9mq/A"><img src="https://photos.smugmug.com/To-Denali-2018/i-LM9z9mq/0/36877d21/X2/2018-08-05%2016.55.11-X2.jpg" alt=""></a>

We'd travelled about 4300 miles in 15 days and seen just about everything Alaska has to offer. We were blessed with great weather for the most part and had no mechanical issues whatsoever.

I'd put this trip together at the very last minute after the insurance debacle and I was delighted how it turned out. I think Keith and Shakey enjoyed every mile and although it wasn't the trip we had planned it turned out to be a perfect alternative and in many ways, they'd seen more that they would have done.

Just a word on the F800GSA I used. I've been considering one of these for a few years and have to say I was very impressed. It was comfy, handled well, screen protection was better than expected and the fuel consumption was excellent at around 60mpg. It had Shinko Trailfinder tyres which were really good and similar to a TKC70. The slight vibes at 65-70 can be sorted so I think it's a very under rated bike and a lot of people who plump for the 1200GSA might be better off with an 800GSA.

On the original trip, we were heading down to Santa Rosa California but as we couldn't take the rentals down there that part of the trip also changed so I'll do another small and seperate report on that.

Thanks for reading and look out for me possibly putting this on as a trip in the not too distant future.

Brilliant yet again.
Thanks for the excellent write up too!
I’m definitely going to join you on one trip soon.

For me this was a trip of many "firsts".
First Time in the USA / Canada
First Time trying to figure out how to pack all my bike gear within my free luggage allowance
First Time riding on surfaces other than tarmac (apart from the west coast of Scotland). etc. etc.

Naturally I was disappointed that the original trip didn't happen as planned but under the circumstances Chris did an excellent job of applying his local knowledge and contacts to give us an excellent experience that I would happily do all over again even if I have to sell a kidney to do it!

OK so we missed out Washington and Oregon this time so they have to go back on the bucket list for next time and we couldn't go to Yosemite because it was closed and on fire but all in all I had the kind of trip that broadens your horizons and stretches your comfort zones whilst at the same time destroying my TV driven preconceptions about the American people (well, the ones we met anyway).

Chris' ride report is excellent but it doesn't cover anything like the totality of our ride experience and as he often says, "you can take the photos but it just doesn't convey the reality". You just can't beat being there!

To use an oft heard phrase - AWESOME.

Udders said:

Brilliant yet again.
Thanks for the excellent write up too!

Click to expand...

+1

As I've said b4 Ash only gets to go on these trips when you boys post them up.

Fantastic pics. Chris.

It was throwing it down when we got to the Tangle River Inn in 2016 so it was a welcome relief to get
inside and get a coffee or three and food while we waited for the storm to go through.
The stay at The Alpine Creek Lodge was definitely one of the highlights of the trip, the hospitality was brilliant and the
views unbeatable. You are, literally in the middle of nowhere though.
The bonus of doing the Denali East to West was, as we neared the Cantwell end of the Denali we got clear views of Mt. Denali which were quite stunning.

Mt McKinley?

Tangle River and Alpine Creek are superb aren’t they?

Another great ride report, with plenty of pics.....well done chaps, a cracking read

I wonder if my 'ride report' to Devon @ the end of the month will be as interesting.....

Bounce said:

Another great ride report, with plenty of pics.....well done chaps, a cracking read

I wonder if my 'ride report' to Devon @ the end of the month will be as interesting.....

Click to expand...

If you sabotage Nutty's sat nav it will certainly be an amusing report

ShakeyBMW said:

Mt McKinley?

Tangle River and Alpine Creek are superb aren’t they?

Click to expand...

There's always been a dispute over the name but In 2015 the U.S. Department of the Interior officially renamed the mountain Denali.

When we got to the Alpine Creek Lodge the rain had washed the track up to it out a bit which necessitated some "up on the pegs" trials type action

Bounce said:

Another great ride report, with plenty of pics.....well done chaps, a cracking read

I wonder if my 'ride report' to Devon @ the end of the month will be as interesting.....

Click to expand...

I'll take you on a rideout Kieth, what, with you me and Nutty what could possibly go wrong

UturnTony said:

I'll take you on a rideout Kieth, what, with you me and Nutty what could possibly go wrong

Click to expand...

Could be fun Tony


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UturnTony said:

I'll take you on a rideout Kieth, what, with you me and Nutty what could possibly go wrong

Click to expand...

I shall look forward to that, Tony

I know a cracking pub in North Devon (Iddesleigh), so if we could do a route that includes that, we could get a spot of lunch there on the Saturday.

I love travelling the world with you guys

Adrian