Alaska 2021 Big Bike dirt trip

Sgt Bilco

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I'm putting together a big bike dirt trip in Alaska, the Yukon and British Columbia for June 2021.

There will be a lot of dirt roads on the trip but to get to them, there will be a bit of road mileage hence the "big bike" title.

The trip will start in Anchorage Alaska and finish in Northern California as it's impossible ship the bikes out of Alaska. The bikes will be airfreight into Anchorage and sea freight home from Santa Rosa CA.

The trip will be 3 weeks long and will include the following major dirt roads:

  • Dalton Highway: 800 miles dirt round trip to Prudhoe Bay and back
  • Dempster Highway: 1000 miles dirt round trip to Inuvik and Tuktoyaktuk
  • Campbell Highway: 360 miles dirt between Carmack and Watson Lake.
  • As we come down into BC and Northern US there will be other stretches of dirt roads which I'm working on.


The mileage for the whole trip will be around 7000 with about half on dirt which is why a big engine will be beneficial. I would see bikes for this will be Tenere 700, KTM 690, etc but of course big KTM's, GS's, Africa Twins etc will be fine if you feel you are confident enough. The bigger bikes would be a definite advantage on the road parts

The dirt roads up there range from hard packed dirt to deep gravel and if you are unlucky with the weather they can turn to a gloopy slush. Anyone who has ridden with me on the Dalton in changeable weather will know exactly what I mean.

I will organise and lead the trip with a pal of mine from Alaska until we finish the Dempster Highway because we will then have to go back to Anchorage to sort a road trip out which I will go into on another thread. You will be riding on your own from there but we will have worked out routes, stops, and all other details long before we go.

There will be no back up truck so you will have to be fairly self sufficient and have a good working knowledge of your bike. There is a lot of nothing up there and we will be fairly remote for long periods. It is also not for the faint hearted as it will be fairly intense from start to finish.

I will organise all the motels or it can be a camping trip or maybe a bit of both.

If you wanted to stay on a bit longer, that is absolutely no problem as the container home will be at the end of the road trip which will be 2 weeks behind.

PM me with your email address if you want initial details.
 

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Sounds like a suitable retirement present to me!

Please keep me in the loop - Cheers
 
Chris how have you managed with bike insurance? Fernet who I've used before, didn't reply. The only company I could find was H - C Travel and it was $2500 for my KTM 790 Adventure.

If you know of another company I would be grateful for a name.
 
Chris how have you managed with bike insurance? Fernet who I've used before, didn't reply. The only company I could find was H - C Travel and it was $2500 for my KTM 790 Adventure.

If you know of another company I would be grateful for a name.

It's available from two sources: www.segurogringo.com and www.motorcycleexpress.com.

Segurogringo are a Mexican company and fully legit. They provide 3rd party only cover but are cheap enough and it's all above board.

Motorcycle Express offer the same as Fernet used to but are a little more pricey.
 
Spoke to someone during the week who's not long back from Alaska on the bike, with his woman, their next trip is South America, and she's only 23 and done most of the world so far.

Apologies for the hijack.
 
I'm putting together a big bike dirt trip in Alaska, the Yukon and British Columbia for June 2021.

There will be a lot of dirt roads on the trip but to get to them, there will be a bit of road mileage hence the "big bike" title.

The trip will start in Anchorage Alaska and finish in Northern California as it's impossible ship the bikes out of Alaska. The bikes will be airfreight into Anchorage and sea freight home from Santa Rosa CA.

The trip will be 3 weeks long and will include the following major dirt roads:

  • Dalton Highway: 800 miles dirt round trip to Prudhoe Bay and back
  • Dempster Highway: 1000 miles dirt round trip to Inuvik and Tuktoyaktuk
  • Campbell Highway: 360 miles dirt between Carmack and Watson Lake.
  • As we come down into BC and Northern US there will be other stretches of dirt roads which I'm working on.


The mileage for the whole trip will be around 7000 with about half on dirt which is why a big engine will be beneficial. I would see bikes for this will be Tenere 700, KTM 690, etc but of course big KTM's, GS's, Africa Twins etc will be fine if you feel you are confident enough. The bigger bikes would be a definite advantage on the road parts

The dirt roads up there range from hard packed dirt to deep gravel and if you are unlucky with the weather they can turn to a gloopy slush. Anyone who has ridden with me on the Dalton in changeable weather will know exactly what I mean.

I will organise and lead the trip with a pal of mine from Alaska until we finish the Dempster Highway because we will then have to go back to Anchorage to sort a road trip out which I will go into on another thread. You will be riding on your own from there but we will have worked out routes, stops, and all other details long before we go.

There will be no back up truck so you will have to be fairly self sufficient and have a good working knowledge of your bike. There is a lot of nothing up there and we will be fairly remote for long periods. It is also not for the faint hearted as it will be fairly intense from start to finish.

I will organise all the motels or it can be a camping trip or maybe a bit of both.

If you wanted to stay on a bit longer, that is absolutely no problem as the container home will be at the end of the road trip which will be 2 weeks behind.

PM me with your email address if you want initial details.

This trip looks and sounds amazing, maybe just what I’m looking for. I have sent over my email in PM for you to send over me the details. Plus can you also include the details for the more road trip just in case I decide this is too much for me ( never done any off road riding but would love to try).
 
It will come as no surprise to anyone that I've had to cancel both this and the road trip for this year.

The Canadian borders look like being closed to non essential travel until at least October so as this trip comes down through Canada we are stuffed.

I have an alternative Alaska only trip on rentals for September 2021 if we are allowed to travel by then and I'm happy to send out details.

I'm committed to some wonderful trips in the US next summer so please keep an eye out for those in this section.

The next time I'll be able to run an Alaska trip now is summer 2023.

As always, if you are interested in any of these trips please PM me your email address. :thumby:
 


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