And then there were four...and five

8/21

With Pauline. Coralie, Jameson, and Julia gone, the next stage of the trip began with only John, Arne, Katherine, and I. We all slowly woke up out of our comfortable beds/futons in Joel's nice heated basement after a good nights rest. A slow start to the day involving some bike cleaning, panniers repacking, and route planning. Additionally, John worked on finishing up his med school application essays while Pauline and Emily swung by to talk about the possibility of Pauine joining for the next section of the trip. We were all pretty excited to have Pauine back, but after considering the gear, expenses, and logistics of her continuing on with us it would have just been too much and she decided not to continue. Sad to see her not continuing on, we will miss you Pauline. We also appreciate Joel putting up with our delayed start as it was after 1:00 when we finally ended up leaving.

After a quick stop at the store to pick up some additional food we began the day with some way to steep climbs up to see Miles Canyon. Miles Canyon was gorgeous and was a nice last stop in Whitehorse. We all really enjoyed the town and thought it would be a great place to live, just in case any of you readers are considering a move to the yukon.



With no rain and occasional sun it was a nice day for biking. The day's pace was pretty slow as we battled a sometimes quite strong headwind throughout the day.




We met up with a French fellow, Nathan, who was touring around the world about 20 miles outside Whitehorse.



He biked the rest of the day with us and we all set up camp at a turn out 61 miles outside of Whitehorse. A nice day with no rain!

8/22
Woke up to a sunny day! A breakfast of nutrigrain bars and apples and we were on our way by 10 am. The partly cloudy skies made the ride pleasant, but for the first six hours we fought a pretty strong headwind, which made the riding slow and tough. With only a little spit of rain for an hour or so, it was one of the best weather days of the trip. The views were nice with some big lakes and mountains in the background.



We unintentionally picked up a six companion, and after an impressive 4 miles at a decent pace he decided the ride was not quite for him.



The last 10 miles of the day were a little tough as the temp dropped and the fatigue from the first 70 miles with a strong headwind and plenty of hills caught up with us. Nathan remained with us throughout the day, though I think our 11 mile an hour pace was a but slow for him. Overall a good day and we were in bed @11.

8/23
The day started out with a little bit of sun and a fairly late departure at @11 am. The views were nice with more mountain lakes. Arne started the day with a little fishing, and this time managed to catch a decent size northern pike, though none of us saw the fish and no picture was taken.



The rain started around 4 and by 5 we were all pretty soaked as the rain continued. We stopped at the ramcherita lodge, with plans of getting dry and eating an early dinner. The food was delicious and the portions large enough to nearly satisfy our large appetites. After some Internet use and discussing with a a few truckers, we shifted our plans from the Cassiar highway to staying on the AlCan, mainly because the alcan ran through Liard hot springs (and when your cold and wet hot springs do sound very enticing), was 40 miles shorter, and the weather was more likely to be less rainy as the highwayoup was more inland and farther from the rainy west coast... We'll see about the rain over the next few days...

As we were all thinking of leaving for another 20 miles or so of riding, the owner of rancherita lodge offered us a deal we couldn't refuse, $10 a person to stay in the lodge, with everyone (or couple) getting their own bed. The lodge was nice and the hot showers were fantastic. The lodge was also on a fairly picturesque lake. With the skies clearing, but rain in the forecast tomorrow with a high of only 51 degrees we all were pretty happy to have a warm, dry place to sleep. 55 miles.



8/24
An early start! The rain was coming down lightly, and the temp was only in the low 40s, but we were able to get all packed up and changed into our rain gear inside, so it really wasn't a bad start as we rode off at 8:45. The light rain continued throughout the day, though it really wasn't too bad as we all started the day dry and wearing rain gear. We stopped for lunch at an over priced place around 3 pm after riding over 50 miles. We continued on to Watson Lake as the rain diminished. Shown below is the signpost forest which consists of thousands of different road signs from all over the world.



After a stop at the grocery store, we were on our way as the clouds started clearing, the sun peeked through, and the wind was at our backs. After a couple more hours of riding we had completed our first 100 mile day and were even at the campsite before 9. A dinner of couscous and lentils provided a good end to the day.

8/25

Sunshine. We woke up at 7:30 with the sun beaming into our tents and on a few clouds in the sky. A little after 9 we were in our way, with the day beginning with a pretty long climb. The hills continued as the day went on, but the sky was blue, the sun out, the temp in the low 60s, And beautiful mountain and river scenery.









The afternoon brought us upon a resting herd of maybe 30 to 40 buffalo. Although not bothered by cars, the buffalo were quite terrified of us as the herd rose and proceeded to run down the road as we continued riding.



Every time we started getting too close one or two of the buffalo in the back would stop and glare at us. This made passing difficult as we were worried that the buffalo may possibly be aggressive if we got too close to the herd. After 5 miles of us following them the buffalo got to an opening where they were able to run further away from the road, allowing us to pass. The day ended with a flat tire followed by a meal of couscous, quinoa, and lentils along with a nice campfire as we arrived at our off the road camping location around 8. Aside from the large number of buffalo patties, the camping spot was quite nice as it was set back from the road just enough to not be bothered by the headlights of the very few passing cars or trucks. An 80 mile day.


- Posted using BlogPress from my iPad

Location:Whitehorse, YT

To Whitehorse

8/16

Cold rain. Again. Hard to get out of the tent with the cold rain and no shelter. A rather miserable morning with everyone slow to get moving, and once we did get moving there was an immediate flat tire. A frustrating morning for all, with divisions in the group only growing deeper with the cold rain, light breakfast of only pb and j on one slice of bread for each person, and slow morning. The group split into two, with Jameson and Julia getting an earlier start. The morning was tough for all as the clouds hid most of the scenery and the rain made the morning uncomfortable. The road conditions were ok in some places, but extremely bumpy in other places with basically the road consisting of a conglomeration of large rocks held together in some tar/cement matrix.


This road managed to snap Coralie's back bike rack, but this was a problem that luckily duct tape was able to fix. A couple hours into the day the rain let up and the sky began to clear. After a rather expensive lunch and a stop in Destruction Bay the sky was clear and the sun shining.


The afternoon was nice with beautiful scenery of mountains surrounding a huge lake, Khulane Lake.








Needless to say the nice afternoon boosted everyones spirits as we enjoyed the sun and incredible scenery.





The following picture is from one side of the road.


And the other.


After a great afternoon we set up camp around 8:30 just a little off the road.










A slow dinner of pasta and canned beans with a slow clean up led to a late bed around midnight.



8/17
A French perspective:
After waking up at 8.20, and enjoying a sweet breakfast on the lakeshore, we began our bike day.



The sun was there, and it was a very enjoyable morning, with some hills, and a lot of very nice landscapes. At some point, the scenery even looked like in the Alpes. It was wonderful and very peaceful.


After the hills of the morning came the downhills : we had 11 miles of straight downhill.






That was a lot, and there was a lot of front wind, but it was a nice change. We arrived at Haynes junction where we went to the grocery store, had a quick lunch, and took the road again. Our ideal stopping point was situated 50 miles away, in a restaurant highly recommended by a fellow biker. We went for it, and the ride was long but nice. We arrived at the restaurant, own by Irene, and it was awesome. Irene is a very nice and happy person, she has a restaurant-bar serving locals.






We met some nice people talking about the days where they were winning ski races on wooded skis, and they were all very friendly to bikers (perhaps even a little drunk too). Irene and her husband let us stay in their "garage", which actually was a comfy HEATED room. ( Did I mention it was heated?)


It was super nice to have some roof to sleep under, and the night brought only good dreams. Not to bad after a 90 miles day of biking!
-CR

8/18-8/20

After a night on the floor of Irene's cozy cabin, we had only 50 miles to go to reach our destination of the town of Whitehorse. We all tried to savor the rest of our time as an 8 person group.



Both Coralie and Pauline would be ending their tour in Whitehorse and Jameson and Julia changed their plans to taking a bus to Seattle.

On another note, Katherine, Ken, and Arne were all in a rush to reach Whitehorse due to painful bug bites that had unfortunately become infected. We had a beautiful sunny day riding into the town and we went straight to the clinic. Unfortunately the infection had progressed to cellulitis on kens nose and ears, Katherines hands and lip, and Arne's ears. we were all so grateful to get medication to help the awful pain.

Whitehorse turned out to be a pretty amazing little town. The town is like the Boulder, CO of Canada. We enjoyed the beautiful quaintness of the town, delicious cafes, made a giant trail mix, went on the Yukon Brewery tour, and ran lots of errands.





We were also very grateful to meet an awesome guy named Joel who lives with his family in Whitehorse. He is a a fellow cyclist who invited us to stay at his lovely home and made us a fantastic dinner. We also got to meet his sister Emily and a few other friends. What a blessing it is to be able to have a warm place to stay and the generosity and company of such great Canadians. They have truly made our stay in Whitehorse one of the best parts of the trip so far.

We will miss you Coralie, Pauline, Julia, and Jameson! We are so glad that we had this journey together!
-KG

- Posted using BlogPress from my iPad

Location:Whitehorse, YT

To Canada

8/13

With a somewhat late night, we didn't end up getting up til 9 or so, and after some coffee, bagels, bananas, and some internet use we were on our way by 11:30. With no rain and a mostly cloudy day we were all hoping that the rain would hold off. Ten to fifteen miles east of Tok the hills started, with continuous ups and downs with hills generally being a mile up and a mile down. Not too bad as the hills were pretty gradual.



We had a group lunch of pb and j, sausage for some, nurtigrain bars, apricots, and snack packs. With all of us feeling like a nap, we forced ourselves back on the bikes where we continued with some nice scenery and beautiful lakes throughout the day as the rain continued to hold off.








We were at our free campsite at deadman's lake by 7:30, which was a pretty nice wildlife refuge, and were eating dinner around a fire by 9.


With 66 hilly miles behind us, all of us were pretty tired and we called it an early night with bed around 11.

8/14

Woke up to another rainy morning, though it was nice because the campsite had a screened in shelter that we were able to eat and pack up our stuff in. The ride out of the campsite was rainy, but the day cleared up within an hour or so. Lunch was at a small cafe that was nearly closed for the season (they closed 3 days after we were there). We left the U.S. about 30 miles into the day and entered Canada, where we saw a pair of bald eagles.








20 miles into Canada we finally passed through customs. This was a ridiculously slow process, so slow Katherine tried taking a nap, as we had to wait in line for an hour and a half as they would pass one car every 10 minutes or so.


To top off the ridiculousness of the border crossing, after Pauline had crossed earlier with John and Arne, she was made to go back through customs again since she talked with Katherine across the imaginary line. Eventually we made it through customs, ate dinner at Buckshot Betty's, and at 10:45 with night approaching we decided to ride 13 miles to a nice state (or territory now) campground. In addition to it being dark, about halfway there it started raining. At midnight with the subpar Road conditions, the upper 40 degree temps, and the rain this became a little more of an adventure than we intended. Finally we arrived at the campground and set up our tents in the covered picnic area pavilion. This was really nice as we were able to get out of the rain for the night.

8/15

The rain continued throughout the night and we awoke to another rainy morning. After a breakfast of cinnabons, applesauce, and coffee we were on our way. The rain continued for the first couple hours of riding, but the sites made the ride a little more enjoyable. Also, a French bakery with delicious crepes was 41 miles away and the thought of crepes, a warm place to eat, and some hot coffee or chocolate was enough to keep our spirits high. We finally arrived at the bakery tired and hungry only to find it was closed, presumably for the season as there normal hours were 7 am to 9:30 pm. This was really disappointing, but the sun was starting to come out and we had pb and j and snacks for lunch. The views the rest of the day were pretty incredible, with tons of untouched wilderness peppered with mountain lakes. The untouched wilderness will probably remain so for a while, as we've heard that minus 40 to minus 60 degree temps with only a few hours of sunlight are the common winter conditions.












Rumor has it that when the flowers of the pictured flower reach the top of the stem that summer is over.


Looks like summer here is about at its end. Hard to imagine that it ends in mid August... Towards the end of the day a storm approached, but luckily we were able to get in our tents prior to the start of the rain. A 65 mile day.


- Posted using BlogPress from my iPad

Location:Tok, AK to somewhere in the Yukon Territory, Canada

Fairbanks to Tok

8/9

With Fairbanks being the last real city till Whitehorse, we spent the day running errands after again waking up to a cold, rainy morning. After taking care of phone calls and internet stuff, the group split up with half heading to the North Pole while the rest of us went to KFC, Walmart, sports authority, and the post office. For us, we didn't leave Fairbanks til nearly 8 pm. An attempt to cut through a military base turned complicated as the exit gate closed 30 minutes before we got there.






After some back tracking we finally ended up getting out of the base with probably an hour delay from the whole ordeal. After an 11:30 pm dinner of pb and j and strawberries at the Safeway in the north pole, we finally met up with the rest of the group at their campsite around 1 am. A fairly exhausting "rest day" with 32 miles ridden.

8/10

Things are starting to get redundant as we woke up to yet another rainy morning. After Arne casted a few times into the lake our campsite was bordering, we got started riding around noon. The ride was nice as the rain stopped and the sun creeped out at times.














John had been complaining a little about his knees bothering him, and after a thorough examination we determined his bike may be a little too small.













Towards about 8 pm with 15 miles remaining the rain again started and we arrived at our site in Delta Junction cold and wet around 9:30 pm after riding for 78 miles. As we got closer to town we saw two moose, one of which crossed the road about 50 yards in front of us, though unfortunately none of us were quick enough with the cameras to snap a pic.

8/11

Woke up to another rainy morning and after some coffee, oatmeal, and a stop at the grocery store we were on our way. We made a stop at a meat and sausage store 10 miles outside of Delta jnct and bought some reindeer, elk, and beef/pork sausages which were quite delicious.











The ride was flat as we turned off of the Richardson highway and started on the Al-Can. The day turned out to be nice as the sun came out and the temp climbed into the low 60s.
Halfway through the day with no towns close Coralie's rear derailed snapped. We were lucky enough to somehow have a spare one coming from an old set of panniers. The boys did a great job, and in less than 30 min, the bike was repaired and we were ready to roll again!






The ride highlighted how vast Alaska is, with few cars passing and views spanning huge expanses with nothing but trees and mountains.












We actually arrived and set up camp at Dot Lake (pop 35) around 7:30 and had some time to enjoy the evening and light a fire.






Overall an easy day on flat terrain with good weather, 62 miles ridden. About 15 minutes after we climbed into our tents the rain started again, great timing.

8/12
Today we woke up at our agreed wakeup time of 8:10am to early bird Jameson singing "Oh Canada". However, he only knows the first two words... It's now our favorite song! We headed out of our pond-side camp around 10:30am to our next destination, Tok Junction, 50 miles away. Today was our most scenic/enjoyable ride of the trip with sunny skies, warm temperatures, and snow capped peaks in the distance.












For lunch we stopped at a tranquil lake, but since Pauline and Coralie were MIA and thought to have passed our planned lunch spot we attempted to eat our turkey sandwiches without bread.











So after we finished dipping our portions of meat into the hummus they show up with the bread! Perfect timing! They were chatting over coffee with Sarah Palin's former cook at a bed and breakfast. Go figure!
After lunch Ken, Katherine, Coralie, and Pauline relaxed by the lake, Jameson and Julia headed off to Tok Junction and Arne and John headed to a lake down the road to fish for Northern Pike. After an hour and a half Arne caught a large Pike and the day was officially a good day!



Arriving in Tok we set up camp in an RV camp for $4 a person which includes a cold shower for every other person. For dinner we engorged ourselves at Fast Eddies and then ended the day with beers at the Husky Lodge. Leaving the lodge a little after midnight we had a flat tire, after changing the tire and riding a couple miles we arrived back at the campground around 1. Tomorrow we head out on a 63 mile ride toward the Canadian border which is now 90 miles away! "Oh Canada"!
-JS

- Posted using BlogPress from my iPad

Location:Tok, AK