Alaska 2008 Ride Report
Intro   *   Day 1  *   Day 2  *   Day 3  *   Day 4  *   Day 5  *   Day 6  *   Day 7  *   Day 8   *  Day 9  *   Day 10  *   Day 11  *   Day 12  *   Day 13  *   Day 14  *  
Day 15  *   Day 16  *   Day 17  *   Day 18  *   Day 19  *   Day 20  *   Day 21  *   Day 22  *   Day 23  *   Day 24

Day 9: North to Alaska

June 20, 2008 - Watson Lake to Dawson

Long day, 620 miles. Didn't get going to until 9:30, but at least the weather was beautiful. Really nice, scenic ride to Whitehorse, the highlight though wasn't the vistas but seeing a grizzly. Up close!!

Running down the road about 70, scanning the cut back areas for animals, standard cautionary procedure. Saw a large brown 'something' up on the right, so got out of the throttle and coasted. As I got closer I could tell it was a bear, and as drew abreast of him he turned and looked at me and it was obviously a grizzly. I stopped and started to get out the camera, he wasn't really paying any attention to me so I was able to get a couple of good shots before he ambled off. Very cool.

Kept heading towards Whitehorse, ran into a couple of KLR guys, one had broken his left arm in a fall on the Cassier Hwy but had cut the cast back enough that he could barely work the clutch and was still headed to Dawson. Tough dude. Got to Whitehorse and had a good lunch, halibut fish and chips. Tried to find internet access, but no luck there. No cell phone either, which was odd, it's a pretty big town.

Headed north from there toward Dawson, with the sky looking a little dodgy. On the way out of town had a golden eagle swoop right in front of me. Damn, those birds are big!! Hit rain a few time on the way up to Dawson, but it never lasted to long. Good Gore-Tex gear is great, no worries about getting in and out of rain gear, just go. Also hit some long constructions areas, the first ones I've seen. From reports I've read on the Al-Can I'd been expecting long (as 5-10 miles) sections of dirt from construction and repair work. Nothing like that in reality, at most a couple of hundred feet here and there. The ones of the way to Dawson were a few miles long though. With the low sun angles some of the rainy sections were also sunlit, which made the whole world seem to glow. Very beautiful, but no way to get a good picture of it.

Got to Dawson about 9PM, and found the AdvRider 'Dust to Dawson' rally going on. About 140 bikes, which meant I was very lucky to get a room. :) I won't go into a lot of detail about the rally here, I'm sure there's plenty of info on their site. For those in the know though, I did see the 'Toe' in the flesh, as it were. Didn't feel the need to partake. :) For those of you not aware, the Sourtoe Cocktail Club website will tell all.

Wildflowers
Wildflowers
Grizzly
Grizzly

 
AdvRider Dust to Dawson Rally
AdvRider Dust to Dawson Rally
AdvRider Dust to Dawson Rally
AdvRider Dust to Dawson Rally
The Toe
The Toe
Midnight Sunshine
Midnight Sunshine

Intro   *   Day 1  *   Day 2  *   Day 3  *   Day 4  *   Day 5  *   Day 6  *   Day 7  *   Day 8   *  Day 9  *   Day 10  *   Day 11  *   Day 12  *   Day 13  *   Day 14  *  
Day 15  *   Day 16  *   Day 17  *   Day 18  *   Day 19  *   Day 20  *   Day 21  *   Day 22  *   Day 23  *   Day 24