It was sunny and hot out, and after a few days in Dawson we decided to head out a day early from D2D.  We would miss the ride, but it would give us a buffer day on the Dempster.

The day started perfect, we had breakfast with some of the guys from Texas and parted ways.  Dan headed south back to Calgary and Ed and I continued on.  I felt bad for the other guys that were suppose to be joining us, but with no cell connectivity I couldn’t track them down.

We gassed up and hit the road.

Start of the Dempster

Perfect Day

When the Dempster is wet, its a complete nightmare, the road is made out of calcium carbonate and turns into grease when wet.  However, when dry the road is a dust bowl.  After 20km we hit a convoy of  large rigs moving construction material, passing them was difficult because you have to eat their dust and they shower you with rocks.  Because they are working, there is little incentive for them to slow down and let you pass.

About 80 km into the day, and after getting passed the trucks I stopped to take a few picture and notice a geiser of coolant spraying from my radiator.  A rock form the trucks I passed hit a coolant tube on the rad and punctured a hole, 80km from anywhere.  Ed drove by and I waved for him to stop, but he thought I was just waving and rode past.  I didnt see him for another hour.  I tried to ride back as far as I could, but after a kilometer engine temp warning light came on.  I spent the next few hours riding, stopping and filling the rad with water.  Ed caught back up with me and we limped my bike back to mile 1 of the dempster.

Stoped

Back at the start, time for repairs

I was really gutted as I didnt want this to be the end of the trip before even reaching Inuvik.  I has also planned on covering the rad with mesh before leaving, but time ran out and now I’m paying for it.  My only chance was if the the gas station at the junction had some epoxy, I could try to make a patch.  I cleaned off the rad and after searching the gas station mechanic gave me some 5 minute epoxy.  Essentially you roll it around into a puddy, then it harders over the course of an hour.  I made a patch, took a nap, then filled the rad and crossed my fingers – NO LEAKS!  It was weeping a little, but I figured as the epoxy hardened the weeping should stop, worst case I will have to top up the rad at the end of each day, but at least im mobile again.

More Northern Innovation (from a Southerner)

By this time it was 11:00pm, but still sunny.  At truck driver we were speaking to said it was the best time to ride the dempster because  it would be sunny, not too hot and no traffic on the road.  We decided to head out and see how far we could get.

The road was dusty but great, the weather got pretty cool, and most importantly there were no cars on the road.

About 250km into the ride I stopped to take a picture of a perfectly still lake.  At this time in the morning (about 2am) the mosquitoes are ruthless, so I wanted to be quick.  I went to pop off and as I tried to drop the kickstand the bike rolled back, I leaned over thinking the stand would be down and the bike started to drop.  Fully loaded its too heavy to try to stop it from dropping, but these bikes are designed to fall so I let it down as gently as possible.

At first it was funny, but then the mosquitoes swarmed and I remembered Ed was up ahead.  He knows I stop for photos so he usually keeps going.  I tried to quickly lift the bike but it was way to heavy loaded up, I couldnt get a grip anywhere.  Then I see the gas tank overflow pouring gas out the bottom.  This is bad because this stretch is 371km, we need every drop of gas to make it to Eagle Plains.  Seeing the gas run out I thought I could jam it up with a stick and wait for Ed to return, but there are no branches around.  I quickly begin to remove the luggage. In a frenzy I pull all the baggage off and lift my bike.  Unsure how much gas leaked out I load the bike back off and continue.  My neck and face were feasted on by mosquitos and I was dripping in sweat.

Perfectly still, no one to help lift the beast.

About 30km on I was riding past a long skinny lake that borders the road.  I look over to see a bald eagle flying just over the surface and about the speed I’m going, he flys beside me for about 800meters then pearches on the top of a lone pine tree.

Bald Eagle

 We roll into Eagle Plains (halfway) at about 5am.  Totally exhausted we pitch our tents in the day use area of the hotel lot fending off mosquitos.  There were a few other riders camped and we couldnt be bothered to try to check into the motel.  The second my head hit the pillow I was asleep.  Tomorrow would be much of the same, but at least I heard Eagle Plains Hotel makes a mean breakfast.

Dawson is a great town, we were early but the streets were already lined with dual sport motorcycles.

Bikes starting to roll in for D2D

People up north are interesting, always have a lot of stories and willing to talk your ear off.  They are also very innovative and problem solving with minimal resources.  I saw a lot of northern innovation including this child transportation system (currently not transportation canada approved).

It was also the summer solstice, and there is a big party at the top of the dome.  The only problem is after a few beers we didn’t want to ride up, so we hiked halfway and hitched the rest of the way to the top.

Once up top you can watch the sun circle the horizon, just barly going down before reappearing.  Very cool.

Solstice – Darkest bit before the sun reappears

Yukon River

Before the solstice they got a big fire going and a few people dressed up.  This guy actually wasn’t dressed up, Dan and I walked over to him and asked him if he knew who he reminded us of.  He wasn’t too impressed and said ‘I know I know Zach Galifianakis, I get that all the time”

He was good enough to get a pic with us.

Zach

The Original

Karate pose with Randy in Komoto – Not sure why he is in a Komoto

We grabbed some breakfast and headed out on what would be the best ride of the trip thus far.  The Top of the World road is epic.  We took some side roads and found a trail that leads out to the top of a ridge overlooking the border and valley below.  This was the experience I was hoping to get out of this trip.

Top of the World

Chicken, AK

Gold Mining Machine used to dredge dirt

Canadian Customs Station

Snow Still

The nice thing about the north is the sun never goes down.  So you can sleep if you are tired, or ride if you aren’t.  Schedules and time is meaningless.  Its perfect.  We got into Dawson and headed down to the Dust To Dawson Rally signup.  Its in the Downtown Hotel, which is famous for its ‘Toe Shot’.

Quirky guy that sold the toe shots at the hotel

After watching a group of older tourists do the toe shot, I bellied up.  The shot was fine, but the toe tumbled into my mouth – yuck!

Dawson is an awesome town, lots of history, laid back and super friendly.  The bar we went to has  curtains because the sun never sets.

Finally got a hotel and a chance to do laundry and have a hot shower.  We left Whitehorse the next morning and the sky finally cleared.  It was blue sky and little traffic for the entire day.

Stopping for gas I met Dave who was riding the same bike I have.  He showed me a few maintenance tips and gave me a set of spare levers to take up the Dempster.  Otherwise, if you drop your bike and break your clutch lever out in the bush you stuck.

Blue Sky Finally

Dave and his Dakar

After the border you hit the mountains the the scenery changes dramatically.  Lots of wildlife including coyote, moose, black bears, and a large Grizzly on the road as I came around a blind corner.

Blood Bath

Finally made it to Alaska by motorcycle. Customs were great, just wanted to know where we were going and for how long.  Not the friendliest, but what was I expecting when crossing between countries with such a long history of friendship and cooperation.

Crossing the Geographic Border

We got into Tok and gassed up when Dan pulled up.  He was riding solo from Calgary and decided to join us.  We picked up some beers at 10pm (gotta love the US) and made camp.

The North makes you feel small

Considering the visit by Yogi last night my sleep was relatively deep.  The sun was out and there was enough light in my tent to not even require the use of my headlamp.  Nights are very cold and I’m glad I brought my thick down sleeping bag.  The other night I was so exhausted I crashed in my tent wearing my riding gear, figuring I would just wake up and keep going.  In the middle of the night I woke up shivering and had to get our of my gear and into my bag.  Not fun in a one man tent.

Watson Lake – No Bears

Its finally sunny and warm, which is ironic that we had to travel to the Yukon to get some good weather.  Roads are perfect, no traffic and sun is shining.

Many large rivers to cross

The closer we get to Dawson, the more Dust to Dawson riders we bump into.  Chatted with a retired guy from Georgia with an older BMW R series, I asked where he was going and he rattled off 12 places, all on opposite ends of the continent, he just finished it off with an ear to ear smile and said  ‘I’m going everywhere’ – I believe it.

Started talking with a few guys from Edmonton at a gas station, and as each Dual Sport bike would pull up the group chatting grew larger.  Stories of where people are going, or where they have been, adventure riders have a pretty good community.  Its also impressive how many riders are being funneled into Dawson.

Stopping at Whitehorse today was great, not only is it a cool town with a local Brewery downtown, but gave me the first opportunity in 4 days to have a shower and launder the only pair of clothes I have.

Went out for a Yukon Gold beer and Reindeer Stew – good hearty northern meal.

Klondike Rib and Salmon

Reindeer Stew and Yukon Gold Beer

Tomorrow we hit Alaska, thinking of heading to Tok where a bunch of riders are camping out in preparation for D2D in Dawson. D2D aka Dust to Dawson is a 2 day gathering of Dual Sport riders from around the world.  There are about 260 riders attending, so it should be a good time.

After the past long days I have enough slack in my schedule to start going where I want, its a good feeling not having to make miles.

Day 3 turned into the most eventful day.  Waking up and packing the bike in the pounding rain was not the start I was hoping for.  Ed likes to bush camp.  I’m fine with that, but we spent 45 minutes driving around in the dark, with pouring rain looking for this gem of a camping spot.  I had to set this up the night before in the rain and by the time it was setup I was exhausted, eaten my mosquitos and just fell asleep in all my gear.  My tent was setup on a slight hill and I was laying on a number of sharp branches and sticks.  This isn’t the Holiday Inn.

After packing up my mood had changed, I wasnt going to let a little adventure get in the way of enjoying the trip.  A rainbow came out and I was sure it was my sign that my bad luck had run out…right?

Rainbows are good luck right?

The day was long and wet, but as we got close to the Yukon border the sun came out and it was warm and sunny.

This road is a dead end

Riding in Northern BC is perfect, empty highways, well maintained, well marked, perfect scenery and changing geography.

The stretch of highway right before the border had rows and rows of campers in the ditch.  Its too early for hunting so we asked a guy, turns out everyone was mushroom pickers.  At $500 per pound (dried) its very lucrative.  I chatted up a guy who buys from pickers, he explained the process, pretty interesting.

Not Magic.

As it was getting late and there were so many campers, I asked him if its ok if we pitch our tents and camp here too.  He says its no problem setup a tent anywhere.  Since I didnt know the mushroom pickers protocol, we opted to ride down the road another km before setting up camp.  With so many people trouncing through the woods we were more concerned about human encounters than wildlife.

Hidden Camp

We setup camp on the west side of the road up on a bluff so cars wont stop and mess with our bikes.  We take our food to the other side of the road where its gravel and easy to get a campfire going.  We get a small fire going and begin to open up some food.

Kitchen, with camp across the road

I asked Ed if he thought opening up a can of Tuna was smart.  I didnt have anything I could eat raw and I didnt want to spend the time to cook.  He says he is going to open up a can of salmon so it should be fine.  We are away from our campsite, relatively close to people, and have a fire going.

Empty road at 1am

We pop open our cans and start to eat.  Suddenly I look past Ed and about 25 yards away see a large Black Bear walking directly towards us.  My heart skipped a beat and I calmly tell Ed to not turn around, that there is a bear, and to drop his food and start walking away.  He spins around and gives me the same look I must have been giving him.  Ed is 6’10”, that’s almost seven feet tall, but the bear was not worried at all, it just calmly walked closer, stopped about 15 yards from us and stared.  I kept staring at him and slowly walked backwards.  I had my camera in my pocket, but was too busy trying to keep my pants from filling up with sheppards pie to even think about snapping a picture.  In hindsight I regret not snapping a pic as he was so close.

We briskly walk down to the road, then hustled up the embankment to our tents.  The bear starts to come even closer, but is on the opposite side of the road.  Ed frantically packs up his tent and gear and I grab the spray and air horn that I had on standby.  I give the bear four loud airhorn blasts and he doesnt blink.  The Fox40 Ecoblast didnt even phase the bear.  This is when the ‘oh s**t’ moment hit me.  My bike is buried behind a bush and my tent and gear is setup.  I decide its better to get my bike out in case I need to make a quick exit.  The only escape without going closer is down the embankment, I hold on and pound down the gravel hill towards the road, once on the road I honk the horn and bear doesnt flinch.  I now have to decide whether I even get my gear.

I have never packed up camp that fast in my life.  Im running up the hill grabbing as much as I can, running down the hill, jamming it anywhere on my bike it will stay (and not melt), running back up the hill.  I decided to put on my moto gear and helmet just in case, and even with all that gear I could run up a 20 foot hill in seconds.  One person would watch the bear while the other packed, but he kept coming closer and sniffing around where our food was.  I figured he just wanted our food, but didnt want him to think we were a threat. I  was angry with the prospect of some bear getting his grubby paws on all the snacks that Ash packed, I knew how angry Ash would be if I told her a bear ate my snacks.

Both Ed and I were rattled, had our bikes on the side of an empty road jamming stuff whereever it would fit, both bikes running, ready to jump on if the bear charged.  A truck came down the road and we frantically flag it down.  I was a family and I think they were a bit freaked out to see two guys (one seven feet tall) with their helmets on waving their hands to stop.  We got them to block the bear and our bikes so we could finish packing.  As soon as we had our stuff loaded we took off.  I must have looked like a gypsy driving down the road with open bags and gear jammed in everywhere.  We got about 2km down the road where we stopped at the Yukon boarder to pack our stuff.  That was the last time I was going to bush camp, we decided to make the drive the Watson Lake.  It was 1am and still light out, so it was an easy decision.

I ended up getting the Yukon border picture a day earlier.  This explains to those following our Spot tracking why we had 2 camp places.

Yukon!

We drove into Watson lake and I chose the site with the most people around. It was late, but I had never thought I would find solice up North when surrounded by people.  If I ever write a Guide to Northern travel, rule #1 is going to be “Don’t Camp outside of Campgrounds”.  Rule #2 will be “Dont eat canned fish in Bear country, stupid”.

Sleeping in a one man tent is not ideal. Its designed to lay still, there is no room for the disco fever tossing and turning that usually happens when I sleep.  It was raining lightly in the morning and we got a late start.

Not much space

Camp

Into BC

Along the way there were two things we have seeing a lot of: Bears and Germans.  After the 3rd or 4th bear we just stopped stopping.  The scenery on the yellowhead is amazing, but with the cold wet weather I didnt stop to take many pictures.

Hello Bear

The only eventful part of the day was stopping for dinner, a group Germans  walked over and were impressed with my BMW.  I replied to them in German which seemed to impresses them more than the latest Hasselhoff album.

In my frenzy to get packed up and on the road I noticed the incriminating pool of oil returned under my bike. This time it was clear and obviously new oil leaking from somewhere on the bike. I don’t have time to do anything about it and figure I would continue to monitor it on the road.

John and Robin come by in the late afternoon and we get ready to hit the road to meed Edward. I ask John to lean on the front of my bike so I can lift the back and lube the chain. As John pushed down on the front fender I hear a ‘Snap’, I look over and see John looking down at a broken off front fender in disbelief

First the Oil leak, now the front fender. I cant ride up north on dirt roads without a front fender so I’m starting to believe this trip just may not get going. We drive down to Blackfoot and talk to the parts guys – 7 days to order a new part. 7 Days waiting on a part would consume almost half of my available time. They inform me there is nothing I can do but wait.

I just purchased my bike at Blackfoot and know they have a number of Gs in the showroom. I figure why not just harvest a part from one of those. The parts guy assurs me that it is just not possible, actually it was “absolutely no way” was how he put it.

Determined to get this resolved I go off to find my sales guy. After explaining my situation and pleading with him he leaves to go see what he can do. My whole trip is hinged on whether or not he will go out of his way and do me a favor. Based on my recent dealings with BF I was not optimisitc. A few minutes later he comes back and says “go pay for the part and we’ll take a front fender off the one of the showroom bikes”. NICE! I’m unbelieveably apprceciative of this. There is a reason some people are in sales and some are not, if I left after speaking to the parts guy, I would never go back to Blackfoot, but the sales guy knew the long term benefits of making it right and helping a customer out – nice work!

Old and New Fender

We hit the road dripping in sweat, but as soon as we hit the mountains the conditions change. In typical rocky mountain fashion the weather takes a sudden nosedive. At this point I just want to get out to Jasper without burning any more daylight. We stop in Lake lousie to gas up and I notice my boot and leg are covered in oil. It appears that small oil concern I had has turned into a major issue. I start the tear down to find the leak tracing it back to the oil reservoir. The obvious places are bolts that Blackfoot would have removed as part of the oil change. I put a wrench to the bottom drain plug and it was tight. I put a wrench to the upper oil reserve tank and it was ready to fall out. My felling of anger towards Blackfoot service, quickly turned into joy for finally finding the oil leak. It was like a pebble in my shoe, I was trying to ignore it, but I knew it was always there. We put my bike back together and head towards Jasper.

The ride from Lake Louise to Jasper was cold, every shiver down my spine transferred down my arms and gave the bike a bit of a wiggle. The scenery was world class, amazing ride, even saw our first wild life – a little black bear.

Found the Leak!

Brown Bear

About 60 km from Jasper my reserve light comes on, I only get 50km on reserve. I now remember John filling my bike while it was on the center stand,

but the bike is designed to be filled while on its side stand, I probably got 2-3 liters less than I thought. I had extra gas in my pack, but it was cold and getting dark and I had little desire to stop, unpack my gear and fill my tank. I made it to Jasper and filled up after a great meal with John, Robin and Edward.

Laying in my tent my tent back at camp, I wonder if that ‘almost’ running out of gas counted as the 3^rd incident of bad luck. However as I drifed off to sleep the sky opened up and the rain came pounding down…