Alaska Day 21

Today's trip was a little different.  We decided to take the Ferry from Valdez to Whittier.  We thought we would take the fast ferry that would leave at 12:15 PM and arrive at 3:00 PM.  There was one problem with this plan there was only 1 space available.  Plan B was to take the slow ferry that would leave at 8:00 AM and arrive at 1:45 PM.  This turned out to be a great decision. The trip was fantastic with some good information from a US Forrest Ranger.  We saw some sea otters, sea lions and even some whales.  The ship traveled at 14 knots a very leisurely pace.  We went by the Columbia glacier and through a bunch of icebergs from it.  We arrived in Whittier on time and then on to the next adventure.  The Whittier tunnel, 2.5 mile long single lane (really a train tunnel) that is used for vehicle traffic alternating each way every 15 minutes.  We arrived and the person directing traffic pulled us out of line and we wondered what has Dudley done now.  The person told us it was for our safety to go last through the tunnel.  We believed it was for car safety so in the event a biker goes down a car won;t run over them also.  It is an interesting ride with the tunnel floor wet and the space between the tracks metal plating.  We then proceeded to Anchorage for the evening.  Not many miles today only 62.  It was a great day in the trip.  Tomorrow on to Tok

Alaska Day 20

After a late return last night we all slept late, say 9:00am. Since all four of the wings slept in the same room, cause only one was available, things were a little cramped. After a nice breakfast a Poorboys it was off to Valdez. About 165 miles later in Glennallen we refueled and took a much needed break. Since it was warm we decided toshed some of our extra clothing which later became a bad idea. Then off to Valdez 115 miles away. After a while we began to climb, the temp. droped. We rode into suspended water vapor. Visability was about 15 mph. John and I put our flashers on and they would not turn off. A little banging on the buttons turned them off. The decent into Valdez was beautiful. The "Bridal" and "Horses Tail" waterfalls were awsome. We rode to the ferry asked about tickets, came back later and picked them up.

Alaska Day 19

We were off early but a little apprehensive as the weather was iffy at best.  Rain was in the area and the road to the Arctic Circle is gravel and dirt.  We headed out with high hopes of better weather down the road.  The weather did get better in spots and worse in spots.  We threw caution to the wind and pressed on.  The first part was OK no rain and the gravel road was in good shape.  About a quarter of the way in the rain really picked up and by the time we reached the Yukon river it was really raining.  We fueled up and went on the the 5 mile camp and had lunch and decided that we were this far and pressing on.  That was a great decision because we had only gone a little farther up the road when it cleared up and the rest of the day was beautiful.  We made it to the Arctic Circle and decided that instead of staying somewhere on the Dalton Highway (haul road) we would press back to Delta Junction for the night.  No problem in Alaska in the summer sunset is not until after midnight.  We got back to the motel about 11:45 PM after a 575 mile day but a ride we will never forget with great friends and once in a lifetime locations.

Alaska Day 18

Not all of us made it up with the sun today but that was OK as we had a shorter travel day than usual.  We went from Destruction Bay Yukon Territory to Delta Junction Alaska.  It was a shorter trip but the first 140 miles were tough.  Lots of frost heaves and gravel road on the ALCAN.  We looked like we were dodging incoming mortar attacks as we moved all over the road to try and find smooth sailing.  We finally crossed back into the USA and gas dropped a little to about $3.50 a gallon.  There is currently a lot of smoke in Alaska from wild fires and it makes it a little hard to get the full picture of the scenery but it is still good.  Tomorrow off to the Arctic Circle.  We traveled 335 miles today.

Alaska Day 17

The weather was great today with partly cloudy skies. We rode the Al-Can Highway to Destruction Bay, YT. The road was completely paved the whole way which made for a very nice ride with great scenery along the way. Along the way you can still see portions of the old gravel highway. I was very glad to be on the new paved road. We only saw one coyote and one elk today.

About 9pm a sea plane was landing in the lake across the road from our motel and tragically it crashed. I don't know why because the weather was great with no wind and calm water. They were able to rescue the pilot, but a passenger was trapped in the plane and didn't make it out.

Tomorrow we are headed to Delta Junction, AK. 440 miles today.

Alaska Day 16

We were again up early to head north to Watson Lake, Yukon Territory the home of the Sign Post Forrest. The only gas station in town wasn't open yet, John said there is a gas station that they used back in 2006 about 40 miles away so off we went. We arrived to find a burned out shell of a gas station. He then said there was another 57 miles farther down the road. Dave and I knew we couldn't make that so we headed back to wait for the station to open. Don followed us until we decided to pull over and wait for him to bring back gas instead of pushing it too far and running out in a bad spot on the road as we knew we couldn't make it the full 40miles back. Don did a great job rescuing us with plenty of gas. John had decided to push on to the other gas station 57 miles away. Well it turn out that John over estimated his range and ran out all by his lonesome. He was forced to wait about an hour before a nice lady with a full 5 gal gas can stopped and offer him help. We met up at the gas station, topped off our tanks and were on our way. We started running into unpaved road today some parts are too bad other are quite rough. Saw about 5 more black bear and one grizzly. 441 miles today

Alaska Day 15

Today was a planned day off from riding to allow us to catch up on rest and get laundry done. Dave and I got our's done early so we took a short ride back out on rt 37a, the only road into Hyder, to take some pictures of the scenery we past on the way in yesterday. Special points of interest along the way were Bear glacier and a couple of avalanche areas, one of which was posted no stopping year around due to the avalanche threat. You can see in the picture the snow load that is still piled up on top of the mountain.

John and Don told us about another glacier that was worth visiting the only problem was the 22 mile ride on a rough and very dusty dirt road to get there. Well we made the trip and were treated to a great view. By the time we made it back to Hyder we were (especially Dave as I was in the lead) covered in dust. It even crept into our saddle bags and trunks, what a mess to clean up! John and Don, who said they didn't want to go as they saw it on their last visit to Hyder, had a great laugh when they saw us drive up! Saw 2 black bear today and some salmon swimming up stream. 94 miles today.