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Just a little passed 6:00 this morning (Tuesday), our backs and necks had enough of us trying to sleep in contorted positions on chairs and benches, plus, it was just about first light.  We loaded up our gear and wishing Roy a safe trip. 

Roy was riding down as far as Comox then taking another ferry to ride the "Sunshine Coast" of BC down and then hop on the road to Whistler, then head across back toward Alberta.  Nice guy.  It was fun sharing an unusual experience with him. 

David and I left just a few minutes later.  We had decided to take the Port Angeles ferry from Victoria, primarily because it is only a 90 minute ride rather than 2 or more hours on any other option.  I think we're tired of ferry boat rides.  

We pulled into the ferry terminal in Victoria at just about 1:30, just in time to check in for the 3:00 sailing.  An uneventful ride down. 

The last time I had traveled on the island there was only a two lane road heading through every community on the island's east side. There is now a 4 lane highway with intersecting roads leading to all of the small cities.  That makes traveling down the island much faster.  Not as scenic, but certainly faster.  

Victoria, BC has grown and changed enormously as well. Except for the tourist core, it was pretty well unrecognizable. 

It seemed like a pretty short ride to Kingston for the very last in, I hope, a long time.  A very short time later we were waving by to each other and heading to our own homes. 

Great trip. Fun riding and much better scenery off of the main roads.   We made it to Alaska and I just guess we'll have to save Skagway, Juneau and Ketchikan for the next time. 

Final: 1875 miles traveled, 40:20 hours ride time, 47.7 mph average speed at 44.7 Mpg. 

Long Day

We were up at 4:30 this morning in order to give us enough time to make to the ferry terminal at 5:30 for check in. 

Kind of odd really; we were given standby reservations for the ferry, but were assured there would be no problem getting on because we are on motorcycles.  We paid our fare when we arrived this morning and were given boarding passes. It was then announced that all standby passengers needed to check in at the office to wait for their names to be called to board and travel on this ferry. Upon checking in, we were told: "oh go ahead, you're on motorcycles".  Seemed like a lot of fussing around if we were going anyway. 

The ferry departed at 7:28, 2 minutes ahead of schedule, for its 322 mile trip down the inside passage.  Beautiful trip cruising between all of the islands. Lots of humpback whales breaching.  We even saw a small black bear swimming toward an island.  A long cruise however. 

It should be around midnight when we arrive in Port Hardy. We'll see if we can find a room in town and wait for daylight.  With all of the wildlife around, it wouldn't be safe to travel in the dark. 

Funny how things turn out sometimes.  The cruise only took 16 hours. We docked at 11:30 PM.  As soon as we could offload, we made a "beeline" for town, to look for a hotel.  About 2 miles.  On the ship, we had heard that the motels fill up pretty fast on ferry nights.  Boy, do they!  It seems that most of the people that needed rooms had made reservations before hand.  Not a room to be found in Port Hardy.  One of the motel keepers suggested that we try the next town down.  "You should be able to find a room in Port McNeill", she said.  (Even though the call she placed to one of the two hotels on our behalf said they had no available rooms.).  "The other hotel isn't as nice, but they'll have rooms", she said.  Wrong again!

I forgot to mention Roy.  We met Roy while in the ferry line waiting to board the ship in Prince Rupert.  Roy is from Edmonton, Alberta and is out on a motorcycle ride too,.  We got to chatting about motorcycles and trips and what not.  We only saw Roy briefly while on the ship but it seems he was in the same situation we were as far as how to wait for daylight; camp, get a room or whatever.  Roy had joined us in our search for a room. He too made the 25 mile ride down to Port McNeill, only to find the "No Vacancy" signs blazing on both of the motels. 

Now, what do we do?  A short cruise around the small town turned up nothing… except, the lights were on in the laundromat.  A check of the door revealed it was unlocked!  It is dry.  It is warm.  It has chairs.  And it even has a washroom!

It's a little after 3:00 AM as I'm writing this. The 3 of us are curled up or slumped in chairs napping here and there.  We'll see what daylight brings…

Plan A

I mentioned yesterday, about that bit of a drizzle that we rode through on our way to see the glacier.  Well, the drizzle turned into rain over night.  Enough so that it made us look a little harder at our plans for continuing on.  Actually there were a number of bikers on adventure rides that were in the same position, including our Auzzie friends who were hoping to take a helicopter tour of the glaciers. 

None of the weather reports look very good for at least a week in any of the places we were planning to visit or pass through. Perhaps the summer weather turned too soon this year, but it was looking mostly nasty. 

Plan A was to ride to Hyder, Alaska. We have accomplished that and have had an extremely enjoyable time doing it.  To revert to the original plan seems to be our best option based on the conditions.  

As a recap, Plan A was after visiting Hyder, to head back down to Prince Rupert on the Canadian coast and hop on a ferry to Vancouver Island. As of now, we are in Prince Rupert and have a standby reservation for Port Hardy on the north end of the island. We should arrive there around midnight Monday/Tuesday. 

It looks as though our trip will be over all too soon. 

Arrived in Hyder

The train didn't bother us too much. David did hear the 3:30 tooting its whistle but I was lucky enough to sleep through it.  Found out why there were a number of powerful sounding cars running around town too. There is a drag strip just a short distance out of town. Must have been the Friday night races there. 

Up early and fed, we packed up and set our course for Hyder Alaska. Beautiful scenery, completely different than the range land we rode through yesterday.   Lots of rivers, lakes, mountains and glaciers.  Our GPS took us over a 17 mile excursion off roading that bypassed a couple of towns but provided us with some spectacular scenery. 

As we approached Hyder (and Stewart, BC, just next door), the countryside became distinctly Alaskan. The ruggedness and beauty seems unique.   Bugs too!  An astonishing amount of bugs.

The temperature was in the mid 70's once the early morning had passed. Very comfortable riding.  After we turned off The Cassiar Highway and headed down toward Hyder, we passed close to a glacier.  The air temperature immediately dropped due to the chill off of the massive ice flow and was even noticeable as we followed the river leading from the glacier.  Anywhere away from frigid ice and water was instantly worm again. 

Hyder's claim to fame seems to be bears and getting "Hyderized".  Our first stop was to take care of the Hyderization and then go on the hunt for bears.  To get Hyderized, is to have a shot of Everclear. If you don't shoot it, you have to buy the house a round. Dave and I only paid our bill.

Just a little further up the road is a small river absolutely teaming with salmon.  Black and brown bears are such frequent shoppers there, that the parks service has built a viewing bridge above the most popular area. Besides seeing thousands of three different species of salmon, we saw several dozen people, waiting for the bears. Alas, the last bear was seen at 6:30 this morning. We did see one on our way into town however. 

We also learned of a glacier said to be well worth seeing.  The Salmon Glacier is just 20 miles further on, up a dirt road.  The light sprinkle didn't hamper the ride; it probably helped keep the dust down.  Spectacular!

We found only one hotel in Hyder.  We decided to return to Stewart where we were able to find suitable accommodations.  

We met some Auzzies at the Glacier Inn in Hyder. The four of them were on rented Harley's, had already been up north in Alaska and were riding south. They were staying at our hotel in Stewart too.  Fun bunch. 

We'll continue north tomorrow. The destination is, as yet, undecided.  It's about a 12 hour ride to Whatson Lake in the Yukon, where we connect with the Alcan Highway to make our way toward Skagway. We may have to break that 12 hour ride in-two. 

Another Day

Not much happened today.  337 miles down the road (Hwy97- Hwy16) to Houston, BC.  We had thought about stopping in Burns Lake but it was pretty early when we arrived and Houston was only another 50 miles away.  Burns Lake is rather small and we thought that perhaps Houston might be a little better.  We were wrong. Small and quiet except for the teenager's loud cars and the train making regular runs just outside our window. 

Hyder, Alaska is only 250 miles from here so we'll get our first taste of the 49th state tomorrow. 

We didn't take any pictures today so here is some more from yesterday. 

Second day on the road

We didn't cover much distance today, as far as reaching Alaska is concerned, but we explored some absolutely beautiful countryside.  

Virtually all of it off road.  Traffic was almost nonexistent but we did stop and say hi to a rancher or two and that just adds to the experience. Great people. Friendly way beyond what you could imagine. 

We're are only in Williams Lake, BC, a mere 127 miles north of Cache Creek, as the main road flies but we were both tired and powerful thirsty by the time we arrived. Each having eaten lots of dust all day long. 

Coaxing the GPS to see things our way is slowly becoming easier (perhaps it's a matter of it, being so unyielding that we are forced into its way of thinking).  A good map is a must and luckily David had one. With enough "way points", placed in the correct order, we could navigate our way from Cache Creek to our destination and follow our preferred path as 

David has participated in rally's on some of these roads so he knew it could be done.  We plugged in Pavillion-Clinton Rd to Jesmond to Gang Ranch and on to Williams Lake.  Each was imperative to stay on our desired course. 

We did however, try to take an impromptu side trip off to the Jesmond Lookout. It started out as a decent, but less well maintained path than we had been traveling. It soon became evident that, even though we were on Dual Sport bikes designed for this type of terrain, we were mostly overloaded with luggage and unnecessary accompaniments, plus on tires designed for mostly highway. Turning around was well advised.  We would save the 45 degree uphill riverbed for another time.

We did experience a couple or three emergency dismounts during that excursion but it only helps make you smarter.…Right?

We had considered pressing on to Prince George but by the time thirst was quenched and belly's were fed, a good night's rest sounded pretty good. 

See you tomorrow. 

Misguided Adventures Day 1

So far, everything is going swimmingly.  We met at our planned time and location and began our journey north. The most daunting task was persuading our GPS's to guide us along our desired route.  

You generally have the option of fastest route or shortest route. When you mix that with use or don't use highways, it can present some interesting routes.  I've ended up in some strange places doing that. I actually had to set a navigation point between the start point and the border in order to take us up highway 9. 

Once we entered Canada, we began heading up the Frasier Canyon.  The road seems improved since I was here last.  Our planned destination wasn't all that far up the road so when we reached Litton, we decided to take a small diverting to Lillooet.  

Quite a scenic ride actually. It follows the river, undulating up and down along the river bank.  Not much traffic made for a relaxing ride.  The land, and weather, transitioned slowly from the 60's and evergreen trees to the 80's and a mix of sage brush and fir and hemlock.  By the time we were back on the main road, it was mostly sage brush and traffic.  

It was a slight double back to Cache Creek, our stop for the night.  Actually, the bartender in Lillooet suggested we head to Clinton.  Apparently there is a couple of better bars and hotels there.  Reservations had already been made in Cache Creek so we'll give this a try.  We have found some fun and interesting people here so I know this will be fine. 

We are trying to decide on our destination for tomorrow.  We have placed ourselves in a position where our ride will either be too long or too short.  We'll let you know where we end up. 

Ken and David's dualsport motorcycle trip to Alaska

Misguided Adventures

Ken and David's dualsport motorcycle trip to Alaska

August 10, 2016 - …...?

Whenever my best buddy Dave and I get together for lunch, part of the conversation usually touches on: “Ya know what we should do...?”.  The ideas from that point are varied and many.  I believe it was David who said during one of these conversations: “We should ride our bikes to Alaska”.  He had an idea... That idea has been festering for a while and has finally become the framework for our trip.

Hyder Alaska is the southern most city in Alaska, located at the bottom of the panhandle, about 985 miles north of us.  It really wouldn't be too daunting of a task to get there and it would still be a fantastic adventure.  The idea has blossomed somewhat from there but as yet has somehow remained slightly out of focus.

We should be departing on August 10th. At present, along with paying a visit to Hyder, we will continue north and west to Haines Alaska, about 1622 miles north of Seattle, at the top of the Chilkoot Inlet.  The plan from there is to hop on the Alaska Ferry and jump off in Juneau to see our friend, Eric.  We will catch another ferry there, after a day or two, and head to Ketchikan.  We have some friends, Terry and Judy, spending the summer there on their boat.  We'll again catch a ferry to Prince Rupert, British Columbia and wait for the Canadian Ferry to take us to Port Hardy at the north end of Vancouver Island.  Heading south toward Victoria, BC we will find our way back to the mainland and ride on home.  The length of time for this journey should be north of 2-weeks.  It is open ended to allow for fantastic fishing and sightseeing, unscheduled ferry travels and whatever else may distract us.

We'll be carrying a satellite tracker with us. If you'd like to check our progress, you can drop in at https://share.delorme.com/KenRussell2, and use the password: biketrip  Who knows, it might just help us find our way back too.

Keep checking back for updates to our adventure.  The plan is to post updates daily or as often as cell service allows.  You can also subscribe to this blog to receive notice of updates.