The Alaskan Highway

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Thursday August 11, 2011
Rain and Cold

I woke up to over cast and weather that threatens to rain. It threatened and then rained. This kind of sucks. This section of the Alaskan Highway is one of the best sections of highway I have ever been on. The Alaskan Highway was my introduction to the mountains and wilderness of British Columbia during my 2004 Road Trip.

I would have stayed at the campground but I didn’t much care for the guy running the place and I think my next campground offers more services plus a restaurant. Being that I am mostly out of food in the middle of nowhere a restaurant is helpful.

For some reason the guy running this campground has a bunch of protein bars. So I have cleaned him out of those and took 2 loaves of freshly made sour dough bread.

The highway runs mostly deep in a valley and wines along the edge of mountain sides for miles and miles. There are no shoulders and most all the bends are blind bends. There is not a lot of climbing but you go up and down and left and right the whole way.

It is hard to say what I am missing regarding the view due to the overcast conditions. I am deep in the valley so it is difficult to see beyond the valley anyways. But this is an awesome section of road; I can’t recommend it more than that.

I am only going as far as Toad River which is 80 km’s way. At this point I am thinking that a day off is in order. I have had a lot of long days back to back; in fact virtually every day since leaving Yellowknife has been long and hard. But I am definitely not doing the rest of the highway in rain or overcast conditions. I refuse to miss any more of the view.

My camping site at Toad River overlooks a beaver pond. The place is a little expensive for my taste but I think it will have to do. The day was a little cooler then cool and the evening is almost cold. The summer it seems, to be coming to an end this far north.

I met another cyclist at Toad River from Kitchener, Ont. He stays at hotels every night so he can ride "light". He rides over 200 km's a day and has already done about 6,500 km's.

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Photos

Mountain View
View of the highway as well.