Advertisement
Published: July 18th 2006
Edit Blog Post
Day 1 Views
Notice the stunted trees, "fall colors" and mountians in the distance. http://www.travelblog.org/gmaps/map_1uJ.html
A new direction of travel, a new adventure and a new mode of transport.
Having flown to Inuvik after my paddle it was time to pick up my bike and food supplies so I could start the ride south through the Yukon Territory to a town called Dawson City. This sounded easy enough, until I reached the shipping company who informed me that my bike was still sitting in the shipping yard about 1500km away.
With a start like that things could only get better! While waiting for the bike to be flown in, I met up with some friends who offered to do a food drop for me on their way south which was much appreciated as it meant I only had to carry 7 days food instead of 14 - thanx gang!
One week later the bike and supplies (finally) arrived, however the bike had been damaged during the flight and needed some repairs. At about the same time I had my tool kit and fuel bottle stolen from my tent…its all about the timing…luckily I was able to recover the bottle as a replacement would
Gwitchen Territorial Park
As the camp ground had officially closed, the toilet doors had been taken off (???). I just waved as cars went bye. have taken a long time to find.
Waiting out a storm gave me the opportunity to fix the bike and get in some town km which was greatly needed as my legs hadn’t really been used for such a long time and I was about to ride the equivalent of Adelaide to Melbourne on a dirt road through both the Richardson and Ogilvie Mountain Ranges.
So it was with great relief and optimism that I FINALLY set off, singing “on the road again” to myself. Just out of town I found a truck weigh bridge and decided to jump on to see if it registered. The bike, gear and I came in at exactly 130kg - just over half of that was me...
As the land mainly consisted of long open flats to start with I was keen to cover as much ground as possible on the first 2-3 days while the going was good. The aim was to average 10km/hr for the whole trip and I needed to make the most of the easy terrain.
On day 2 the word-of-the-day would have to be pain. Never have
The Rig
Now thats moving in style! There she is - fully loaded. If only it knew what was in store... I felt such soreness and stiffness as after that first riding session. I drank a big glass of “toughen up” and things slowly began to improve.
There were a few distractions along the way to take my mind off my aches such as seeing an Owl from close range, finding a shotgun on the side of the road and chatting with some Kiwi travelers who I had met the night before.
As I neared the first town and waited for the ferry, a car pulled up and we started to chat. As it turned out, those on board had canoed from Northern US to Hay River - where I started my trip from. They had me over for a dinner and showed me around town then I was on my way again. That’s the north for you!
The next day I came to Fort McPherson and stocked up on food and met an old woman who made stunning clothing out of caribou and moose skin. At the height of summer the sun doesn’t set there for 1000 hours straight as the town is above the Arctic Circle.
At
First Night in the Mountains
After a full day of first gear i was able to settle in for the night. the ferry just past Ft Mc a car stopped to chat which was common enough. However the well dressed, obese, pale gentleman driving the car started to interrogate me in an aggressive manner as to what I was doing riding at that time of year. The guy had obviously never cooked his own dinner let alone ridden a bike in his life. I answered his rude questioning politely then inform him which Bakery in Ft Mc sold the best pies and was on my way.
That evening I began to climb into the Richardson Mountains and was introduced to my new best friends - mud and 1st gear. At one stage the mud was so bad I had to get off and push. Although it was hard work, the views made it worth while and after all, what goes up must come down…eventually…
It seemed like the higher I went the worse the weather became and for a while the visibility was down to only 30m or so. As I crossed the Northwest Territories / Yukon Territory boarder at a high pass and descended to a small river, the wind was so strong that
Morning Fog
As the sun rose, it developed a low fog due to the amount of surface water. If you looked up, you could see blue sky. the rain was horizontal and I was being blown half way across the road when a gust hit. Someone later told me that this area was locally known as “Hurricane Alley.”
On reaching the river I found a hut and had a chance to warm by the fire and dry out my gear which was welcomed. The downside was that now I was in Grizzly Bear country and I had images of a large bear pushing through the flimsy hut door in the middle of the night. Still it was better than my tent now I think about it…
In the end I didn’t see any Bears at all on the ride but I did see some Caribou which are similar to what (in Australia) we would call Reindeer. These particular animals belonged to the Porcupine Herd which travels from the arctic coast of Alaska to the Yukon every year as part of their summer - winter migration.
This heard numbers over 100 000 but is under threat from the US government who want to drill for oil in the highly sensitive calving grounds. That’s all I’ll say on that…
View of Tsiigahtchic From the Ferry
The Mackenzie River doesnt have any bridges as it freezes in winter so all roads have ferries. So after a good rest and some bike maintenance - laying the bike in the nearest stream to soak the mud off, then oiling it up and fixing the stuff that had broken - I was off again with the hope of reaching the arctic circle and maybe the settlement of Eagle Plains if the going was good.
On reaching the Arctic Circle I was covered in mud from head to toe and after a quick photo I kept moving. Shortly after I came to an emergency air strip which was little more that a long stretch of the muddy road on top of a hill.
All of a sudden the road started a long decent which I was loving as It gave me the only opportunity to get out of 1st or 2nd gear for about 4 hours. After going fast for once and getting a bit sideways in the mud the fun was over as quickly as it started.
It was now time to dump all my water, shift back into 1st gear and start the 5km ride up the other side of the valley to Eagle
Welcome to Fort PcPherson
Thats 1000hrs of non-stop light. ie the sun doesnt set al all. Plains and a chance to sit in a heated room and catch up with world news. That ride was probably the toughest both mentally and physically as I was tired, hungry, my knee hurt and the bike was falling apart.
Reaching the top proved to be the defining moment of the trip. As the day grew late, sun-rays poked through the clouds like a knife and fog started to follow me up the valley. I got such a buzz from riding over the last crest and seeing the buildings, knowing that I’d actually made it. I think I actually started pumping the air with my fist and yelling “yeh!”
Other memories of that time are going to have a shower and having a woman look me up and down with a gasp. I must have looked funny with a single patch of clean skin along my forehead where my helmet was with the rest of me covered in dark mud.
to be continued...
Advertisement
Tot: 0.076s; Tpl: 0.014s; cc: 8; qc: 54; dbt: 0.0496s; 1; m:domysql w:travelblog (10.17.0.13); sld: 1;
; mem: 1.1mb