Alaska And Job Done.............Part One

Alaska. The final frontier and the usual border questions from the big burly US border guard. There must be a book for universal border guards as the inane questions are all the same, every time.

“Are you carrying any guns?”

“No”

“Any mace of any kind?”

“No.”

“Any dangerous weapon?”.

“Only my wife on the back.”

Smack on the helmet.

“Any food products?”

“No.”

“What do you want to come to Alaska for?”

“To look around as a tourist.”

“And how long will that be?”

“Well we have been stamped into the United States for six months and this is the United States.”

“Ah but this is Alaska and this is a new border sir.”

Looks at our passports again, “And remember you only have four months left and you will have to leave so make sure you do.”

And so we entered Alaska. We headed for Fairbanks on the only road you can get to Fairbanks on. Alaska for its size does not have many main highways and with a total population of 680,000 not many people for the size of America’s 50th State. The country is vast and green and at the moment very dry.

We stopped at Tok for the night and decided that since we will be coming back this way we would drop off the camping gear and lighten the load somewhat.

Next day we stopped at North Pole to see Santa but alas he wasn’t in. Away checking up on the elves in the toy factory. They were complaining about their work environment being too hot.

Fairbanks was the stop off before we head up the Dalton Highway to Prudhoe Bay, but first it was to the bike shop for a tyre change. With that done we headed into the wilderness of northern Alaska. It didn’t take long for us to reach and cross the Yukon River. Soon we were hearing from truckers that the road was closed from Coldfoot onwards due to blizzards and snow in Prudhoe Bay. Disappointment. What do we do now?

Camp at Coldfoot for an unknown length of time and ride out the storm or ride out completely. We decided to reach and cross the Arctic Circle then head back to Fairbanks, feeling quite cheated and pipped at the post. Oh well, you cant beat Mother Nature in an environment such as the Arctic landscape. We met a chap at the Arctic Circle signage who had recently ridden up. Taking his picture for him we could tell the mosquitoes had finally got to him and turned his head. His photo is included and yes he does have more body hair than me, I’m sure he’s the missing link.

We carried on and took in the sights of Denali National Park, Anchorage, Seward and back to Tok. A truly breathtaking route with the 20,000 ft Mt McKinley in full, uninterrupted view, something that doesn’t happen very often up here. Many parts of this route reminded us of home. Snow covered peaks, fishing ports, people out camping, river and sea fishing and generally having outdoors fun.

From Tok it was to be back to Canada or up to Deadhorse, Prudhoe Bay depending on the weather. A few phone calls that morning and we were off to Deadhorse. The storm had passed and a week of fine weather was forecast. Fine weather being minus 10, overcast and fog with a wind chill dropping the temp to around minus 15 to 20. Fun stuff indeed. We had a long 700K ride back to Coldfoot, the midway point of the Dalton Highway and made ready for an early start the next day.

With the sun shinning all night and nerves about what to expect the next day, not much sleep was had. So it was onto the road again early and north to the Arctic Ocean. It was beautiful riding all the way to Atigun Pass through the beautiful Brookes Range with road construction being the only interruption and it was the only place that the road was muddy and covered the bike in cement like clay. The rest of the way was flat, fast and wide. Few trucks and little dust. A great time of the year to travel the road. Once over the pass and down the North Slope things changed. The hills gave way to flat snowy tundra. Ice and a freezing west wind cut right through us. For the first time my foot on the windward side was starting to feel the effects of the cold. We had everything on, over-jackets, merino underwear and still the cold came through. With the cloud layer coming down, we still had 100 km of gravel to go and it was here the gravel became thicker, so the speed had to come down. Hell, this was taking forever. It was one of those times when you just concentrate on the destination ahead and convince yourself that things are warming up.

Last week, when we turned back at the Arctic Circle, a rider carried on and did not heed the warning. With snow drifts on the road and zero visibility he came off. Straining a groin muscle, he had to lie on the road-side until some truckers came along and helped him and the bike back upright. They said he wasn’t looking too flash by that stage and had to be helped to Prudhoe Bay.

Soon Deadhorse came into view on the flat landscape. It didn’t take long to find the hotel and hit the shower to warm the body again. What a sense of elation we felt when we finally sat down and realised what we had achieved.

We soon found out that you had to give 24 hours notice to do the oil plant tour and get to the ocean. Being so cold and the Bay being full of pack-ice we decided to give the tour a miss. It would have meant staying another night and at $250 a night it wasn’t going to happen. Besides, there was enough water and ice laying all around so why pay good money to go and see more?

Next day it was up and away and head for the sun and boy it felt good once we hit it. It was hard to believe that a few hundred km could make such a difference in temperature. With wildfires breaking out all over the country and the forests being tinder dry for this time of year, here we were freezing our buns off and rivers flowing full of ice all around us. So we ended up following the Alaskan pipeline and retraced our tyre tracks back to Coldfoot, a slower, relaxed 400 km. The locals at Prudhoe Bay told us we had experienced a normal summers day when we were there. Hmmm, not so sure. We didn’t see any short and tee shirts getting about.

What we did see getting about though was Arctic fox, plenty of water fowl, Snow Geese, Caribou, two Korean guys riding out on push bikes after flying them in, didn’t see them again on our way out so hopefully they saw sense and hitched a ride, some moose, a six foot English chap riding a small Honda Rebel 250 road bike, had come all the way up from Chile on it and hell it looked painful to see him on it with his knees up around his chin. Rob, what is it with you English guys and small bikes? There has to be something there about inflicting pain on ones self, and plenty of mosquitoes, even though they are just coming out. The locals tell us that it is so bad in the summer months that they can drive wildlife to their death. That’s why many head for the higher, cooler mountains to escape them. Musk oxen were in Prudhoe Bay area somewhere and we were told where to go to see them. But once inside we were not coming out. If they are happy to live out there they can and I’m happy to look at a picture on google. Some of the locals at

Yukon River who live a subsistence lifestyle were interesting as well. A hard place to scratch out a living, trapping, hunting and gold fossicking.

I’m writing this back in Tok, listening to planes and helicopter flying overhead water bombing the wildfires all around. We saw lightning hit the ground here in Tok last week and it soon burned 1700 acres. With it nearly under control when we left the wind came up and it has now spread to cover thousands of acres, and four of these fires are on the go at once. Fairbanks to Tok today, a distance of 400 km was all smoke. So thick at times we couldn’t see the end of the road.

Alaska has been fun. Somewhere we would want to come back to in a winter to experience life in the dark and the northern lights. Tomorrow it is up the Top of the World Highway and into Canada for the return trip home and the pressure is off.