Pashnit Motorcycle Forum - Alaska Beckons - A Month Long Solo Journey

A Note from the Editor:

With our first article of August, 2005 we meet Chandi, a relative newcomer to the Pashnit forums. Chandi had a dream, a dream many of us share, for this particular destination, but more than that; for the desire to formulate a journey of a lifetime and make it happen. Like so many Pashnit forum members, Chandi made the digi-camera a co-partner on the journey.

Chandi’s photo-journal and personal observations from the Bay Area to the Arctic Circle take us along for a ride to some of the remotest places in the United States. Camping every day, Chandi followed his instincts and headed toward the goal, with minimal planning and maximal determination.

A veteran of the classic Royal Enfield line of bikes, Chandi has been riding as often as humanly possible in California since 2004. Having experienced the chaos of riding in India, Chandi is a dedicated sport-tourer in the U.S., piloting an SV-650 on the creamy Cali roads and taking out the F650GS for the rough and tumble rides, whether for a weekend or a month.

Savor with me this incredible journal of a trip to the Arctic Circle. Chandi, many thanks for sharing with us your incredible photos and the memories of a lifetime. :2thumbsup

I'd been thinking about this for almost 10 months, pretty much since the end of summer, 2004 -- riding from California to the Arctic Circle. After obsessing for many months, I bought a BMW F650GS, in March 2005, then participated in a Death Valley rally in April to get myself acquainted with off road conditions. Then it was a long wait until the snow melted all along the way from California to Alaska.

I wasn't exactly idle in the meanwhile. I was practicing camping, getting the bike set up for long distance travel and reading all I could about the journey to my destination. But it still felt like a long wait. I began by counting the months, then weeks, then finally counting the days, until the big day arrived.

As is usual, I wasn't prepared for it. There were tons of last minute things to do, like getting traveler’s checks, putting reflectors on the saddle bags, getting Canadian insurance cards, etc. But I finally embarked, leaving Santa Clara, California on a Saturday evening in early June, 2005.

Usually my rides are unplanned. This trip wasn't much of an exception. Sure, I did read up a lot on Alaska and the roads there. But that was so I'd know enough to plan on any contingencies, if need be (and yes, there would be contingencies in store for me). The only constraints I had for the whole trip were:

1. Be back in a month
2. Visit the Arctic Circle in Alaska
3. Camp every night all the way (two reasons for this: I always love camping and I'd read how expensive things would get as I got further north of Vancouver)

And a couple sideline objectives:

1. Spend a day in Seattle on the way up (too many friends I’d not seen in a while)
2. Stop for a bit in Vancouver and get the tires changed (I'd called the BMW dealer there earlier and ordered a set of tires)

Over a trip this long, weather and other local conditions like construction and traffic would be bound to play the spoilsport with a firm schedule, so I didn't plan a daily itinerary of stopovers for the night. I did what I always do -- stop a bit around tea time in the afternoon and check out what campgrounds lay ahead and which of them might be a good stop for the night. The milepost came in extremely handy here, as did the GPS.

So I didn't plan the stops. I didn’t even plan the route, actually. I was of two minds -- either take the fastest way to get up to the Arctic Circle (the Trans-Canada Hwy and the Alaska Hwy) and make detours on the way back, or take the roads less traveled to get up to the Arctic Circle (Cassiar Hwy followed by the Top of the World Hwy) and rush back down the fastest way. But I didn't have to decide right away, anyway, so I just put off the decision until later. The one thing I decided in the beginning was to get to Seattle quickly, then to Vancouver in a hurry. So you’ll have to follow along as I made my way out in pursuit of a dream.

Day 1:

Since I was in such a darned hurry to get out of the house, it didn't even occur to me to take a picture of me on the bike all packed up before I left. So here's the bike all set up and ready to go at a gas station near home -- the last time I'd see the bike so clean on the trip. :)

http://chandi.smugmug.com/photos/24906300-L.jpg

After slabbing it up I-5 for the day, I found a campsite about 40 miles west of Yreka (CA) in a small town called Fort Jones. The town was so small, the lady who gave me the directions asked me not to blink if I didn't want to pass it by. By the time I reached the "Indian Scotty" campground in Klamath National Forest it was dark, so I unloaded the bike and pitched the tent by flashlight. I fell asleep to the pleasant sounds of the Scott River flowing by right next to the campground.

http://chandi.smugmug.com/photos/30868379-L.jpg

Day 1: 390 miles
http://pashnitforum.com/forum/attach...tid=7681&stc=1

Day 2:

It was a rather long way to Seattle, to be covered in one day. It didn't afford me the luxury to be leisurely. So, I got up and rushed along I-5 again.

A small falls over a street canal at the intersection of I-5 and Rte. 126 in Oregon
http://chandi.smugmug.com/photos/30961747-L.jpg

Just before Eugene (OR) I spotted a kid in the back seat of the car in front of me. He was staring longingly at the bike as I rode right behind the car. All of a sudden he gave me a thumbs up sign with a huge smile on his face. I remembered my childhood, the Royal Enfields and other bikes that prowled the streets in India, and how I couldn't wait to grow up and get behind the handle bars. As I returned his thumbs up I said out loud into the helmet in my best Bogart voice, "Here's looking at you kid". And we parted ways...

The traffic from Eugene all the way to Seattle was really bad (it was home-bound Sunday evening traffic) and I couldn't even lane split like I normally do in California. I finally reached Seattle late Sunday night and met up with old friends from grad school.

Day 2: 540 miles
http://pashnitforum.com/forum/attach...tid=7682&stc=1

Day 3:
While I was going around, meeting up with more friends, I got to explore the city a little bit.

All the side streets I saw in Seattle have these traffic circles at intersections instead of stop signs
http://chandi.smugmug.com/photos/24906319-L.jpg

Seattle’s Space Needle -- up close and personal
http://chandi.smugmug.com/photos/30868380-L.jpg

The Space Needle behind the EMP (Experience Music Project)
http://chandi.smugmug.com/photos/24906339-L.jpg

University of Washington
http://chandi.smugmug.com/photos/24906352-L.jpg

The extra long buses that I saw only in Seattle
http://chandi.smugmug.com/photos/24906363-L.jpg

Day 3: 0 miles

Day 4:

Crossing the U.S./Canada border near Vancouver (BC) was hassle-free, but there was quite a long line of cars.

http://chandi.smugmug.com/photos/25015934-L.jpg

At long last, I reached the customs booth:

"Is this your first time visiting Canada?"
"Yes."

"What's your purpose?"
"I'm riding my motorcycle to Alaska."

"And why are you going to Alaska?"
I was stumped. I hadn't really thought this through. Why? It took me a little while to figure out that the border official wasn't exactly expecting a philosophical or inspirational answer.

"Uhh...... vacation."

"Are you carrying any firearms with you?"
"No."

"Are you carrying more than $10,000 in cash with you?"
"I wish!"

"Haha, me too. Have a nice journey sir."
"Thanks."

And so I reached Canada.

Modest, aren't they? :gotcha
http://chandi.smugmug.com/photos/30868381-L.jpg

I dropped the bike off at the BMW dealer, then roamed around Vancouver as I waited for them to install the new tires.

Granville Island, a nice farmer’s market kind of place along the bay, just opposite downtown
http://chandi.smugmug.com/photos/30868382-L.jpg

A lot of boat tours take off from the Fishermen’s Wharf
http://chandi.smugmug.com/photos/30868383-L.jpg

Rte. 99, from Vancouver to Cache Creek, is also known (rather aptly) as the "Sea to Sky Highway". It seemed to be pretty popular with the local moto populace, judging by the number of sport bikes that flew by from the opposite direction.

With the ocean on one side…
http://chandi.smugmug.com/photos/25139909-L.jpg

…and mountains on the other
http://chandi.smugmug.com/photos/30868384-L.jpg

The sun was playing hide and seek most of the day
http://chandi.smugmug.com/photos/25139923-L.jpg

As the highway left the oceanside and got up into the mountains I rode through the clouds.

Which opened up just before Whistler
http://chandi.smugmug.com/photos/25139924-L.jpg

It was really cold up there in the mountains, so I decided to continue riding to reach lower elevations down in the valley before calling it a night. And that meant going through the clouds again.

There was no one else on the road, and it was great to have such smooth twisties all to myself, even if they were wet
http://chandi.smugmug.com/photos/30868385-L.jpg

Finally got down into the valley
http://chandi.smugmug.com/photos/25139905-L.jpg

I found a campsite in Pemberton just before dark, around 10:30 pm. Moving north, the sun was setting much later into the day and that meant I had to figure out when to stop for the day instead of riding until sunset. And this only got worse as I steadily progressed north. By the time I reached the Arctic Circle the sun never set for the day!!

http://chandi.smugmug.com/photos/25139907-L.jpg

Day 4: 270 miles
http://pashnitforum.com/forum/attach...tid=7684&stc=1

Day 5:

The campsite in the morning
http://chandi.smugmug.com/photos/30868386-L.jpg

Soon after Pemberton, Rte. 99 becomes a roller-coaster
http://chandi.smugmug.com/photos/25147510-L.jpg

And there are plenty of waterfalls of this kind along the road
http://chandi.smugmug.com/photos/25147512-L.jpg

One of the twisties
http://chandi.smugmug.com/photos/30961745-L.jpg

And some of the gorgeous landscapes
http://chandi.smugmug.com/photos/25147516-L.jpg

http://chandi.smugmug.com/photos/25147514-L.jpg

A bridge across the Lillooet River formed by bunched up logs
http://chandi.smugmug.com/photos/25147517-L.jpg

It was just weird walking on those logs because they weren't tied to each other, they were just jammed up one against another. I didn't dare to walk too far.

The Lillooet River
http://chandi.smugmug.com/photos/25147518-L.jpg

Seton Reservoir
http://chandi.smugmug.com/photos/25147524-L.jpg

The highway is part of a chain of roads that circle the Cariboo region in British Columbia
http://chandi.smugmug.com/photos/30868389-L.jpg

Many of the lakes in the area are greenish because of copper salts seeping into the water
http://chandi.smugmug.com/photos/25147527-L.jpg

The road ahead :2thumbsup (apparently Rte. 99 used to be a logging road)
http://chandi.smugmug.com/photos/30868388-L.jpg

What chance do the poor roads have if the creeks themselves take hairpin turns :funny
http://chandi.smugmug.com/photos/25147528-L.jpg

From here on there's plenty of gold rush history along the way
http://chandi.smugmug.com/photos/25147529-L.jpg

Cariboo Highway (Hwy 97) from Cache Creek (BC) to Prince George (BC) was plenty boring with a lot of RV traffic
http://chandi.smugmug.com/photos/25147532-L.jpg

And construction
http://chandi.smugmug.com/photos/25147531-L.jpg

I know the kilometers to miles conversion, but the heart still jumps a beat when I see signs like this
http://chandi.smugmug.com/photos/30961744-L.jpg

A 2-hp Nissan
http://chandi.smugmug.com/photos/25147533-L.jpg

Plenty of wildflowers blooming along the way
http://chandi.smugmug.com/photos/25147534-L.jpg

I finally camped at an all-conveniences campsite (electricity, internet, laundry -- all the bells & whistles), just outside Prince George.

http://chandi.smugmug.com/photos/25147537-L.jpg

Day 5: 430 miles
http://pashnitforum.com/forum/attach...tid=7685&stc=1

Day 6:

Now was the decision point I'd put off for several days. The faster route: head up to Dawson Creek and get on the Alaska Hwy all the way to Delta Junction in Alaska. Or the off-beat route: Cassiar Hwy to Watson Lake, a little bit of Alaska Hwy to Whitehorse, Klondike Hwy to Dawson, Top of the World Hwy to Tok, and a little bit of Alaska Hwy again to Delta Junction in Alaska.

I was thinking about this even as I rode out of Vancouver, and the very fact that I chose to take Rte. 99 (Sea to Sky Hwy) instead of Rte. 1 (Trans-Canada Hwy) sort of pointed me toward the off-beat route. I also realized that by the time I reached the Arctic Circle I'd be completely tired out and homesick and I'd want to rush home as fast as possible, so I figured I'd better take the roads less traveled before hand. So up the Cassiar Hwy it was.

With an overdose of mountains and lakes, the Yellowhead Highway (Hwy 16), connecting Prince George to Prince Rupert (BC), felt a little boring with the unvarying beautiful scenery and light traffic. At this point, my definition of traffic meant a truck or R.V. every once in a while.

http://chandi.smugmug.com/photos/25235132-L.jpg

So what do you do when the scenery doesn't change for a 100 miles? You take a picture of yourself riding! :funny

http://chandi.smugmug.com/photos/25235131-L.jpg

About halfway to Prince Rupert, the railroad joined the road and ran beside it through lush country
http://chandi.smugmug.com/photos/25235133-L.jpg

You know the road was boring when you find these kind of things interesting -- the world’s largest fly rod, on display in the steelhead fishing capital of the world, Houston (BC).

http://chandi.smugmug.com/photos/30868390-L.jpg

After Houston the scenery began to get interesting again. I was soaked at this point but just outraced the rain. As the road turned north here I was able to catch a break in the clouds.

http://chandi.smugmug.com/photos/25235134-L.jpg

Beautiful country
http://chandi.smugmug.com/photos/25235135-L.jpg

After about 300 miles on Yellowhead Hwy, I took Cassiar Hwy (Hwy 37). The first 40 miles or so were paved but bumpy, hard on the suspension if you went too fast. But after that it was super smooth.

http://chandi.smugmug.com/photos/25235136-L.jpg

From here north, Cassiar Hwy is very beautiful
http://chandi.smugmug.com/photos/30868391-L.jpg

At this point I was planning for my nightly resting place and it seemed as though Hyder (AK) would be an interesting stop. And it’s Alaska, so I could feel as though I'd already reached my first major destination (even though I had to backtrack into British Columbia and travel for a few days before I would reach Alaska again). But I detoured to Hyder more out of curiousity than anything else. I wanted to see what a town with only one road leading in/out looks like. So I took off on the Glacier Highway (Hwy 37A - Stewart/Hyder access road) to reach Hyder for the night.

http://chandi.smugmug.com/photos/25235138-L.jpg

I stopped to check out Bear Glacier -- my first ever glacier sighting. Unfortunately I hit it at about 8:00pm, when the sun was too bright. With some squinting you could even see the blue ice on the glacier. I thought all the black on the glacier was due to pollution (what pollution? I'd been breathing nothing but fresh air for days), but apparently it's the gravel that the glacier picks up from the mountain side that gets exposed as the iceberg melts.

http://chandi.smugmug.com/photos/25235139-L.jpg

At the border between Canada and the U.S. I was talking to a Canadian police officer in Stewart (BC) when I saw a bear cub for the first time during this trip. The cub crossed the road and vanished before I could whip out my camera, but what surprised me more was the casual way the officer mentioned it to me. "There's the poor sod getting lost again," or something to that effect. :bigwow

Hyder, a town with a population of 77, is probably the only U.S. border crossing that doesn't have any customs/immigration. But then where would you go? There are no other roads connecting Hyder to anywhere.

http://chandi.smugmug.com/photos/30868392-L.jpg

Technically, the trip is done here since I'd reached Alaska! :funny But the dream was to reach the Arctic Circle, so I had to push on the next day, back over to Cassiar Hwy to continue north.

It's because of its active nightlife that Hyder boasts to being "The Friendliest Little Ghost Town in Alaska".

A nice little bar at the Sealaska Inn that played good music and served beer past midnight
http://chandi.smugmug.com/photos/25235143-L.jpg

What a fabulous backdrop for the town
http://chandi.smugmug.com/photos/30868393-L.jpg

I had dinner with three other bikers at Barrett's Wildflower Cafe (fantastic rock oven baked pizzas :2thumbsup). On the left is a Dutch, Martin, who's been traveling all over the world for the last 3 years. On the right are Germans, Ralph and Kathryn, who are traveling from Alaska down to Argentina over the next 9 months.

http://chandi.smugmug.com/photos/25235146-L.jpg

Martin's Africa Twin with a list of all the countries he's traveled to on the wind screen
http://chandi.smugmug.com/photos/25235148-L.jpg

Hyder had an Old West village feel throughout.

You probably couldn’t walk around in this house if you had a King size bed
http://chandi.smugmug.com/photos/30868395-L.jpg

Enough said
http://chandi.smugmug.com/photos/25235153-L.jpg

It got dark from about 11:45 at night to 3:45 in the morning (dark was relative already). Whatever sleep wasn't lost to these short nights was eaten away by the darned singing mosquitoes. They were all pervading and the repellant could only do the job for so long before they returned to suck the life away :( And as long as the sun was up the temperature was really nice, but the moment the sun went down it rapidly cooled down, only warming up again after the sun rose again.

Day 6: 440 miles
http://pashnitforum.com/forum/attach...tid=7686&stc=1

Day 7:

Here's a better picture of the Bear Glacier, from back tracking to Cassiar Hwy
http://chandi.smugmug.com/photos/25402853-L.jpg

After I got back on Cassiar Hwy I was doing a good clip, about 75mph, when I suddenly hit gravel without any warning what so ever!! I had my ABS on so there was no way I could slow down even if I tried (and I didn't want to). All I could do was stand up, stay on the gas and pray to God. Managed to get through that patch safely, but it brought down my speed in a hurry... There were many such gravel patches from here on, the front end slipping and sliding, always inducing a sickening feeling. Just when I got used to the constant slipping in the gravel, the patch would end and pavement would start again. The sickening feeling would return again the next time I'd hit a gravel patch. It would be small straight patches to begin with, then gravel with turns, then uphill and turns and then downhill and turns. By the time I hit downhill hairpins I was well trained. :lol

Here's one of those gravel patches that began suddenly. Only when a vehicle had come through from the opposite direction in the preceding 5 minutes could you get a warning of gravel to come, the telltale dust above the road ahead.

http://chandi.smugmug.com/photos/25402854-L.jpg

If you went too slowly the mosquitoes would enter your helmet and then you had to ride with one hand while the other hand was opening up the visor and clearing out the mosquito/itch while your front end was dancing all over. :lol So I finally figured out I could go 55mph and ride as though I didn't care if it was pavement or gravel. That worked.

Eventually the gravel patches were averaging 30km in length
http://chandi.smugmug.com/photos/30868396-L.jpg

More of those pretty landscapes went by while I was busy looking at the road ahead
http://chandi.smugmug.com/photos/25402855-L.jpg

One of the gravel downhill hairpins
http://chandi.smugmug.com/photos/25402858-L.jpg

The foliage gradually changed from lush, thick vegetation to these evenly spaced out tall trees
http://chandi.smugmug.com/photos/25402861-L.jpg

More landscape
http://chandi.smugmug.com/photos/25402869-L.jpg
Click here for the full size panoramic image

http://chandi.smugmug.com/photos/25402870-L.jpg
Click here for the full size panoramic image

Didn't know what this meant, but it sounded important :)
http://chandi.smugmug.com/photos/25402864-L.jpg

The Dease River
http://chandi.smugmug.com/photos/25402863-L.jpg

I ran into four Aussie bikers around Dease Lake: Geoffrey, Mel, Matt and David. They had flown their bikes to Vancouver (BC), toured Washington, Oregon, and Idaho, then had come up pretty much the same way I had. They were also headed to the Arctic Circle, but were taking a detour to Telegraph Creek, while I continued on.

The usual suspects
http://chandi.smugmug.com/photos/25402868-L.jpg

One more night camping, around 9:00 at night, in fact
http://chandi.smugmug.com/photos/25402867-L.jpg

Day 7: 260 miles
http://pashnitforum.com/forum/attach...tid=7687&stc=1

Day 8:

I rode through Jade City, which, as you can guess, specializes in everything jade
http://chandi.smugmug.com/photos/25402875-L.jpg

It didn't make sense that I was leaving the snow-capped mountains behind for green mountains as I headed north
http://chandi.smugmug.com/photos/30868397-L.jpg

But it didn't make any sense either that this lake was called Blue Lake
http://chandi.smugmug.com/photos/25402876-L.jpg

At least this, thankfully, was called Green Lake
http://chandi.smugmug.com/photos/25402895-L.jpg

I saw a bear cub for the second time this trip around here. He was fast and before I could stop he'd crossed the road and was in the woods again. I wanted to stop and try to take pictures, but I was afraid mama bear would be right along. :funny

The Yukon Territory greeted me with thundershowers
http://chandi.smugmug.com/photos/25402877-L.jpg

Saw this aptly named "Sign Post Forest" in Watson Lake (YT). 54,372 sign posts
http://chandi.smugmug.com/photos/25402878-L.jpg

http://chandi.smugmug.com/photos/25402879-L.jpg

Some of them were pretty funny
http://chandi.smugmug.com/photos/25402881-L.jpg

Just in case you’re wondering how far Watson Lake is from everything else....
http://chandi.smugmug.com/photos/30868398-L.jpg

A little ways from Watson Lake there were plenty of these "I was here" signs set with stones
http://chandi.smugmug.com/photos/30868399-L.jpg

From Watson Lake to Whitehorse (YT) I took the Alaska Hwy for about 260 miles, the boring straight stretch that is the Alcan.

This sort of illustrates why I preferred to avoid it as much as I could
http://chandi.smugmug.com/photos/25402887-L.jpg

Although once in a while it gently woke me up
http://chandi.smugmug.com/photos/25402885-L.jpg

The bridge across the Teslin River
http://chandi.smugmug.com/photos/25402888-L.jpg

As if.... :lol
http://chandi.smugmug.com/photos/25402889-L.jpg

I was hit by the heaviest downpour yet between Teslin and Whitehorse. This storm thoroughly field-tested all my gear. The luggage held up well, as did the Aerostich suit, boots, and gloves. But the helmet failed!! There were waterdrops on the inside of the face shield. :bigwow In general, I’d been riding in and out or rain on a regular basis since I’d left Seattle. But since I'd always worn the Aerostich suit and Tourmaster Elite Gloves, and since the luggage was reasonably water resistant, I didn’t have to stop anywhere, no matter how heavily it rained. So I never bothered to look up weather forecasts during this trip.

Since the rain started I was searching for that elusive break in the clouds
http://chandi.smugmug.com/photos/25402891-L.jpg

Murphy Lake (without the regular swan visitors :()
http://chandi.smugmug.com/photos/30961755-L.jpg

As I got closer to Whitehorse I started seeing these sand mounds on the side of the road.

I’d learn later why these were here
http://chandi.smugmug.com/photos/25402893-L.jpg

Another night camping
http://chandi.smugmug.com/photos/25402894-L.jpg

Day 8: 440 miles

http://pashnitforum.com/forum/attach...tid=7688&stc=1

Day 9:
I woke up to a pitter-patter on the tent and waited to see if it'd go away -- it didn't. Finally I got up and packed up in the wet and miserable weather. Since I had decided to avoid the Alcan as much as I could, my only option was the Klondike Hwy to Dawson City (YT), then to take the Top of the World Hwy to Chicken (AK), then Taylor Hwy to Tok (AK) before getting back onto the Alaska Hwy.

Got onto the Klondike highway, which looked like this, starting out
http://chandi.smugmug.com/photos/25674801-L.jpg]

I plodded on to see if things would get better, but they didn't.

Passing through the site of a 1998 forest fire -- desolate, bleak, but gorgeous all the same
http://chandi.smugmug.com/photos/25674803-L.jpg

And then there was the wet gravel, a first for me
http://chandi.smugmug.com/photos/25674804-L.jpg

About 100 miles down the road I was beginning to feel very let down, and I just didn't want to see the Top of the World Hwy in this weather. I contemplated succumbing, turning back, and slabbing it on the Alaska Hwy. I stopped on the side and started munching some energy bars in the rain. That’s when someone coming from the opposite direction stopped to ask if I had broken down. He told me it wasn't raining in Carmacks (YT), which was an hour away. Things began to look up at that point.

Sure enough, as I reached Carmacks, the rain stopped and the twisties were cool enough to keep me in good humor.

http://chandi.smugmug.com/photos/25674805-L.jpg

A trail down to the Yukon River rapids
http://chandi.smugmug.com/photos/25674806-L.jpg

The vegetation changes were rather sudden -- probably the effects of wildfires
http://chandi.smugmug.com/photos/25674807-L.jpg

Chicks admired the bike wherever I went :laugh
http://chandi.smugmug.com/photos/25674808-L.jpg

Yukon River panoramic
http://chandi.smugmug.com/photos/25674810-L.jpg
Click here for the full size panoramic image

And finally camped for the night in Dawson City
http://chandi.smugmug.com/photos/25674809-L.jpg

Day 9: 320 miles
http://pashnitforum.com/forum/attach...tid=7689&stc=1

Day 10:

Once again the rain caught up with me overnight and I had to pack up in wet weather.

The ferry across the Yukon River at Dawson City
http://chandi.smugmug.com/photos/30868400-L.jpg

I snapped a photo of this group of riders I met on the Top of the World Hwy. They had started from Anchorage, ridden to Skagway, Whitehorse, and Dawson City, and were on their way to Tok. This was part of a tour package, I believe. I didn't want to ask how much it cost.

http://chandi.smugmug.com/photos/25674814-L.jpg

After this the rain intensified (if that was possible) and my Aerostich pocket leaked. Unfortunately, that was the pocket housing the camera, and the camera had gone bonkers after getting wet. The LCD wouldn't work anymore, and the camera didn't power down. The only way I could get it to shut down was if I took the battery out, which was how I used it from this point on. Unfortunately that meant using the viewfinder instead of the LCD, and since the viewfinder doesn't show 100% of the picture and doesn't zoom, the pictures from here on were a bit off :(

There was still plenty of snow on the aptly named Top of the World Hwy, making for a cold ride!

http://chandi.smugmug.com/photos/25674815-L.jpg

From what I was told, the scenery on this road is pretty beautiful. I wouldn't know. I was just glad I survived the Canadian side of it (which is supposedly paved!!!). The mud patches were a little scary, too. In dry weather this would've been easier than Cassiar Hwy, but not in the weather I was going through :(

I could spot a break in the clouds north of here, but unfortunately the road turned southwest at this point.

http://chandi.smugmug.com/photos/25674816-L.jpg

What's more, the highway doesn't go around skirting peaks -- it goes right from peak to peak. I counted nine peaks before I gave up.

http://chandi.smugmug.com/photos/25674822-L.jpg

Unfortunately, when the road went from peak to peak, there were sometimes two sheer drop offs, on each side of the road, instead of the usual one side. While on one of those sections, a truck appeared out of nowhere and headed straight for me, forcing me to skirt the edge of the road. I almost died of fright. It passed me within an inch or two and the gravel it kicked up was so vicious it broke one of my auxiliary light housings (the working one :(). I fixed it up with duct tape, but then I rode off, forgetting the duct tape on top of the saddle bags. I went back to look for it, but couldn't find it. This was pretty much the low point and I began to question my wisdom in taking this loop instead of the Alaska Hwy.

Finally reached the border, where I was standing in two countries simultaneously, taking this pic :)
http://chandi.smugmug.com/photos/30868403-L.jpg

Population - 2. Hard to come across a smaller village :)
http://chandi.smugmug.com/photos/30868402-L.jpg

Yay! (Red bike, green suit, silver helmet - come on, I'm trying to make a fashion statement here :biggrin )
http://chandi.smugmug.com/photos/25674820-L.jpg

The U.S. side of "TOW" Hwy is all gravel, and would've been a nightmare if it had still been raining. Even so, there were still sections which had retained water, and they were slippery as ice.

A burnout I rode through
http://chandi.smugmug.com/photos/25674823-L.jpg

Bet nobody would tell you who that old grump is :)
http://chandi.smugmug.com/photos/25674824-L.jpg

At least it's got a tire shop
http://chandi.smugmug.com/photos/25674825-L.jpg

Yeah right!
http://chandi.smugmug.com/photos/25674826-L.jpg

Taylor Hwy, between Chicken and Tok, is all paved and nice
http://chandi.smugmug.com/photos/25674828-L.jpg

Clearly they don't have many suppliers :lol
http://chandi.smugmug.com/photos/25674829-L.jpg

Through clouds and rain again
http://chandi.smugmug.com/photos/25674830-L.jpg

I imagined Alaska to be all snow-capped mountains, but I hadn't seen one for two days now. I was wondering what happened to them when, all of a sudden, they made their grand appearance on the Alaska Hwy (and disappeared again just as promptly).

http://chandi.smugmug.com/photos/25674832-L.jpg

Here's a close-up as I passed by them
http://chandi.smugmug.com/photos/25674833-L.jpg

End of the Alaska Hwy at Delta Junction (I badly missed the LCD screen :()
http://chandi.smugmug.com/photos/25674834-L.jpg

The sign says it all
http://chandi.smugmug.com/photos/30868404-L.jpg

Guess who won!
http://chandi.smugmug.com/photos/30868405-L.jpg

My first view of the Alaska oil pipeline (heavily guarded by the FBI?? and the military) http://chandi.smugmug.com/photos/25674838-L.jpg

Made the obligatory stop in North Pole, Alaska
http://chandi.smugmug.com/photos/25674840-L.jpg

Buying Christmas ornaments in June??? Not me, thank you
http://chandi.smugmug.com/photos/25674841-L.jpg

Yet another night camping (this time in Fairbanks, AK)
http://chandi.smugmug.com/photos/25674842-L.jpg

Believe it or not, that's the sun, around 10 at night!! I learned a day later that there were forest fires a little north of the Arctic Circle, hence the beautiful sun.

http://chandi.smugmug.com/photos/25674844-L.jpg

Day 10: 430 miles
http://pashnitforum.com/forum/attach...tid=7690&stc=1

Day 11:

The "Pipeline" - this was as close as I ever got to the Alaska Pipeline, a visitors center. I was under the watchful eye of soldiers throughout.

http://chandi.smugmug.com/photos/30868407-L.jpg

The pipeline is above ground for the most part, but where it might suit whatever need, it would dive right into the ground.

Going through Elliott Hwy
http://chandi.smugmug.com/photos/25819918-L.jpg

This picture is not actually representative of Elliott Hwy at all. It was extremely curvy, offering nice high speed curves at that!
http://chandi.smugmug.com/photos/25819920-L.jpg

Getting onto the Dalton Hwy (the "Haul road") - This was it! The big one! The road to the Arctic Circle!!
http://chandi.smugmug.com/photos/25819921-L.jpg

Where the construction crews work they coat the road with calcium chloride and wet it down for a couple of miles in either direction to keep the dust down. It was extremely slippery. I was actually pleasantly surprised I got through this unharmed!

http://chandi.smugmug.com/photos/25819922-L.jpg

Unfortunately, wet conditions also made for lots of grooves because of all the heavy semis that use the road (it's their road to begin with after all).

http://chandi.smugmug.com/photos/25819924-L.jpg

A stark reminder of how things can go wrong on this road
http://chandi.smugmug.com/photos/30868408-L.jpg

Some nice wild flowers blooming on the way
http://chandi.smugmug.com/photos/25819926-L.jpg

Going through some burnt out forest again
http://chandi.smugmug.com/photos/25819927-L.jpg

The pipeline runs parallel to the road for the most part. However, in parts, where the road gets close to the pipeline, there are solar powered cameras and loud speakers to warn people off. They have signs that warn against stopping anywhere in that area!

http://chandi.smugmug.com/photos/25819928-L.jpg

Passing through some starkly desolate landscape
http://chandi.smugmug.com/photos/25819929-L.jpg

One dream down, many more to go!!!!

http://chandi.smugmug.com/photos/25819930-L.jpg

I arrived at the Arctic Circle on the summer solstice, the longest day of the year in the northern hemisphere. It was very satisfying, even though the place itself was a bit anti-climactic. Who would've thought the Arctic Circle would be so warm and green? I wanted to spend more time here and enjoy the feeling, but the clouds of mosquitoes and bugs made it easy to decide against it. After all, I wasn't done yet. There was still that bit about getting home safe. And the heart longed to see something icy, something cold, something majestic, something more in tune with how I imagined Alaska to be.

Now what do I do??
http://chandi.smugmug.com/photos/25819932-L.jpg

I was originally planning on going forward and camping at Coldfoot for the night, and doing the run up to Deadhorse and back the next day. But Deadhorse was 300 miles away from here and, judging by the "easier" part I had just come through, there was no way I could do the 600 miles round trip in one day. And the sidebag clamps were wearing down, so my luggage was getting looser and looser by the day.

Plus, riding over such long distances your mind starts to wander and these roads were unforgiving of inattention. I'd already had a couple of close calls on the "easier" part of the highway. So I asked myself a couple of questions…

Now that I've reached my original goal, would I regret turning back and not going up to Prudhoe Bay? Probably.

Would I regret it if I attempted it and broke the luggage with no easy way to fix it? Most definitely.

So that did it for me. While it would have been nice to say that I’d turned back only because there was no more land in that direction, I figured it would be nicer still to be able to say I’d fulfilled my dream safely. So I turned back and headed for Fairbanks at 9:00 in the night. The luggage barely made it. Whatever ad hoc fixes I could do didn't help much, so I had to visit a hardware store the next day to buy some clamps and fix them up good.

The paved section of the Dalton Hwy is about 30 miles long. The other 90 miles of it (between Elliott Hwy and the Arctic Circle) are hard-pack gravel, which is quite easy, although extremely bumpy.

http://chandi.smugmug.com/photos/25819933-L.jpg

There was even a runway for small planes running next to the road
http://chandi.smugmug.com/photos/25819934-L.jpg

A moose family I met on the road -- had to stop in a hurry on gravel!
http://chandi.smugmug.com/photos/25819935-L.jpg

Twilight (technically not, since the sun never set - but it felt like it)
http://chandi.smugmug.com/photos/25819936-L.jpg

The bleak landscape was gorgeous in the twilight
http://chandi.smugmug.com/photos/25819939-L.jpg
Click here for the full size panoramic image

This was around midnight and about as low as the sun ever got for the day
http://chandi.smugmug.com/photos/25819937-L.jpg

Camping in Fairbanks around 1:30am
http://chandi.smugmug.com/photos/25819938-L.jpg

Day 11: 420 miles

I was happy to note that I’d made a bit of a dent in the world map. :) Here's all the daily progress, in perspective, since I started out.

http://chandi.smugmug.com/photos/31501547-L.jpg

Day 12:

I took a complete break for a day from the bike/camera/internet in Fairbanks. Slept a whole lot more than normal, pigged out for lunch, did some window shopping, watched a movie, pigged out again for dinner, got drunk, and walked everywhere -- about 7 miles in all.

Day 12: 0 miles

Day 13:

I met two other riders who'd been doing the Alaska trip as well. Was great talking to them and figuring out my way ahead.

John (left, from Oakland) and Robin (right, from Calgary)
http://chandi.smugmug.com/photos/26046908-L.jpg

Took the Parks Hwy to get down to Denali National Park, where it started raining heavily
http://chandi.smugmug.com/photos/26046911-L.jpg

Now that's a train ride I wouldn't mind at all
http://chandi.smugmug.com/photos/26046913-L.jpg

I reached Denali National Park in some really cold and miserable weather, with temps in the 50’s :(
http://chandi.smugmug.com/photos/26046914-L.jpg

The snow-topped mountains were camera-shy
http://chandi.smugmug.com/photos/26046915-L.jpg

After Mile 30 in Denali no personal vehicles are permitted. You have to get on a shuttle to go anywhere within the park. I lucked out and got on an empty bus -- my own personal tour bus!

http://chandi.smugmug.com/photos/26046918-L.jpg

The Alaska state bird -- Alaskan Willow -- it changes colors to white in winter and brown in summer
http://chandi.smugmug.com/photos/26046916-L.jpg

This snow-foot hare was too fast for the camera :(
http://chandi.smugmug.com/photos/26046920-L.jpg

Mountain tops danced in clouds all day
http://chandi.smugmug.com/photos/26046921-L.jpg

For wildlife photography in Denali you need to have a really really long telescopic lens if you want halfway decent shots. My 4x zoom was woefully inadequate for the job. The binoculars were wonderful though, and I’m glad I at least got to see the delightful creatures.

The Dall sheep… they move at very high altitudes and have exceptional eye sight, so they can see predators trying to sneak up on them.

http://chandi.smugmug.com/photos/26046924-L.jpg

A fox crossed our path
http://chandi.smugmug.com/photos/26048456-L.jpg

Apparently, the bears find these signs quite edible. To keep them from gnawing at the sign, the park rangers put some nails around it. Now the bears use it as a scratching post. :funny

http://chandi.smugmug.com/photos/30868409-L.jpg

A grizzly bear -- from a very very respectful distance
http://chandi.smugmug.com/photos/26049216-L.jpg

A panoramic view of the park
http://chandi.smugmug.com/photos/26050310-L.jpg
Click here for the full size panoramic image

Plenty of wildflowers blooming
http://chandi.smugmug.com/photos/30961752-L.jpg

Camped that night inside Denali National Park at the Savage River campground
http://chandi.smugmug.com/photos/26049214-L.jpg

I hadn't yet managed to see Mt. Denali, owing to the bad weather. Apparently, not many people get to see it in its full splendor in summer since it’s shrouded in clouds. "Am I one of the many unlucky ones? Will I have a better chance tomorrow? Should I come back this way just to be able to steal a glimpse of the majesty? Does it even matter?" Thoughts by which I drifted off to sleep...

Day 13: 150 miles
http://pashnitforum.com/forum/attach...tid=7691&stc=1

Day 14:
As soon as I left Denali National Park the weather improved :swearing
http://chandi.smugmug.com/photos/26051076-L.jpg

Views like this were plentiful along the Parks Hwy to Anchorage
http://chandi.smugmug.com/photos/30868410-L.jpg

http://chandi.smugmug.com/photos/30868411-L.jpg

The Alaskan Range
http://chandi.smugmug.com/photos/26054356-L.jpg
Click here for the full size panoramic image

Camped for the night in the Anchorage Harley Davidson dealor lot :2thumbsup
http://chandi.smugmug.com/photos/26052224-L.jpg

http://chandi.smugmug.com/photos/30868412-L.jpg

Day 14: 270 miles
http://pashnitforum.com/forum/attach...tid=7699&stc=1

Day 15:

I rode over to the BMW dealer in Anchorage on Saturday morning and they were kind enough to accommodate me, fitting me into their busy schedule for a change of oil/filter, air filter and rear tire. While I was there I began to think how the bike had held up so well so far. Except for the routine chain maintenance at the end of each day, I hadn't done anything, and it had run great over a lot of very tough gravel roads. (I should've knocked on wood at this point.) In spite of all the troubles I would run into later, I still stand by how well the bike handled the trip.

The visit to the dealer took up the whole morning and I left Anchorage in the afternoon heading due south to check out south-east Alaska. It was a toss up between Seward and Homer until I decided to tour both... first stop: Homer.

Caught sight of this moose munching away
http://chandi.smugmug.com/photos/26137025-L.jpg

The Seward Hwy runs along Turnaround Bay, with mountains on either side of it.

The railroad follows the highway
http://chandi.smugmug.com/photos/26137026-L.jpg

I guess it's a pretty popular spot for taking the plunge :)
http://chandi.smugmug.com/photos/26137027-L.jpg

Apparently, an earthquake had sunk this whole place a few inches, and these trees died as their roots were filled up with salt water
http://chandi.smugmug.com/photos/26137031-L.jpg

Entering the pretty Kenai Peninsula
http://chandi.smugmug.com/photos/26137032-L.jpg

I'd come to expect this weather by now
http://chandi.smugmug.com/photos/26137034-L.jpg

Plenty of lakes along the way
http://chandi.smugmug.com/photos/30961750-L.jpg

The highway meandered among the mountains
http://chandi.smugmug.com/photos/30961749-L.jpg

The tourists were out in full force, fishing. So were all the mosquitoes you see in the picture
http://chandi.smugmug.com/photos/26137041-L.jpg

Along the Sterling Hwy, this particular section of the Aleutian Mountain Range is known as 'The Ring of Fire' for the many volcanoes here.

The volcanic Mt. Redoubt
http://chandi.smugmug.com/photos/26137042-L.jpg

Coming down into Homer you see this little stony path called 'Homer Spit' going out into the Kachemak Bay
http://chandi.smugmug.com/photos/26137043-L.jpg

Another first for me -- camping by the sea side (on Homer Spit)
http://chandi.smugmug.com/photos/26137044-L.jpg

Day 15: 250 miles
http://pashnitforum.com/forum/attach...tid=7692&stc=1

Day 16:

Plenty of these signs along the Homer Spit
http://chandi.smugmug.com/photos/30868416-L.jpg

I returned to the campsite after dinner, where the water level had dropped significantly in two hours. Having seen the sign posts all over, my first thought, of course, was: TSUNAMI!!

http://chandi.smugmug.com/photos/26409915-L.jpg

Then I realized it was just the tides :rolleye (the lack of sirens also helped me come to the realization)

Woke up in the morning to some intense fog
http://chandi.smugmug.com/photos/26409917-L.jpg

As the fog started receding, people started going out onto the "lowtide" beach
http://chandi.smugmug.com/photos/26409919-L.jpg

As I'd been noticing over the last few days, the absolute favorite pastime for all the visitors seemed to be fishing -- they were fishing everywhere!!
http://chandi.smugmug.com/photos/26409923-L.jpg

Some rowing in the Russian River, on the way to Seward
http://chandi.smugmug.com/photos/26409926-L.jpg

A Stellar's Jay I saw along the way
http://chandi.smugmug.com/photos/26410766-L.jpg

Exit Glacier, from a distance
http://chandi.smugmug.com/photos/26409931-L.jpg

You get a close up view of the Exit Glacier after a relatively easy hike
http://chandi.smugmug.com/photos/26410767-L.jpg
click here for the full size panoramic image

Finally reached Seward and set up camp on Resurrection Bay
http://chandi.smugmug.com/photos/26410096-L.jpg

The famous dog sled race Iditarod used to start here
http://chandi.smugmug.com/photos/26410093-L.jpg

The beautiful streetlights in Seward
http://chandi.smugmug.com/photos/30997120-L.jpg

Day 16: 220 miles
http://pashnitforum.com/forum/attach...tid=7693&stc=1

Day 17:

Woke up to some low clouds
http://chandi.smugmug.com/photos/26411515-L.jpg

My only chance to check out the Kenai Fjords National Park from the water was a cruise that left very early in the morning. So I got up and rushed to the harbor and left my bike in the parking lot with all the luggage on it. I probably wouldn't have dared to do this at any place other than here. And, of course, I was glad to note after I came back that everything was untouched and intact. :2thumbsup

First things I saw on the cruise -- sea otters -- sleeping on their backs
http://chandi.smugmug.com/photos/26411523-L.jpg

Grey whales exhaling
http://chandi.smugmug.com/photos/26411529-L.jpg

And their tail fins
http://chandi.smugmug.com/photos/26411530-L.jpg

Some playful orcas as they whizzed past the bow of the cruise ship
http://chandi.smugmug.com/photos/26411527-L.jpg

One of the seagulls that chased us for a while
http://chandi.smugmug.com/photos/30997400-L.jpg

Interesting rock formations caused by tidal erosion
http://chandi.smugmug.com/photos/26411536-L.jpg

The Aialik Glacier from a distance
http://chandi.smugmug.com/photos/26411520-L.jpg

This is an active tidal glacier that's advancing rapidly (a meter a day?). Every half a minute or so there'd be a loud thundering sound and a huge chunk of ice would fall off the glacier into the ocean -- called "calving" of the glacier.

A calving
http://chandi.smugmug.com/photos/26411533-L.jpg

Needless to say, it was quite cold
http://chandi.smugmug.com/photos/30997505-L.jpg

A few panoramics of the glacier and it's surroundings:

In the first picture, when you see it full size, you'll notice small yellow specks on the lower left hand corner. Those are tents that a couple kayakers put up - you can even see the kayaks in the picture. How's that for a scale? :hail

http://chandi.smugmug.com/photos/26412039-L.jpg
Click here for the full size panoramic image

http://chandi.smugmug.com/photos/26412037-L.jpg
Click here for the full size panoramic image

http://chandi.smugmug.com/photos/26412036-L.jpg
Click here for the full size panoramic image

That's a lot of seagulls, wouldn't you say?
http://chandi.smugmug.com/photos/26411532-L.jpg

Nope, not penguins -- they're Common Murres. It was fascinating to see them fly. Since they don't have enough power to gain altitude they fly fast toward the rocks and, at the last second, they shoot straight up, losing speed and coming to rest exactly where they intended.

http://chandi.smugmug.com/photos/26411535-L.jpg

A lot of sea lions were sunning themselves on the rocks
http://chandi.smugmug.com/photos/26411539-L.jpg

Apparently they're very good climbers. They have to be, to haul 2,200 pounds of weight up those slippery rocks!

A shot through the binoculars :)
http://chandi.smugmug.com/photos/26411518-L.jpg

And arrived back in Seward where the weather had turned nice
http://chandi.smugmug.com/photos/26411516-L.jpg

Seward Hwy from Anchorage down to Seward was definitely the most scenic road I'd ridden on this trip
http://chandi.smugmug.com/photos/26411541-L.jpg

I took a detour onto the Whittier access road and went up to the Portage Glacier, on the right, which used to dive into the lake here. It's receding rapidly and all that's left of it in the lake are some icebergs.

http://chandi.smugmug.com/photos/26411522-L.jpg

Camped for the night at the Harley dealer in Anchorage (again).

Day 17: 140 miles
http://pashnitforum.com/forum/attach...tid=7694&stc=1

Day 18:

Glenn Highway (Hwy 1) from Anchorage to Tok follows the Matanuska River for almost its entire length and is very twisty, with an uneven surface.

http://chandi.smugmug.com/photos/27583945-L.jpg

Matanuska Glacier, visible from the highway
http://chandi.smugmug.com/photos/27583949-L.jpg

Saying goodbye to the Wrangell Mountain range at Glen Allen
http://chandi.smugmug.com/photos/27583952-L.jpg

Heading north to green mountains on Tok Cutoff
http://chandi.smugmug.com/photos/27583954-L.jpg

Once in a while, by some miracle, you meet strangers you’re destined to meet. I found Julian ('GuinnesS' on advrider.com) at a gas station in Tok. I'm extraordinarily grateful to him for being around for the remainder of my slow journey home, and for carrying all sorts of spares he didn’t need, as well as for his quick wit that lightened up several relatively dire situations.

http://chandi.smugmug.com/photos/27583955-L.jpg

I'd been riding in and out of gravel all day owing to the heavy construction on Glenn Hwy, Richardson Hwy, and Tok Cutoff. And I'd been doing that ever since I started on Cassiar Hwy more than 10 days before. I guess I got a little too confident, a little too overconfident, actually, as I got on the Alaska Hwy at Tok. After all it was a straight road, no elevations, and only a little traffic.

Barely 15 minutes after I left Tok I was doing a nice 60mph along a gravel patch when a small headshake developed as I hit a high berm between two grooves. It became a major, uncontrollable tank slapper. Next thing I remembered I was getting up and walking around. Surprisingly, no damage to me, thanks to all the gear.

The bike seemed to be OK, all things considered. The left saddlebag was toast, the left bar end was gone, the left passenger peg was gone, and the left mirror had broken off. That seemed to be it -- it was running fine at that point. (I was afraid of how the laptop had fared the crash, but discovering that damage would wait. In fact, I didn’t get to taking the laptop out until much later.)

http://chandi.smugmug.com/photos/27583956-L.jpg

Attempt number 1 -- Securing the luggage to the bike. There was some space between the tie-downs and the exhaust, so Julian and I thought it was OK. Nope. The heat melted the tie-down. The bag dropped off along the road and the loose tie-down got caught in the rear brake disk, locking the wheel for just a bit (thankfully it let go right away or I would've been spectacularly airborne).

http://chandi.smugmug.com/photos/27583957-L.jpg

Attempt number 2 -- We managed to get some electrical wire at a gas station nearby and tried our best to lock down the luggage.

http://chandi.smugmug.com/photos/27583958-L.jpg

Attempt number 3 -- After we got some proper tie-downs in a small town called Beaver Creek, in Yukon Territory, we gift wrapped the whole saddlebag. Success!

http://chandi.smugmug.com/photos/27583959-L.jpg

Day 18: ~600 miles
http://pashnitforum.com/forum/attach...tid=7847&stc=1

Over the course of the next 2 days the bike started to have multiple problems, the biggest of which was gas leaching into the oil, which forced frequent oil changes, among other things. Wires were grounding improperly, excess oil was getting into the airbox, the bolts for the chain adjuster were bent, front forks leaking, steering bearings wearing out, etc., etc. Given the myriad problems, we were effectively slowed down to about 100 miles a day. It didn't help that we were riding through some pretty country -- the Kluane National Park near Haines Junction (YT). Sadly, I didn't even stop/slow down to take pictures, as I was trying to minimize the running time on the bike.

This little plaque we saw at a bar in Haines Junction seemed to sum up the situation nicely
http://chandi.smugmug.com/photos/27583962-L.jpg

Day 19: ~120 miles
http://pashnitforum.com/forum/attach...tid=7700&stc=1

Day 20:

Having slowed down significantly, it occured to me that if the bike were to give up completely and I couldn't fix it with the meager resources I had at hand, I’d be stuck at least a thousand miles away from a bike shop, which would cost me dearly to get home. I figured taking a ferry down to the lower 48 states would get me home faster and cheaper (although the ferry ride alone would cost me more than $800). So, we changed course at this point and headed south back into Alaska, to Skagway.

Julian, while going south on Klondike Highway from Whitehorse to Skagway
http://chandi.smugmug.com/photos/27583963-L.jpg

This explains why there were so many sand mounds near Whitehorse
http://chandi.smugmug.com/photos/27583964-L.jpg

Emerald Lake
http://chandi.smugmug.com/photos/27583978-L.jpg
Click here for the full size panoramic image

A neat rail bridge
http://chandi.smugmug.com/photos/27583965-L.jpg

Julian taking in the scenery around lower Summit Lake
http://chandi.smugmug.com/photos/27583968-L.jpg

The Klondike Hwy zig-zagged along the banks of Summit Lake for a while
http://chandi.smugmug.com/photos/27583971-L.jpg

Some thick clouds on the U.S. border
http://chandi.smugmug.com/photos/30963189-L.jpg

Ending our ride in a fantastic bar (Red Onion Saloon) in Shagway errr....Skagway
http://chandi.smugmug.com/photos/27583975-L.jpg

Day 20: 220 miles
http://pashnitforum.com/forum/attach...tid=7701&stc=1

Here's a good perspective of all the places I visited in Alaska:
http://chandi.smugmug.com/photos/31501548-L.jpg

Day 21:

The ferry runs only twice a week and Julian and I had a day to kill before boarding it. So we took a train ride up into the mountains. The engines were charming, old steam engines (atleast for a while, before they switched to diesel engines for the climb)

http://chandi.smugmug.com/photos/27583981-L.jpg

Went through some rickety old bridges and tunnels
http://chandi.smugmug.com/photos/30963958-L.jpg

And mountains and clouds
http://chandi.smugmug.com/photos/27583986-L.jpg

Over rivulets
http://chandi.smugmug.com/photos/30963957-L.jpg

And gorges
http://chandi.smugmug.com/photos/27583996-L.jpg

An interesting road sign back in Skagway
http://chandi.smugmug.com/photos/27583998-L.jpg

I wish she could actually cross :)
http://chandi.smugmug.com/photos/30868419-L.jpg

An interesting menu -- the Red Onion Saloon
http://chandi.smugmug.com/photos/30963961-L.jpg

Day 21: 0 miles

Day 22-25:

The ferry Malaspina -- our abode for the next three and a half days
http://chandi.smugmug.com/photos/27584005-L.jpg

The ferry ride was about $850, and a cabin would've cost about $400 more. So we pitched our tents on the deck with duct tape (it was extremely windy, so we had to be very liberal with the duct tape).

http://chandi.smugmug.com/photos/27584008-L.jpg

We said goodbye to Skagway
http://chandi.smugmug.com/photos/27584009-L.jpg

Many huge waterfalls along the way
http://chandi.smugmug.com/photos/30868420-L.jpg

Apparently the glacial melt water doesn't mix with sea water because of differences in salinity/temperature etc.

That made for a good color separation
http://chandi.smugmug.com/photos/30868423-L.jpg

A bald eagle that spied on us from the skies above
http://chandi.smugmug.com/photos/27584017-L.jpg

The fantastic glacier backdrop of Auke Bay, Juneau (AK)
http://chandi.smugmug.com/photos/27584018-L.jpg

Navigating the Petersburg-Wrangell Narrows in the dark, solely by the aid of navigation lights (infrared pic)
http://chandi.smugmug.com/photos/27584021-L.jpg

The laptop handled the bike crash very graciously :) I'm actually surprised that it continued working
http://chandi.smugmug.com/photos/27584024-L.jpg

An island to yourself - sounds like a good idea
http://chandi.smugmug.com/photos/27584025-L.jpg

Met quite a few interesting folks on the ferry and we were all getting off at every port to have some local food.

Where Patrick, Mirjam, Julian and I got off the boat, in Ketchikan (AK)
http://chandi.smugmug.com/photos/27584027-L.jpg

After Ketchikan there were no other port calls and we were on the open seas more frequently. Because we were passing by Tongass National Forest, which records more than 200 inches of rainfall a year, the weather was uniformly lousy. As was the food on the ferry. The last day was painfully long and I was counting the seconds to landfall.

Finally! Docking at Bellingham (WA)
http://chandi.smugmug.com/photos/27606820-L.jpg

Day 22-25: 0 miles

I stopped at the BMW dealer in Seattle, and again in Portland, while I worked a little more on the bike. Otherwise, I raced home without stopping much anywhere.

Day 25,26: 950 miles

All in all, 6666 miles on the bike in 26 days (weird number huh?).

I’ve since been asked quite a few times how I felt about the trip and if it met my expectations. I’ve thought about it since then and have realized that prior to the trip I didn’t have much in the way of expectations.

In retrospect, I’m also a little surprised to note that I didn’t have any deep philosophical insights or Zen moments along the way. The ride itself wasn’t anything new. Northern California is blessed with many awesome roads that are pure pleasure for riding, with amazing scenery. I found myself comparing the Alaskan roads with the roads back home and thinking how similar they were.

I mean, sure, I expected Alaska to be pretty (which it was, and was awe-inspiring beyond all imagination), but how can anyone expect the kind of people you’d meet along the way?

Take Julian: a complete stranger who not only happened to be the right person at the right time, but also turned out to be extremely witty and a friend for life.

Or the bus driver in Denali National Park -- a software engineering consultant in Anchorage for 9 months out of the year and an entertaining bus driver the rest of the time who spends 6 hours driving a bus 5 days of the week and hikes in the park the other 2 days. Or the hardware store clerk in Fairbanks. He was so slow in talking back I would start repeating myself in doubt over whether he heard me the first time.

Take the intriguing marine biologist in Anchorage. He was going to spend two months on an Aleutian island (one of a handful of people permitted to do so) without any conveniences of any kind and no human contact for those two months. Or take the extremely informative history lecturer in Juneau. He works in Wisconsin for 9 months and spends the summer roaming around Alaska towns away from the tourist radar, giving lectures.

Take the youngsters I met in Skagway. Students the rest of the year, they come to Alaska for the summer, far away from home, to enjoy the unspoiled freedom the land represents. Take all those I met who came just to visit Alaska and stayed forever. Or take the few who’re dubbed “sourdoughs” -- people who are sour on the experience (usually after their first winter there), but too short on dough to leave.

Take the many intriguing RVers I met. People in their twilight years, just doing something they’d been dreaming about for what seemed like forever. Take the bicyclists I met. People who enjoyed the country side in all its tranquility.

The trip was a dream I dreamt for about 10 months. A dream that wasn't about getting somewhere or being somewhere or how that somewhere was going to be. It was more about the beginning that it signified. It was more about getting started on many such trips. It was more about exploring this little round thing we live in. I didn’t have the first clue it would be so interesting - it was the people along the way that made it so. People doing much the same as I, regardless of whether they were in an RV, on a bicycle, or traveling by motorcycle.

My month-long journey to Alaska wasn’t very long, wasn’t very short, wasn’t very dull, wasn’t very exciting, wasn’t the epitome of freedom, wasn’t strictly regimented, wasn’t overwhelming, wasn’t underwhelming.… What was it then?

You might say -- It was just what I needed.