So after about a week of messing around in the woods, Les came and picked us up on June 24th. Back at his hanger in Fairbanks, Cyrus picked up my rear wheel with a new tire and we put it back on my bike before riding back to Les' where we spent another night in his camper.
In the morning I stopped by the post office and mailed home some gear that I hadn't been using to make some more space in my bags, which made life a lot simpler. I even had enough room to fit an entire six-pack in one of my saddlebags, so that was pretty cool. It was a decent day as we headed south on highway 3. There was a fair amount of traffic on this stretch of road between Fairbanks and Anchorage. We came upon an area where at least 5 RVs had pulled off the road and their inhabitants were walking around, pointing cameras towards a lake. One RV driver stood on the shoulder, and as he saw us approaching, he began pointing desperately towards the lake, as though Jesus Christ himself had been seen strolling atop the water (I would have pulled over for that). But then he put his hands near his head like antlers, signifying that there was indeed a moose nearby. I just laughed inside my helmet as we rode by, imagining what the locals must think of these people.
We drove near Denali National Park to a huge resort called McKinley Princess Lodge where my friend Mark had been working as a waiter over the summer. We found him in the restaurant where he was having dinner before starting his evening shift. We joined him for a beer and talked out each other's summers before Cyrus continued south to Palmer, a city just north of Anchorage where he would stay with some family friends. I rode into a nearby town and got dinner and beers for the evening, then joined Mark when he got off work around 9pm. We walked down to a spot on the river where lots of the resort staff hangs out at night. Some other kids had a campfire going and we hung out there drinking for a few hours. I had a good time catching up with him and meeting several of his new friends. Mark found me a bed to stay in that night, which was great. In the morning, which happened to be Mark's birthday, we got some breakfast before I hit the road.
That's Mt McKinley on the left, North America's tallest peak at 20,320 feet.
Since Cyrus had spent the night in Palmer, we decided to just ride separately and meet back in Tok, at the same campground we'd stayed at our first night in Alaska. It was a pretty nice day, and I made good time riding through Wasilla and Palmer, then northeast to Tok. Once I got away from the cities, it was a really scenic ride. I arrived at the campsite a couple hours later than Cyrus who already had some beers chilling in the creek.
On June 27th, just outside of Tok we got on the Top of the World Highway, which took us north on another bad road. Lots of gravel, and it gained elevation pretty quick. It was cloudy all day, but the scenery was spectacular. Big hills as far as you could see. It reminded me a bit of Scotland.
The gravel slowed us down to less than 40 mph in most places, so we weren't making great time but it didn't really matter. We spotted a moose in a creek, just off the road. It's ridiculous how big those things are in person; like giraffes with shorter necks. They kind of run like giraffes too, just sort of float across the ground much more gracefully than you'd expect something that big to be.
We got gas in the town of Chicken, which was really small and seemed to survive on tourism, thanks to its odd name. Lots of goofy merchandise like the hat Cyrus bought with a picture of a chicken next to a broken egg that said "I got laid in Chicken, Alaska.' Eventually we made it to the border and after having our passports checked, we were waved right into the Yukon. The scenery just kept getting better. We seemed to be the only ones on the road, as we cruised up, over and around the most beautiful hills I've ever seen, with massive valleys in between.
I don't think we saw anyone else on cruisers during that ride. Most were on enduro bikes like BMWs and stuff. They could ride a lot faster on those roads, but I preferred to take it easy and enjoy the scenery. We got to the Yukon River, where a free ferry service took us to the other side. We'd heard that you can wait up to 3 hours, especially when there's a bunch of giant RVs waiting to get across, but there wasn't a line when we arrived so we got right on. On the other side of the river was Dawson City, which is easily one of my favorite cities of the trip. The town looked really old, but was in great shape. There was a kayak race going on that day, so a lot of people were in town. We got lunch at a bar & grill. Everyone was sitting inside, but the sun had just come out so we grabbed a table outside. A few people followed suit, but right after we got our food a cloud rolled in and brought some intense gusts of wind and a little rain. Everyone ran for cover but we just kept eating; it wasn't anything we weren't used to.
The roads improved a lot as we headed southeast and finished the Top of the World Highway. We kept riding until it got too dark, and did around 415 miles that day.
Campgrounds in the Yukon provide free firewood, which is pretty cool. It's not split though, just big logs, some with diameters over a couple feet. It's not easy to split them with just a hatchet, but we managed.
Forgotten River Towns Tour
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