I realizes it has been over 10 days
since I have last posted. I am sorry. I will try to do better. In the
mean time, feel free to find me on Facebook or email me if you don't
already.
Noah.horak@gmail.com
Maybe I am somewhere you know and have
some travel tips for me. I have an open mind and open ears for
places/people/food/beer/activities I should try and see.
May 17. Day 42 Whitehorse Yukon to Tok
AK (Moon Lake). 650 km/ 404 miles
Back in travel mode after sitting in
Whitehorse for 3 days. The sky cleared up and the sun came out. I did
not stop for many picture going toward AK. I was just enjoying the
ride. Crossing the boarder in to AK was quick an painless. Switching
back to miles in my head is a different story. I prefer kilometers
better then miles after being in Canada for about 3 weeks. 650
kilometers sounds more impressive then 404 miles. Ether way, I was
ready for a good sleep. I met some 2 woman from Switzerland who are
traveling for 2 months in a rented F350 with a camper. They invited
me to pitch a tent at their campsite so I wouldn't have to pay. We
were the only people at the Moon lake camp ground and it was the
first time on the whole trip I had to brake out the DEET. I seemed to
have traded Snow/cold for mosquitoes. There was supposed to be a solar
flare that night so I set my alarm for 2 AM. At 2 am It was so light
I thought if I left my tent I would have a shadow. Back to bed.. I
guess there will be no northern lights in AK for me this trip.
The ladies packed up and left around 8.
I sat around the at the picnic table drinking coffee, cooking eggs
and writing in my journal. Discipline. I need to work on that. I am
beginning to realize I have way to many cotton cloths. I started the
trip with 5 shirts, 5 boxer briefs, 5 pair of cotton socks. I don't
wear any of these cloths riding and when I get into a town, 2 shirts
will do just fine. The extra cloths are getting shipped back to MN
with a bottle of Vodka from the Yukon brewery/distillery. In Delta
Junction I found a sports store that sold fishing licences as well as
flies. The lady behind the counter with a baby on her hip showed me
all the right flies to use on greylings. "my husband always buys
these flies out.. you are lucky we have some in stock" All the
rivers on the way to Fairbanks looked to blown out so I didn't fish
any that day. It was good to see my friend Elise from Bozeman. She
just quit her job and took a contract on the north slope (see Yukon
to Deadhorse below). That night we went to the Howling Dog saloon in
Fox AK. It is quite weird to me to play volleyball outside of a bar at
midnight and not need lights. For those of you who have never been
this far north, its like its always just about to get dark, or just
about to get light. It never gets dark.
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| Just for you Dad |
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| If I see a Mila Lake or a Kathy Lake I'm going to freak out. |
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| Cool doggy and cool Ensfield. I wish I could have met the owner. |
May 20. Day 45 Fairbanks Chena
Hotsprings to Yukon River. 240 miles
The Dalton Highway is the only road to
Deadhorse AK. Alaska Route 11 is 414 miles and begins at the Eliot
Hwy and ends in Deadhorse. It will take you to the arctic circle,
Coldfoot AK, the Brooks range, the north slope, Deadhorse and Prudoe
Bay. The road is shitty but after pounding pavement from BC, I welcome a change in pace. The only traffic I see is trucks bringing supplies
to the north slope oil fields and construction workers trying to take
advantage of the short summer. The "north slope" is just
tundra and gradually slopes into the arctic ocean from the Brooks
range for about 100 miles. There are more bears then voters on the
north slope. 35 miles from Deadhorse a wall of fog hits me and the
temperature drops below freezing. My headed jacket liner didn't work
when I plugged it 100 miles earlier. My bike froze over. My helmet
froze over. Everything was covered in a layer of ice from the fog. I
had no problem shelling out $125 for a warm room to stay in that
night. Food was included.
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| The bridge over the Yukon |
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| Just north of Cold Foot |
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| In the Brooks Range |
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| Large Wetslide that covered the road. It was mostly cleaned up when I got there but they were still working on it. |
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| Front end loader cleaning the wetslide |
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| Caribou on the north slope |
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| Nasty cold fog crap. |
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| Booties so you don't track in mud. Mandatory. |
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| How to keep it dark so you can sleep. |
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| Cold. |
May 22. Day 47 Deadhorse AK to Yukon
River (Dalton HWY) 360 miles
I didn't actually get to see the Arctic Ocean. When I woke up, the fog was still looming, it was 5 degrees
colder and it was snowing some. There are a few companies who offer tours through the oil fields to see the arctic ociean but I am over it and want to get back to the warmth. At 10 am the weather showed no signs
of changing. I put on every layer I could, gassed up and tried to
outrun the weather. The wall of fog stopped just as fast as it
started the day before. The sun was nice but it took a while to warm
up. By the time I got to Cold foot the temp was 70 F. Over a 40
degree swing in 250 miles. In the Jim river I cough my first and
only fish north of the arctic circle. Most of the streams loose 80
percent of the water by the time winter comes so the fish stay in the
lakes that don't freeze. The Jim river is large enough to keep the
little fishies alive. I camped that night next to the Yukon river the
same place I did 2 nights ago.
It rained from the Yukon river to
Fairbanks. I promised Elise I would give her a ride to Anchorage by
Thursday evening to get trained in for her new job. Some how we managed to load all of my crap and all her huge bag on the back of
my poor ktm and start down the road. We found a place on the Denali
hwy to camp next to an old floatplane landing. The views of Denali
and the surrounding mountains were amazing.
Breakfast was supposed to be in
Talkeetna but we didn't make it there until afternoon. Breakfast was
still available. From Talkeetna to Anchorage it rained. We were miserable and cold. I made it to Shannon's house around 7 and we
went to the Moose's Tooth Brewery and Pizza. It rivals the Thirsty
Pegan Brewery in Superior Wisconsin.
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| Katy M is not happy with the weight. |
May 25. Day 50 Bike maintenance
Oil change, check valves, and change
tires. Oh wait. They sent the wrong size rear tire. I still have a
couple hundred miles left to burn off on the back. My friend Clayton
from Montana used to work for the same company but he just took a
contract working on a 11 turbine wind project near Anchorage on Fire
Island. Since the wind industry is small, I know some of the guys he works with and they invited me to a boat trip leaving out of Seward
to see the Kenai Fjords National park.
May 26. Day 51 Anchorage AK to Seward
AK 127 Miles
I am not sure where the day goes.
Clayton and I had breakfast at noon at the Snowcity Cafe. And we got
an early start of 8:30 PM to ride down to Seward. It was cold (Duh?)
so the hot totties were amazing at the hotel bar when we finally
rolled in at midnight thirty.
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| Clayton and his X-Arrg.. I mean XR |
May 27. Day 52 Kenai Fjords boat tour
This was a gaper fest but it was pretty
awesome. If you can get over the "I'm such a f*cking tourist"
block and have fun, you see some cool stuff. Killer whales, humpback
whales, bear, mountain goats, seals, sea otters, porpoise, puffins,
bald eagles and other birds. If you get lucky like we did, you will
get a boat captain female who sounds like a late night adult chat
line operator. We were afraid to ask for her number because we
thought it would start with 1-900. That night we went out and found the Yukon bar where local music talent "Hobo Jim" was
playing. I feel like my Alaska trip in nearly complete. I heard
rumors about Hobo Jim and it was pretty amazing. A rowdy crowd and a
great time. The marine biologist who fed us nachos at 3 in the morning were quite fun also. Thanks girls.
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| Yay! free coffee on a boat with Clayton |
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| Killer Whale |
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| Ice from the Glacier |
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| Apparently this glacier is a mile across. |
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| Dinner at Fox Island. |
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| Killer whale skull |
May 28. Day 53 Seward AK to Homer AK.
168 miles.
May 29. Day 54 Homer to Anchorage
Rain in the morning and I left to get
back to Anchorage. I said good by to my camping neighbors and headed
out on the road. I stopped into a fly shop looking for a few patterns
and ended up walking out with $60 worth of flies. I now have an
arsenal and I should be able to catch fish for every meal in the
Yukon. This basically concludes Leg 1 of my trip. Mojave California
to Anchorage Alaska. After 9000 miles I am just getting the itch to
see more. Leg 2 of the trip will start tomorrow. Anchorage to Tofte
Minnesota via Valdez, Chicken, Dawson city, Banff, Big hole MT,
Bozeman and Minneapolis. Once again, please feel free to get a hold
of me. I love advice, stories, feedback or a couch to crash on if I
am in your area.
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| Apparently roading a crane is no big deal in AK. |
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| ARRRRR! |
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| Lots of Ammo! |
