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By Dr. Harry Tennant
Sunday, July 29, 2012 Education Ride 365: The Last American Frontier And The Road There! Immediately upon riding off the ferry in Haines, AK, I headed out towards Haines Junction, Yukon, for the night. I was accompanied by three couples riding Harley Davidsons who I had befriended during the ship passage. We planned to ride together this first day, as well as the second day from Haines Junction into Tok, AK.
 They seemed like a great group of folks and the relative security of riding with others in this unknown, remote land was appreciated.  I had always heard Canadian border patrol officers can be real sticklers. My passage through the checkpoint below went smoothly, as did that of my riding partners. It was funny, though, that when they asked Wade (above) if he was carrying any weapons into Canada (which is forbidden) and he answered "no," the officer responded by asking "but what will you do to defend yourself against bear attacks?" The not too subtle baiting didn't work on Wade though. He simply responded that he'd "rely upon his accelerator!"  From the ferry in Haines just about all the way up through British Columbia and the Yukon to Haines Junction was incredibly beautiful. It is perhaps the most majestic scenery (perhaps only rivaled by the pacific coast) I have taken in over the course of Education Ride 365. Unfortunately I didn't capture much of that beauty with my camera, as one of the downsides of riding along with a group is the necessity of keeping up with the pack.  The need to keep up with a group anxious to get to their destination was particularly painful when I came across a momma bear and her cub hanging out right off the road. I was able to take a few quick photos, but the cub was out of frame and the overall quality is far inferior to what I had hoped for given the chance to take such pictures.  The same goes for capturing shots of the scenery, which I basically completely missed the first two days. My only solace is that I will pass through that area again on my way back to catch the ferry and hopefully the weather will be as bright and clear as it was during my first pass through, as evidenced by my unflattering squint in the photo above!  The ride from dusty, desolate Haines Junction to Tok was not nearly as scenic as that the previous day. Nor was the first 170 or so miles from Tok to Anchorage. There was plenty of damaged roadway and road under construction almost the entire length of the route from just before Haines Junction to 150 miles from Anchorage. The winter weather wreaks havoc on the roads up here. Summer is the only time for repairs.  In this part of Canada it appears that they work on miles of roadway at a time, so it is quite common to ride through grated and gravely road for rather long distances. In this part of America it seems that they more selectively repair patches 20-30 feet in length at a time, fairly widespread, such that you are regularly crossing fresh and packed gravel stretches. Between those and uneven surfaces, a motorcyclist has to ride particularly aware of road conditions.   I rode alone from Tok to Anchorage, so the third day I was able to capture a few more images, including the two above and the two below. From 130 miles out of Anchorage (especially the first 85 of these miles) the landscape is marvelous! My pictures don't at all do justice to what I saw on this ride, so I'm hoping I can improve upon these on my way to Valdez later this week, then again next weekend on my way back across the Yukon and British Columbia to catch the ferry back to Washington from Haines.   The photo directly above includes a fantastic glacier that winds its way between the peaks and ends abruptly as pictured above. Alaska---> the last American frontier! Day 202 & 203---On a boat all day! Day 204---152.2 miles traveled, 3 hours and 5 minutes of moving time, 49.2 miles per hour average moving time, 1 hour and 13 minutes stopped time, 35.4 miles per hour overall average, and a max speed of 73.3 miles per hour. Day 205---319.1 miles traveled, 6 hours and 57 minutes of moving time, 45.8 miles per hour average moving time, 2 hour and 25 minutes stopped time, 34 miles per hour overall average, and a max speed of 74.7 miles per hour. Day 206---299.7 miles traveled, 5 hours and 14 minutes of moving time, 57.3 miles per hour average moving time, 1 hour and 39 minutes stopped time, 43.5 miles per hour overall average, and a max speed of 95.1 miles per hour. Day 207, 208, 209---Cycle maintenance & rest. Posted at 1:38 AM Keywords: Education Ride 365 , EdClick , Cycle Of Education 0 Comments |