This trip was like all my other trips, no time to prepare, not even sure if I was in shape. My contract at Freightliners was suppose to end 1.5 weeks before my trip and I was planning on using that time to get ready for my trip. The day before my contract ended a manager in another group found out I was leaving and wanted me to start working for him as soon as my contract ended. I had already planned a four to six week trip in Alaska; I was planning on biking from Fairbanks, Alaska to Prince Rupert, British Columbia, Canada. Then I was planning on spending time in different parts of Southeast Alaska. I really wanted to make the trip and collect unemployment when I returned; I still think I should have gone for it. But I was able to get 2 weeks off (not paid) and a raise if I stayed. I figured since I can not afford to quit working and the job market is still not great, I had better take the job.
Day 1, Wednesday, July 21, 2004
I woke up at 3:50 AM and loaded Andrea’s explorer with my gear for
Alaska. It cost $50.00 to take my bike on Alaska airlines, I asked
if it cost to take folding bikes and the lady said yes. She wasn’t
very friendly, I’ve heard the reason they charge for bikes is that
they are oversized and it was possible to take a folding bike on the
airlines for free (it might be best not to tell them it’s a bike) I
boarded the plane for Alaska in my shorts and a short sleeve shirt; I
didn’t even have long pants or a coat in my carry on. I forgot to
get maps and take the pages I needed for my trip out of the Alaska
Milepost. My first flight was to Seattle and I slept for the entire
flight. I also slept for most of the flight to Anchorage, Alaska. A
little boy (about 8-10 years old) kept kicking the back of my seat on
the flight to Anchorage, Alaska. I felt like asking his mother (she
was sat next to him) to control her child, but I’m not very good
about complaining. I sleep pretty well and even with all the kicking
I was mostly asleep. Towards the end of my flight to Anchorage I
started talking to the man in the seat next to me. He was from
Calgary, Alberta, Canada and was on a business trip for an oil
company. He was going to some small remote town in Alaska. I told
him about my biking plans and he told me how he normally took a month
off every year for great vacations. He had traveled to Thailand and
Southeast Alaska on previous trips. His girl friend wanted him to
take a year off work so they could travel. She was willing to quite
her job and it sounded like he liked the idea. I hope he does it!!!
He told me he was 40 years old and has friends that already have
health issues and felt he should do some traveling before its too
late (I agree). My next flight was to Fairbanks and two very young
girls (8 to 12 years old) from North of Fairbanks sat next to me.
They kept asking me funny questions. Like is Texas larger than
Alaska they said it looks like it on the map. I explained to them
that the scale was different on the Alaska map and the map with Texas
(the lower 48 states map). They also asked if I could bend my thumb
back to touch the back of my hand and the older girl showed me how to
do it. I didn’t want to try; it looked like it might hurt. When I
arrived at the airport in Fairbanks I could not find a bus schedule
for a shuttle to Delta Junction, Alaska. I wanted to start my bike
ride from Delta Junction since I had already biked from Fairbanks to
Delta Junction in 1996. Well I couldn’t find any information and
asked a taxi driver how much he thought it would cost to take the
Taxi to Delta Junction. He was from Korea and didn’t speak great
English and told me it would be cheap and he would give me a 30%
discount. I asked him about how much and he said he had not been
there before. I said do you think about $40.00 and it seemed like he
said yes. Either I miss understood him or his estimate was way off.
I went back into the airport to get my luggage and a lady came up to
me with a piece of paper with my name on it that told me about a $15
shuttle to Delta Junction that would take 2.5 hours and left at 4:15
PM from the airport. I asked her who gave her the message and she
wasn’t sure. I figured the message probably came from the Delta
Junction Chamber of commerce, I had tried calling and sending them
e-mail before departing for Alaska and was not successful. It turns
out the message came from Andrea and she had the Avis lady give me
the message. I figured if I took the taxi I would be able to start
biking about four hours early and I thought it would only cost about
$40.00. I ended up taking the taxi and by the time he arrived in
Delta Junction (about 100 miles away) the meter read 0ver $300.00.
He told me with the discount it would be $250 and I complained about
if he would have given me a realistic estimate I would have taken the
bus. He ended up charging me $200.00. The taxi driver was 62 years
old and had been living in the US for about 10 years, I do not think
he meant to mislead me, he seemed nice. I would have taken the bus
if I would have known the real price. However, in the long run the
extra four hours was probably worth $200.00. It gave me an extra day
in Southeast Alaska. I think the big problem was the taxi driver was
from Korea originally and did not speak perfect English. I bought
some groceries in Delta Junction. At the Delta Junction visitor
center I was thinking about asking this lady watering plants to take
my photo, but she looked too busy and not very friendly. I started
biking towards Tok, Alaska and kept seeing moose. Two times I saw a
cow and calf moose. I also saw a cow and buck moose together and a
moose by itself. That was probably the most moose (out of six trips)
I had ever seen in one day in Alaska. The only time I have seen more
moose in a single day is when I went camping on Isle Royal in the
middle Lake Superior. It started raining before Dot Lake, Alaska I
didn’t put on my rain right away and it kept raining harder until I
was getting wet and I then decided to put on my rain gear. It ended
out raining pretty hard and I waited until the rain slowed down to
continue biking to Dot Lake. I ended up biking until about 11:00 PM.
Being that far north the sun did not set until around midnight.
There were a lot of mosquitoes were I camped. I ended up watching
the sunset and went to sleep a little after midnight. (Daily miles
64.26 miles, average 11.5 MPH, Max speed 27.9 MPH)
Day 2, Thursday, July 22, 2004
It rained all night and since my tent only seeps a little water I
was mostly dry. I woke up around 7:00 AM and started biking. The
weather cleared and it started getting a little hot. I stopped to
eat at a nice rest area, the bugs weren’t too bad. I took off my
shoes and wrenched the water out of my socks. At the rest stop there
was a sign about a musher, Slim Williams, which had taking his dog
sled to the world fair in Chicago from Alaska in 1933. His trip was
used to help justify a road to Alaska and he took a second trip from
Alaska to Seattle in 1934 on Motorcycle. It must have been very
difficult making these trips if there were no roads. The road (Alcan
Highway) was not built until it was needed in 1943 to help protect
Alaska during World War II. The Alcan was very rough at first and
was only used for the military. It was not opened to the public
until 1947. I continued biking and my feet finally dried. Then I
saw a neat little pond and wanted a photo. The road was a little wet
and I decided to bike through the water. It looked like it was only
a couple of inches of water covering the road in front of the pond.
Well it turned out that the water was deep enough to soak my front
panniers and feet. After taking the photo I tried following the road
back to the highway. The road dead ended at a marsh. I was close to
the road, but decided to go back the way I came and had to wade
through the puddle in the road again. I wrenched the water out of my
socks again, I did not have an extra pair of dry socks that fit in my
biking shoes. I guess I didn’t pack properly, I had a couple of
thick pair of socks that I only briefly used a couple of times during
my trip. I continued biking and arrived in Tok around 2:00 PM. I
meet some people at the visitor center that had motorcycled from Iowa
to Alaska pulling a trailer. Both he and his wife were on the same
bike. I saw a lot of motorcycles on their way to Alaska it seems
like it would be a great trip on a motorcycle. In the visitor center
I asked about the fires in Alaska and Canada and was told that things
were fine in Alaska but the lady pointed out the fires in the Yukon.
She told me that I should bring plenty of water and that the very
smoky parts of the rode I would need to cover my face with a wet
cloth to prevent smoke ventilation problems. I bought some groceries
and then continued biking south. It started lightly raining so I
immediately put on my rain gear. It continued to drizzle for the
rest of the day. I meet a biking from Japan at a rest stop he had
biked from Vancouver, BC and was headed to Anchorage. At another
rest stop I had a lady in a camper from Colorado take my photo with
my camera. She and her husband were very friendly people and they
bragged that it was their 5th trip to Alaska. I told them it was my
6th trip. It sounded like they had actually spent a lot more time
than I had in Alaska during their 5 trips. They told me one of there
favorite spots was Hyder, Alaska were in July you can watch the bears
eating Salmon out of the river. They also told me about all the
wildlife they had seen on the Denali Highway. I’ve always wanted to
bike that 100 mile stretch of highway, maybe next time. After
talking with the people from Colorado for about a half hour I
continued biking. I saw 2 bikers going north and said hello.
Normally I always stop to talk with other bikers, but for some reason
I didn’t stop this time. I had already finished about ½ my
water and was concerned about getting more. Then I found a small
store on the road going to Northway were I was able to buy a gallon
of water. The store had a sign posting it hours as closing at 9:00
PM, but I was still able to buy stuff a few minutes before 10:00 PM
(it turns out that I didn’t know there was my clock was off by an
hour until I reached Southeast Alaska a week later). I continued
biking until I had covered 100 miles for the day; I like to have at
least one day that I cover 100 miles when I do my bike trips. It
took a few miles before I found a place to camp. I found a road that
looked like a good place to camp and when I went around a corner I
noticed cars and a cabin so I continued biking on the highway. I
then found a sign for Lakeview Campground and went to check it out.
I didn’t want to pay for camping and when I found out the campground
was free and was located on a scenic lake I decided to camp there.
It was about 10:00 PM when I quit biking and I went to sleep a little
after midnight (sunset). The weather had improved and it only rained
slightly that night. I asked people from Switzerland to take my
photo with my camera in front of the lake. (Daily miles 103.17
miles, average 9.5 MPH, Max speed 30.7 MPH, Total Trip Miles 167.43
miles)
Day 3, Friday, July 23, 2004
Around 3:00 AM I heard a lot of howling, maybe wolfs! I hung my
food in a tree as a precaution for bears the previous night and woke
up around 7:00 AM to the sound of a squirrel checking out my food
pack. Luckily I heard it and yelled, so it didn’t get into my food.
The roads in Alaska were mostly paved with small patches of dirt used
to fix the permafrost damaged roads. It is tough maintaining the
roads in central Alaska because the ground stays frozen under the
surface forming a solid ice layer called permafrost. When the ice
shifts or melts the road above it gets pot holes and cracks in the
pavement. Apparently the fact that there is pavement on top of the
ground increases the melting time of the ice and causes more problems
with the permafrost shifting. My first stop for the day was at
Tetlin National Wildlife refuge visitor center were I had a man take
my photo with my camera. I asked the lady at the visitor center
about the fires in Canada and she told me she had no reports on
Canada only Alaska. A man that overheard me asking about the fires
told me he had just come up from Haines Junction and that the road
was not smoky. He said the winds had shifted and the road was clear.
My next stop was the US/Canada border where I meet 2 people on
Motorcycles taking photos of the signs. The man started on his
motorcycle in the Midwest and the lady started from another spot 1000
miles further. She sounded French, so my guess is that she was from
Quebec. I ended up taking their photo with their camera and then I
had them take my photo with my camera. The roads in the Yukon seemed
a little more challenging than in Alaska. The dirt stretches
sometime lasted for a few miles and there was a lot of road
construction nearby. Most of the road construction was a new
improved highway running parallel to the current highway and only
slightly disrupted the flow of traffic. A little ways before I
reached Beaver Creek I stopped at a rest stop and met some people
that were visiting from Ontario. The lady said she lived in Beaver
Creek in the 70s and was surprised how many people she still knew.
They also told me about an eagle nest were they saw young eagles.
They said the nest was around the corner in a single tree of an open
field. It sounded like it would be easy to find, but I completely
forgot to look for the nest when I went around the corner. The
customs entering Canada was very easy, I was expected them to ask how
much money I had. In the past every time I entered Canada walking or
on bike they required that I showed them how much money I had
available. This was to prove I could survive financially and that I
was not entering Canada with the intent to find work. I stopped at a
store in Beaver Creek to ask about a bank to exchange money and they
told me there were no banks, but they could exchange my money. I
exchanged $40.00 US in traveler checks for $50.00 Canadian and bought
a few groceries. I continued biking south and met a man biking
north. He told me he had started biking in New York City and was
headed to Seward, Alaska. He was biking with some other people and I
asked if I had seen them. He was planning on meeting up them in
Beaver Creek and he had been biking with them since he reached the
Canadian Rockies. I told him that I had not seen any other bikers
since before Beaver Creek. Since his friends were ahead of him, he
hurried started biking north as I pedal south. As I was biking down
the road I recalled seeing a bike at the visitor center with a single
pannier and touring racks. That may have been one of the people
biking with the man from New York City. If so I would image his gear
was at the Beaver Creek campground. At Koeden River Lodge I stopped
to get food and bought a license plate. The lodge was really just
someone’s road side business. They had a poor selection of
groceries, camping was available; I believe you could stay in one
their rooms and they had some souvenirs. That was a business like
the ones you find spread along the Alcan Highway. It seemed like you
rarely had to go more than 25 miles before another one of these
homestead business. The hours weren’t always great, but you didn’t
have to worry about starving. The man whom owned the store kept
cracking jokes. I asked if they had any bottles of water for sale
larger than the ½ liter bottles and he pointed to the 5 gallon jug
and told me he would sell me a couple of them (he knew I was on a
bike). When I asked for a 3 musketeers he tried to sell me three of
them. The other man in the store said that the nearby government
campground often has signs that said you cannot camp there in a tent
because of the bears. The funny man told me if I removed the warning
sign I would not need to worry about the bears. The people at the
store (the 3 inhabitants of the lodge) asked me why I was biking and
told me they met a man earlier whom was a retired school teacher from
New York City and biking towards Alaska. I assumed it was the man I
met earlier and they answered the question I had about how he could
get so much time off work. The funny thing is the guy looked like he
might be in his fifties, but did not look old enough to be retired.
The man at the lodge also gave me a map of the government campgrounds
and told me there was one about 12 miles down the road. I didn’t
want to stay in a campground and started looking for a place to camp
after I had completed 100 miles of biking for the day. There was a
lot of land for camping but it was only accessible through grassy wet
fields (no roads). At about 10:30 PM I arrived at the government
camp and decided it was time to camp. When I found out it cost
$12.00/ night I thought about continuing, but decided not to chance
it since I was ready to find a camping area. I did not have the
correct change in Canadian currency so I paid $6.00 Canadian and
$6.00 US. The campground, Lake Creek Campground, was not that scenic
and I did not see a lake. I stayed in campsite 14 and ate all my
food before going to sleep, so I would not need to worry about bears.
I ended up going to sleep a little after midnight. The mosquitoes
were not too bad at this campground. Only had a little bit of rain,
most of the day was hot and sunny. (Daily miles 105.04 miles,
average 9.2 MPH, Max speed 28.3 MPH, Total Trip Miles 272.47 miles)
Day 4, Saturday, July 24, 2004
No mosquitoes in the morning and only a few the previous night.
It drizzled a little on and off through out the night. The rain
stopped a little before I woke up. I packed up my gear and left camp
around 8:00 AM. I biked south and stopped to buy supplies at a store
about 15 miles north of Burwash Landing. In front of the store a
very nice looking lady (about 30 years old) asked me about my bike
trip. I told her how I biked from Fairbanks and was headed to
Skagway. She wanted to know what I had in my packs, how long I
thought it would take and I asked her where she was from and where
she was headed. She was from Fairbanks and was with a friend
(another nice looking lady, but not as friendly). They were both
headed to Skagway to hike the Chinook trail. It’s a 33 mile trail
with camping along the way. I asked her about work in Fairbanks and
she said I could probably find something. I continued south and a
short distance past Donjek River a young man (about 25 to 30 years
old) stopped on a dirt road and flagged me over to him. He told me
he was getting tired and was wondering if I needed a ride. I told
him no and we talked for about 10 minutes. He was curious why I
biked and what drove me to bike so much. I told him it was my thing
and I enjoyed the feeling of accomplishment I received after
completed a long bike ride. He told me he was an Electrician in
Anchorage and had lived in Wasilla all of his life. He told me he
was going to Whitehorse. I never thought to ask him why he was
going to Whitehorse; I assume it was just his thing. He continued
driving towards Whitehorse and I started biking south again. Next
stop was the museum in Burwash Landing, Yukon. I walked into the
visitor center and looked into the museum. The lady behind the
counter was giving my funny looks. I decided not to pay the $5.00 to
enter the museum; it looked like a bunch to taxidermy wildlife. I
continued biking to Destruction Bay, Yukon and stopped at a
store/cafe with the intent to buy groceries. I walked into the cafe
side of the store and people eating in the cafe asked me about my
biking. I talked with them and the people that ran the cafe pointed
to the closed sign and wanted me to leave. The cafe closed at 5:00
PM and was a few minutes after 5:00PM. I think the store was opened
and the cafe was closed, however I decided to leave because there was
another store down the road and the owner of the cafe didn’t seem
friendly. I went to the other store in Destruction Bay and bought
groceries. I continued biking along Kluane Lake, the ride was very
scenic. At one point I stopped and had a couple in a Subaru take my
photo. The man was from Vancouver Island and the lady lived in
Fairbanks. The next few days the people in Subaru passed me and
honked a couple of times. My next stop was the visitor center at
Goat Mountain. I ended up talking with a couple from Wisconsin and
they told me the person (he was from Alaska) in the broken RV next to
them saw a 1000 pound Grizzly bear at the base of Goat Mountain.
Then the man from the RV came over and invited the people from
Wisconsin to see the bear photos. I was thinking about asking if I
could see, but wanted to get going. The man with the broken RV told
me he had been waiting for a few days for parts to fix his RV. He
said the parts were coming from the US Midwest and were delivered to
Whitehorse, but the place that had the parts was closed until the
following Monday. They also said the parts had been send and
returned the previous day. The man said once he got the parts he
would fix his own RV. The man in the RV told me about a couple of
places where I could camp. I didn’t stop at the places he suggested,
because I wanted to complete another 100 mile day. As I was biking I
saw another biker headed north. I talked with him and he told me he
was from New Zealand and had started biking in Vancouver BC. He told
me he saw 2 bears next to the road after he left Haines Junction.
One of them was about 15 miles South of were we were. He told me he
was going to bike to Anchorage and take the ferry back to Vancouver
Island. He wanted to know if he could get on the ferry and pay for
one stop, then stay on the ferry until the end. I said I never heard
of anyone doing that. When my bike reached 100 miles I found a very
good dirt road and biked down it. The road seemed too good for
camping, but I didn’t see any signs of homes. I followed the road
for about ½ mile and then found a rough marked trail to camp
near. The trail had some markers and looked like a game trail.
After finding out about all the bears, I was a little worried that it
might be a bear trail. I set up camp anyways and hung my food in a
tree. I had quit biking around 10:00 PM and went to sleep around
11:30 PM (before sunset). There were a lot of Mosquitoes, but no
rain. (Daily miles 100.8 miles, average 9.8 MPH, Max speed 26.1 MPH,
Total Trip Miles 373.27 miles)
Day 5, Sunday, July 25, 2004
It was dry most of the night and then started raining a little
around 6:00 AM. I ended up waking up around 7:15 AM and started
biking around 8:00 AM. The ride to Haines junction was easy. I
stopped at the visitor center and a very nice looking lady from
Florida asked me about my biking. She told me she came to Haines
Junction for a rafting trip with a group from Florida. I went into
the visitor center and asked the lady Forest service employee if she
knew the elevation of the pass between Whitehorse and Skagway. She
didn’t know and then told me the pass to Haines Junction was 1700
meters (5577 feet) and that Haines Junction was 800 meters (2625
feet). She told me the pass to Skagway was probably similar. When I
told her I didn’t realize we were at 800 meters, she then felt
confused about the altitudes she gave me. I’m not real sure the pass
to Haines is really 1700 meters. I needed water and stopped at a
store in Haines Junction to buy supplies. I ended up leaving the
store without getting water, I wasn’t thinking. I continued biking
to Otter falls and bought groceries. A lady was across the highway
monitoring cars or something and I asked her how far I would need to
travel off the main road to the falls and Lake Aishihik. She wasn’t
sure so I biked about 300 feet along the dirt road and saw a sign
that said the falls were 30 kilometers. Since the round trip would
be 60 kilometers (about 38 miles) I decided to save the falls for
next time. The round trip would have probably taken about 5 hours on
the dirt road. The main road was flat, in good condition and had
several gradual downhill sections. There were also a few gradual up
hills, but more down hills. I was going faster than on previous
days, by 6:40 PM I had already biked 80 miles. This part of the
Yukon was dryer with fewer mosquitos (almost none) and there weren’t
very many sections of dirt on the paved road. I had a tough time
finding good places to stop for breaks. At one point I stopped at
this old bridge. The bridge was originally built in 1904, then it
was rebuilt by the US army in 1942 and then it was rebuilt again
about 15 to 20 years ago by the Canadian government. The bridge was
pretty rotted out and looked like it may have been rebuilt with the
original wood from 1904. In a field I saw a brown object I thought
it was moving, it looked like a bear. With my binoculars I could see
that it was a rusty 55 gallon drum in the middle of an open field.
When my bike odometer reached 100 miles for the day I immediately
found a dirt road that was blocked by a dirt pile. I decided it
would be a great road to bike down to look for a camping spot. I
found a nice spot to camp on a dug up gravel pit with a view of
mountains. It was a dry spot and there were no mosquitoes. I
stopped biking by 9:00 PM, earliest time to stop biking yet. I ended
up going to sleep by 10:30 PM. I was camped across the highway from
a kennel and could hear dogs barking in the evening. (Daily miles
101.03 miles, average 10.2 MPH, Max speed 29.9 MPH, Total Trip Miles
474.3 miles)
Day 6, Monday, July 26, 2004
I wanted to get an early start and looked at the clock around 6:00
AM. I decided to wait until 6:30 AM to get up, but fell asleep and
did not wake up until 7:30 AM. I didn’t start biking until 8:20 AM,
the latest morning let! The ride was easy with a few light head
winds. The last time I was in Whitehorse, Yukon I visited Takhini
Hot springs and it was a nice un-commercialized hot springs. Well,
now it has a campground and costs to visit. I wanted to visit the
hot springs again to see how much it had changed, missed the turn off
on the Klondike Highway. Well I saw a sign for the hot springs a
ways before the turn off and even saw the highway turnoff. However I
was expecting a sign at the turn off and didn’t realize I was
supposed to turn. As I got closer to town I realized I missed the
turn and looked at my map. That was the first time I realized I was
suppose to turn on the Klondike highway. Well I was closer to
Whitehorse than the turn off and decided to continue riding into
town. It was probably a good thing I missed the turn off. I went to
one of the local hostels (Beez Kneez) and they did not have any room
available. Then I went to the other hostel (Jeckell Guesthouse) in
town and they had one available bed, so I took it. That hostel even
had a 10% discount for bikers. I didn’t have the correct change in
Canadian and the lady that ran the hostel told me I could go to town
to exchange money and then pay that evening. I biked to the local
Subway to get some food, the meal was great and it was my first fast
food meal since I left Portland. Then I went to the bank and
exchanged some travelers checks for Canadian money. I noticed the
bank charged for money exchange, but did not charge to exchange
American express travelers check. What luck I had the correct type
of traveler’s checks and was not charged for exchanging money. Next
stop was the local super store (Presidents choice – like a Fred Myers
they had everything groceries, cloths, etc). Then I went and paid
for my hostel room. The man that took my money said the lady did not
mark me as unpaid. When I saw her that night I told her I paid the
man and she said he told her. I took my first shower of the trip and
it felt great. I biked on the bike trail near the restored
sternwheeler boat, the SS Klondike. Then I biked along the water to
a sign that had a map of the area and in the middle of the map was a
hole near the words fish ladder. I was very close to the dam and
assumed that the fish ladder was very close. I biked to the lake and
along the shore. I didn’t see the dam and then looked back to see
it. At that point, I knew I went too far, but the lake was scenic
and I decided to continue biking up the lake towards the box canyon
for another 15 minutes. I came to a steep part of the road with a
fork to a dead end road. First I biked to the end of the dead end
road and could see a box canyon that lead into the lake. I had seen
photos of the box canyon and thought it was only accessible by boat.
When I returned to the road with the big hill I decided to continue
biking for another 15 minutes to see if I could get a better view of
the box canyon. I walked my bike part of the way up the hill and
then biked to a view point where I could see the box canyon named
mile canyon and a bridge. I then decided to bike to the bridge. The
Yukon River went through the scenic mile canyon and in 1904 there was
no lake below and it was very dangerous navigating a boat through the
narrow fast running canyon river. In those days there was a small
town named Canyon city up river where people helped people ship there
belongings and navigating the river for a fee. Now Canyon City is an
archeological site that can only be reached by boat or by a hiking
trail. Some day I would like to return and hike the trail to Canyon
City. I biked back to the SS Klondike, across the bridge over the
Yukon and up to the fish ladder. At the fish ladder I meet a long
haired local biker that told me about the fish ladder. He told me
the fish had already reached Dawson City and were just starting to
reach the Whitehorse fish ladder. I told him I was confused because
I thought the fish went up river. He then explained to me that even
though we were only about 100 miles from the ocean that the Yukon
River headed north and dumped out 2000 miles away in the Bearing Sea.
When we left he offered me a magic stick (??) which I took back to
Portland. Then I biked back to town, bought some souvenirs and biked
to the pioneer cemetery. I ate dinner at the Pasta Palace and then
biked back to the hostel. All the people in the hostel either spoke
Japanese or German. I was hoping to find English speaking travelers
so I could tell them my travel story and hear their stories. They
only people that spoke English were the people that ran the hostel
and the man in charge told me that Whitehorse was about 2000 feet in
elevation and that the highest point on Skagway pass was 3200 feet
high. Since there was no one else to talk to I decided to walk back
into Whitehorse to see if I could find a bar to have a beer. I
couldn’t find anywhere interested and walked back to the hostel. It
was about 11:30 PM and I went directly to sleep. (Daily miles 57.38
miles, average 8.4 MPH, Max speed 25.9 MPH, Total Trip Miles 531.68
miles)
Day 7, Tuesday, July 27, 2004
I woke up around 6:30 AM and spent time talking to the man that
ran the hostel. We mostly talked about biking and the Dempster
Highway which is the road to Inuvik, North West Territories, Canada.
I want to return some day and bike the Dempster Highway. The hostel
owner also told me that the Yukon Territory is 1.5 times the size of
California and only 30,000 people live there. He said that about
20,000 of those people live in Whitehorse. That means that 10,000
people live in an area 1.5 times the size of California. I left the
hostel around 8:00 AM and biked to McDonalds for breakfast. By the
time I biked out of Whitehorse it was already 8:45 AM. Gas is
expensive in this part of Canada the cheapest gas goes for $0.955
Canadian per liter (~= $3.62 Canadian per gallon). I bought
groceries and took a GPS reading at Carcross Cutoff store and then
biked down Highway 2. My first big stop was Robinson Roadhouse
Historic site which was built in 1906 and was the service center for
the mining rush in the Wheaton Valley. There were some old buildings
which you could walk through and during the gold rush days Robinson
was a booming railroad stop where people could get supplies. Now it
is completely abandoned and the few remaining buildings are starting
to fall apart. All day I was fighting head winds and the ride was
hilly with a slight overall incline. I didn’t arrive in the town of
Carcross until 4:00 PM. This was a little town that looked like it
was out of the 19th century and this was the first place where I
started noticing the tourist that where coming out of Skagway. I
took some photos and asked the lady in the visitor center about
roadside camping. I also asked her when the steep uphill start for
the pass to Skagway. She said the road never gets steep and that I
would probably not even notice it. She pointed out one spot with a
hill. Well she was wrong I noticed a lot of small uphill sections
and slight down hill sections. However she was right that it was a
gradual incline and no long uphill. She also told me several places
where I could camp; the first place was too close. She also
mentioned a place on Tutski Lake, another place beyond the lake and
if I went past that spot that there would not be many sheltered
places to camp. She told me the places she suggested camping are not
marked camping areas. She told me about hostels in Skagway, but I
told her I wouldn’t make it there until the following day and that I
would be taking the ferry home at that point. When I left
Carcrossing the wind was finally gone. About a half hour later I
Cresting a big hill and was stopped by a person doing a survey. He
told me the survey would only take a few minutes, so I agreed to take
the survey. It was break time anyways. Well it took about 20
minutes for the survey and as an award I received a Yukon pin and was
signed up for a drawing for an Alaska Cruise. The guy whom did the
survey was excited because I was the first person he had surveyed
that was not in a car. He asked me questions like was I visiting
someone, what was the purpose of my trip and other travel related
questions. I believe he was working for the Yukon Territories
tourist bureau. During the survey there was no wind and when I took
off the head winds picked up again. What bad luck! Next stop was
the Bove Island viewpoint and I had some people from Whidbey Island
(Oak Harbor) take a photo for me. The lady was very friendly and
talked a lot. Her husband was quit and let her do all the talking.
She offered me a sandwich and I told her I was doing fine. Before
she left in their RV she brought me over a kit-kat candy bar and I
thanked her. I continued biking as I ate my kit-kat candy bar. I
continued biking along the lake and came across Venus mill ruins.
This looked like a big stamping mill that was located on the step
hill next to the large roadside lake. Then I biked to the Yukon
boarder and decided to take a photo of the colorful Welcome to Yukon
sign. A man and his wife from Ohio also stopped to take a photo of
the sign. I ended up taking photos for them and they took a photo
for me. The funny thing is most of the day I was following very
scenic large freshwater lakes and never saw a boat moving in the
water. I saw boats docked at Carcrossing and on the Tutski Lake.
When I think back, all the lakes I passed in the Yukon looked like
great boating lakes with no boats. Seems strange! I found a dirt
road that lead to a boat ramp on Tutski Lake and it sounded like one
of the camping spots the lady in Carcrossing described. She said
there would be no markings for the road, a boat ramp and it was set
up as a campground at one time. The road lead to a tree with a
beware of dogs sign on it and a boat ramp with some small boats and
people staying in pretty permanent camp spots. It didn’t look very
welcoming to me so I decided to continue biking towards Skagway. I
was looking for camping and saw a spot with 2 RV’s parked on the side
of the road and the people in the RVs waved as I biked passed them.
They seemed to welcome me, but it didn’t look like a good place for
me to camp. I continued and found another road to the lake. This
road lead to a boat ramp and looked like an unfinished campground.
There was a bus camped there and I believe it was the place the lady
in Carcross described. It was very scenic, so I decided to quit
biking early that night. It was only 9:00 PM and I normally biked
till between 10:00 PM and 11:00 PM. I went to sleep around 10:30 PM.
The camp spot was next to a lake and there were almost no
mosquitoes. It was a little cooler than other places I camped and a
great spot. (Daily miles 75.00 miles, average 7.8 MPH, Max speed
31.5 MPH, Total Trip Miles 606.68 miles)
Day 8, Wednesday, July 28, 2004
Throughout the night the wind blew and my tent flap made noises
that sounded like animals near the tent. Nothing was there. I got
out of my tent a little after 6:00 AM, packed up my gear, ate
breakfast and started biking by 6:30 AM. Since I was close to the
coast I expected rain and my campsite was dry. The funny thing was
that the nearby road was wet. It wasn’t very windy in the morning.
I was almost to Log Cabin when I saw a large black bear cross the
road about 500 feet ahead of me. I went slow and was planning on
getting my camera out to see if I could get a photo when I got
closer. Well before I could get my camera out I saw a cub next to
the road about 50 feet away. I then reached for my camera; it was in
a plastic bag. The cub ran behind a rock and was glairing at me over
the rock. It would have made a great photo, but by the time I had my
camera out of the plastic the cub bear had darted into the woods. I
walked over to the rock and looked to see if I could see the bear in
the woods, but no luck. This was the first large game that I had
seen since the first day of my trip when I saw 7 moose. My next stop
was Log Cabin, this is where the Chinook trail ends and there is a
little railroad track next to the road. The head winds picked up a
little and I slowly made my way through the scenic mountains towards
Skagway. There were beautiful sub alpine lakes along the road. The
road had slight rolling hills and I felt like I was on top of the
world, it was a spectacular ride. By about 10:00 AM I was seeing
several tour busses that were coming from Skagway. I probably saw
over 100 tour busses headed north. Some of the busses were mostly
empty and others were totally full. At the top of the pass to
Skagway I arrived at the US boarder. There were a few tour buses at
the boarder. One bus had a line of people from the bus handing their
cameras to the bus driver so he would take their photos. I wanted my
photo taken by the sign so I got at the end of the line. When I came
to the driver holding my bike I said I’m not part of your tour, but
can you take my photo too. He laughed and took my photo. The last
15 miles to Skagway is all downhill, you go from 3200 feet in
elevation to sea level. The US customs is about 5 miles from the
boarder and I was worried about getting searched and harassed. Well
customs was a breeze, the man asked me if I had any problems with
mosquitoes and he wanted to know where I started biking. Then he
sent me on my way, he never asked if I had anything to declare, had
weapons or where I was headed after Skagway. As I biked down the
hill I stopped at several view point to take photos and talked to a
variety of people. I meet a group of people in a van that lived in
Longview, Washington. I made it all the way to Skagway without
seeing any of the fires that were suppose to be throughout Alaska and
the Yukon. When I arrived in Skagway there were 4 or 5 large Cruise
boats docked and the town was crawling with Tourist. In town, I had
to ask were I could find the Alaska ferry terminal. I biked to the
terminal and found out it was not opened until a few hours before it
left dock. I then went into town and locked my bike to a bike rack.
I was worried about having all my gear on my bike. I stopped at the
tourist visitor center and the forest service visitor center to ask
if there was a place I should store my gear while I walked around
town. Both places told me not to worry about my gear and felt it
would be ok if I left it attached to my locked biked. So I went
shopping, I looked in all the stores to see what looked like good
deals before I bought anything. At first I noticed a nice polo shirt
at a good price and as I went to other shops I found better deals. I
ended up buying T-shirts, a Pint Brewpub glass, two fleece coats,
groceries, a pint of beer and lunch. As I was wondering through town
several people asked me if I was the one biking down the hill earlier
that day. I saw the people from Longview a couple of times. Then I
ran into the people from Ohio I met that offered me a ride and took
my photo at the Yukon boarder sign. They told me it rained all night
in Skagway and they thought about me during the heavy rains. I told
them I found a great place to camp next to Tutski Lake and it never
rained on me. I went back to the Alaska Ferry terminal and was still
trying to decide where I wanted to go next. I could either spend a
day in Juneau, Petersburg or Wrangell. I sort of wanted to spend a
day in Petersburg, but figured that might not be a great idea since
Andrea would see me getting off the boat as she was boarding the
boat. Then I thought Juneau would be interesting since I worked
there one summer. But it seemed like the best bet was to go to
Wrangell since that was were Andrea would be and then I would have a
place to store my gear as I biked around. I finally bought my boat
tickets for Wrangell, Ketchikan and then Bellingham. Then I biked to
the Gold rush cemetery and found the graves mostly dated back to
between 1895 and 1904. I also took the short hike to Reid falls.
Then I biked back to town and biked across the bridge near the
airport and down the Yakutania Point trail to where it was too step
for biking. Then I locked up my bike and hiked to Smugglers cove I
hiked back to my bike, biked to another junction in the trail, locked
my bike to a tree and hiked up another hill. I then biked back to
the Alaska Ferry terminal so I would not miss the 8:00 PM boarding
time. I was a little late and the boat was getting loaded yet.
After about 30 minutes they announced that they were taking on extra
fuel and would start loading at around 9:00 PM. Well the boat didn’t
load until 10:00 PM; it must have taken a lot of extra fuel! While I
was waiting for the boat I met this couple that motorcycled from a
little west of Ann Arbor, Michigan to Alaska. They had already been
in Alaska for over a month. I asked if they were retired and he said
no that there business was getting taken care of over the Internet
with help from their son. They had to normally call home to resolve
issues during their vacation. But it seems like a great job if they
can be gone for a couple of months and still maintain the business.
They had a business selling Motorcycles. Since the boat was running
so late I had a chance to read about the local attractions I decided
to bike into town and take a photo of the Moore house which was built
in 1888. As I was sitting in the terminal I took off my shoes and I
could tell my stinking feet was not enjoyed by the people sitting
near me. At about 10:00 PM I noticed that cars started driving onto
the boat. I asked the man that loaded the ferry where I should wait
and he told me to go ahead and get onto the boat. After getting on
the boat I went up to the solarium and put my gear onto a lawn chair.
Then I walked around the boat and went to sleep around 12:30 PM.
(Daily miles 50.41 miles, average 8.0 MPH, Max speed 34.6 MPH, Total
Trip Miles 657.09 miles)
Day 9, Thursday, July 29, 2004
I slept like a log and woke up around 5:30 AM to see if I could
see anything at the Juneau stop. The boat was too far from town and
I couldn’t see anything. I talked with a man that said in the old
days the Ferry used to dock in town, but now the town dock was used
for Cruise ships. I believe when I worked in Juneau 16 years earlier
that the ferry was at its current location. I also do not recall
seeing any cruise boats in Juneau at that time. In fact I think the
whole month that I stayed in Southeast Alaska16 years ago I only saw
cruise boats in Glacier Bay. That goes to show you how much things
have changed, supposedly there were not very many cruise boats until
about 5 years ago. Now they are all over the place in Southeast
Alaska. The man told me that when the cruise boats land in Juneau
that the town gets swamped with tourist, sounds like Skagway. I
liked it better in the old days when there weren’t very many people
in Juneau. After hearing about all the people I was sort of glade I
decided not to spend a day in Juneau. I then sat down and wrote 17
post cards. Then I ran into the man that loaded me onto the Alaska
Ferry and he told me he was about to retire. When I told him I was
using my only 2 weeks vacation of the year he told me he would not
work for a company where he only got 2 weeks a year for vacation. He
told me he works 12 hours a day for 2 weeks and then gets 2 weeks
off. That sounds great to me! I told him I wanted his job when he
retired, he didn’t have much to say about that. He also told me that
since he worked for the state that he got a great retirement package,
full lifetime medical benefits and a pension. I noticed a nice
figured rough looking lady dressed in leather. She was always
sitting by herself, so I went over to ask if she was on a motorcycle.
She applied yes and that she was from Quebec and did not speak
perfect English. It seemed like her English was fine as long as I
talked slowly. She told me that she drove her 1985 motorcycle from
Quebec all the way to Anchorage and was planning on taking the ferry
to Prince Rupert. Then she would figure out if she wanted to take
the ferry to Vancouver Island or just start motorcycling back to
Quebec. She told me that she starter her trip on June 26th and only
worked during the winter. Sounded like a good job, so I asked her
what type of work she did. She told me she worked on keeping the
roads snow free during the winter. Her job was to prep the roads
before the snow. Supposedly they put a chemical on the road to
prevent the snow from icing to the road. I also spent time talking
with a 62 year old retired teacher/ principle. From the boat we saw
several whale tails, spouts and backs. It was the most whales I had
ever seen. I talked with the lady from Quebec a couple more times
and she started clinging to me. I told her a friend of mine might be
getting on the boat in Petersburg. I didn’t want Andrea to ask about
her, even though I had just met her. If she was hanging around me
too much Andrea might wonder why. Since Andrea did not know I was on
the boat I wanted to take a photo of her getting onto the boat. I
tried getting a photo, but couldn’t because she was behind a heavy
set man. When she got on the boat I tried finding her before she saw
me. When I found her I asked a lady to show her a photo of me with
my digital camera and ask her if she recognized the person in the
photo. When Andrea saw the photo of me she asked the lady if she had
seen me. Andrea assumed that the lady had seen me somewhere and took
a photo. Andrea was surprised to see me on the boat. When we
arrived in Wrangell and found out where the Sourdough Lodge was
located. That was the lodge Andrea had arranged to stay in while in
Wrangell. Andrea called the Lodge so she could get picked up; I
quickly biked to the Lodge while she waited. Well I arrived at the
lodge before the owner left to pick up Andrea. The owner asked what
I wanted and I told him I was there to stay with Andrea. He told me
he was about to go pick her up. I was expecting her to get there
first; I guess the owner of the lodge was a little busy talking to
friends. While I was waiting I biked to Chief Shakes Tribal house.
Then I unloaded my gear into Andrea’s room and started biking south.
Meanwhile Andrea went for a walk. I wanted to bike to the end of the
pavement, but only made it to Pat’s creek before it got too dark. I
took a GPS reading from Pat’s Creek and then biked back to town to
get a GPS reading at the Ferry terminal (I forgot to get one when I
arrived on the boat). While I was at the boat docks I noticed
several young people, probably cannery workers. One of the kids
commented on my duct taped helmet. I biked back to the Lodge and it
was already 11:00 PM. Andrea was wondering what happened to me. She
wanted to get something to eat; I told her she should have gone. She
wanted to go to a bar to eat and I told her it was a long walk. I
didn’t want to eat. Finally she agreed that we didn’t need to go
eat. I went to sleep immediately at around midnight. Andrea did not
get to sleep until 5:00 AM. For some reason she often has a hard
time getting to sleep. (Daily miles 25.51 miles, average 9.7 MPH,
Max speed 26.0 MPH, Total Trip Miles 682.6 miles)
Day 10, Friday, July 30, 2004
We woke up around 5:15 AM to see if we could get onto one of the
boat tours to Anan Bear Observatory to the Stikine River. (see
http://www.alaskavistas.com/Vistas/ANAN%20WEB%20PAGE/Anan%20web%20page.html).
Andrea wanted to make the trip and when she booked her room she
asked the man that owned the lodge if she should pre-book her tours.
The lodge owner told her not to worry that he could book anything
when she got here. Well the man was wrong and we were not able to
get a spot on the bear viewing trips. Andrea really wanted to go on
the bear viewing tour and that made her mad at the service she
received from the Lodge owner. It was supposedly prime bear viewing
time and she would have been able to get onto one of the tours if she
would have pre-booked the trip. I probably would not have been able
to go on the trip regardless since I did not realize it was a trip
that required special planning. Oh well, at least it got us up early
and gave me the opportunity to do some biking. I biked to the
petroglyphis as Andrea walked to town. The petroglyphs were not that
exciting most of them were displayed on a wooden deck and I found one
on the rocks in the ocean. I then biked to the airport to see about
getting a rental car. The rental place was not opened yet so I biked
back to town to tell Andrea. A sign on the car rental office said it
opened 1 hour before a flight landed. By the time I found Andrea it
was close to an hour before the next flight landed so I biked back to
the airport to see if I could get a rental car. I picked up a red
Ford Escort Station Wagon. The car had dings and a damaged radio,
but I forgot to point out the damage to the lady at the rental
agency. I think she knew the car was a little beat. She told me the
check engine light stays on and not to worry about it. She also told
me I could either return the car at the rental agency or leave it at
the ferry terminal. In either case I was to leave the doors unlocked
and place the keys under the floor mate. I felt a little nervous
about doing that and the ladies comment was the most that could
happen is someone might take it for a joy ride, it’s an island! Then
I picked Andrea up in town and we drove around the island. We saw
some great view points from loop road (6267) south of Wrangell.Then
we drove to Longs Lake and took the short hike to the lake. There
was a free Forest service provided boat that we used to paddle a
short distance into the lake. Then we hiked back to the car and
drove to an Ocean inlet. Then we drove back towards town and took
the hike to rainbow falls. Next I took Andrea to Chief Shake’s
tribal house and we checked it out. As we drove back to the ferry
terminal Andrea noticed a suitcase in front of the Salvation Army and
I needed something to put my gear into so we took the suitcase. I
was a little worried about taking it because it was a donation and
people were at the bar across the street. But the store looked like
it had been closed for a while and there was no way to pay for the
suitcase. The suitcase was in bad shape, but it helped me have room
to take more stuff. Then we filled up the gas tank and drove to the
ferry terminal. I unloaded my stuff and placed the key under the
floor mate. Then we quickly boarded the boat and got into Andrea’s
room. Before getting onto the boat we stopped at a grocery store and
bought beer, wine and some snakes. I had 2 beers that night and a
lousy meal on the boat. The chicken was dried up, the rice was not
fully cooked and the potatoes didn’t taste right. I normally never
complain about food. I unpacked my stuff planning on packing it
better in the morning. We thought the boat ride was for 2 nights.
We went to sleep and around midnight we heard an announcement that
said Ketchikan in 30 minutes. I quickly got my stuff together and we
got off the boat. (Daily miles 9.49 miles, average 7.8 MPH, Max
speed 25.3 MPH, Total Trip Miles 692.09 miles)
Day 11, Saturday, July 31, 2004
We woke up around 1:00 AM when we heard the announcement that
Ketchikan was in 30 minutes. We quickly packed all our stuff.
Everything was scattered we thought we had one more night on the
boat. The suitcase I picked up at the Salvation Army in Wrangell did
not latch shut and I had to bungee cord it shut. Before I picked up
the suitcase I had not lost anything, now I lost my rope, tape and
some of my bungee cords, the suitcase does not close all the way.
When we arrived in Ketchikan we took a Sourdough taxi to the Bed
& Breakfast (B & B), Jeanne Sande shoreline B & B, that
Andrea had reserved. The B & B was not expecting us until the
next night and they were supposed to have the door unlocked. Well
the door was locked and the lady, Jeanne Sande that owned the B &
B was asleep. Well the process of trying to get into the house woke
Jeanne up (it was about 2:00 AM) and she came out and asked what we
wanted. We said we had the B & B reserved for the night. She
asked us when we reserve the room and Andrea told her last week. She
asked her name and said she did not expect us until the next day.
Well we were all messed up, since we thought the ferry took 2 days we
reserved the room the wrong night. In fact we looked at our Ferry
Schedule and found out that we actually had an extra day in
Ketchikan. Before going to sleep we looked into the Misty Fjord boat
trips and I called the Alaska Cruise group to see if they had a
message. There message machine said something about leaving at 7:00
AM and that the office was open at 6:00 AM. The message was for the
previous days sailing and didn’t say anything about the next days
sailing. I assumed the message meant they always opened at 6:00 AM.
We quickly went to sleep and I woke up again at 6:00 AM to see about
arranging a Misty Fjord trip for Andrea and me. I called both
(Alaska Cruise & Allen Marine Tours) companies that provided the
Fjord trips and neither one answered their phone. Since I could not
reach anyone I decided to bike into town to see if I could arrange
the trip. I went to the visitor center and the lady explained to me
where the Alaska Cruise company was located. I tried finding the
office, but had no luck. I then went back to the visitor center and
told the lady I could not find the Alaska cruise office. She then
had me follow her across the street and she pointed out a door in the
back of a building. She told me I would need to enter that door and
go upstairs to find the office. She told me that she had a tough
time finding the office her first time. I found the office and no
one was there, I then walked around the outside of the building and
found that there was no indication from the outside that the office
was in that building. I walked around and returned to the office a
couple of time and it was still closed. Looking near the main peer
in town I could see that a cruise ship was about to dock. I wanted
to make my reservation for the Misty Fjord trip before the boat
landed, so I went back to the visitor center to see if there was
anywhere else to get information on the Misty Fjord boat trip. The
visitor center has several booths for booking site seeing tours.
These booths only open up shortly before a cruise boat arrives. One
of the booths was for scenic flights to the Misty Fjord; I asked the
guy if he knew anything about the boat trips. He told me he had
flights available and I said I wasn’t interested. He then told me
that the boats took off at the end of the peer. I quickly went to
the end of the peer, the cruise boat was about to dock. I found the
Allen Misty Fjord cruise boat and the person that ran the boat said
he was not sure if they had any room. The owner of the boat happened
to be walking by and said sure he have room. He told me they were
running a special for the local people and the trip was not being
offered to the cruise boat. In fact the boat had less people on
board and had a discounted rate. Normally it cost $139.00/ person
and I was able to get on the tour for $109.00/ person. I had called
Andrea before I booked the trip and she said she was also trying to
book a Misty Fjord trip. She told me that she was on her way to
town. I wasn’t sure if she ever reached the charter people, so I
told the guy to sign me up and that I might need to cancel if Andrea
showed up with tickets. The Allen charter man took my information
and said he would run the card when I found Andrea. I went back to
the dock and found Andrea; she had not booked a trip so we quickly
went back to the Allen Charter to complete our Misty Fjord booking.
We had an hour before the boat took off and I bought a couple
souvenir shirts. Then we boarded the boat and headed towards Misty
Fjord. The weather was great and we floated through a calm channel
up a secluded area with cliffs on both sides. Jeanne told us she
thought the trip was nicer than Milford Sound in New Zealand. I
think her comments made me expect more and it was not that nice. We
did see a couple of whales; however the whales that we saw from the
Alaska Ferry were more exciting and abundant. I also saw a sea otter
and some Sea Lions. When we returned to Ketchikan I went to get my
bike and Andrea went to buy some souvenirs. I put on my bike gloves
and cycled to the shop where Andrea was buying gifts. Then we walked
over to get a slice of Pizza. Then Andrea bought some shrimp and we
went to the bar for a drink. After a beer and eating we walked to
Creek Street, I noticed I didn’t have my biking gloves. I had them
an hour earlier, so I biked back to the Pizza and beer place to see
if I could find them. I asked the people working at the Pizza place,
bar and store were Andrea was shopping, no one had seen my gloves.
Well I lost them and they never showed up. Through out my trip I
kept thinking I might loose them, I’ve lost gloves in the past. I
was just glade that I didn’t loose them until the last day. Then I
biked back to Creek Street to find Andrea and checked out Dolly’s
house from the outside. Dolly’s house is an historic prostitute
house in Ketchikan that represents the fact that prostitution was
legal in Alaska for longer than most US states (with the exception of
Nevada). When I visited Dolly’s place 16 years ago the curtains were
open and you could see Dolly’s historic prostitute bed. Now the
curtains are drawn and you must pay an entry fee to see more. Then
Andrea took the bus to Saxman village and I biked there. This is a
village with a large collection of totem poles. One of the poles has
a figure of Abraham Lincoln on the top. In those days Lincoln was a
figure the native Alaskans liked to carve. We looked around and
Andrea wanted to eat in town. She took the bus back and told me
where she would stop to eat. I wanted to bike, so I told her I
would bike a little farther and then try to make it to the restaurant
before she headed back to our B & B. I wanted to bike until the
pavement ended, well I was running out of time, so I decided to bike
until I found a good turn around point. I ended up biking to Herring
Cove. I noticed some large salmon in the river and thought it might
be a good place to watch for bears. Since I was running out of time
I biked back to Ketchikan and looked for the restaurant where Andrea
was eating. When I looked in the restaurant (Annabelle’s at 323
front street) for Andrea I could hear her yelling my name. Since I
can only hear in one ear I have no since of direction and had a tough
time finding her. I finally saw her about to board the bus. We
talked and agreed to meet at the B & B. Andrea told Jeanne that
we paid $109.00 for the Misty Fjord tour and Jeanne said that we got
a great price on the tour. Back at the B & B Andrea gave me her
left over food (salmon, potatoes & bread). After eating Jeanne
took us to watch for bears. We ended up driving to the place,
Herring Cove, where I visited and thought would be ideal for bear
watching. When we first arrived at Herring Cove 2 kids where on the
closed board walk. This kept the bears away. The kids finally left
the board walk and we saw a small bear near the streams inlet. Then
we either saw one or more larger bears. We never saw more than one
bear at a time. We could not say for sure if we kept seeing the same
bear or if there were several bears near the stream. There were also
at least 50 bald eagles around the river inlet. We saw a bear grab a
salmon out of the river and then start eating it on the shore. A
bald eagle was trying to get the salmon from the bear, eventually the
bear felt it ate enough and left the scraps for the bald eagle. We
watched for bear(s) for about an hour. At one point a bear was on a
log and dove into the river after a salmon. It didn’t get the fish
and tried chasing down another salmon. The bear just didn’t have
any luck and went back into the woods without a salmon. It was
starting to get a little dark and the bear was pretty far away. I
tried getting photos, but none of my photo's came out (not sure where
they went, I used my 35 milimeter camera and was pretty sure I looked
at the correct roll of film and saw no photos). After the great bear
encounter we drove back to Jeanne’s B & B and went to sleep.
(Daily miles 29.76 miles, average 9.9 MPH, Max speed 26.1 MPH, Total
Trip Miles 721.85 miles)
Day 12, Sunday, August 1, 2004
I woke up at 6:45 AM, ate breakfast and started biking at 7:15 AM.
As I was biking I saw a bald eagle on a post, I put my bike on the
side of the road and tried to line the eagle up so it looked like it
was on my bike seat. I biked to Ward Lake and hiked the 1.3 mile
Lake Loop trail. Then I biked to Connell Lake and the end of the
pavement. Next I biked back to the main highway and bought some food
at Ward Lake store. Next stop was totem bright park. Some nice
ladies had me take their photo and I had them take mine. I
remembered Totem Bright Park from 16 years ago, the totem pole of the
halibut on top of a pole was the totem I remembered best. At the
park some people that didn’t speak very good English had me take
their photo and I had them take mine. We talked for a while and it
turned out they were from Portland, Oregon. The man was working in
Ketchikan; I’m not sure why they didn’t speak good English. They
must have migrated from a foreign country to Portland. Then I biked
to North end of the highway and to the ocean at Settlers cove. There
was a very nice trail at the end of the road, it seemed like it might
be worth checking out next time. I then quickly biked back to
Jeanni’s B & B so I would be there by 2:00 PM. I was supposed to
meet Andrea there at 2:00 PM and we were going to immediately go to
the ferry. I wanted to get there so I had time to go back into the
town of Ketchikan and buy a souvenir fleece lined coat with rain
repellant shell. I got back a little before 2:00 PM and Andrea
wasn’t back yet. I then took all our luggage out of our room and put
it in the front yard. Then Andrea showed up in a taxi and we loaded
all the stuff in the taxi and went to the ferry terminal. I had
enough time to bike into town and get my souvenir coat and 5 post
cards. I then biked back to the ferry terminal and we boarded the
boat. I noticed that I did not have my camelback water bag. It was
the first time I owned a camel back and I really liked it. The only
problem is I lost it after only having it for about 3 weeks. Once on
the boat I recognized the motorcycle couple from Michigan that I meet
in Skagway. I also met a man that was from Rockwall, Texas and had
just finished working on a Purse Seiner Salmon boat in Ketchikan. He
was 39 years old and normally worked with computers. He told me the
captain of the Salmon boat he worked on was a yeller and he didn’t
enjoy working for him. It sounded like his experience was very
similar to my Purse Saine fishing experience when I was 22 years old
in Kodiak, Alaska. I worked for a guy name Jay Monroe and he was a
big yeller. It was his first year as a captain the guy for Rockwall
was also working for a first time captain. Andrea and I started
watching the Tom Hanks movie Cast Away and I feel asleep right away.
(Daily miles 43.92 miles, average 10.4 MPH, Max speed 29.6 MPH, Total
Trip Miles 765.77 miles)
Day 13, Monday, August 2, 2004
We spent the entire day in the boat. At one point we saw a large
school of porpoises crossing the channel. The boat announced a whale
sighting, but we didn’t see it. We spent time talking with the
motorcyclists from Michigan and met a man that had camped in 49
states. Alaska was his 49th state and he told me he drove from New
York to Seattle, took the Ferry to Ketchikan, camped for 3 nights and
now had to hurry back to work in New York. I think he even had less
vacation time than I had. He said the only state he had not camped
in yet was Hawaii. He said he would need to save up for that trip,
maybe he thought he would be able to go to Hawaii in 2 years. (Daily
miles 0 miles, Total Trip Miles 765.77 miles)
Day 14, Tuesday, August 3, 2004
The ferry arrived in Bellingham, Washington around 8:00 AM (PST).
We went to the train terminal to see what was required for checking
onto the train. At the train terminal this man asked if we just
arrived from Alaska and when we told him yes he said he was on his
way to Fairbanks, Alaska to work as a plumber. He told us he wanted
to fly, but they would not let him on the plane with his tools. I
asked him if he tried checking his tools as luggage and he claimed he
couldn’t even check them as luggage. I asked if he had pressurized
tanks or something and he claimed he only had wrenches and hand
tools. It seems strange that he could not check his tools as
luggage; maybe he misunderstood the flying requirements. At any rate
he was planning on taking the train and bus to Alaska. I then
attempted to bike to Watcom Falls Park but realized I did not have
enough time. I think I was close when I turned back, but I didn’t
want to chance missing the train. I biked back to the train station
in time to load the train to Portland. Andrea and I ended up sitting
across from a lady that came from Petersburg, Alaska. She had lived
there for 8 years and was on a long vacation to visits her kids. She
seemed friendly, but a little stern. The train stopped for about 45
minutes in Seattle where Andrea and I did a short walk. Not much
time before we had to re-board the train to Portland. We arrived in
Portland around 5:20 PM and Andors (Andrea’s son) picked up Andrea
and I loaded my gear in his vehicle. I wanted to bike 35 miles for
the day before returning to my car, that way I could say I biked 800
miles on my trip. I first biked to a souvenir shop near the Montage
to see if they had any totem poles. I was thinking about buying one
in Alaska, but they were all too expensive. I didn’t see any totem
poles and then biked along the river. Near the submarine I saw Tom
Feller and Don Barnes (Co-workers from Freightliner). I said hi and
they wanted to know when I returned from Alaska. I told them about
an hour ago and continued biking to the Sellwood Bridge. Then I
biked back to the Steel Bridge, across the bridge, to the Hawthorn
bridge and then back across the Willamette river again. I started
biking to Andrea’s place and near Vista Drive a man asked me if I saw
Neil Goldschmidt. He was surprised that Neil was still in town and
then he pointed him out in front of a house. I’m not sure who Neil
is, but I believe he might be the government man that was in trouble
for going out with a 17 year old lady 30 years ago. As I was biking
up the big hill to Andrea’s place a man in a parked car commented
that I made it look like an easy ride up the hill and I told him it
wasn’t easy! As I biked up the hill 5 people on bikes passed me, one
guy commented on how the hill never seemed to end. When I returned
to Andrea’s place she made me a taste toasted cheese sandwich. I
asked Andrea if she had ever heard of Neil Goldschmidt and she said
he was a very good politician. She had not heard the allegations
against him. It was a long day; we woke up at 6:00 AM on the ferry
and didn’t get to sleep until after midnight. However, I did get
some sleep on the train. (Daily miles 36.01 miles, average 9.1 MPH,
Max speed 28 MPH, Total Trip Miles 801.78 miles)
August 4, 2004
Wednesday I returned to work after 2 weeks in Alaska/Canada and
was told I needed to get ready for a trip to North Carolina. It was
a long day of learning what was required for my business trip
(program the ICUx controllers). I ended up working for over 10 hours
that day. After work I went to the Burgie monthly meeting and then
went home to get my mail (first time home in over 2 weeks). I also
quickly packed for my trip to North Carolina. My lawn looks pretty
bad, but I will not be able to cut it until I return from North
Carolina. The whole North Carolina trip was bad timing and I wanted
to spend at least a little time home. I had plans on going to
Andrea’s 40th high school reunion in Aberdeen. I was also planning
on participating in the bridge pedal bike ride on that Sunday. Well
I had to cancel those 2 trips, the North Carolina trip will be good
for my career.