Our Life Behind Bars – Father & Son Doing Time in The Northern Frontier (Mile 328 to Mile 919)

Days 2-3 (June 30 - July 1, 2013)

The next couple of days we got no reprieve from the heat and humidity. The heat wasn’t so bad, but the high humidity made for uncomfortable riding.

We left Downing Provincial park intending to camp at Purden Lake, anther park just outside of Prince George on the Yellow Head Highway. Along the way we learned that the park was full due to the Canadian holiday weekend. So we planned to camp in McBride (about 1 ½ hrs south). Which we did.
 

 Along the way we took a road near 70 Mile House off of Hwy 97 towards Green Lake and up to Hwy 24. Green Lake and the other lakes in the area were superb. I had never been on these roads. We did take quite a bit of video. However, at one of our stops, I must have forgot to put my camera bag away and I lost the bulk of my GoPro gear. All I had was just the camera, as it was mounted to my helmet. All my cables, cards, extra batteries and the LCD screen were lost.









Johann at Green Lake









It's going to be a bright sun shiny day and HOT!!

We ended up on the Little Fort Hwy and passed by a bunch of small lakes including Sheridan and Bridge Lake, all of which made for a nice casual morning ride.

 

Once at Little Fort, we headed north on the southern portion of the Yellow Head Highway through Clearwater. We stop for lunch and gas in Clearwater.  The high noon sun was prominent in the sky by now and we were both suffering from the heat and humidity.  It was in the mid 90’s by now.

Green Lake is Beautiful

 





Avoiding heat exhaustion

 We stopped at Blue River totally exhausted from the heat. We found a nice sign with an overhang, advertising for Helicopter Skiing. It has cool grass and shade. We hydrated and took a nap there.  After a snack we proceeded up through Valemount and arrived at McBride.  We stopped several times to admire the waterfalls and the high mountain views. All-in-all a pretty uneventful day.

This was typical of our stops

 

Looking good on the Yellow Head Hwy

 

The views were fantastic.. glacier topped peaks were icing on the cake

Our camp at McBride ... They had Showers and Horseshoes!!

  The next day was looking nice and we packed and headed out before the heat set in. About 2 hours into the ride, we were suffering from heat. Aside from the heat, the ride was enjoyable and scenic. At one point we say a wolf run across the road like a greyhound at full speed.  A couple of stops for rest  and water….  we finally made it to Prince George.  

Strange graffiti we found near a rest stop.. A msg about logging?!!?

 

Boeing Road

 Just outside of Prince George is an interesting road named Boeing Road. Interesting to me that is, as that is the name of my employer back in Seattle. We stop and get a soda and a burger before heading on. Oh, and we did find a Future Shop to replace some of the bits of my lost GoPro. We were now back in the video business.

Both of us just outside of Prince George

We made the decision to ride up north via the Cassiar Hwy instead of the Alaskan Hwy. This meant that we had a long, somewhat boring ride between Prince George and Smithers. I say boring, because the road is all 2 lane hwy and is rather featureless without much to see. We passed through very small towns like Vanderhoof, Fraser Lake, Topley, etc…  It was still miserably hot and humid. We had to stop many times to ease the fatigue. Eventually we had dinner in Burns Lake. The weather to the west began to show signs of rain. We were actually excited to have it cool off. The winds came up and it began to drizzle. At one point we spotted a black bear along the road eating garbage that someone had thrown form their car... which was disturbing to us.

Another typical rest stop...

Darn heat made us pretty exhausted

We rode into a town called Houston (they claim the have the worlds largest Fly Rod which is on display in the town center park) when the sky opened up and it began to rain hard. We decided that it was time to get a room for the night. So our first non-tent night began 3 days into the trip. Just as planned.

 

Thanks for riding with us. Stay tuned for more.

Our Life Behind Bars – Father & Son Doing Time in The Northern Frontier (Mile 0 to Mile 328)

Day 1 (June 29, 2013)

The trip started joyfully. Wow, another dream comes true.

I am finally going to get to ride to Alaska. I always wanted to do this. Never thought I would be able to until Johann was through college or at least partially through college.

All clean, loaded and ready for adventure

Preamble
All the weeks leading up to the trip were hectic. We had to get the gear. Thankfully, we were outfitted pretty good in the lightweight camping gear department and clothing as well.  Having been on several expeditions and treks in the north already, we knew what to take and what to leave behind.

I got my affairs at work in order as best I could. However, late technical problems came my way and I had to make adjustments as best I could. I got the house in order. Roof cleaned, yards re-seeded, all  the yard trimming of the trees and bushes were done.  I then focused on the bikes. First and foremost, I had to plan for tires. I knew we were going to ride about 6000 miles in total. On average I get about 10K miles on my tires. But that is a mixture of riding, mostly without big loads. I figured that I would get about ½ to ¾ of that mileage on a loaded bike. So I ordered new tires and removed the exiting sets on both bikes. I was in between service intervals on both bikes, but I decided to have them fully checked out by AlyxMoto here in the Seattle area. Alyx is a knowledgeable and thorough BMW specialist and more importantly, trust worthy. He is full of knowledge , experience and helpful suggestions.  I trust his judgment and implicitly. Sooooo about $2500 later, I have both bikes tuned up, parts replaced, maintenance items all taken care of, new Touratech farkles installed and a new set of tires on both bikes. I begin packing the gear many weeks before. I was meticulous in selecting what would go and what wouldn’t. Unfortunately, Johann was still in school on the other side of Puget Sound here in Washington. So I could not get much input from him.

The plan was to camp 2 out of every 3 days with a motel appox every 3rd day to cathcup on bathing, laundry, etc...

Our gear included the following:

• Sleeping bag x 2
• Sleeping Pad x2
• Small sleeping pillow (for dad)
• A 4 season tent (3 man as I figured we would like some elbow room)
• A Tarp with poles
• Jet Boil Stove
• Cooking Pan x 2
• Lightweight soup bowl/mug x 2
• Spork x 2 (combination spoon/fork)
• Camp Ladle
• Spatula
• 3 changes of clothes x 2
• 6 small rags (for cleaning the bikes)
• 6 small soft towels (for cleaning the windscreens and helmet faceshields)
• Soap
• Razors (Dad shaved, Johann did not)
• Backpackers towel x 2
• Toothbrush x 2
• Toothpaste
• Deodorant x 2
• Dehydrated food (16 days worth)
• Laundry Detergent
• Nintendo DS x 2 (entertainment in the tent)
• 35 mm SLR Digital Camera
• GoPro Camera and accessories
• Miniature Tripod
• Personal Locator Beacon
• Bear Spray
• Comprehensive First Aid Kit
• Laptop
• 2 TB USB drive (Backup pictures/video)
• GPS
• USB power cords to charge everything
• Camera battery charger
• Extra Camera Batteries
• Extra Micro SD cards
• Cell Phones x 2
• iPod
• Completes set of tools (all maintenance and repairs on the road if needed)
• Air Compressor
• Tire Gauge
• Tubes x 3
• Chain Lube
• 409 Cleaner
• Cleaning brush
• Bike straps
• Waterproof bike covers x 2
• 1 Gallon Rotopax Gas Cans x 4
• Extra oil

Johann graduated from the Washington Youth Academy about 2 weeks prior to us leaving and would take the Motorcycle Safety Class to complete his formal training and get his official motorcycle license. Again, family came to visit and many of Johann’s friends and such all came by to say goodbye for the summer and many forever. Many evenings passed during the last 2 weeks where we didn’t get anything done towards getting ready for the trip. With work ramping up (instead of down) I was getting pretty stressed. It all worked out in the end though.

The Day Arrived
On Saturday morning,  June 29^th, we left. Father and son were on there way to the north. After a coupel of weeks of hard rain, we found ourselves leaving in the middle of a northwest heat wave that was also high in humidity. No worries I thought. The farther north we go, the cooler it would get. This was a bad assumption as later we would find that high heat and humidity followed us all the way beyond the Yukon border.  

Bad News at the Border

 

All was good… until we got to the Sumas Border crossing into Canada. The little town decided that they needed host a parade down main street, blocking the border crossing for about an hour. WTF!!!  So we sat in line with our HOT M/C gear on sweating. Many people wouldn’t turn their cars off and the tractor trailers... they never shut down. It was a pretty miserable sitting there waiting to cross the border. The parade ends and we have another 40 minutes or so to cross… there is a big line of cars/trucks/RVs waiting. It was the type of deal where you really couldn’t turn your engine off. Having an air cooled bike, this was bad. Both Johann and I could feel the heat of our engines roasting us. By the time we got to the border, we were cooked. We turned off our bikes, removed our sweaty helmets and handed them our passports. All was well and they waved us through. Except Johann’s bike wouldn’t start. We had to push it out of the road. I began checking all the fuses. They were good. Next I checked the electrical system. No juice anywhere. Arrrghhhhh!! A few months prior, the battery imploded and I had to replace it. I thought to myself “not again!!!!”. I pulled the battery and left Johann to guard all the gear as I went into Abbotsford to locate a new battery. About 2 hours later I return… without a new battery. I had located 3 stores (one a John Deer Shop and 2 other general Power Motor Sport type shops). They tested the battery and said it was good. Hmmm… What to do. It was now about 3 PM in the afternoon and M/C shops are closed the next 2 days. I decided that we’d put the battery back in, button the bike up and get a ride back home or camp nearby until Tuesday.  What a bummer of start I thought this was going to be.

Moving again.. Yipppee

 

I put the Dakar back together and what do you know. The ignition lights lit up!!! Huh!! Will it start?  I turn the key and YES, YES, YESSSSS!!!!

I don’t know what happened. I figured a chip or something overheated and had now cooled off. I thought about it for 15 minutes, trying to decide if we should go or have the bike checked out. To heck with it I said. Let’s go. We’ll deal with it later.

Fraser River Canyon

A Storm was brewing.. oh no!?!

Break Time

Lilloet in the Evening sun

 

From there we rode over to Mission B.C. over to Maple Ridge past Harrison Lake to Hope. We then truned north on Highway 97 towards Lytton. Once at Lytton, we took a side road over to Lilloet. This is a great M/C road. However, by now it was about 8:00 and a thunderstorm was brewing. We headed over toward Clinton B.C. hoping to arrive at Downing Provincial Park via a shortcut known as the Pavilion road. The road is all gravel and has 12-18% grades on either end. It would be Johann’s first test on his bike in the dirt. How would he do?

We brought riding buddies with us

Near Fountain Valley... A magical train

looking back... see the train tunnel

The beginning of the dirt... and then into camp for the night.

The Pavilion Road

Looking East toward the Mrble Range Mtns... Beauty eh?

 

I am pleased to say that he did fantastic. We arrived at Downing Park only to find it closed. We headed towed the Day Use area and despite the crowds there already setup and camping, we got a nice spot by the lake. Free Camping!!! As we were setting up camp (it was nearly 10:00 pm by now), a friendly Canadian gent offered us a beer. Johann declined, but I jumped at it.

Awe what a day I thought. I hope tomorrow is less stressful.

Our last look before plunge into the dark valley to our camp.

Stay Tuned for the next leg of the trip report....

Our Life Behind Bars – Father & Son Doing Time in The Northern Frontier (Mile 4657)

Disaster on the road....

Leaving Dawson and heading towards home Yukon Johann has an unexpected accident.

Yukon Johann's account:
"We were one the flip side and returning home when  something bad happened. I crashed the bike just 85 miles South of Dawson City, Yukon on the Klondike Hwy. We were going about 60 miles an hour, we were coming up on a corner, just before it my steering  started wobbling slightly, it didn’t seem like much at first, it started to correct itself. I couldn’t have been more wrong though, I must have hit something in the road that made the wobble more violent. The rear wheel swung out to the right and got caught on the soft, gravel shoulder which had quite the steep drop to it. The bike got sucked into the gravel and now both of my wheels were in the dirt with one going all over the place. I didn’t want go down the steep slope (more like a cliff with trees) to my right so I turned  the bike over to the left and slid the bike all the way across the road. I remember looking back toward where I came from when the bike spun around and seeing all of the things flying off the bike, the mirror snapping, the right turn signal light breaking off and pieces of my boot being shredded to pieces and being thrown all over the road. The bike spun around a little more, facing the ditch on the side of the road I was sliding into, I remember seeing the ditch. The next thing I saw was the bike flying right over my head, barely missing me. I stood up almost immediately and thought "WOW! i cant believe this just happened." Immediately after I got up someone pulled over to help us, he offered to get all of my gear and put it in his truck and take me to the nurses office. We went to the local nurses office in Dawson City, she told me I was one of the luckiest people to ever come out of a motorcycle crash at that speed and come out walking with only scratches, burns, and bruises. Despite how fast I was going, and what happened, the bike is in really good shape and looks like it can be repaired.

That same night, we unpacked everything and looked all of the things my dad would need and set that all aside, and the things he didn't need we packed into my panniers. The following morning we took all the panniers over the airport and got them checked into the flight. we said our good-bye's and departed. I could tell my dad was very sad about what happened, so was I, but i was just really glad that I came out okay and i'm able to tell about what happened."

A sad sight

 

The bikes is unrideable

The handle bars bent and the pannier totaled

Johann's journe is over.

More importantly, Johann is OK. Thanks god for ATTGATT

Both boots ripped to shreds

Jacket took the brunt of the skid damage.

The riding pants did their job as well.

 

Until Next Time....

Our Life Behind Bars – Father & Son Doing Time in The Northern Frontier (Mile 3726)

Leaving Deadhorse back to Coldfoot. Fantastic!!!

2 KLR Guys that we kept running into along the way

Leaving Deadhorse camp.. Expensive, but the only place to stay in town

Famous sign that everyone takes their picture with

On our way back. Temperature was in the high 30's

The only Caribou we saw on the entire trip so far.

Open tundra and it begins to warm up.

Typical road and pipeline views across the open tundra

Coming back into the valley on the south slope of the Brooks range

 

The pipeline and the road split the valley.
(ANWR to the left and Gates of the Arctic NP on the right).

North side of Atigun pass

Hard to leave with views like these

Limited Edition BMW R1200GSA Quadruple Black. One of a kind actually.

The rivers and side valleys left one wanting to explore

This picture cannot even begin to show the sense of scale one experiences up here.

Young ADVRider in the making

Heading up the north side of Atigun Pass

One last look before we head up

Looking north east at the summit

Coming back down the south side.

Yes, that is ice back there on the tundra. It was nearly 90 degrees!!

Coming down.. slowly to savor every turn and vista

Give me a pack and some more vacation. This is the place to go,

The southern valley revealed incredible rock gardens

Yukon Johann

No words can describe.

This picture says it all...
It is in adequate in capturing the experience and emotion.

Pipeline. Hate or love it. It is the reason this road exists.

 

A rest stop to go examine the pipeline

The literal view from the road



Pipeline

The incredible rock formations were everywhere.

Another moment of wonderlust.

Arrival in Coldfoot

Checking the temperature just before turning in that night. 89 degrees!!
Earlier I had seen 94 degree temperatures.
Unbelievable to us this far north of the arctic circle.

 

Until next time...