Alaska 2018

[Auburn]

The BeamerReamers new home on Lopez Island

Well be at our home tomorrow

 

[JamesW]

Admirable stuff, keeps cheering me up.

 

[Auburn]

We have thousands of photos to go through. I'll start adding as we get time over the next few weeks.

The big take aways: (and this is our third trip to Alaska)
BE PREPARED - we carried an extra battery - and used it - replaced with another in Fairbanks to have a spare for the rest of the trip.
Carry spare tires - we used all three rear tires, no fronts. We also replaced 4 trailer tires. Had unusually high tire wear this trip. Not sure why.

Alaska is an adventure, be prepared to make changes on the fly. We did many times. The ride is as much about the ride as it is about the scenery and wildlife viewing.

This trip is not for the faint at heart. It will challenge you in ways you never even thought of. Recommend that you keep the group size down to 5-7 max and have riders that you have ridden with MANY time before including longer week+ long trips. We had two new couples to this ride, one did very well with it, the other struggled mightily (both in a good way and a bad way). This is no slight on them - it is the opposite - a recognition that they overcame monumental issues for each of them. Some of their issues were self inflicted - due to no experience with this kind a riding - others were just circumstance out of their control. Again this is the ADVENTURE part of the trip and learning how to overcome and deal with it.

It is easy to underestimate the complexity of a trip of this length and magnitude. By adventure I mean ADVERNTURE. We had more issue to overcome and deal with in the first 5 days of the trip then our other two combined. The temperatures were on average 10 degrees cooler than our other trips. Spring seemed to be running about 2 weeks behind previous years. The Top of the World Hwy only opened a few days before we crossed it. And we were among the first bikes to do so this year.

Dri-fit is your best friend. Being able to layer it. One group liked cotton hoodys and quickly recognized the error of their ways. Not only does it get wet, it keeps the moisture and cold trapped against your skin and makes for a miserable ride. They were observant and asked what we had, and at every place they could, were adding dri-fit type products to their wardrobe which significantly improved their enjoyment.

We encountered more rain this year, usually in light amounts. But some rain storms that would rival a midwestern thunder storm too - including hail so thick that you could not wipe it off fast enough from my face shield.

Be ready to cover 6500+miles of which 500+ could or will be gravel. Be prepared to put sticky strings in and know how to do the repairs on the road. We had three flats alone going up the Dempster Dalton Hwy (only 180 miles each way) to the Artic Circle monument. Most of the road was paved to the monument, but there were significant chip seal patches, massive frost heaves, potholes. You have to be on top of your game for this road. I can only imagine the rest of the road to Deadhorse. I put a string in my rear tire on the Top of the World Hwy just the day before. I ran out the tire to (and past) the cords with a string in it. It lost about 3 lbs of air over about 10 days.

I am guilty - even as prepared as I was - to underestimating the Dempster Dalton Hwy because 75% of it is paved to the Artic Circle monument. I remember thinking about John Ryan's ride from Deadhorse to the Keys a few years back and thinking how fatigued he must have been by the time he hit Fairbanks. Then had the fortitude to do what he did to get to Key West in under 96 hours.

With all those random thoughts - I would do this trip again in a heartbeat. It is a wonderful time with great friends, and a very special time for my wife and I.

Here is the track of the trip from Spotwalla. The blue trace is the route from 2016. All of the green tags are mostly gas stops.

 

[enumclaw]

Congrats on a successful trip. My son and I did it 5 years ago, he on a KLR, me on my V-Strom, leaving just one week following his college graduation. Trip of a lifetime, so far. Like you, I would do it again in a heartbeat. And we had no flats in 8k miles!

Rob

 

[Panman]

Glad you all got back safe and looking forward to Tech Day to here more about it.

 

[Hudson]

Teslin for tonight. Tire change, used all of this one. 4500 miles. surprised it was holding air

[img=[URL="https://i.imgur.com/OunhkA2.jpg%5D"]https://i.imgur.com/OunhkA2.jpg][/URL]

Well that Looks familiar. Well at least you had a spare. Imagine if Duane was with you and you had to double up...

 

[Niehart]

And the last post on her blog:

"

Dear Alaska & Canada,

Thanks for the wild adventure. The places we visited while we were there were some of the most beautiful things I have ever seen. Although the ending didn’t quite go as planned, I wouldn’t change a thing. I had a blast. I couldn’t even name my favorite part because although the trip may have been a challenge for me at times, (I’ve never come close to riding so far) it gave me time for reflection and appreciation for what is important. We went over 6,000 miles (approximately) in 17 days. We took the Top of the World Highway. We went to the Arctic Circle. We saw glaciers, tons of wildlife and talked to strangers. We saw the beautiful Canadian Rockies. We took a tour of Denali. We saw Santa at North Pole, Alaska. We laughed. We ate s’mores and fudge by the campfire. We heard stories from the group. The serenity and untouched beauty is special in the places we went. The people couldn’t have been friendlier. I am forever grateful for the experience to have seen the things we saw with the people I saw them with. Thank you for sharing this with me. I will be back.

Sincerely,

Just a passenger along for an Epic Adventure

On a side note, thanks to all that shared in our trip by reading my silly little blog. It was great you could join us. "

 

[blufjr]

Looks and sounds like a Epic motorcycle ride. Congrats on just doing it. Glad you all made it back without any major set backs.

Hope you have a slide show set up at the Tech Meet.

 

[AdamK]

Thanks for the ride along! What an awesome trip to watch. Beautiful pics. Just wow....

 

[Mihalis fjr]

Thanks for taking us along!Seems that it was a great trip.Wonderful photos also!

 

[Auburn]

Finally getting time to go through the pictures. Here is a small sample

These are from the Top of the World Highway heading from Dawson City, YT to Chicken, AK

We camped in Fox, AK about 8 miles North of Fairbanks. The next day was the Artic Circle run, This 360 mile roundtrip ride took us about 10 hours to complete. And yes this road was this steep, at least a 10% grade. The white looking stuff in the dirt is calcium, great at keeping the dust down in the dry, SLICK AS SNOT in the wet - as in riding on ice slippery

Don't let the pavement fool you on the Dalton Hwy in the pictures. This was the roughest pavement I have ever ridden on. For those that have ridden the FS25/90 roads behind Mt. St. Helens it makes that road look like a freeway. We had three flat tires in 180 miles on this road.

To be continued...

 

[HIGHLANDER]

So many of the pics looks so familiar ........ no much changed since 2008..........I miss Alaska..... thanks for posting !

 

[Auburn]

The next day we headed to Denali NP. Stayed two nights. Here is some of the views / wildlife we saw.

Young moose

Snowshoe rabbit

Momma moose and baby (the drive said she had two calves yesterday and that they think the bears got one last night)

Another Momma moose and two calves

See the second calf hiding in the brush - they blend in so well

Cariboo

Grizzly bears that have taken over a moose kill and are feeding.

ptarmigan grouse

young cariboo

Grizzlies digging into the side of the road after something (see the pile of rocks they dug out)

One of the vistas overlooking one of the many valleys we went through on the bus tour with my better half (which is the only way you can view the interior of the park)

The BeamerReamers

Mrs AuburnFJR showing off her horns

At this point the bus tour turns around at about 60 miles into the park. The longer trip was not open, too much snow on the road yet to be opened. No seeing Denali this day, too cloudy...but tomorrow is a different story.

More critters on the way back out of the park

Mountain Sheep

Marmott

This fox was running down the road through several corners as we trailed it. Then it stopped as we passed it...

…then it went behind the bus (we were sitting at the back) and suddenly crouched down at the edge of the road. Leaps up in the air and down over the bank, shakes it's head and proudly holds up a snowshoe rabbit ( you can barley see it in the picture)

to be continued...

 

[Auburn]

I still haveabout 5000 pictures to sort through. It will take a while yet, but I will get through them over teh next few weeks hopefully (if work doesn't get in the way)