Any tips on Riding to/in Alaska?

[charismaticmegafauna]

And bears -- don't forget about the bears. Carry pepper spray bear repellant and wear 'bear bells' that make noise to warn bears you're in their territory.

When you camp -- look for bear scat. It has a 'pepperery' smell and has little bells in it.

 

[camera56]

And bears -- don't forget about the bears. Carry pepper spray bear repellant and wear 'bear bells' that make noise to warn bears you're in their territory. When you camp -- look for bear scat. It has a 'pepperery' smell and has little bells in it.

That gets my attention!

MCRIDER007 is giving you good advice, it will be raining its ass off in May and "termination dust" will be falling in September.
Here is everything you need to know about Alaska mosquitoes: https://alaska.org/mosquitoes.jsp They claim that you are safe from mosquito bites in early June and August; but personal experience has proven differently to me. They claim that the unofficial record of most mosquitoes killed in a single swat is 78; I swear to God I swatted 83 off my fat ass in Coldfoot!

Thanks on both points!

 

[Rls]

I was thinking on putting a 880 on the rear and have no clue for the front yet. I know i will give up some performance but will trade that for miles as I do not think I will be really using all the performance due to camping stuff etc. From Banff to Prince George was stunning especially the ice field parkway. I got to see that again!

 

[JR'SFJR]

I was thinking about going again next summer. Went up last time in mid June. The weather was cold and rainy going up...errrr. I camped all the time. It was nice most of the time while in Alaska and coming home to FL. It did get to 40 at night sometimes. A Gerbing jacket liner, good rain gear, rain gloves that seal, and boots are a must for me. The wife flew up for a week of riding and got the taste of riding one 40 degree day with steady rain. Several stops for hot coffee!!! Thank god it wasn't that way all week while she was there!!!!

Bugs were not a problem for me, but I have heard they can be. I don't remember using tie downs on a ferry out of Valdez, but maybe they had something?. I did use rope found to hold the bike on a train flat car out of Whittier after leaving a ferry from Valdez(no road at the time). I would take some small tie downs along.

The roads had alot of chip seal which I think wears tires faster. I had to put a new rear tire on in Anchorage before returning and a front in Wi. Did 15,000 round trip from Fl.

Every year, the Mile Post Marker book for the Alaska highway is updated and can be helpful traveling the 1500 mile road. Book stores along with Amazon.com sell it.

Its a wonderful ride. Some like to ride one way and take the ferry the other. If I go again, I will ride it both ways, just for the ride. Most of it is so beautiful. I can't see spending several days on a boat.

 

[tcfjr]

I did the northern BC circle route last July on my 2005 FJR - up the Alcan to Watson Lake, then down the Cassiar to Hyder - and had a great time.

The northern section of the Cassiar still has about 100 miles of gravel, and every summer there's heavy construction work, so plan accordingly. The gravel is mostly hard pack, so if you take it slow you should have no problems. Last summer there were a couple of 1km section of newly laid loose gravel that hadn't been packed down, but even that wasn't too bad at very slow speeds.

I ran Michilen Pilot Roads, and they did the job. The gravel sections will reduce your tire mileage somewhat.

There are a lot of mosquitoes, but they were small. I picked up a little head net that fit over my helmet, and put it on a few times when construction delays closed the road down for 20 to 50 minutes. Good rain gear is a necessity. I used my Widders from Watson Lake to Hyder and then down to Vanderhoof. I used my normal camping gear (with a 20 degree sleeping bag) with no issues.

Gas prices are much higher, as always. I paid $1.57 Canadian per liter at Muncho Lake on the Alcan - about $6.05 US per gallon.

 

[charismaticmegafauna]

<snip>The wife flew up for a week of riding and got the taste of riding one 40 degree day with steady rain. Several stops for hot coffee!!! Thank god it wasn't that way all week while she was there!!!!Most of it is so beautiful. I can't see spending several days on a boat.

But...maybe the wife can?

My SO and I took the BC Ferries ride from Prince Rupert to Port Hardy on our return from Hyder. It was a first class ferry trip (Inside Passage) and we both enjoyed it. I thought the ride down along the Skeena R. was beautiful, too.

'camera56' -- note the oft-repeated talk of rain.....'nuff-said.

 

[beemerdons]

https://www.kawasaki.com/Content/pdfs/rok/A...erate_Nov07.pdf and it's at https://www.horizonsunlimited.com/gregfrazier

Talk about coincidence! I just brought the daily mail into the house and there was the November-2007 issue of "Accelerate".

There on the cover was Mount McKinley, North America's highest mountain peak at 20,320 feet on a cloudless day. With a perfect view of the Kawasaki KLR 650 of Dr. Gregory Frazier in front. A fitting reward to Greg after a great ride to Alaska.

Dr. Gregory Frazier is the only motorcyclist in the world to have five times circumnavigated the globe solo by motorcycle.

 

[v65]

Add a spot phone(sattelite emergency locator and phone) bear spay

If a bear was chasing me I don't think I would care about its ability to reproduce!

 

[Rls]

I think that would be the least of my worries. I told the guy last year that I did not have to out run the bear--just him. :yahoo:

 

[BobG]

Are you real sure about this? A friend of mine flew a DC9 into Juneau almost everyday for Evergreen under a US Post Office contract. He did this for a number of years until he retired recently

Positive, I was at the Cut for the 5 days and not one plane flew in. It caused a hell of a screaming match from management all the way to the top regional bosses. But not one had the balls to override my authority and open the Airport.

This happened a year after the Guard plane slammed into the mountain on it's approach to Juneau.

There are probably more than one person that had the different mail route contract. The one I knew of was out of Gustavis who was trying to get a contract. Ask your friend about the procedural approach into Juneau.

Bob

 

[beemerdons]

https://www.ultimategloberide.com has 3 more chapters on riding Alaska and about 30 chapters on riding around the Globe!

 

[beemerdons]

camera56: I always buy my hard copy of The Milepost at Wide World of Maps in Mesa, Arizona. I happened to be glancing at it this morning and here is their website: https://www.themilepost.com/ Wowser, you could almost get all of the pertinent information you need from there and save the money for some good small scale route maps. An incredible amount of links!

https://www.themilepost.com/road_reporter/m...ing_north.shtml gives a nice ride report of a couple of Gold Wing Riders heading up to Alaskan Honda Rally.

 

[ctfjr]

Friends
Anyone on the forum ridden to/in Alaska? I'm planning to go at least once in 2008 leaving from Seattle. Going to ride the FJR. I know this topic is discussed to death on other forums, so what I'm really interested in here is the perspective of someone who has done it on an FJR, or a bike like an FJR. The general idea is to ride up and take the Alaskan Ferry back. Probably only going as far as Whitehorse/Skagway. In particular, any suggestions about the following . . .

• Prepping the bike
• Tire choice (assuming I take the Ferry back, my max miles will be 2500 or so)
• Gear you'd take
• What tie-downs to take for the Ferry ride back
• Places you'd recommend
• Thoughts on Stewart-Cassiar Hwy 37. My understanding is sections of it are gravel

Thanks in advance for any thoughts, help, pointers, etc.

Hi Cam,

I rode solo from Connecticut in mid July, 2005. Although it was on a GL1800 some truths are just truths. Bring some layered warm clothing. One morning in the Yukon it was 38 degrees. Deet can be your friend. There are very big animals up there and a lot of them. As a previous poster mentioned the Alaska Highway is paved - tho there are plenty of gravel areas from the constant patching tha goes on, as well as the occasional bike swallowing pothole. There is nothing like really being in a groove on the bike going around a curve & coming to a herd of Caribou. You just have to be alert. I carried an extra gas can - gave it away in Alaska. You don't have to be real smart about fuel, just not dumb. I made sure to gas up at any opportunity when the tank was less than 1/2 full (100+ miles on 1/2 tank). My round trip was just over 10K miles - one set of tires. Satellite radio can be useful. Cell phones work in the most surprising areas. Denali was a great stop but I would not reccomend the 12 hour tour I took. There are shorter ones. Juneau, Homer & Palmer are great areas to rid in. If you are into photography carry a tripod, long & wide glass - and a waterproof way to carry. Its the trip of a lifetime - I want to do it again with the FJR. Have a great time!