Thank you!
.
I've been planning this trip for many years. Scanning ride reports, building a waypoint file, and reading books (if you're considering this trip, I recommend "The Adventurous Motorcyclists Guide to Alaska" as it breaks down and describes the different highways [Dalton, Richardson, Denali, etc]). The research brought several conclusions:
1 - It's 10,000+ highway miles, I want to be on a comfortable bike.
2 - It covers 1500 miles of gravel roads as well (Dalton/Denali Hwys), I need to be on a bike I can handle comfortably.
3 - It's so friggin far just to get there (two hard weeks of travel there and back) and I don't want to skip anything major. Therefore, four weeks are necessary.
4 - This is going to be a camping trip to keep the cost for 30 nights as reasonable as possible.
5 - I put some feelers out for trip partners but no one can take that time off. This will likely be a solo trip.
While a big adventure bike would obviously fit the bill perfectly, I don't own one and wasn't going to add a bike to the collection just for this trip. A couple years ago I converted my cargo trailer to a bike hauler and decided this was the way to go. Slab it on the Wing, cruise the gravel on the Husky.
However... I've been keeping Dad informed throughout the planning and when I decided in Jan that 2016 was the year, he committed to go. He's only ridden his FJR a few times in the last several years because of knee problems so we knew riding was out. He could follow in the jeep, but crawling in/out of a tent for a month would be tough. A used FWC Hawk camper had been on my radar for years but they're almost never for sale east of the Mississippi. Urgency now an issue, a great deal popped up on Craigslist and we made a 3 day run to Montana in Feb for a near perfect 2010 model. That was the last piece of the puzzle.
So we did it and had a great trip!!! Some stats and thoughts:
- Traveled for 30 days. Aug 18 to Sept 18, 2016.
- 11,853 miles on the truck.
- 7,500 combined miles on the bikes.
- Alaska is a long way away from Ohio.
- Three tire punctures on truck - thankfully no major mechanical failures, accidents, or illness.
- Rain on 5 of 30 days.
- Temps from 28f to 78f.
- Ate at restaurants only three times.
- Marked all the Walmarts on gps ahead of time.
- In Homer I hit 'home' on gps = 4360 miles.
- Alaska is a long way away from Ohio.
- 10 bear sightings, 1 black wolf, eagles, moose, elk, caribou, mountain goats, buffalo - lots of critters...
- Witnessed a stunning aurora borealis.
- Spent under $300 on lodging (campgrounds).
- Consumed ~1000 gallons of diesel fuel.
- Alaska is a long way away from Ohio.
- Keep in mind that this was a trip covering a lot of ground, not a photo outing. That being said, I'm pleased with what we brought back. I'll give the pics in a few installments.
So this is our route.
This is my collection of waypoints.
https://www.dropbox.com/s/fxrfhx4eg6ngam5/ALASKA WAYPOINTS - CLEANED UP.gpx?dl=0
This is the rig.
Made some steps for Dad (73/bad knees).
And a storage box on the trailer.
My strategy was to push hard miles the first few and last few days of the trip so we could slow down in the good stuff. We covered 2476 miles (to Banff/Lake Louise) non-stop the first 50hrs and 1800 the last 30hrs home. The rest of the trip we did 150-450 mile days, getting going around 10am and stopping at 7pm. The camper was key, we could stop and make lunch wherever we found ourselves and camp almost anywhere. Showers were every 2-3 days when we were at proper campgrounds. Thankfully the pace was never too much for Dad (or me) - it was a concern I had.
First installment of pics is getting to Waterfowl Campground north of Lake Louise. We left home at 8:30pm Friday and arrived at Waterfowl 8:30pm Sunday. I suspect that might be a record.
Wildlife overpass near Banff
Peyto Lake overlook.
Icefields Parkway at the bottom.
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