Today we road the stretch of road that we have heard SO much about. The Alaskan Hwy between Haines Junction and the Canadian / US border has been repeatedly described to us as terrible. Where do we begin?
Yes, it required attention. No, it wasn’t nearly as bad as we expected from all the stories. Yes, we are glad we road it. No, Margo isn’t certain she would want to ride it again (at least not in the near future. Maybe next year?) We expected gravel stretches and potholes. We had heard about but didn’t really comprehend the frost heaving (moisture gets under the pavement, freezes and causes buckling). Have you ever seen the snow-ski moguls? Or perhaps the off-road mogul dirt bike racing? That was us… Buckled pavement with uneven spacing between the ridges. Oh, and throw in a few potholes – big potholes, little potholes, potholes you don’t see until after the fact. Long, snaking potholes that wind across and down the road that throw the bike in unexpected directions. Oh, they kept us aware and alert!
We actually started looking forward to the gravel stretches because of the predictability of how the bike would handle. We joked that the gravel was like riding on the freeway – relatively smooth and even.
Now, having said all that it really wasn’t unsafe. One just had to drive the appropriate speed – not too fast, not too slow and watch the road very closely. And cruise control was not an accessory we used today.
If you plan to drive the road, our advice is (1) be an experienced, confidant but not cocky, rider, (2) drive the appropriate speed, (3) be very, very alert, and (4) hope for good weather. With all that, you’ll be fine and so glad for the ride.
Margo took a couple of pictures from the road, but she, like Mark, was mainly watching the road.
Today’s conversation: Margo, the Spotter: “Pothole!”, Margo: “Rough road!”, Margo: “OUCH!” Notice Mark, the Driver, is not even wasting energy replying. He is wisely driving. We did make one Advil stop!
Margo has declared the Harley and Mark her heroes!
Perhaps the most uncomfortable part of the ride was the last 19 miles before the US border. There were long stretches of construction that were VERY dusty. Driving on the gravel wasn’t difficult, except when we were following the pace car. Sometimes they drove so slowly and didn’t understand that it is difficult for motorcycles to ride at 5mph. Then when they would speed up and blow dust all over us, we would try to back off a bit so we could breathe. So what would pace car do? Slow way down. Again, driving on gravel isn’t the most fun but it wasn’t particularly difficult. We just think the pace car drivers should be required to ride a motorcycle on the stretch of road so they can better lead the traffic.
After we crossed into Alaska, we saw dark rain clouds and knew we were headed right into rain. We stopped and put on all the rain gear, including covering the top bag that sits on the tour pack luggage rack. It did rain but not bad, just enough that we were glad we had the gear on to protect us from the wet road stuff. The picture below of the cloud isn’t too ominous but they were neat looking clouds.
We pulled up to the Young’s Hotel in Tok about 2:00 pm, and there were 4 tour buses in the parking lot. When we park, we are swarmed with the older travelers with questions. “Where you from?” “How far you going?” A couple of the guys said, “I road this road when I was younger”.
You need to envision this – the bag that sits on the tour pack luggage rack has a pocket on the back that holds the rain cover. When we prepare for rain, we take it out and cover the bag. When we take it off, we stretch it out (it stretches about 3 feet and is attached to the bag), flap it a few times to remove excess water, and then fold and roll it up into its pocket.
As the tour bus travelers are flocking around the bike, Margo is removing the rain cover, stretching it out behind the bike and starting to roll it up. One of the old guys asks, “What is that?” Margo explains about the rain cover. Only later does it occur to her that she should have said, “its a parachute that Mark can deploy to help us stop if the brakes fail.” Why do we only think of these things after the opportunity has passed?
We figure that Tok is about 200 miles from the Arctic Circle. Unfortunately, there are no roads or we would turn north. Tomorrow we head due south for a 255 mile trip to the coastal city of Valdez where the pipeline terminates. The area is supposed to be spectacularly beautiful.