Erich’s Journal – Leg 01 – Alaska – Prudhoe Bay, Alaska, USA to Port
Alcan, Alaska, USA – June 15 to June 28,
2001 – 14 Days
Friday,
June 15, 2001 – Day 1 – Primitive Camping -- Franklin Bluffs Camp
along the Dalton Hwy,
Alaska, USA – cycled 38 miles / 61 km (See Northern
Alaska Map)
Prior to leaving, we had quite a Bon Voyage party. Thanks to
the Dwiggins, my cousin Jeff and Deb Hankerd and many of their neighbors, we
had quite the pre-trip celebration with cake, Champaign and food. I give many thanks to all of them. (See photos 0001, 0002,
0003, 0004,
0005, 0006)
I cannot think of a better way to start out the trip.
The trip now has finally begun. We had quite the send off at the airport with
Brian’s family. His mother, father,
sister and friend had been there to see us off.
My cousin Deb and her husband Jeff also were there. Marc Perry, a friend of mine, had flown in
from L.A. the
night before. He plans to cycle the Prudhoe Bay to Whitehorse Leg with us. (See photo 0007, 0008)
It was a beautiful day in Anchorage when we left, but rather cool in
Prudhoe upon arrival – overcast – mid to high 30’s – wind blowing from the southeast. (See photos (0009, 0010, and 0011) Keith Silver, a comptroller
for Colville Incorporated, picked us up.
He set us up with a warm garage to reassemble our bicycles and arranged
a hot spaghetti meal for us before we left.
I would definitely like to thank him as well as the Colville Company for
their support in this project. They
definitely made our start more comfortable and enjoyable. (See photo 0012)
We finally got going in the early evening. Since it was the first day, we stopped often
to adjust our gear and rest our muscles.
I am not in the best of shape and am not as young as I used to be so the
first few days will be rough. The first
sign we hit, indicated that Fairbanks
was 494 miles away. The next services
would be Coldfoot – 240 miles. (See
photos 0013, 0014, 0015, 0016, 0017)
We traveled gradually south, up the North Slope,
along the graveled Dalton Highway. We could see a distant Brooks
Range in the horizon. The
road primarily follows the Sagavanirktok
River (The Sag River for
short, we have been told). The only near
obstacle above the horizon was a bluff along the river, known as Franklin
Bluffs. Lots of snow still caked along
the west side over the river. We saw a
total of four caribou, some geese, ptarmigan, a fox, and other birds throughout
the day.
We were fortunate to be
traveling at night so the truck traffic, which we were constantly reminded
about, was light. Since we are above the
Arctic Circle and it is close to solstice,
there is 24 hours of daylight. At its
lowest point at about 1:00 a.m.
or so, it is just above the northern horizon.
It makes our riding days quite flexible.
Saturday,
June 16, 2001 – Day 2 – Primitive Camping – Side of the Highway at
the Dan Creek Bridge, Alaska, USA – cycled 48 miles / 77 km
We woke late. Began
late. Our camp last night was at Franklin
Bluffs Camp, which was a pipeline construction camp at one time. Now it is deserted, but has some road
construction materials stored there. We
camped right up against the materials that provided a wind block.
The days ride had hills that are more rolling. The net elevation change was a climb. The Brooks Range,
which stretches across the state from east to west, is now bigger and more
beautiful. The area we are in is called
the North Slope, due to its gentle slope from
the Brooks Range down to sea level at the Arctic Ocean. The
pipeline is always in view now. We
passed Pump Station 2. The truck traffic
has not been that bad. We have seen fox
and caribou, but no bears at all. Still
there are no trees at all.
Tonight we camp at a bridge, known
as the Dan Creek Bridge,
for there we have a fresh water supply.
(See photo 0018)
Sunday,
June 17, 2001 – Day 3 – Primitive Camping -- Tundra near Tulik Lake
Research Facility along the Dalton
Hwy, Alaska,
USA
– cycled 54 miles / 87 km
The scenery has been changing drastically since we left the
coast. The beauty of the North Slope is a unique experience that pictures cannot
express enough. There are still no trees
where we have been the past few days, but I am suspecting we will run across
some in the next few days. There is 24
hours of daylight as well. The first
night we arrived at our camp after 1:00
p.m. The tundra is quite
spectacular. We have seen many
caribou. Marc & Brian saw a musk ox
too. (See photos 0019, 0020,
0021, 0022, 0023,
0024, 0025, 0026, 0027,
0028, 0029, 0030, 0031)
We are near Atigun
Pass and we should cross
it tomorrow. The weather has been
phenomenal – warm and sunny for the most part.
This morning as I look out my tent, it seems to be cool and cloudy
today. It could even rain.
Brian managed to break one chain today. Instead of trying to fix the old chain, we
just replaced it with a new one. The old
one will be cleaned and reused. My chain
does not seem to be too far behind. This
morning will be one spent maintaining the bikes. We have managed to travel about 50 miles per
day, which is not too bad considering the weight we are hauling. It is a lot compared to my past trips. We are traveling a bit slower than usual and
our down time at camp is a bit short for my liking.
The mosquitoes have not really been that bad yet. The people that we have talked to along the
way, mainly Prudhoe Bay workers stated that
“Break Up” happened quite late this year, and it only recently began to warm
up.
The mountains are more prominent than ever. The valley walls are growing taller. The streams and rivers, which had meandered
and wound slowly closer to their water’s destination north of here, are swift
and turbulent here. Snow covered peaks
are in full view. Awesome!
People have been quite talkative
to us along the way – tourists from states such as Texas, Michigan, and Colorado.
Workers also, as they would fish many of the side streams, would talk to
us. One man even gave us a “to go” plate
with prime rib, twice baked potatoes and jalapeno poppers. What a treat.
I saw a young man running – about 20.
I could not believe that out in the middle of nowhere I would find
someone out running. Over the hill,
however, we found a research station for UAF, apparently setup to study global
warming and its impact on the arctic environment. Although he offered us a place to stay there,
we opted to camp near Tulik
Lake just south of there
a ways. (See photos 0032, 0033,
0035)
Monday,
June 18, 2001 – Day 4 – Primitive Camping -- Roadside near Dietrich
along the AK Hwy,
Alaska, USA – cycled 50
miles / 81 km
Crossing the Brooks
Range was incredible. The
day was cool and rainy from time to time.
To break from the wind, we stopped at another roadside pull off where
there were several concrete water ducts for the highway stored for future
use. We climbed into a few to eat lunch
out of the wind.
The beauty of Alaska can really be seen crossing Atigun Pass
(elevation 4800 ft). The grade was steep
toward the end. The final ascent was a
1500-foot climb within about 6 miles, but a twenty-mile an hour wind pushed us
along. The rain turned to snow at the
top. It seemed like winter toward the
top. This mountain range is definitely a
weather controlling range. As soon as we
crossed to the south side, the weather cleared.
The sun was shining bright. There
were no clouds to the south.
Now we are 15 miles further and
2800 feet lower. We passed trees and
shrubs – first willows and alder – then spruce.
There was a sign at the It is warm here at camp along the Dietrich River.
Tomorrow night we will be in Coldfoot.
(See photos 0036, 0037, 0038,
0039, 0040,
0041, 0042, 0043,
0044, 0045,
0046, 0046B, 0047, 0048, 0049, 0050, 0051, 0052, 0053,
0054, 0055, 0056, 0057,
0058)
Tuesday,
June 19, 2001 – Day 5 – Primitive Camping – Coldfoot, Alaska, USA – cycled 59 miles / 95 km
Wednesday,
June 20, 2001 – Day 6 – Primitive Camping – Arctic Circle, Alaska, USA – cycled 60 miles / 96 km
The past few days we have been a combination of ease and
challenge. Tuesday was a day of ease as
our primarily downhill ride brought us into Coldfoot before 6:00 p.m.
The scenery was beautiful, the mountains unique. We did ride through some mud though, which
put a lot of stress on our gears and chains.
We had to stop and wash our bikes off in the creek and take the time to
lube the chains so that we could continue.
(See photos 0059, 0060, 0061,
0062, 0063,
0064, 0065, 0066,
0067)
That evening in Coldfoot was our first chance to feel normal, as we have
had since we started. We had our first
showers since we left Anchorage
and our first decent meal as well. We
managed to get some much-needed laundry done that afternoon. We also found an electrical outlet in the
laundry room to charge up the video camera and the laptop.
We could not camp there, however, so we had to backtrack out
to the main road, where we took refuge down by Slate Creek. I am not sure why we could not camp. The year before when cyclist Bob Dutton and I
road the haul road, they had no problems with us camping behind the hotel. This year, it is not allowed. The mosquitoes are appearing now. It is our first camp where they have been a
problem. Where it was cold at night
above the Brooks Range, here it is somewhat
muggy and warm. I am glad I purchased a
new tent that has no holes for them to enter.
(See photos 0068, 0069, 0070)
The next morning we rode back in to Coldfoot for
breakfast. The all you can eat buffet
was a treat. We had not been used to
eating this well, however, so what I did eat seemed a bit too much. The two meals we had at the truck stop since
we have arrived cost us about $35 total.
Although our intentions were good to get to camp early, we
ran in to some delays. First, there was
some construction 5 miles down the road that they could not let us bike
through. The pilot vehicle was not a
pickup so we had to load our bikes up into the construction worker’s (Tiffany)
personal pickup. The battery was
dead. We had to wait for a set of jumper
cables to arrive. We had to wait close
to 2 hours before we could proceed the three miles of construction before we
could ride ourselves again. (See photos 0071, 0072)
Second, we had minor problems with loose bolts and such but
Brian got the first flat and it was 2 miles from where we were to camp. Our bikes came equipped with Presta Valve
stemmed tubes. We had purchased spare
tubes with Schrader Valves, which are the same as automobile valves. We discovered that the rims of the bike had
holes that were too small for our spare tubes, so Brian had to patch the tire
that was on the bike. We discovered
three holes. It took a while, while we
worked on it with mosquito netting on and rain gear on (to keep the zillions of
bugs from eating us alive).
Third, we had encountered lots of rolling hills where the
elevation would change up to 1500 feet with each hill. They were so prominent that they were
named. The two most memorable were Gobbler’s
Knob and Sentinel Point. We made it to
camp at the Arctic Circle at 11:45 p.m. (See photos 0073, 0074, 0075, 0076, 0077, 0078, 0079, 0080, 0081, 0082, 0083)
Surprisingly enough, there were
some people at the Arctic Circle when we got
there. Apparently, the evening we
arrived (June 20th) was summer solstice.
At the Arctic Circle (N66*33’) on
Solstice the sun just hits the horizon and does not really set. This is the longest day of the year. It would be exciting for the students to
study this bit of science for the classroom.
We saw it happen shortly after we got here.
One particular picture we took
showed the sun lowering and touching the horizon, then rising again. Due to the height of Sentinel Point, just 17
miles to the north, our guidebooks recommended that solstice would be better
viewed from that point. It was not an
option for us, however. We camped at the
rest stop right on the Arctic Circle.
Thursday, June 21, 2001 -- Day 7 – Primitive Camping -- Hot
Spot Café, near Yukon River Bridge,
Alaska, USA
– cycled 58 miles / 93 km (See Eastern Alaska
Map)
The days lately have been warm and buggy. Today’s ride took us through some beautiful
valleys and over some hills. Some of
these steep hills had names like “Roller Coaster”, “Mackey Hill” and the worst
one for climbing – “Beaver Slide” (a two mile 9% grade). I also received my first flat of the
trip. I hit a good size pointed rock
coming down a hill. We see more tourists
these days as we approach Fairbanks
– from all over the U.S.
and other countries as well.
We stopped at a place called the Arctic Circle Bed &
Breakfast, which was actually south of the Arctic Circle. They had some unusual art exhibits in the
yard. (See photos 0084, 0085,
0086, 0087) We have been hearing quite a bit about some
walkers from Germany that
plan on walking all the way to Tierra del Fuego from Prudhoe
Bay. We figure we will pass
them along the way, shortly after Fairbanks. They are taking 4 years to get there. I figure that they will be walking about 10
miles per day.
We made it to a café just short of the Yukon
River called the Hot Spot Café.
Boy do they cook good burgers.
There we met a rustic character named Dale who was a truck driver on the
haul road. There we watched him woo a
waitress trying to romance her. Brian
got a little of it on video. We also
watched a bow hunter set up some bait to try to catch a nuisance bear that was
hanging around the restaurant for the past few days. I am not sure wear this guy came from but he
had quite the camouflage outfit on. He
also had the head of a grizzly in the back of his pickup that he shot the day
before. (See photos 0088, 0089,
0090)
We plan to have breakfast at the
Yukon River Truck stop in the morning on the
way out.
Friday,
June 22, 2001 – Day 8 – Primitive Camping – near Livengood, Alaska, USA – cycled 67 miles / 108 km
It was one of the worst days of the trip. Marc took off from us for whatever
reason. We rode until about 10:00 p.m., and then pitched our
tents in the ditch off the Elliot
Highway.
Our morning began with a great breakfast at the truck stop
at the Yukon River
Bridge. After we crossed the bridge, the day was not
good.
The day was hot; the mosquitoes were thick… Instead of “Blood, Sweat and Tears”, we have
“Dirt, Sweat and Deet.” The numerous ups
(2000 ft elevation) and downs (500 ft elevation) make the pace slow. The big trucks keep gravel and dust in the
face. Brian had another broken chain
yesterday, just a half a mile from where we were going to stop for dinner,
makes for trying times.
We left the Dalton
Highway today after 414 miles of travel since we
had begun. We junctioned with the Elliot Highway,
which ends at Manley Hot Springs to the west, and Fairbanks to the Southeast.
Searching for quality drinking water has definitely been a
challenge. Brian and I last saw Marc at
the Hess Creek crossing toward the last 25 miles of the Dalton Highway. He biked ahead as his pace was quicker. Unfortunately, by 10:15 p.m. we had not caught up with him, so
we pitched our tents for the night just outside of Livengood. The Livengood Creek seemed somewhat polluted
so we did not filter water from there.
We went to sleep thirsty. The
water we used to mix our freeze-dried dinners was rusty red (We pumped out of
Lost Creek). Dinner was hard to
eat. It was SO HOT TOO!!!
The campsite was not so great either. It was on the side of the road in a
ditch. The mosquitoes were swarming
around us while we ate rapidly.
Definitely got in to the tents and then proceeded to kill the mosquitoes
that got into the tents in the split second it took us to get in. The traffic going by all night did not sound
like lullaby music either.
Saturday, June 23, 2001 – Day 9 – Stayed with
Host Family – Fairbanks, Alaska, USA
– cycled 86 miles / 138 km
Sunday,
June 24, 2001 – Day 10 -- Stayed with Host Family – Fairbanks, Alaska,
USA – rest day.
On Day 9, we left at about 9:00 a.m. We found
out from a Mercantile Store near Livengood that Marc waited for us there and
made camp about 10 miles from us. We
found his camp but he was gone. At the
Mercantile, we were also directed to a good spring with very good water. We biked our longest day of 85 miles. Mainly due to the pavement that we went on
some 40 miles out of Fairbanks.
The day was hard peddling as the temperatures reached 80
degrees Fahrenheit. We stopped
frequently, as the number of “Stop and Shop”; kind of stores was more
prevalent. I drank at least a gallon of
Gatorade total. Our last stop on the Elliot Highway, (After
the broken chain), was at the Hilltop Café just outside of Fox, for a delicious
hamburger. We were dirty, as we had not
showered in 4 days. People just stared. Oh well.
(See photos 0094, 0095, 0096)
We found Marc patiently waiting for us at a gas station in
Fox. We had not seen him for nearly 30
hours and 80 miles. He had been there
for a few hours. He is the tough guy
rider. Neither Brian nor I were too
happy about him losing us the way he did, but I guess his pace was more
important to him and he did not realize that we could not keep up.
We made it to our destination in Fairbanks, at the home of Bob and Gus Luchini. They have been most hospitable during our two
nights in Fairbanks. They fed us well, we had great couch space,
and they gave us a vehicle to run errands.
What an awesome first day off. We
appreciate their support in the BikeAmericas project. We enjoyed being with them and their family
during this time. (See photos 0098, 0099,
0102)
The days were spent getting much needed rest, preparing our
journals, our pictures, our bikes, etc.
(See photos 0097, 0100, 0101,
0103
Now the trip to Whitehorse… 500 miles down. 14,500 to go…
(At least I think it is that much)
Monday, June 25, 2001 – Day 10 – Primitive
Camping – near Salcha, Alaska, USA
– cycled 51 miles / 82 km
Today was the first day back on
the road after a full day of rest in Fairbanks. Because we could not get our bikes tuned on a
Sunday, we could not get on the road until the afternoon. We got a late start because we had to take
our bikes in to the bike shop for some minor repair. I needed a rear derailleur cable replaced,
Brian needed his front and rear derailleur replaced, and Marc needed to have
his wheel trued. I also had my rear wheel
trued. After a lunch at Pizza Hut, we
left around 2:00 p.m.
We passed through the community
of North Pole, Alaska
that was actually a few thousand miles south of the real one. There were a few tourist attractions there,
bringing in hundreds of RV travelers in the summer. One place we had a break was the Knotty Shop
just off the Richardson Highway. (See photos 0105,
0106, 0107,
0108, 0111, 0112,
0113, 0114,
0115)
The ride was easy and relatively
flat. We parallelled the Tanana River
for most of the day. We were cruising
along at about 13 mph, but we still did not get very far because I was popping
spokes – three in the course of a few hours.
I was a little upset because they just trued the wheel in town. I called them to complain. I need to call sometime this morning, because
they may send some spokes out to us by mail free. Marc brought about 20 out with him, but I may
have them used up soon. (See photos 0109, 0110)
Tuesday,
June 26, 2001 – Day 11 – Primitive Camping -- near Dot Lake,
on the Alaska Hwy,
Alaska, USA – cycled 90
miles / 145 km
I cannot think of when the last time I heard so much rain
come down. I was definitely glad I put
the rain cover over the tent last night before I went to bed. It rained most of the night and most of the
morning. It rained very hard.
Other than a few moist spots inside the tent, I am toasty as
I punch away the strokes on the laptop.
Today we passed through Delta Junction where the Alaska
Highway Officially begins. There we
stopped for a while to dry off our wet gear and have lunch. We took in a museum as well. (See photos 0116,
0117, 0118,
0119, 0120, 0121,
0122)
We decided to break camp early
to get some needed sleep. We were in our
tents by 10:00 p.m. Then the rains came down. It has been one of our longest but most
productive days on the road. We have
been under some pressure to get some miles in so Marc could make his plane out
of Whitehorse. Today was the first day where we could
realize that it was doable.
Wednesday,
June 27, 2001 – Day 12 – Campground -- Tok, Alaska, USA – cycled 69 miles / 110 km
The spoke situation remained the same on Tuesday. I broke three more. Today, however, things got better. No spokes broke today. I did make a series of phone calls to try to
get a wheel built and somehow delivered to me.
I first called Riverdale Bikes in Whitehorse
to see if they could build one for me.
They said they would have to check on with the boss and I would have to
call again the next day. Then I called
REI in Anchorage. (See photos 0123,
0124, 0125,
0126, 0127,
0128, 0129) Rose Lahti began looking all over Anchorage for the various
parts that I needed to put together a wheel.
I had to call her back before 4:30. Therefore, we biked like crazy from Dot Lake
to Tok so we could be there before 4:30. We barely made it… The end result… the soonest I could get a
wheel was going to be 4 days (eight if I had to special order). Did not really want to sit that long. I am not sure how long the 10 or so extra
spokes will last me. I called the bike
shop in Whitehorse
again. They had already built a tire and
if I needed it early, they would send it with someone along the Alaska Highway and meet me with it… What luck!
Therefore, I will call them in the morning and see if I could pick it up
at the Canadian Border.
Enough Bike talk. The rains finally left us after a few
nights. The winds are strong at our
backs. We had a delicious meal and clean
showers in Tok. I am now preparing for a
good night’s rest. There is not much
activity other than the bike problems.
After a few days of boring terrain, we are starting to see mountains
again.
Thursday,
June 28, 2001 – Day 13 – Campground -- Port Alcan, Alaska, USA – cycled 88
miles / 145 km
We have been passing out many of
the BikeAmericas cards these days. So
many people seem to be interested in our journey. Today we spoke to some German tourists who
apparently saw us up on the North Slope about
a week ago up by Finger Rock. The main
person (who was the only one who spoke English) was Dietrich, who was also a
bike racer. We swapped stories and
information of our various experiences.
We also had a lengthy conversation with some people at Fast Eddy’s
Restaurant earlier this morning. (See
photo 0130) It is after these talks with various people
that I realize the magnitude of the trip and am quite proud to be a part of
it. Tomorrow we leave the state of Alaska and enter into
the Yukon Territory.
Tonight we camp near the
border. We can see the US port of
entry/exit from our tents. (See photos 0131, 0132,
0133, 0134)
