My motorbike adventures, & my Wisconsin to Alaska run (June 2012)

June 18


With in a half hour of leaving Dawson creek, things were different, I could tell I was way up here now. I honestly did not see so much as a deer the past three days. Had the camera on a lanyard around my neck like a tourist. Rode by this guy, busted a u-turn to get a pic, no one was around, & he just stopped in the road & so did I, we just starred at each other for a few seconds. First bear I've ever seen not in captivity, from the seat of a bike of course. little brown bear

this got my blood going
only photo not a complete blur
only cruised @ 50mph for a long time, scanning for wildlife, saw another little black bear by the tree line
then outta no where, the HD guy rips by me & waves

We just cruised together for a while, was nice not being by myself
stopped at a A&W root beer for food in Fort Nelson, he insisted on buying, he only had roughly two weeks to do his trip as well. He said he has done the Iron butt run. He joked he was riding to AK to get a t-shirt and then riding home. He got the oil changed on his bike that day. Told me I looked young to be doing this alone. He was only wearing a half helmet and the skin was literally peeling off his face. I told him your face looks a little sunburned, he said so does yours, my cheeks were only a little red. Good guy. Hoteled it. 536mi


Looking over the Ktm at the hotel, this trip was taking its toll. decided I need to fix my power outlet situation . Heard a rattle from the rear over bumps @ low speeds, the rear floating rotor was really loose. And some bolts were now missing for some of the body work, typical v-twin. Experienced my first real night of no darkness this night. Remember 3 kids rode their MX bikes right through town at 11 @ night while I looked over my bike & thinking some jag off would probadly dial 911 for that where I grew up.

June 19 tues


Woke up to the HD guy knocking on my door, 7:30ish,all the work trucks were gone, and he said he's hitting the road in 15-20min. There was a NAPA type auto parts store in town. Told him thanks for the invite, but I'm gonna fix a few minor issues w/my bike before I leave town. We said goodbye. I could have went with him, but I'm pretty anal about my bike & wanted to address a few things now, not later.
Was beautiful outside, sunny & warm!
Went to the auto parts store & set-up shop right out front by the main door, so I can see my bike when inside. I try never to let my bike leave my sight. Cannot believe I did not get a pic of this operation. I was giving the bike a full, quick, once over.
I had an amazing amount of tools & supplies on my bike, so much so, I forget where it all is hidden. I've read plenty of RTW reports, got all that stuff! I went into the store & bought pretty much all there male & female auto power sockets. Got wiring & connectors, spare fuses. I had spares of everything now. I spent like $25

some bike maintanence :


1 repaired my satelite radio mount w/epoxy,good to go.
2 ended up repairing the male end of my multi(3)power port assy for the tankbag, made it more rain friendly & ran the wire in to the glovebox now.
3 bike bolt check, swapped some bolts around
4 chain adjustment & lube
5 the rear rotor was no big deal, wasn't gonna fail but a nuisance. seen it before on sportbikes @ the track.
*felt better now

My Ktm
-Has the Akrapovic tune map on it, so she was sucking fuel down like a champ, esp day 2 when running 90mph in the wind. fuel light came on a few times after a 130mi :huh worst mpg 31, best 38mpg. (I know, I shoulda set it to stock for the trip, shoulda woulda coulda)
-but easy on the throttle...could go 200mi on a tank of fuel, running with fuel light on for 35-40mi. Ran it outta fuel once in Wi on purpose to see...rode 57mi w/the light on before it started to cough & sputter.
-had the DB killers in the exh
-didn't use my aux fuel yet-but was a peace of mind having it
-this beast felt like a dirtbike w/these tires! whole bike would vibrate when coming to a stop now compared to the stock pirellis
-can still rip wheelies fully loaded!

worked on the bike for a good hour, just relaxing & taking my time, my stuff sprawled out every where, guys from the store came out & asked if needed anything, someone drove by & stopped and took pics of me working on my bike! I remember a lot of the locals that went into the store would leave their cars idle when they went inside for 10-20min, must be habit from winter.
I felt like a traveling freak show at times, esp at fuel stations.
Now sit back & enjoy this next installement of pics, AK HWY was awesome, not too many people, you never had to stop
because it never got dark now! Was amazing

June 19










I could never get a shot of a bear looking at me!

Watson Lake, I chose to continue on the Ak hwy,rather than taking the Robert Campbell hwy, I had plans to ride the South Canol rd! Picked up a mini bottle of Grand Marnier & beef jerky ( I always have a big bag of beef jerky in the tank bag, than you can skip a meal if nec)for camping this eve, I had a camping stove & some dehydrated food w/me.








South Canol rd entrance time for a 100+mi backcountry dirt road with nothing on it, it brings you to the Campbell hwy....wanted to camp off that road
I wish rode down the road about 3-4mi & it was gated off due to wash-outs


I was disappointed a bit...but hit the Ak hwy & kept trucking towards Whitehorse
finally camped, & hung out with my neighbors til late, cooked mac-n-cheese for dinner. 1am photo

no flash photo


590mi

not too shabby thus far

Just love Alaska Ride Reports, Yours is very good.
You really missed out on the South Canol though.
One of the best roads up that way.

Big adventure, my friend. I'm with ya and thanks for sharing.

I don't think I missed it, but what are the dates of your RR?

Me too. Great story so far. Hoping to go one day soon myself. Gotta see this too.

I left MKE at midnight of June 15'th , considered the 16'th my first day, so day 4 was tues the 19'th. I had Jun 15-Jul 1 for this trip. I'll start to document that
*I should mention when staying in Ft Nelson the previous eve, I talked to the hotel owner for a long time,who only was there in summer, he explained to me why I've seen nothing but BC, YT, Oregon & Washington plates on cars, he said "welcome to the Cascadians", Our little country on this side of north america. BC & YT had just jaw dropping views BTW! And he told me that if I was coming through a week earlier, I would have been stuck here cause all the wash outs on the Ak hwy from the heavy rains, he said some towns ran low on food in a weeks time, b/c they could not even re-stock.(don't qoute me on this, but I think RTW Noah was coming south at this time & ran into these delays, also ruffntuff had a delay I think as well, did start to see more adv bikers but all seemed to be heading south).
* So...at the South Canol rd barricades, I sat there for a good 10min thinking, no one to ask any advice, thinking I shoulda took the Campbell hwy but would of had to backtrack a couple hours. It was approx 8pm. I planned & packed for this road the entire 6 months! Got a taste of the skeeters right then & there, I could have easily gotten around the barricades, but I wasn't on a little thumper, recent heavy rains & the size of the Katoom made me a bit nervous,I hadn't even dropped the beast yet! I did love the idea of being far far off the beaten path, but didn't want to get into a sticky situation with no one around, I wanted to get off the super slab & get muddy, my rear tire was wearing flat. The AK hwy didn't seem too touristy though, unlike my Yellowstone expereince, which all the damn people began to ruin it for me a bit, the world seems greatly overpopulated to me & only dumb people seem to breed at times, as my friend puts it, I can be a bit of a misanthropist. Which I think may have been a big reason why I was on this little journey, to get away from everyone. Don't get me wrong, I love meeting new good people! But in heinsight, I shoulda went around the barricades & had a go at that road...I could have always turned around, I had plenty of damn fuel & riding experience

Thanks for sharing. I'm in!

June 20-Wed

Ahh first night in my tent, I bought a compact air mattress for camping this trip, woke up to the pitter patter sound of rain on the tent. No rush to get up early, I knew Dawson was close. Packed up everything in the drizzle. Used my butane powered Thermocell mosquito repellent(from Cabelas on sale $40), for the first time that night & also in the morning, I think it worked well, was not windy, I hate bug spray(but had some & a head net just in case).
My camping neighbors from last night were Whitehorse locals, a mom & daughter, they live out of there very nice, 30ft camper, she had an almost brand new lifted chevy 4x4 truck to pull it, daughter had her own car as well, she didn't like that I was a FORD guy! They can only stay at each campground for 30 days, so every 30 days they move, she said the housing costs in the area are ridiculously high. She said there were others in the park doing the same thing.
I hit the Klondike hwy quickly, & just started hitting it, I was gonna arrive in Dawson a day early. Came up on some bikes & was gonna overtake them, then they just started hitting it! Stopped at some famous place known for their cinnamon buns(its in milepost somewhere), they were huge, had a monster sized cookie & milk for breakfast. Topped off with gas there, they only had 87 octane,whatever. A beautiful young Austrailian girl worked there, she said it was just a summer job, she ran the register & was suppose to pump fuel for people & was gonna try to put some in my bike, I can't even put fuel in the Katoom with out spilling it, I told her I got it. We talked & she told me a lot of people were heading to Dawson for the summer solstice this coming weekend. I remember purple "fireweed" covered the ditches on the Klondike hwy, looked cool, of course I didn't get a photo.
Weather started to get nice! Stopped at one more fuel station before Dawson after the klondike meet the Robert Campbell hwy. Adv bikes everywhere, we were a freakshow for the locals


This guy with the white GS1150, had Wi plates he was from madison, he liked my Ducati jacket since he still owned a monster. He was mad that he brought so much luggage & said he was gonna ship some home when he got a chance. He rode the Campbell hwy & said it was terrible, heavy traffic & extremly dusty.

Drove by the start of the Dempster Hwy, looked dusty!
Everyone always talks about the miles of stone piles stacked up from the years of dredging for gold while driving into Dawson, here were the piles along the road

got to Dawson early afternoon.
330mi Day

June 20 Wed

Tried to get my camping spot a day early, but Goldrush was crazy busy & full. Luckily I found a room at this place, didn't want to leave town, I just wanted to walk around to see what it was all about that day.

katoom resting

welcome to Dawson city! never saw an actual town with just dirt roads

I have a couple of friends that use white ford vans to haul their bikes. Ford power


Yukon River, old gold mining equipment everywhere etc...Of all things to take pics of, you know your a gear head when you take a pic of a van. It was a RH drive turbo 4x4 Mitsubishi van with YT plates, we never get any good cars in the states,

this thing was already parked in front of the main downtown hotel & everyone was checking it out. It was awfully clean, later found out it was an older ATK bike with newer CRF front forks & all kinds of custom tid bits.

You are really covering some miles!

Awesome ride report! Makes me want to ride to Alaska this summer!

June 21 thurs

Beautiful outside, warm & sunny. Slept in this morning, no rush to do anything, was happy about my room, was $90 for the night & small(most I've paid so far), but Dawson is a certified tourist trap. Did all my laundry in the sink Walked & got a coffee along the main drag in town. Was a busy little town this weekend. Great people watching...Tourists, RV/campers & hippies. It was summer solstice...I have no problem with hippies, I'm just jealous.
Stopped at the the town info center, talked to a pretty girl & she said if your with D2D, you want to check out these local dirtroads in the klondike & gave me a map. I had to pack up & move across town anyways & figured I would take a leisurely cruise before setting up camp.
* I did look over the photos I had taken on my camera, & was not happy, 20+ pics of bears & other wildlife were just blurry, so I wasn't crazy about taking pics.
Figured I'd be gone for an hour....3 hrs & 80mi later I returned to town. Rode around on some dirtroads in the klondike & saw some mining operations. Got totally lost for a bit since there was just random dirt roads all over,car gps was useless, was just gonna do a loop. Came up on a full mining operation, sleuthbox running & being loaded & workers all around, I got outta there quick, looked back at the workers, they knew I was lost. Later found out, that area is where a lot of the Goldrush TV series is filmed on History channel.
I met Greg when I tried to get a camping spot the first night & we hung out while I was in Dawson.
He had a newer KLR that already had a 680kit in it & custom monster aluminium panniers, he rode up from Kamloops BC.
pic courtesy of Greg
Him & his steed (not at Dawson)

My home for two days
*notice all the campsite numbers are on old dredging buckets. My new neighbors just rode up from texas

Her ADV handle was Msbehave, she rode a Kawi Versys & her man Andy(I think!?) had a brand new Super Tenere. They shared their site with the "Two Moto Kiwis"(there RR is still going).

the campground was a party in itself, good thing I booked my site in January

Talked to this Ak guy with the V-strom 1000 & his friend a few times. He lived in Wi as a kid & still has family in Fund du Lac. He kept calling me "wisconsin guy". Him & his friend always had a PBR in there hand at the campground. Milwaukees finest

downtown was full of adv bikes thurs eve, went out to eat, everyone was talking bikes

I was all about keeping the kickstand down at this point.
A lot of tourists were trying the "Sour toe cocktail" when I stopped at the downtown hotel, Its just a shot of whiskey with a old human toe in it...hmm, no thanks. I didn't make it in Diamond tooth Geries for a show & I don't gamble. Was too busy talking with all the Canadians & Alaskans.

June 22 fri

Slept in & it was beautiful out. Only riding today was gonna be the poker run. I had no luggage on my bike & was actually excited to go ride it. Poker run didn't start till noon, was 80mi & a lot of what I rode yesterday, but was still excited to ride it with no luggage.Only pics I took were at the end. This is where I meet some new friends, Parrish & Justin. They came up to me after riding up the dirthill & said "your bike is making a rattle noise"

Parrish's GS1200, in a little rough shape since he had an "incident" on the way here. They fixed it up so he could still ride


Got back to my campsite after the poker run, and found Msbehave working on her bike. I ended up sharing my spot with an AK guy who had that BMW w/the red helmet. He had a hotel room with a friend but it was soo hot that weekend, he couldn't sleep in the room, each room got a fan & that was it, NO A/C. This fricken guy never even set-up his tent...just slept outside on top of it in the little grass area in the previous campsite photos.

There was a huge dinner, the local Fire Dept cooked for us & we ate in the local hockey ring. only pic I got was of the Yukon beer cooler

then it was time for the biker games, I had no intention of participating! I had my bike parked downtown & was Peer pressured from Andy on the Tenere, Justin & Parrish.....Ok, I said. Andy rode his Tenere back to the campsite to grab my helmet for me. Me demonstrating proper riding gear & the First time, I've ever ridden a bike with a bag over my head! I made it to the final round in that game

D2D-street closed down

some pics of me in the slow race, next to the machine...Hackymoto(BMW sent him to South America for their USA GS challenge team), & I'm in sandals...Also you can see the whole street scene here. Gave Greg may camera to take these




People just begining to gather for the group photo. D2D 2012 was the biggest gathering yet in Dawson!! Heard there was over 300 bikes there(they kept track)

Parrish was given an award for wrecking his bike & still making it to D2D. Apparently someone wrecks every year & this same award is re-gifted(never leaves dawson). Its was a rock that sent someone to the hospital & was painted yellow...yup, thats cut-up water bottle for a Headlamp lense. I should mention Parrish also won the poker run($350), he was in good spirits



Stayed up extremely late that night into the early morn
this was a locals truck, that I kept seeing around town, Justin saw me taking a photo & wanted to make sure I got the full effect
I think Canadians are serious about their hockey

June 23 sat

It was a 11:30 in the morning by the time I crawled out of my tent after that night, remember that cause I was suppose to be packed & out by 11, the camp owner was right there in my campsite watering flowers, and she said "you gonna be alright to ride that thing" It was another beautiful day out, all the motorcycles were gone from the campground. My Texas neighbors were just leaving, we said goodbye, they were heading to Whitehorse for the Super Tenere rally. Made plans to meet & ride to Fairbanks with Justin & Parrish, only knew where their hotel was...I found them. We were all in rough shape. We didn't leave Dawson till early afternoon, jumped the ferry across the Yukon river & were taking the Top Of the World hwy
*anywhere I was on this trip, people were doing it on bicycles. This guy was from Europe somewhere & was spending the summer riding around, he had full gear etc..

Parrish making new friends

Peace out Hippies

We started going for a while, but it was crazy dusty! They said it was damp on the TOW on the way over, & they liked that better. We took a lil two track excursion & quick break. After this we took off in two minute intervals, so not to eat each others dust


I got a lot of great advice from people(Alaskans). This hwy is the big reason its Dust to Dawson. They love to "rally" it on bikes & snowmachines(as they say). They also told me they all hate the stupid reality TV shows they make about them up there now. There was a lot of people from Anchorage & Fairbanks areas there. I never knew a rivalry existed between AKs two big cities. They would always throw smart ass comments at each other about where they lived. Winter is milder in Anchorage but it rains much more in summer like Seattle.
TOW hwy to me was a fast paced dirtroad up in the mtns, overtook a lot of RV/campers(they only go like 40mph)
rode a two track up the side of a big hill, they said I had to see this

AK border crossing in the distance

ALASKA!

TOW hwy

this was a HUGE drop off next to the road

We stopped in Chicken AK for hours to just relax. We talked to everyone that passed through...& just chilled out on the picnic tables. Only pic I took in Chicken was of Justins Trails End D2D edition F800GS, it drizzled for a second, kind of ironic his bike had the AJ sticker on it, it was to Honor a motorcycle tech who recently died on a motorcycle. This bike was all tricked out w/touratech stuff. Justin purposely ran this bike out of fuel on this ride for testing, it went 189mi before it started to cough.
Justin really liked my bike since he owns a KTM 950 adv as well, and he spent a year and a half & traveled down & through South America with it! thats another whole story!
Parrish was a sportbike guy & his GS1200 was his first adventure bike. This was his first D2D too
Good guys, they let me crash at their hotel

We stayed at the hotel right at Fast Eddies, ate there pizza, was good. A lot of the D2D organizers & alaskans bikers stayed there. A small storm came in. Katoom resting

double rainbow

We just heard Hackymoto crashed his GS1150 on TOW hwy & they sent a truck to get him. I didn't feel comfy taking these pics at the time, sorry blurry but you can make it out, his bike blew the u-joint out @ like 70mph & busted the swingarm, he rode it out for a bit before falling off & the bike clearly went cartwheeling & was a total yard sale. He was banged up but OK


there was a whole thread on this situation in AK regional forum
http://advrider.com/forums/showthread.php?t=803766&highlight=hacky
rode a whole 185mi today! this was a awesome route.
*my mesh sportbike jacket was really starting to annoy me, & wasn't the right tool for the job anymore

I'm in and great RR! Planning something very similar this summer, so following this trip is some good info...

June 24
Sun

Slept great that night, Parrish pulled the windshield out of no where for his GS, some epoxy & some tiestraps later, he had a windshield again, rode the end section of the Ak hwy & headed towards Faribanks. Drove right by North Pole,Ak & the big Santa statue, nothing special there, the name was just to get companies to locate there. Remember we were riding right down the main interstate going into Fairbanks & they just turned off & we started riding in the huge drainage ditches There was already ATV tracks there Stopped at the Trails End BMW store due to they were having a post D2D cook out, I ended up buying a new jacket & they shipped my old one home for me
It was a nice chill day, just Hung out with Justin & Parrish. Parrish gave me a small dry sack for my clothes & the rest of my journey! We all ate dinner together & I crashed at Justin's pad.

200mi day

June 25
Mon

It was go time this morning, Justin had to work this day, but wanted to ride with me & see me off. We rode up the very beginning of the Hwy. We ate breakfast at some famous place known for their pies, its in the milepost. A trucker commented on the bikes, we told him I was taking the hwy all the way up. He asked if I brought a fishing pole with, I said "no" and he said "thats lame", Justin started to laugh, and said "he just called you lame!", we all started laughing, the trucker was cool & just wanted to talk to us.
At D2D I was taught the proper method to overtake trucks, on this Hwy(& the Dempster) in particular, trucks will typically drive right down the middle of the hwy & are not really worried what is going on behind them, when you come up on a truck, stay left of the truck so they see your headlamp as you ride up on them, this may take several seconds, but once they see you, they will move to the right to give you room & let you by. This worked everytime for me! If you just squeeze by & blow by a truck, they can get pissy.
This is my Dalton Run

I'm enjoying your ride report. I rode up to Fairbanks many years ago, but didn't think about the Dalton because it wasn't open back then.