Arctic Wolf Ride Report

[gpskevin]

Arctic Wolf Story Intro, by gpsKevin (I see trouble ahead, that is why we call it an adventure)

Tomorrow we leave for the Arctic. The goal for this adventure is to get ourselves far into the wild. There are 8 of us riding, none of us have ever been to the Arctic , let alone on motorcycles, and for some of us this will be the first time camping off motorcycles. Our plan is to take the most remote back roads including the northern Canol Trail, which is considered one of the most challenging trails in Canada. Our route should take us into the Northwest Territories on the Canol Trail and into the Yukon as we head for Inuvik on the Dempster Highway. The ride should take us about 18 days, if all goes well?

From Arctic Wolf Day00

Well this is our Dream, we have been studying it for almost a year now, and we have assembled a team of 8 riders to do it. Being from the lower 48 my dream is to hear the Arctic Wolf in the wild!
Let me introduce the 8 riders:

First Kevin, often called gpsKevin, Riding a Yamaha Super Tenere, XT 1200 Z

From AW_TrailerPacking

Next Missy, (20 years) Riding a Kawasaki Versys 650

From AW_TrailerPacking

Next Jeffrey (18 years), Riding a Kawasaki KLR650

From AW_TrailerPacking

Next Jeff, Riding a KTM 990 Super Enduro

From AW_TrailerPacking

Next Steve, Riding a KTM 690 Enduro

From AW_TrailerPacking

Next Tracy, Riding a BMW F800GS

From AW_TrailerPacking

Dave, Riding a BMW F800GS

From AW_TrailerPacking

Brian, riding a KTM 990 Adventure

From Arctic Wolf Day01

A few of the riders have trucked the bikes to Seattle, and the rest of the riders will fly into Seattle in the morning and the ride begins.

From AW_TrailerPacking

The travel Story to Seattle by truck from Missy

From Arctic Wolf Day05

The last two days have been more eventful than expected. We left at 4 in the morning on Tuesday, normal for a Kevin adventure. But needless to say I slept basically the whole day. Jeffrey, Kevin and I separated the driving of the van, while Tracy and Dave drove the truck and trailer loaded with bikes. We drove all day and ended up in Grant’s Pass, Oregon. The final event was Jeffrey’s 18th birthday. We celebrated at a local pizza place with homemade apple pie for dessert that mom sent along, since she couldn’t enjoy the day with us. Thanks again mom! Everyone loved the pie!

From Arctic Wolf Day00

From Arctic Wolf Day00

From Arctic Wolf Day00

Today we made the rest of the drive to Tacoma, Washington. We stopped several times today for Dave’s small bladder. The rest stops here are much more luscious and green so it was kind of nice to stop and see the scenery. The big adventure of the day was finding a suitable hotel for the night. We decided that the Super 8 from the night before was perfect and Tacoma had just that. We called ahead and they had two rooms just for us. After the day of driving, we show up ready for showers and a nap. Much to our dismay, the hotel had lost power and everything was in the dark. Good thing Jeffrey and I had decided to go against Kevin’s advice and brought our headlights. This was critical for the needed bathroom run, and we were prepared. So while the power was out we took out our lawn chairs and had some great stories and beer. I have officially decided Dave tells some pretty funny stories (probably most of which he shouldn’t tell) about the dumb things he has done. It is so awesome to see such a good guy that can just laugh at the problems he has encountered. And Tracy is the most enthusiastic guy that spews passion for life. Overall great two days. We had the “Last Supper” and are now resting. Tomorrow the ride starts and we are all really excited to start the adventure. More to come as soon as we get Internet access again! Thanks fans, Missy

OK, so we will be trying to update the story every day as it unfolds, so wish us luck and stay tuned
Tomorrow We Ride! (6/21/2012)

[Toadride]

I'm in.

[squonker]

Originally Posted by gpskevin

Dave, Riding a BMW F800GS

Nice! I'll be following this one. A question for you though - what's the big yellow piece of plastic bolted to the end of Dave's exhaust for?!

[jttele]

IN

[GB]

Nice intro!! Looking forward to your ride adventures

[dusty-dogg]

WOW, looks like a great adventure unfolding here! I have seen this Missy Girl on the Big Bear Trail Riders very tuff dual sport ride. Go Missy Go

[gallinastrips]

[gpskevin]

Day 1, Ride Begins: From Missy

From Arctic Wolf Day05

The ride begins! The KTM boys arrived at the parking lot.

From Arctic Wolf Day01

We get all packed up and were off at 1130am.

From Arctic Wolf Day01

From Arctic Wolf Day01

From Arctic Wolf Day01

As we were leaving Tracy hits the drop down bar at the parking lot and its flinging all over. He didn’t even notice. Haha. So, the day goes on and we ride the highway though Seattle and some back country to the border crossing.

From Arctic Wolf Day01

Now last year the border crossing was a mess, so Kevin decided to go first. The normal questions were asked. Booze, weapons or pepper spray? Some of us lied and some of us told the truth. Hope we don’t get pulled over in Canada now that some of us are have lied (not naming names, Jeffrey and Jeff….).

From Arctic Wolf Day01

So no major problems with the border, quick and easy.

From Arctic Wolf Day01

From Arctic Wolf Day01

The rest of the day was great riding and back dirt roads that went on forever.

From Arctic Wolf Day01

From Arctic Wolf Day01

Only one minor problem, Kevin popped the tubeless tire (I don’t know how you do that).

From Arctic Wolf Day01

From Arctic Wolf Day01

So quick fix and every so often a refill with air. But back on track. A couple bears were sighted and some deer as well.

From Arctic Wolf Day01

From Arctic Wolf Day01

From Arctic Wolf Day01

From Arctic Wolf Day01

We made it to a cute little camp by the river at about 930pm.

From Arctic Wolf Day01

From Arctic Wolf Day01

From Arctic Wolf Day01

We set up the tents and cooked dinner. Well after the long day we were all very tired and hit the hay right after dinner. Great first day and many more to come.

From Arctic Wolf Day01

Map from Day1

Link to the Day1 map in google maps cool

[gpskevin]

Day 2,
From gpsKevin:

From Mug Shots

The morning was great, camped by a river, kinda loud, there is a lot of water here in British Columbia. Everyone slept in.

From Arctic Wolf Day02

From Arctic Wolf Day02

Looks like the tire on the front of the Tenere is leaking, so I decided to add a tube to the tire.

From Arctic Wolf Day02

From Missy

From Arctic Wolf Day05

This morning started at a more reasonable hour, and the train left between 730 and 8am. We stopped at a gas station to fill up with gas. At that point Jeff and Brian were running behind and decided to take an easy day because yesterday was so tiring, and they went the easy ways.

From Arctic Wolf Day02

The rest of us however endured a gruesome day. It was rough. We were supposed to be traveling on nice dirt roads but instead they turned into quad trails that weren’t meant for big bikes like us. Tracy got a flat and so that set us back a little, but it was fixed in no time and we were back at it.

From Arctic Wolf Day02

From Arctic Wolf Day02

From Arctic Wolf Day02

Then we struggled through the snow and mud. It was bad!

From Arctic Wolf Day02

From Arctic Wolf Day02

From Arctic Wolf Day02

Sidebar: From gpsKevin, Missy is not telling the story of her brother Jeffrey, so Jeffrey said his boots leaked, so he talked his sister into riding the KLR650 through the mud sections for him! Wow good job Missy, two bikes through the mud!

From Arctic Wolf Day02

Continue Missy: But eventually we prevailed and made it through.

From Arctic Wolf Day02

Only two crashes for the day, one by me and the other Tracy. Everyone is fine though. A lot more dirt and then we decided that was enough and took the highway the second half of the day.

From Arctic Wolf Day02

From Arctic Wolf Day02

We made it to our destination at about 7pm thinking that Jeff and Brian would already be here, but needless to say they had stopped at the liquor store and showed up after we did.

We are staying the night at a family’s house. The two that live here, Kelly and Brandy and so sweet and welcoming. We had a great night with them, eating pizza and talking by the fire. We were also lucky enough to have our first showers and that made a big difference.

From Arctic Wolf Day02

From Arctic Wolf Day03

Camp At Kelly’s home, we met them through Test Spaces, Wow they were great!
Thank you so much to them for hosting us, you guys were GREAT! More to come as we start early again tomorrow.

gpsKevin: Evening Concern: Dave’s BMW f800gs, started stalling near the end of the day as he would let off on the gas and stop it would die. He would restart it and it seem to run fine. Coming down a hill near the end of the day, as he let off on the gas it somehow shut down, as he went to give it more gas it would not go. He stopped and reset the ignition, and it ran fine for a while, then it did it again. We will try to come up with a plan around the campfire tonight.

From Arctic Wolf Day02

Dave in the mud earlier in the day

From Arctic Wolf Day02

Map from Day2

[gpskevin]

Day2 Update
From Jeff:

From Mug Shots

Brian and I took the easy way (supposedly) and got to see some awesome county.

From Arctic Wolf Day02

From Arctic Wolf Day02

We made good time and had lunch at Dogs and Suds. Sorry to say they don't have the kind of suds we were looking forward to (no beer).

From Arctic Wolf Day02

After lunch Brian and I arrived shortly after the rest of our group at Kelly's & Brandy’s home. Upon arriving we saw a beautiful yard, cut grass, a nice home and outbuildings. In short order we had our tents set up in a never ending sea of caterpillars that were eating all of the surround vegetation. We discovered this was a fluke year of migrating caterpillars eating anything they could.

From Arctic Wolf Day03

Kelly and his wife had 2 fantastic dogs that we made friends with right away. Well behaved and great beautiful animals. These guys had fur coats that could really handle the snow.

From Arctic Wolf Day03

While having a cold libation, we each took turns using our guests shower. A cold beer, a shower and then some pizza for dinner. What a wonderful way to end the day. We finished off by having a great fire in our guest fire pit and swapped stories while enjoying some more cold beer. Off to a great night sleep with man eating caterpillars and mosquitoes outside the thin wall of our tents. Slept like a baby.

[ttr]

Great!

Go on I'm in

[deej]

Great report, watching with anticipation. :)

[eemsreno]

I'm real interested in the North Canol......I'm in......

[Cannonshot]

Looking forward to your report. Looks great so far! I backpacked the Canol Trail from McMillan Pass to Norman Wells/Mackenzie River (222 miles) so I'm really looking forward to seeing how far you were able to get beyond McMillan. I'm looking forward to viewing your pix of the spectacular scenery.

[gunnerbuck]

Great RR, keep it coming...