It's all mind over matter, homeon. Just imagine that the tundra is palm trees and the mud is a white sand beach.
Left Los Alamos NM May 28. Spending a week with wife in Vancouver BC, leaving June 13 for Alaska via Cassiar Highway. Tires in anchorage, then to Prudhoe Bay and then Inuvik via Dawson city.
Lots of bikes on the road this weekend! I guess everybody decided to wait and miss all the hot weather in the interior! I even saw a bike with a Spanish plate gassing up in Fox the other day.
I met some out-of-state travelers today, at the Girdwood Bakery. Two guys and their wives pulled up on two loaded-down bikes, so of course I had to go chat with them and welcome them to Alaska. These guys rode up from the Lower 48 (I think they said Virginia and Kentucky) and rode part-way up the Dalton Hwy. Their wives flew up to join them for a few days of riding around Alaska and then the ladies will fly back home. When I mentioned I also just rode on the Dalton Hwy they asked if I rode my bicycle, which I was riding today. I said no, I rode my trusty DR. When I asked their names, the guys answered with perfectly straight faces and both said their names were Dave. Coincidentally the man I was riding bicycles with is also named Dave. Small world! The two Daves are Inmates so maybe they'll post some photos of their ride through the Lower 48, Canada and AK. P.S. This will be surprising, especially to the Geezers, but sometimes I even question my sanity. :huh I had date to go on a long-distance bicycle ride today, so I loaded my bicycle on my DR and headed out of town to meet my date at the Indian trailhead. Unfortunately I discovered it was pretty darn windy and the strong gusts treated my two bikes and I pretty rough sometimes. :eek1 I think I gained a few new gray hairs again today! I checked the weather and it said the wind was only blowing around 7-10 MPH - baloney. It's all good.
I left Colorado on May 4th and had lunch in Coldfoot on May11th. I was amazed that I didn't see a single long distance traveler until my return trip when I saw a Buell heading north from Billings, Montana on May 21st. My trip was on the cold and snowy side but I had a blast! When I stopped at Pink Mountain for gas They told me I was the first bike from the lower 48 they had seen this year....Maybe the cold wet spring scared a lot of riders off or delayed their trip a few weeks....
Since timing seems like such a big part and weather seems like a bigger part...I thought I should ask the locals.... How good (or bad, for that matter) is the weather to ride in AK in late Aug/Sept? I was hoping to miss the rush in June (which by the sounds of it, hasn't quite happened yet) but would it be almost too quiet that late in the season?
August is generally considered to be the wet month in most of Alaska. That doesn't mean you couldn't get some beautiful days with hot (for Alaskans, anyway) sun and blue skies. But you're more likely to see some of our not-so-nice days too. Just dress for it and come on up. Fall is really beautiful up here, and the nice days in September are absolutely fantastic.
Took a little ride out to the Lake Louise Road this afternoon. Rain clouds to the southeast, rain clouds to the west. Hit rain before the LL junction, with accompanying cooler temperatures. Had left Glennallen with the thermometer at 71° so vents were all unzipped and just a tee shirt under the 'Stich. Beneath the clouds it was 52° Could have stopped and put on an insulated shirt I had along, but that would have meant letting rain inside the suit as well as outside, so I suffered. Hit a downpour coming back, and that's where I met about 8 bikes all headed toward Los Anchorage. If they were travelers from out of state, their impression of Alaska won't be too favorable. But at least they were riding.
Well I have been lurking and reading with not much to say this year. My May 2011 trip had to be cancelled because of purchasing a Class C RV that my wife and I can drive to Alaska together next May 2012. See retires this November and we are planning about a 3 month trip. I ruined her last year flying her to Kodiak....lol. Believe me when I say I have looked at thousands and thousands of pictures in a vain attempt to relive my two trips to AK. I still have the K1200RS Beemer and have been putting a few miles on it in the surrounding states. A group of us are riding to the 'Tail of the Dragon' in N.C. July 2 for a week. I know I still haven't met many of you but I do feel that I am at home reading the Alaska Forum...go figure. HOOKED on AK.
I had rain all the way from Haines Junction to Tok yesterday... temp was upper 40s to mid 50s for most of the ride. We call this kind of weather winter in California
The nice June rains started at Trapper Creek and lasted until the AK Range. Heated jacket felt NICE in the cool temps. Hot at UAF & 10 or so bikes in the lot. Think I see house guest Joels 350 dripping gas down there.....
That would be Laurent and Carole, from southern France. We hosted them about two weeks ago (sorry, I'm late catching up to this thread lol). Super-nice folks. They were heading up to Fairbanks, so you probably saw them after they left our place.
I have lucky enough to have been to Alaska over 10 times and can say that I prefer Alaska in September over all other times. The place is even more beautiful then with the fall colors. And bugs are gone. So are the RV's and tourists.
I did early May this year and loved it.....Sounds like a similar experience as FOTOTEX describing September....No bugs and no RV's. The one problem I ran into traveling in the off season was a lot of the fuel stops and campgrounds were still closed (often do to snow). Would you run into the same issues in September? If not I think I'll try a fall trip next time!
That is a good question (JNG6)...if I make up there around labor day, and am traveling throughout Alaska after that, do a lot of places close up shop? Does it take some of the fun of seeing so many other motorcyclists on the road? What is the likelihood of snow? (I'm still going to do it, just figuring out what to prepare for...)
First of all, anyone who predicts the weather is a fool. Now that I've established my authority... September is a time of change (like most places) and sometimes it happens fast. As to be expected there is big difference between early and late Sep. The change happens faster the further north you are. I'll use the Alaska Range to divide north and south but really the Alaska range is in southern Alaska. By the time you reach the Brooks Range a couple hundred miles north of Fairbanks you are getting to northern Alaska. Southern parts of Alaska will be green around Labor Day Weekend (Sep 5 this year) but north of the Alaska Range will be in fall colors. Temps will be low of 40's and high of 60's (on a sunny day.) Subtract 10 to 20 degrees for mid-Sep. By the end of Sep the leaves are off the trees and temps low of teens at night and 40's during the day, plus or minus 10 or so depending on how far away/close you are to the coastal areas. Snow is getting down to 3000' so passes may have snow at road side. As to Alaska businesses. If it caters only to summer tourist (tours, etc) they close up by mid to late Sep otherwise most places (gas and motel) are open year-round. There are a few AlCan roadhouses that close in Sep but gas availability isn't going to be a problem at any town along the AlCan. Hope that helps but opinions may vary, past performance is no indicator of the future and etc.
I retire 1 AUG (Finally - after 45+ years turning wrenches on flying machines) - my wife and I will pack up our Beemers and head West out of Minnysota then North to Alaska. We plan a month-long trek. We'll wear our Aerostich and heated gear - just in case. She (C5Babe) will be riding her BMW F650GS and I (Cowboy2) will be riding my BMW F-800GS. We are excited to visit AK on our bikes - even though we have both been to AK well over a hundred times (flying in and dropping off cargo). Give us the AVrider salute if you you see us on the road! TheCowboy & C5Babe
Looks like you have abandoned the alternative DR's. Probably a good decision. As I was riding my KLR along the Alcan last Thursday at 41°F I was thinking of you, and how the DR has no better protection than my bike. Coming up in late August/early September, you'll probably be glad to have as much protection from the weather as possible. Saturday morning it was down to 43° along the Klondike Hwy around 4:00 AM, and rolling into Tok around 3:00 PM it was 83°. You probably won't be seeing anything like the latter temperatures, but lower temps than my minimums are quite possible. Be ready for anything.