2019 Los Angeles to Alaska

2022 - Northward... again

June 12-23, 2022

Note: Since 2022 is over, I've rearranged this year's blog to read in chronological order.

June 12-23, 2022

To the reader:

1. You're reading this blog?  Get a life!

2. I'm not being good about updating the blog.  But, I have been taking notes and will post these when I get the chance.

3. Pictures are scarce. Sorry.

4. Just look at the map if you want to see where I am.  That will probably be updated more frequently than the notes

Here, then, is the first tranche of notes:

June 12, 2022

Left home 7:15 am. Odometer 18502.

Arrived Lundy Canyon 3:15 pm.  Odo: 18843

Would have been a good ride but for the wind.  I had expected a nice tail wind but instead it's been blowing steadily and hard from the west. So, crosswinds from Palmdale all the way to Lundy. Gusts became increasingly powerful and unpredictable farther north.  At times it became downright dangerous.  Now at Lundy it is howling through the aspens. If it is this bad tomorrow, I don't know if it will be possible to ride.  I just stowed my riding gear in the very large bear box as the wind was picking it up.  Hopefully, it will calm down overnight and I can get clear of the Sierras in the morning before it picks up again.

So, yeah, not a pleasant ride at all today. A shame as without the wind it would have been a gorgeous day. I got north of Bishop before the worst of the heat developed.  Amazing how quickly it cools as you gain altitude - a few thousand feet worth after Bishop.

One nice sight was the white clouds racing eastward over the Sierras - left to right as I headed up 395. Occasionally, one would cast a dark amoeba-like shadow that slid rapidly down a mountainside. Looked kind of malevolent. Or, maybe that was my mood.

Fuel stops at Mojave, Lone Pine and Lee Vining.  At Lee Vining even regular gas was over $7.  Haven't calculated my mpg yet but it doesn't look good.  Somewhere in the 40's.

Note: dried fruit and nuts rehydrated with a splash of Jack Daniels and some water is a nice campsite cocktail hour treat.

I've re-hydrated my first home-prepared dehydrated dinner.  Not sure if I'll eat it cold or try to operate the stove in this wind.

Note: Lundy Canyon Campground now costs $16 and no passes.  Plus the spring that supplied non-potable water has not been maintained. Fortunately, I found a convenient place to get water from the stream.

Campsite at Lundy Canyon

The aspen trees in the evening

June 13, 2022

Horrible night. Lundy Canyon runs east-west and seemed to act as a tunnel concentrating the winds. It was so windy there was nothing to do but go to bed after dinner which I did at 7:30.  The aspen grove attenuated the wind at ground level but it howled like a banshee in the treetops 19 or 20 feet up. Or maybe like a freight train just outside my tent.  I haven't heard wind roar like that since the "wind event" in 2010 in Pasadena which was caused by an extraordinary Santa Ana. Slept fitfully at best though somehow managed a few hours of deep sleep.  By 1:30 the intensity had lessened - no more freight train - and by dawn was reduced to just a strong breeze.

Aspens in the morning light

Got away at 9:00.  Crosswinds continued.  These gradually shifted to head winds after Reno.  There's a long, sweeping elevated hi-speed bypass of Reno.  That was unsettling under the conditions.

South of Susanville looking out over Honey Lake which
is a mostly dry alkali flat according to Wikipedia

All in all the ride to Susanville was nearly as tiring as yesterday's.  I had planned to camp at Eagle Lake but opted for a motel. The night time temp is to dip to freezing and I really want a good night sleep.  I'll see how I feel in the morning but so far this trip is no fun. Considering bagging it completely or, perhaps, modifying the route to escape more wind and cold over the next days.

Lunch at Denny's in Carson City. Not much to say about scenery.  I was too busy trying to stay on the road to notice much.  At the top of Owen's Valley there is a long sweeping climb to higher elevation topping out in a pass over 8000 feet.  Some day I would like to stop at a pullout right before the top of the pass to look back down the valley.  The next stretch of road somehow makes me think of Switzerland.  Broad stretche of pasteur with mountains in all directions.  Scattered low buildings with not steeply slanted roofs. Just the spaces are vaster than in Switzerland.  But I could be conjuring up false memories of Switzerland.  Lots of cows.

June 14, 2022

Decided not to continue on 395.  Night time temps in the Burns, OR area where I'd planned to camp will dip below freezing.  Canceled my Airbnb for two nights hence near Kennewick, WA and headed west toward Shasta Mountain. Then picked up I-5 north to Sunny Valley Campground north of Grant's Pass.  Another price shock as that campground is now $40. Add that to the $118 for a Super 8 motel (didn't that chain used to be a "budget" chain?) last nigth and my thoughts of spending less than $100 total for sleeping all the way to the Canadian border were wildly optimistic.

I escaped the brutal winds and temperatures moderated somewhat so the ride was not so unpleasant.  The route followed CA-44 (Feather Lake Hwy./Valcanic Legacy Byway) which starts just west of town. It then turned onto CA-80 on up to I-5. The latter portion I traveled in 2019(?). Not for the first time it struck me that this could be an interesting area to explore.  There are numerous campgrounds and the map shows many volcanic sites, mostly not visible from the road obscured by thick forest. Occasionally you see a lava outcropping or cliff, but you have to be looking for it.

The forests appear to be redwood and other tall slender evergreens.  And I do mean tall.  Sometimes it feels like one is riding through a narrow slot between towering walls of green.  At the eastern end of the ride the forest looked tinder dry and ready explode at the drop of a match. Indeed there are numerous burn areas and others of simply dead trees.  One thing struck me odd.  There were big areas of trees with blackedned trunks topped by dead brown pine needles.  This didn't make sense.  If the trees burned, why are the needles still there? Or did they die due to some disease, infestation or drought and the blackened bar is jsut part of the pathology?  Or, did they burn but fought back to grow new needles but then died because they were to weak to sustain new growth?

Toward the west the forests looked healthier and greener.  Perhaps precipitation has been heavier there.  There's one splendid moment when snow-capped Mt. Shasta appears hovering at the end of a long straight corridor formed by the road and the trees.

Sign may reflect my mood.  Somewhere in the forest and 
the only picture I took this day.

I-5 seemed a little more annoying than usual. Through northern California and into Oregon it features one three or four thousand foot summit after another and especially heavy truck traffic.

June 15, 2022

Ride up to Portland was uneventful until the last couple miles.  I had thought that I had enough fuel to reach my friends' house but began to worry just as I hit a miles long "Stau" of bumper to bumper traffic.  Then I missed the turnoff onto I-84 and grabbed the first exit I saw which put me onto the Hawthorne Street bridge (featuring a steel grate but not the wide gauge that is so difficult on a motorcycle).  This landed me in Southeast Portland.  Google helped me find a gas station and then a route to my friends' house.

June 19, 2022

Destination Yakima from Portland.  Intended to go up the Gorge but after consulting the weather forecast decided to go up I-5 and then east on US-12 which goes over White Pass.  The forecast was for heavy westerly winds again affecting the Gorge and the leg north to Yakima. Encountered gusty winds but nothing like previous days. The easterly section of the route is very scenic. Unfortunately, I couldn't enjoy it as the 2-lane highway is twisty and steep so I had to keep my eyes on where I was going, especially with gusty wind and threat of moisture on the road.  I only hit one brief stretch of very light spitting rain. It did get cold though as the road rose. That got me on edge as I get hypothermia quite easily which causes reactions to slow down. From Portland to just past White Pass the sky was leaden and depressing.  Suddenly, though, on the downslope the sky opened up to blue and sun filled a valley bordered by towering basaltic cliffs.  Snow capped mountains glinted in the distance.  A moment later and just as suddenly the air went from chill to warm.  It was like passing through a thermocline in the ocean.

Somewhere east of White Pass.  I'm not even in Canada yet
and already getting a little tired of forests and lakes and moutains.

Night in an Airbnb.  Oh, I forgot.  Lunch at a roadside Chinese restaurant at Silver Creek, "The Great Wall," not to be confused with my all time favorite "Great Wall" Chinese restaurant in Prince George, BC.  The chicken fried rice was easily the worst I've ever eaten.  But filling. The staff, though, was very nice.  I wondered how this establishment came to be out here in the middle of nowhere.

June 20, 2022

An almost pleasant ride today from Yakima to Grand Coulee.  Since it was a short ride I moderated my speed which made it more pleasant. Warm and windy again. The scenery from Yakima to Grand Coulee is extraordinary and, quite probably, unique. Towering basalt cliffs where you can count a dozen layers of lava flow.  This is the "Scablands".  All carved out by the catastrophic Ice Age floods that the geologist Bretz postulated and then finally proved to his doubting colleagues.  I stopped again at the "Dry Falls" near Coulee City to refresh my memory from 2017.  This area is really worth a visit for anyone interested in earth history.

Somewhere in the Scablands

The Dry Falls which dwarf Niagra

I did a bit of hot and bothered riding back and forth to select a campground on WA-155 just south of Grand Coulee Dam. Neither had potable water. Settled on Osborne Bay campsite and deployed my water filter to clean up the lake water.  In Coulee City I rode all over looking for a grocery store.  Finally found a small one and bought high priced wheat thins and some boxed Chardonnay. I could have saved time had I known that at Electric City and nearer to the dam there are abundant stores and restaurants (well, eating establishments) including a Safeway. Took a quick dash up to the dam to see it from a new angle that I missed in 2017.

Grand Coulee Dam spillway from above...

and from below.

You can see where water pours through outlet tubes at
three different levels in the spillway.  Purpose?

Had a pleasant message chat about a malfunctioning AC with a dear friend who is keeping an eye on my house.

Ok, this moment is really quite nice. Sun is low to my left over the lake, still bright white light, not fading yet, sea gulls have swooped in and are circling over the water and calling out. I guess they are scoping out the dinner situation.

Walked over to the water's edge to watch.  Wonderful. I love lake water in the light before sunset.  Uncountable colors and all the while gulls swooping and diving and some swifts as well. Momentary premonition of the world without us, after humans have ended our ugly and beautiful existence.  Returned to my campsite to see 5 large birds, maybe golden eagles, wheeling about in the strong evening breeze.

Time to eat.

June 21, 2022

Got away with my usual slowness this morning. Took 174 down to US-2 as in 2017. The farmland is nice with its jumble of hills running into hills, but I wasn't wont to stare at it this time. The same lack of interest when I got on US-2 with its long, straight 2-lanes stretching to the horizon. It's not new. Been here before. But, I don't think that is the reason this trip has not caught fire for me yet.

Stopped in Spokane to visit REI for some tent pole repair items. If not mentioned, I snapped a pole while at the Sunny Valley camp site and used my only splint to repair it.  Given the age of the tent some extra splints may be needed.  Wish someone would think of that for me.

Managed to get lost but eventually made it to my destination, Smith Lake Campground. All the sites were taken and I was greeted by a chorus of barking dogs.  Headed back down the 2 mile, steep gravel road wondering if this will be my turn back point.  For most of this trip I've swung every 5 minutes between "push on a little farther" and "bag it and go home."  I reached the highway and turned right, north, toward the border.  So, "push on" it is.  I thought I might cross the border today and see where I could find a place to stay in Kingsgate.  But came upon a sign for Robinson Lake Campground.  It turns out to be a quite nice Forest Service Campground. Potable water, pit toilets and picnic tables. So similar to a BLM site.  $15/night and they accept various 50% off passes.

The Forest Primeval... sort of.

So, if I wake on the "push on" side of the mood seesaw, it's off to Canada tomorrow.

No phone reception here so I can't check weather up north.

Northern Idaho.  There's no doubt about the political leanings here.  Outside Bonners Ferry there is a billboard blaring "Welcome to Trump Country" and something about loving god, guns, country and your neighbor. Along the gravel road to Smith Lake I saw out of the corner of my eye a handmade sign declaring "If your (sic) ridin with Biden...." I didn't catch the last part but can guess.

June 22, 2022

Got away 9'ish and crossed the border.  While waiting in the short queue at the border station had a nice chat with a Canadian biker on some cruiser. He had been on US-2 which I traveled in 2017.  He found the long straight stretches to the east of the Cascades a "tranquil" ride.  Soft spoken, dark skinned with features that made me think he had indigenous heritage.

There's another campground, "Copper something" about a mile before the border. Note for future trips/travelers.

The ride up to Golden was altogether pleasant despite a few brief rain showers.  The mountain scenery is magnificent.  Lots of Sound of Music vistas. It feels like this trip is starting to finally find a flow and rhythm. That turn north yesterday after Smith Lake was a fateful good move.

Presently I'm in a commercial campground - will I never learn?  This isn't quite as bad as that CG from Hell near Coulee City I landed in in 2017.  I came here for the shower, otherwise I'd prefer to be in a provincial park if camping.  It's very noisy as it sits right next to Highway 1 ("Trans Canada Highway" or TCH) and there's a fairly constant stream of trucks roaring uphill.  At least that drowns out the music some neighbors are playing.

Note to self: stop repeating past mistakes. Uh oh. Someone just started a very smoky fire.  This could be a long night. And now there's a couple more smoking fires.  And, oh yes, the sound of children screaming and cryihg.

Well, there is a beautiful view of the mountains from my site (through which people tramp to get a view).

The view from my site

And again near sunset

I keep losing stuff on this trip: sunglasses, the cap from my rear tire valve stem (probably on the sidewalk in Portland), a little notebook in which I recorded gasoline purchases and mileage and, now, a ziplock bag containing salt.  The notebook also contained a list of passwords. Fortunately, it didn't say what they were for so the information is useless to anyone but me as a memory jog.

Tomorrow on to Cache Creek and a motel.

June 23, 2022

Something has definitely changed for this trip.  Today's ride was the hardest, most exhausting, most unpleasant so far. Yet, here I am in Cache Creek in the Tumbleweed Motel planning to head up to Prince George tomorrow.  Abandoning the trip is no longer in consideration. Only where to?

Woke to temps around 40. Initially it was sunny with misty clouds that kept spitting. By the time I was ready to leave the temp had edged its way up to 50 but rain had moved in. Not torrential, but steady with horizon to horizon cloud cover and winds. I departed with all my cool weather gear on.

Stopped immediately for a cup of coffee and breakfast sandwich at a Tim Hortons, then got underway. The entire trip is only about 275 miles but took all day. There were multiple delays for construction and a one hour long blockage due to an accident (tractor trailer ran off the road and blocked one lane). There are multiple mountain passes in the 3000 meter range between Golden and Kamloops. Of course, it got colder as the road ascended each time and I worried about icing on the road.  To make matters worse my visor which has a pinlock anti-fog panel began to fog up.  I guess the conditions were too much even for pinlock.  Fortunately, a narrow band at the top of the visor remained clear so I could see though by tilting my head at an awkward angle.

After about 50 miles I was so chilled I worried about hypothermia and pulled over at a roadside scenic lookout. I put on my windbreaker over my riding gear and then pulled out my stove and heated up one of the prepared breakfasts from my food store.  Between the windbreaker and the high calorie meal I was in better shape for the rest of the ride. That was good as the weather was unrelenting until the final descent out of the mountains to Kamloops.

Scenery going west out of Golden must be spectacular.  What I could see through the mist and clouds swirling around looked like massive snow-streaked peaks towering over the road.  But once again I was too concentrated on staying upright and on the road that I couldn't look around.  The second part of the trip is less spectacular but still lovely.

I did some laundry

 This is the second tranche of notes from this trip.  Go to Older Post for the first.

June 24-26, 2022

6-24-22

I've mentioned Cache Creek during previous visits.  It is and, apparently, always has been a crossroads town going back to the 1800's.  Today it is dominated by motels and eating establishments.  There is also a small food market, a well-stocked liquor store and, so I've read, a local TV station.

The Tumbleweed Motel.

Again, the trip out of town on 97 towards Prince George reminds me a bit of the high desert north of L.A. but greener due to considerably more moisture. The hills have a very appealing, velvety light-green blanket of vegetation.  Farther north are lakes, streams and forests.  Weather was fine though still windy.

Entering Prince George I got lost trying to find the motel which is right next to 97 (henace its name "97 Motor Inn"). For some reason I always do miss it on the way in.  Google got me straightened out which took awhile as road work has various crossing points of the highway blocked.  

Dinner at the Great Wall Restaurant.  I've mentioned the Chinese buffet here before. Left with a stuffed belly.

6-25,26-22

Proceeding up 97 to Dawson Creek the weather was great. Warm and breezy, but now the wind was at my back.

This stretch starts out with farmland that could be many places in North America. Not ugly, not beautiful.  Mostly pasturage I think. Some distant mountains. Somewhat rolling with stands of trees here and there.

Farther north the land rises and the forest, streams, lakes motif returns.  I stopped for fuel somewhere and had a nice chat with a biker from North Carolina aiming to ride the Alaska Highway and then up to Prudhoe Bay.  I started spouting information and he took me for a local.

Fuel:  There are gas stations at Bear Lake, Mackenzie and Chetwynd.  It's easy to speed past the one at Bear Lake.

Just observing casually, it seems that motel occupants from Cache Creek on are mostly either tourists or work crews for various construction sites.  In Prince George I chatted with a worker whose crew was on a project building cell phone towers. He was bemoaning the windy weather which obviously affects those guys working up high.  He gave me a couple of beers.  The proprietress of the Airbnb I stayed in my first time through Dawson Creek told me recently that occupancy was picking up as work in the "oil patch" picks up.  I guess the oil companies are beginning to revive wells that shut down during Covid due to decreased demand.

As I sit here on Sunday in the Midtown Motel the weather is beautiful.  None of the rain I had expected from a forecast yesterday has materialized.  But I'm glad to have paused here to rest as I woke feeling pretty ragged.  Tomorrow I hope to head up toward Great Slave Lake.

Third tranche of notes.  

June 27-30, 2022 

June 27, 2022

Set a modest goal today: about 180 miles to Queen Elizabeth Provincial Park.  So it was a short ride arriving early in the afternoon.  The landscape of northern Alberta is flat. Table top flat. Farmland.  What ever is growing is just a few inches high.  I guess the planting season starts quite late here (by southern standards).  The growing season must also be quite short though compensated by exceptionally long daylight hours.

This campground is peaceful but infested with mosquitoes.  The Picaridin is effective but seems to wear off quickly.

Stopped in Fairview for lunch. Riding up and down the main street I realized that there were several motels.  None were chains. It made me think that farther north there may be many more sleeping options than would appear from an online search.

Ate at an A&W for the first time.  I'll add it to my short list of acceptable fast food joints along with Subway and Tim Hortens both of which I'm tired of.  A&W always conjured up a vision of warm summer nights bathed in neon and teenage hormones. But such musings are a relic of 50's/60's culture.

The campground also has no potable water. All spigots are labeled "unfit to drink."  I deployed my aging water filter which promptly broke.  I managed a workaround and am now waiting to see if a more permanent repair using rubber cement from my tire repair kit is successful. And I lost the alarm off my bike somewhere between Dawson Creek and here.  It had held in place so well with just the magnets I affixed to it, that I never bothered to remove it while riding. Well, that was a mistake.  Kind of a lot of little things going wrong on this trip.  Rear tire looks like it has about 1000 miles left. And if I go all the way to Great Slave Lake, by the time I get back to Dawson Creek the bike will be well past due for an oil change.

In Dawson Creek the start of the Alaska
Highway which I am not taking - at least
not now.

It won't look this clean again for some time.  The
red fuel canister is a recent add-on just in case.

This part of northern Alberta is flat.

I liked this little bridge over the Peace River
at Dunvegan south of Fairview.

June 28, 2022

The campground is very wet with a lot of standing water.  In fact some of the sites are roped off as they have turned into bogs. No wonder the mosquitoes are rampant. And no wonder I woke to my tent drenched in dew. Packed up without making breakfast and rode into Grimshaw to eat.

Mosquitoes are big but slow and easy
to swat.

Continued on to High Level, Alberta.  This highway now is quite monotonus, basically a 2-lane corridor lined on either side by spruce and aspen forests set back 100 feet from the roadway.  There were signs warning of buffalo but none to be seen. I did encounter a small black bear, maybe a juvenile, on the shoulder. When I slowed and beeped my horn he bounded about for a moment and then headed down the embankment.

I passed a miles long stretch of dead forest and wondered the cause. It didn't look to me like it had burned but later in the day I was told that it had indeed bureed a few years back in a gigantic out-of-control blaze.  The guy who told me had fought the fire.  He said it was the result of a fire that was allowd to burn to reduce fuel load but jumped its containment.

Checked into Our Place Motel.

June 29, 2022

Headed north, now committed to reaching Great Slave Lake.  More of the same straight line highway though here it rises and falls.  It's not the table top from earlier. The plan was to stay at Hay River Territorial Park for the night.

Arrived in Hay River by early afternoon and looked around.  There's a short boardwalk just off the "beach" (strip of sandy mud piled high with driftwood off the lake - to be expected in a lake surrounded by dense forests).  There was nothing spectacular or beautiful to be seen, but it felt oddly peaceful with a stiff breeze blowing south off the lake (the wind that had been my face all the way up from High Level).  There's a harbor which I didn't try to enter.  I could see about four 75 foot or so boats, all identical design, up on blocks on land.  From the rust and lack of maintenance I'd guess they are in permanent dry dock.  I could see a couple others in the water.  I don't know if they are fishing boats or what.  It did occur to me to wonder how they got here to this landlocked lake.

Zoom in to see that three boats in foreground are
on dry land.  The one in background is in the water.

I decided that there was nothing to keep me here so headed back south to High Level.  It would have been nice to stick a pin in Yellowknife, but continuing north for another day didn't feel prudent given the bike needs an oil change and the rear tire is looking ever more sketchy.  I had no regrets and the ride south was quite enjoyable.  The road is almost as sparsely traveled as the Trans Labrador Highway so I could open the throttle and make good time. Plus the wind was now at my back.

Checked back in at Our Place then walked across the road to a Yamaha dealership to inquire about tires.  They had some but nothing to fit my bike.  Had a long chat with the friendly counter man (everybody up here is friendly - strangers will walk up and start a conversation).  From him I learned that Friday is a national holiday and that many businesses make it into a 4-day weekend. Ohhhhh dang. A big monkey wrench in my search for a tire.

Fuel notes:  North of High Level there is a convenience store gas pump at Meander Creek.  Other than that there is nothing until another convenience store pump at Enterprise.  Hay River however has full service and multiple gas stations.

Lodging notes:  I didn't notice anything between High Level and the border where there is a campground.  Possibly one could rough camp.  This would entail exploring random dirt roads extending into the forest.

Almost forgot the "bulldog flies."  Every time I stopped I was swarmed by what looked like what we called horse flies when I was growing up in Pennsylvania.  A girl at the tourist information place at the border of the "territories" gave me the name "bulldog" and said they were especially bad this year possibly because of earlier wet weather.  And they bite, she said.  But, they didn't bother me and seemed more interested in buzzing around my bike.  My faring and the lower legs of my riding gear are now plastered with disgusting bug goo from these guys.

June 30, 2022

Spent the morning on the phone trying to find a tire.  The second monkey wrench after the holiday is that there's very little stock up here.  I guess this highway is a bit off the beaten track for motorcycles.  I found something all the way back in Prince George at Cycle North where I bought a tire on my last trip.  They won't be open until Tuesday morning and it is now Thursday.  There's a possible in Grand Prarie.  They said they will be around on the weekend. I may stop by on my way back south.

Wasn't paying attention and blew past checkout time so I booked for another night.  Tomorrow I will begin mossying south aiming to spend Monday night in Prince George unless I find a tire before then.

Did some laundry.

Went to Canadian Tire and changed oil in the parking lot.  The guys in the garage loaned me a drip pan and a crusty shop rag so I didn't have to use up one of mine.  They also offered rubber mechanics gloves but I had my own.  The Yamaha place also told me I could come around to change my oil there.

While working in the parking lot several people came up to chat.  One was a gentleman from the reservation west of here. They were all displaced by the flood and are being housed in local motels while their towns and homes are made safe. He said he's been stuck in a motel for 54 days and really wants to go home.  I was struck by his lack of rancor. That was refreshing given the levels of festering anger south of the border.

 July 1, 2022

Wending my way south to Prince George where I can pick up a new tire on Tuesday.  Today a short 210 mile ride to Fairview, Alberta and a motel.  Camping at Dunvegan a bit farther on was a possibility but weather was cool with a leaden overcast and I felt chilled and not in the mood to set up camp.  For dinner picked up a caesar salad, soup and some snacks from the local grocery and a beer from the liquor store.  It's Canada Day so nearly everything is closed. But not essentials like groceries and liquor.

Fuel note:  There are no services between High Level and Manning, a distance of 121 miles.  I did glimpse a pair of old pumps in front of a small building about 40 miles north of Manning.  I don't know if the pumps were in service.  I wouldn't depend on it.

Animal notes:  I've seen a number of beaver houses or lodges or whatever they are called in ponds.  There's a lot of water near the road, some in marshes and some in ponds as well as the lakes and rivers. I can't tell how much of the marshland and ponds is permanent or the result of a wet spring.  I can imagine that northern Alberta up to Great Slave Lake is a birder's paradise during certain times of the year.  I'm only seeing ravens and magpies.

Fairview seems a sleepy town.  But, that could be
because it is a holiday.

I've never heard of a self-serve pet wash.

Evening and the sun is out.  Maybe I should have camped.  Nahhh!

 July 2, 2022

Last night's motel was Fairview Motel.  It's a bit shopworn but not seedy or decrepit.  Good wifi and a full kitchenette.  All for less the $100 Canadian.

The owner/manager is from India.  We had a long friendly chat this morning as I was getting ready to leave.  He's worked in hotels around the world including Dubai and Moscow.  But he says he loves it here where he wears blue jeans instead of coat and tie and doesn't have the pressure and stress of high end hotel management.  He also owns a restaurant and some other establishment in town. He's been here 6 1/2 years and has two kids, one in kindergarten and one in 7th grade.  He plans to stay at least until they are in college.  

I was interested to know how his experience of the people in this region compared to mine.  He is dark skinned and bearded with an obvious accent and I asked if he encountered any racial animosity. He said all the time, but that that's everywhere.  He said people's reactions range from "it's so nice you bring your experience here" to "go home with your politics."  To the latter he says "you elect your politicians.  I run a hotel."  I liked him.

So, a really short ride today back down AB-2 and AB/BC-49 to Dawson Creek and another motel (Lodge Motor Inn for $90 including tax).  The farms here sit on oil and scattered about the fields are small block-like structures, each with a tank next to it and some with a pump jack nodding up and down.  I don't know if the ones without pump jacks are exhausted wells, idle wells or, perhaps, wells where the oil rises under its own pressure.  There is also what appears to be a small refinery.

I've mentioned how flat the land is, in places stretching tablelike to distant horizons.  I love riding across land like this where you can see weather developing miles and miles away.  Today I was racing forward under towering cumulus clouds.  One band of clouds was dark and ominous and I wondered if I could get out from under it before it started to release its rain.  In this broad landscape you can have an active relationship with the weather.  Instead of sitting passively in one place and waiting to see if the weather clobbers you, you can feel a sense of agency watching it and moving relative to it.

I saw a sign pointing to "Green Island Road."  That set in motion a train of thought.  At places the land looks like a vast green sea.  And scattered about on this sea are dark islands consisting of dense wooded areas.  I wondered why those islands of trees, some the size of small forests, were left in place.  Perhaps the soil is too rocky to farm?   Are they there to break up the wind?  Maybe to maintain some biological diversity?   I'm sure the deer appreciate them.

The Peace River meanders northeastward across Alberta.  AB-2 crosses it south of Fairview on the bridge mentioned in a previous post.  At that point the river has cut a dramatic, hundreds of feet deep valley, all the more dramatic as it's such an unexpected feature in the surrounding flatness.  The best view of the bridge is from the north on the steep descent into the valley. I wanted to stop for a picture but there was no convenient spot to pull over.

You can get a good view of the bridge from this angle using Google Streetview.  Search for "Dunvegan, AB" in Google Maps.

July 3, 2022

Continued backtracking on down to Prince George.  I had toyed with the idea of stretching my luck and getting on the Alaska Highway to Whitehorse in Yukon.  I was pretty sure I could get a new tire there at the Yamaha dealer (a call to confirm would have been necessary).  But pushing luck up here doesn't feel like a good policy.  I know what the road is like and my tire is almost to the wear indicators now.  

The decision to continue to Prince George turned out to be a fateful good one.  Since I haven't followed local news I didn't know that the Alaska Highway is closed indefinitely some 600 miles on from Dawson Creek due to a landslide and washout that occurred Friday evening (it's Sunday now).  I saw a whole bunch of big adventure bikes leaving town in that direction but didn't see if they turned south or were staying on the A.H.  If the latter, they may be experiencing a big disappointment about now.

Weather was balmy but very windy.  This is my third time on BC-97 between Prince George and Dawson Creek but the first time in the southerly direction.  I think this direction has the prettier views, especially in the northern part.  Lots of snow streaked mountains and rivers glistening in the sun.  And green, green, green.  I'm reminded how tired I got of that color the last time I was up here.  Just the gusty crosswinds took away a lot of the enjoyment.

Gave the bike a good hose down at a car wash across from the 97 Motor Inn then had dinner at Great Wall.

Wildlife:  Saw one moose, I think.  Just glimpsed it in the short vegetation that borders the road and thought "what is that big, weird looking deer?"  Then realized it must be a young moose.

Fuel:  It is 240 miles from Dawson Creek to Prince George.  I don't think there was any stretch of more than 50 miles without at least a convenience store gas pump.   Chetwynd and Bear Lake are good places to top up.

July 4, 2022

Biding time waiting for Cycle North to open tomorrow.  Rode over to a sporting goods store to get some extra camp food.  Spending the afternoon working out different destinations to chose from tomorrow as weather and mood dictate.  One possible is west on CA-16 to the coast (Prince Rupert and Stewart) and then up the Cassiar.  It might be fun to then take the Alaska Highway north to Haines Junction and then the Haines Highway down to Haines on the coast.  But weather forecast looks bad and with the A.H. blocked Yukon traffic may be rerouted onto  the Cassiar.  The Cassiar in bad weather with a lot of cars and trucks would not be fun.

Dinner at Thanh Vu, a Vietnamese restaurant next to Great Wall.  Nice place.  Online reviewers seem to indicate that the food is the real deal.  I can't judge.

 July 5-6, 2022

7/5/22

Spent the morning at Cycle North waiting to get a new rear tire mounted.  To save some money I removed and installed the wheel myself.  This I had to do in a gravel parking lot across the street as they don't allow people to work on their bikes on the premises.  Fortunately it did not start to rain before I finally got away at 1:30.  

I was kept company in the parking lot by some local idler whom I won't describe as it would just sound mean.  Also chatted at length with a rider from Santa Rosa who is on a 250 cc Suzuki.  I convinced him to visit Stewart/Hyder which is my immediate destination.

I considered trying to reach Smithers which is a good distance of about 230 miles but stopped in Burns Lake as it was late in the afternoon and I'd already hit considerable rain. Cruising through Burns Lake it was raining hard but suddenly I was nearly past the town and thought "ok, I'm going another 90 miles to Smithers."  But then the Sunshine Inn where I've stayed before appeared like a vision and I pulled over.

About to mount rear wheel with fresh
tire, a Pirelli MT-90.

7/6/22

While loading my bike another Californian came by to chat.  He'd seen my license plate.  He's Mexican and lived in San Diego until his kids were grown and then moved back to Tijuana. He and his wife now travel about in a pickup truck with a nice camping module in the bed which can pop up to over head height. I spied solar panels on the roof and a skylight.  It put thoughts in my mind of my post-motorcycle travel career.

They are returning from Prudhoe Bay.  He told me the road condition on the Dalton is good but muddy because crews now spray water as well as calcium carbonate on it to suppress dust. He's the second person to tell me that. 

Weather was dry as I left Burns Lake but it quickly started to rain.  I was careless and didn't close the vents on my jacket or put on gauntleted gloves until layers under the jacket were soaked. It was really pissing down as I rolled into Smithers. Stopped at a Subway for soup and a sandwich and debated continuing.

From Smithers to Stewart is a bit over 200 miles without many places to bail out.  So I opted for a motel. Called ahead to the King Edward Hotel in Stewart and made a reservation for next two days.  So, come hell or high water, I'll get to Stewart tomorrow.  Tomorrow looks like more of the same weather.

Fuel note:  Between Prince George and Smithers fuel is not a problem.  I don't think there was any stretch longer than 50 miles without a station.  It can feel remote on this road between towns.  Maintain discipline and travel on the top half of your tank and you won't feel anxious.

Lodging note:  There are motels in just about every town.  There are signs for campgrounds though I have never checked them out. I'm not aware of any provincial park campgrounds.

Camper truck mentioned above.  
Also, note the aspen (or is it birch) forest in the background.
I may have posted a better picture in a previous year's blog.

Proprietress of the Sunshine Inn was tending thriving 
container garden and small green house.

All too typical scenery the last two days.

 July 7, 2022

Not a great day.

Room last night was overly warm, but not sure why.  The only heat source in the room was the refrigerator which was set on max cool.  I set it to min cool so it wouldn't shed so much heat, but didn't solve the problem completely.  On the plus side, all my soaked gear dried by morning.

Got away fairly quickly at 8:30 after breakfast at A&W.  Heavy clouds but not raining.  Got one glimpse of the surrounding mountains but no more than the last time I passed through here.  A half hour later "hell and high water" arrived.  The rain started and didn't relent until after Kitwanga Junction where CA-16 meets BC-37 N.  

Mountains are increasingly spectacular going west from Smithers but only if you can see them.  For me scenery consisted of green trees, white fog, wide, swollen, fast flowing rivers and occasional glimpses of snow streaked mountains.

Fuel stops at Kitwanga Junction and Meziadin Junction.  The latter is where BC-37A branches off down to Stewart.  Here I discovered there is a cafe around back that mainly serves work crews who also house in a kind of barracks building on the premises.  I had a nice bowl of soup and a sandwich.

37A to Stewart runs along a gorge next to the Bear River. In good weather it is stunning.  Towering mountains rise on both sides with glaciers spilling off their faces.  But today much of that was invisible.  I'll try to  get some pictures tomorrow or when I leave on Saturday.  And it was windy. I was craning my neck to look up at the mountains and suddenly realized the bike was being whipsawed back and forth by a powerful and erratic tail wind.

I've been looking forward to Stewart and Hyder all trip long.  Maybe I should have stuck with my memories.  The King Edward Hotel is under new management.  Its restaurant no longer has a liquor license and I'm told the food is now only mediocre.  Also, the fun crew that was here in 2019 is gone, including the asian woman who managed the restaurant and whom I found so intriguing.  Worst of all the Bus Restaurant in Hyder is gone.  I go away for 3 years and expect the world to remain exactly as I left it when I return.  How unreasonable is that?

Day ended well with a good meal and conversation.

Tomorrow if weather is good I'll try to get some pictures.

 July 7, 2022 cont.

Dinner was at a quirky place down the street from the King Edward full of antique appliances and bric a brac.  It's a bit pricey, but probably the only good place for dinner in town.  It's run by a big, friendly Mexican guy.  A well-behaved pair of chickens and a rooster wander about outside. I can't remember the name but just ask anyone for the "Mexican place."

Until you've ridden a motorcycle in the rain on a two lane highway with big rigs coming the other way, you don't appreciate how much spray a tractor trailer kicks up on a wet road.  You see the truck approaching, trailing a huge opaque white plume that obscures your lane.  You plunge into the plume like driving into a car wash at 60 miles an hour. Then you anticipate the sideways whack of the wind off the truck which sometimes is like a baseball bat up side the head and sometimes doesn't materialize at all making the experience feel oddly incomplete.

A&W seems to have boarded the healthy, sustainable,
ethical bandwagon.

Fuel stop at Kitwanga Junction where the 16 meets BC-37 N.
This is the last fuel for 90+ miles before Meziadin Junction.
It also marks the turnoff for 37-N which could be easy to miss.

A common sight at gas stations this far north. A bunch of
big BMW touring bikes and a big rig with a giant grill to 
fend off large animals on the road.

Fuel stop at Meziadin Junction.  Here is the turnoff for
BC-37A which runs 30 some miles to Stewart.

First look at Stewart.

A little later the rain let up and the clouds rose a bit.

July 8-13, 2022

Another multi-day post.

July 8, 2022

Spent the day in Stewart without going to Hyder.  The steep gravel road up to Salmon Glacier would probably be even nastier in the rain and mist would have made glacier viewing iffy.  So, with the Bus Restaurant gone, there was little incentive to cross the border into Alaska.

NOTE:  For more pictures of Stewart and of Salmon Glacier see August 10-12 postings under the label "Alaska 2019."

This is about all you could see of the mountains
most of the time.

An attractive corner store.  You can see how the 
cliffs and mountains overhang the town.

There's an extensive boardwalk extending out into a wetland area at the head of the Portland Canal, the fjord that ends at Stewart.  In the distance I could see a ship waiting at the long sloping conveyor that I assume is used to load ore. There's a picture from the Hyder side in one of my 2019 posts.  The young woman at the visitor center told me that currently the ore is all gold and silver but that copper may start up again soon.  The ore is trucked from the mines, some of which one passes on the Cassiar Highway.

The start of the boardwalk.  If the resolution is good
enough, then zooming in you can just make out a ship
waiting to be loaded.

There were a lot of berry bushes in the marsh so I wonder if the bears come there to forage.  The boardwalk must be a great bird watching spot.  

I liked this foot bridge.

Had a pretty good bowl of soup at the Mexican restaurant.  Ate dinner at a pizza place across the street. That was not so good.  I much prefer thin crust pizza.  This was thick crust and larded with cheese.  I ordered a medium thinking a 10 inch would not be enough. I left half unfinished.

July 9, 2022

I think I've described the road from Meziadin Junction to Stewart before.  It's really half of the reason to take the side trip to Stewart.  Well, one third of it. One third is Stewart and Hyder. The other third is Salmon Glacier.  Anyway this road has everything that characterizes this part of the world.  Lush forest, madly rushing rivers, towering cliffs, glaciers.

Intermittent  sunny and heavy, threatening overcast.  The latter won out as I approached Dease Lake. Had planned to camp at a site on the lake a few miles past the town but the sight of the Northway Motor Inn was just too enticing.

Cassiar Hwy:  Traveled this in 2018 in the opposite direction  If I ever finish assembling posts from 2018, I'll put up some photos. I remember it as a much rougher road and more of an adventure.  It seems that the BC government has been improving it since then.   I also remember it as much prettier,  but that could be the weather or even the direction. The views may be better heading south.  There were still some nasty dirt and gravel sections, actually mud and gravel given the recent rain and plenty of potholes.  I'll see what the last 145 miles from Dease Lake to the 37 Junction is like tomorrow.

I don't know what these roadside flowers are.

A fuel stop. Not sure where. If you have a 100 mile range,
then this highway is not a problem fuel-wise.

Just another seemingly endless corridor 
through the trees.

In 2018 I spent 2 nights on the road staying at Boya and Kinaskin Provincial Parks so made a more leisurely trip of it then. Racing all the way up to Dease Lake and a motel felt like cheating.

July 10, 2022

About to leave the Northway Inn.

Remainder of Cassiar up to 37 Junction reminded me more of the last time I was here.  It's a narrow paved road, no markings, no shoulder. Basically a long corridor through forest.  It's very curvy and very hilly with the kind of hills where you can't see over the crest until you are on the crest and staring down.   A roller coaster.  There is one segment a couple hundred yards long where the road bed was built up to smooth out a deep gully.  With no shoulder and almost vertical embankment it had the feeling of riding across a bridge with no railing.

I saw a brown bear mom with two cubs.  The cubs were cavorting in the middle of the road when I spotted them from a few hundred yards and slowed.  They ran back to mom who was in the underbrush next to the road.  She kept an eye on me and I on her as I slowly rode past.

Typical scenery.

More typical scenery.

Junction 37 where the Cassiar meets the Alaska Highway.

Went to the Big Creek Government Campground 25 miles west of 37 Junction.  It was quite nice but it was just 2:30 and the mosquitoes were swarming.  I couldn't face idling there all day swatting mosquitoes constantly and doubled back to Watson Lake east of the junction and a motel.  This feels like a turning point.

Heading west to Big Creek the scenery was the now terribly familiar corridor through forests.  But once in a while it rose momentarily above the level of the treetops and I could see out over a vast ocean of forest to far horizons.  "Vast" is a descriptor that come to mind over and over up here.

Somewhere in the last few days I saw a fox crossing the road - one more animal to add to the wildlife list.

Watson Lake is one of the full service stops on the Alaska Highway.  There are plenty of motels and a campground just outside town.  I chatted with a couple of bikers who stayed at the campground.  They said the mosquitoes were terrible.  This is no exaggeration - I think the mosquitoes around here right now are almost as bad as the black flies in Labrador I encountered in 2017.

Weather was pretty good.  Windy with alternating sun and clouds.  For the most part the clouds did little more than threaten and occasionally emit a little misting rain.

July 11, 2022

Good weather though windy again - one of the themes of this trip.

Began with a short ride up Hwy 4, the Robert Campbell Highway, which runs some 300 miles up to Carmacks.  I had thought at one time of exploring it.  It's southern terminus was a block from my hotel. I quickly encountered a lighted sign saying it is closed - I think due to fires farther north.   I kept going just to see where the pavement ends and dirt begins. After 6 miles came to a service truck and a barrier.  I chatted with the sole worker there who offered to call his supervisor to see if I could proceed.  But I wasn't interested in  going further.  He informed me that the pavement ends about 60(?) miles on.  Incidentally, there is a nice sounding government campground, Frances Lake Government Campground, about midway between Watson Lake and Ross River. The latter is the only outpost with fuel between Watson Lake and Carmacks.  Carmacks is on the way to Dawson City near the beginning of the Dempster and Top Of The World highways. I"d heard earlier of road closures in that area due to fire.

Stopped briefly to look at Sign Post Forest, a landmark in Watson Lake.  People have hung signs from all over the world.  It's hard to believe that someone would carry a street sign from Germany all the way here, but apparently they do.

A bit of "Signpost Forest."

Kleinblittersdorf, we know what happened
to your sign!

Now the fun began.  I headed east intending to reach Fort Nelson.  Making good time I stopped for lunch at a cafe near Muncho Lake.  Wrong-way-itis took hold and I forgot which side of the highway I was on and left turning right instead of left.  The sky was overcast and gave no clue about direction.  There were no signs. I headed back west.  The scenery looked different going the opposite way, but I really should have noticed.   Nevertheless, I didn't realize the error until approaching a very familiar looking bridge near Liard Hot Springs, a distance of about 70 miles!  

This nice bridge was the clue that I was
going the wrong way.

Finally got straightened out and headed back toward Fort Nelson.  I noticed that anger made me more aggressive riding.  Anger is a bit of a drug.  This didn't combine well with fatigue so I stopped to camp at Toad River Lodge.  

Toad River turned out to be probably the nicest commercial camping spot I've ever encountered:  grassy spot for the tent, a picnic table and a kitchen sink and electrical outlet (!!) under a small shelter.  And quiet, but for the occasional passing truck.  Also, washroom with shower, laundry, restaurant and gas pump.  All for $42 (Canadian). My site was next to a large pond containing an abandoned beaver lodge. The pond was nothing to look at in the evening, but lit up in the morning light when swallows circled catching their breakfast on the wing.  The swallows had their mud nests under the eaves of a nearby building.

In my experience you don't find commercial tent sites
this nice very often.

Wildlife sightings during the ride were abundant: a moose, a family of goats licking minerals from the road surface, one moose and dozens of bison.  The bison were big but sort of lanky compared to those I remembered from 2018 farther north.  Indeed, today I read somewhere that there are two varieties and the northern variety are the really bulky, menacing looking ones.  Even these were as big as me plus motorcycle and I kept a respectful distance and did not linger to take pictures.  The goat family - I assumed it was a family - included one larger which seemed unperturbed by passing vehicles while mom and children that ranged from a tiny one to nearly grown teenagers trotted a distance away every time a car approached.

Mountain goats.

Their coats were scraggly.  I'm guessing they were 
still shedding their winter wool.

You get lost in the vastness up here.

July 12, 2022

A nice sight to wake up to.

Short ride to Fort Nelson.  I decided to stay here for the night.  The road east and then south from Toad River is very twisty and hilly.  Again a roller coaster where you can't see what's over a rise until you are already committed and past the crest and plunging downward. Pity any frustrated truck driver behind me as I slow at a crest unwilling to dive blindly into the unknown.  I try to let them past me since they all know the road and are unafraid.

There were numerous traffic stops requiring a pilot
car to get past road sections being repaired or upgraded.
One yesterday was an especially nasty, hilly, muddy 1 km
jaunt on a bypass around the section of the highway that
washed out last week.  Kudos to crews that managed to open
the bypass in just a couple of days.

Shortly before town I passed the turnoff for BC-77 which runs up toward the Liard Highway which I once contemplated riding.  It is some 300 miles of dirt and gravel across the Territories to Fort Simpson (there sure are a lot of Forts around here) near Yellowknife. That put an idea in my head.  Tomorrow with good weather I would like to ride up to Fort Liard and either camp there or return to Fort Nelson.  

July 13, 2022

I took a shot at riding up to Fort Liard, a distance of about 130 miles.  I was anticipating pavement until the Northwest Territories border followed by dirt.  In fact, the pavement extended another 5 miles about 110 miles from my start point.  When I reached the beginning of the dirt it didn't take long to decide to turn back.  The road was rutted and muddy from rain.  I didn't fancy 20 miles of that on a heavily loaded DR so turned around.  I'd had enough of slippery mud the last few days in construction/repair sections of the Cassiar and Alaska Highways.

The decision to turn around was made easier by the fact that I'd filled my spare fuel canister before leaving Fort Nelson.  Otherwise, the round trip would have been at the bleeding edge of, if not over, my fuel range.  Score one for preparedness.  Carrying spare fuel gives you more flexibility to change plans en route.

Some 20 miles up the Liard Highway (BC-77) I hit a 9 or 10 foot break in the pavement.  It was only a one or two inch drop onto gravel between the two lips of pavement, but hitting it at 70 mph it felt like more when the tires hit the edge on the far side.  I rode on dreading the squirming that would indicate a flat tire.  But nothing happened.  I got off to check both tires but found no visible damage.  There still could be some internal damage but score two more points, one for my obsessive habit of topping up the air in my tires every morning and one for using heavy duty inner tubes.  I'm not sure standard tubes would have survived the high speed impact., especially if the tires were not completely aired up.

Southern part of the Liard Highway. 
We've seen this scene before.

Most state boundaries in U.S.A. are not announced
so proudly.

Interesting construction of this restroom at 
the NWT border.  Note caged rock walls and
double thick Corten steel entry.   Are they worried
that bears or bison might try to use the facilities?

Wildlife notes:  Heading north I saw an inky black form disappearing into the undergrowth, almost certainly another black bear. Coming back a young black bear bounded away from the road toward the shrubbery.  Probably the same guy.  It's too young to  have learned that these monsters on the road won't chase it.

Farther north was a group of maybe a dozen buffalo.  These were the "northern" variety with the massive heads and shoulders.

An odd looking bird about the size of a large pigeon attempted to run across the road as I approached. We missed each other by inches.

I was going to say something glib about Fort Nelson but changed my mind.  My first impression was that it looked like it is dying with many closed businesses.  But walking around I found many open shops and not just necessities like food, liquor and fuel but a health food store, a pizza parlor, a boutique of some kind and so forth.  There seems to be community life here that has survived the Great Recession, Covid and the ups and downs of the extractive industries.