After 93 days on the bikes we have reached our destination: Anchorage. It felt weird to cycle into Alaska’s biggest city, not only because of the heavy traffic and congested roads but most importantly because of the fact that our bike journey has come to an end. Anchorage has always been in the back of our heads and we have barely spent thoughts about it. Now that we are here, we are kind of overwhelmed. Apart from relaxing in our hostel room and enjoying good food (lots of it!), it was also wellness-time for our bikes. After carrying us and all our belongings for more than 8’700 km (not to mention the sometimes nasty weather and road conditions), they deserved a thorough cleaning. Finally, we diligently packed them in cardboard boxes for their way back to Switzerland.
In Anchorage we will meet Philipp’s parents and travel Alaska’s Southern part together in their rental camper van for a few days.
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When coming from the Tok Cut-Off Road and arriving in Glennallen - advertised as the gateway to Alaska's South - the town struck us as pretty cyclist and tent unfriendly. Additionally the weather predicted rain for the region of Valdez in the coming days, so our decision was quickly made: we would head north again and undertake our last gravel road adventure during this trip on the Denali Highway. When riding up to Paxson we got soaked wet, but for all the remaining other days our strategy had worked out once more. We were rewarded with sunny and warm late summer days and could enjoy the scenery at its best: from the Denali Highway we had a fantastic view on the Alaska Range and some close glaciers and from the George Parks Highway we were even as lucky to see Mount Denali one morning out of the clouds. What a spectacular finishing highlight for our cycling tour! These days we also encountered the Alaskan mentality more closely. The hunting season for caribou and moose had started last weekend and it seemed that half of all Alaskans drove their pick-up van, motorhome and trailer with (at least) two ATVs on the Denali Highway to shoot anything that couldn't get out of the way in time. Proof for that were the numerous bullet holes in the road signs! From then on, we were only cycling in bright colored clothing! For the first time while touring, it was quite difficult for us to find food. We would have expected this situation in more remote areas like on the gravel roads in the bush, but truly, it was more difficult to find proper food in Cantwell, just in front of the portal to the Denali National Park. The reason for this is, that all motorized vehicles stock up on food in the Anchorage and area, before driving the 300 miles to the park entrance. Being on bicycles, we can only cover such a distance in 4-5 days and were thus forced to shop at a gas station's food mart: for basic groceries (pasta, tortillas, chocolate bars, no fresh fruit and veggies etc.) we paid over 70 USD! To get this into a relation: one can fill up gas for three small sedan cars with that amount of money in Alaska! So it is evident where priorities lie in this state. Also, when approaching more inhabited terrain again around Wasilla and Palmer, we were amazed by the nearly even number of fast food restaurants, gun shops and churches that alternated along the highway. On the other hand, we were greeted and welcomed to Alaska warmly on the farmer's market in Palmer by numerous pedestrians. It seemed to us that the Alaskan people are as rough and diverse as the state's landscape - and you can always be in for a surprise! One morning, when calmly cycling along the George Parks Highway, we suddenly came up upon a moose mother with two calves feeding right next to the shoulder on the road. The encounter however was too close and too sudden to end peacefully: the moose cow charged at us but we were have been rolling at a decent speed and could easily escape. Although we were well aware that moose could be much more dangerous than bears, this experience made our hearts pound and the effect of loosened adrenaline was stronger than having drunken two espressi! What troubled us most was the unpredictability and dumbness of this moose: instead of standing still or fleeing into the woods it chose to charge... From now on, whenever we saw anything alike brown fur we changed sides on the road. And sure enough we saw another two calves along the shoulder the same day! We didn't wait to meet mummy too... Our days on the bicycles are definitely counted now as we are only miles away from Anchorage. We are therefore starting to take it slower: we stayed two nights at Nancy Lake State Recreation Area (thank you for the hint - Ines, Res, Anja and Sina :-)) and some days in Palmer where we enjoyed a genuine American breakfast. The "Top of the World Highway” connects the Yukon (Canada) with Alaska (USA). More precisely, the 281 km long road consists of two highways: the Top of the World Highway from Dawson City, over the Poker Creek border, to Jack Wade Junction and the Taylor Highway from Jack Wade Junction to Tetlin Junction, right before Tok. Some parts of it are paved, some parts are gravel. Most commonly, though, the road leads steeply up away from the Yukon River to the crest and then "roller-coasts" in seemingly endless ups and downs through the Fork River Valley and along Mount Fairplay’s feet into the plain of the Tanana River. For us, the "Top of the World" Highway was meant to be the queen stage of our biking tour - and it truly lives up to its name! We had to earn it well and also encountered our most strenuous legs on this road. The climb from Dawson City we had to master in deep fog and additionally the gravel road was so soaked, that our bicycles dug themselves right into the mud. We gritted our teeth and fought our way. Passing RVs stopped and offered us a ride, but we were too dirty to feel comfortable enough to load our bicycles into their living rooms... and we were also too stubborn and proud :-). Finally - and just as we reached the crest - the fog lifted and we had a gorgeous view over a manifold of mountains. Continuing seemed so much easier now and when we crossed the border, we were cheered upon by the awestruck border control agents. Pictures were taken of us, the giraffe honk was admired and we received drinking water and plenty of good wishes for the rest of our trip. That was the nicest US border crossing we have ever experienced! On our second day, we cycled on to Chicken. The former gold mining village was intended to be named Ptarmigan - a common bird in this region - however, it is said, that its inhabitants did not know how to spell the word, so it was soon established as Chicken. We will also remember Chicken for another reason: just as we were having lunch next to the only Café and souvenir shop, a truck camper pulled in and Philipp's parents were waving at us! It was all arranged that we will meet them in Anchorage at the end of our bike trip, but it was a total surprise to see them already on the road. We celebrated the gathering by spending the rest of the day in Chicken and the night together on the RV Park. We got spoilt with news and food from home and felt very lucky altogether :-). It made it just slightly harder the next morning to wave good-bye and part in different directions. Here we went on another roller-coaster tour towards Tetlin Junction. After every climb we hoped it was the last one, but sure enough we could spot the next one once we were on the top... perseverance and stubbornness became a new meaning on this day for us! We stayed optimistic (after all what other choice did we have and let's remember that we absolutely wanted to cycle this road) and were happy that the sun was shining, temperatures were high and the view priceless. In the end we made it to Tok after only three days and had dinner observing a movie-like sunset from our campsite. It can't get much better, seriously :-).
The beautyScenery: The route leads through rough mountain chains, vast plains, endless tundra with thawing permafrost, drunken forest of small spruce trees, wide and rapid rivers. The diversity and the abrupt changes of scenery are breathtaking. The nature seems not to have changed since the last ice age and being in the middle of this grandness makes you feel very humble. Wildlife: We saw arctic foxes, ground squirrels, ptarmigans, falcons and a grizzly bear mother with two cubs. Also some mosquitos and black flies... but the latter were not as bad as we were warned of. We only used half of our insect repellent stock and we neither used our two head nets nor the AfterBite lotion. People: As during our travelling before, it was the people who made this experience even more fulfilling. During our preparation for the journey in Dawson, we received great support from the Northwest Territories Visitor Centre. We were offered to have food delivered to Eagle Plains - midway of the Dempster Highway - which only made our adventure possible. On the campground in Dawson, a guided tour from Cycle Canada were our neighbors and we got to know Bill, Ed, Ted and Katie together with their supporting guides, who started their journey a day before us. It was fantastic to meet this pleasant group on the road again and to share several evenings and bike cleaning/repairing sessions together :-)! At the Tombstone campground we met Jason from Edmonton and we happened to travel about the same legs everyday and thus arrived together in Inuvik. At the Arctic Circle - just as we were taking our memorable snapshots - a VW Bus T5 with Swiss license plates turned in and Elvira and Ingo, together with their dog Perla, approached us. The same evening on the Rock River campground, they offered us a piece of delicious home-made camping bread and an apple-berry cake and the next evening at Nitanlaii campground, they invited us for pizza from the camping grill. We had definitely gained a new friendship! Their "Bye Bye Büssli" by now passed us every day and once in Inuvik we even celebrated August 1st together :-). Also, we received great support from other Dempster travellers along the road. There were Kelly and Peter from friendly Manitoba who offered us cold water, granola bars and original South Korean coffee on top of the Seven Mile Hill. The same supply we received again, when we crossed them at the ferry station of Peel River! And there was Günther and his family from Germany who were so kind as to transport our bear spray and camping fuel back in their RV from Inuvik to Dawson. The Arctic seems to connect people! The beast
The Dempster Highway has a few passes to take, but we found it more demoralizing to see endless roller coaster stretches of up- and downhill passages in front of us. And in the plain close to Inuvik, there is a 30 km stretch right through the tundra that is all straight. As we had strong headwinds on this stretch it took us two hours (it felt like 5 hours!) to ride it. That's when you start emptying your heads and just keep spinning. Weather: All together, we consider ourselves lucky with the weather we experienced on the Dempster Highway. In general, the weather could always change within minutes and one of our constant debates was whether to wear our rain gear or not. Often we ended up wearing it, just to protect ourselves from the dirt and also from mosquitos. We had rain on a daily basis, but in all essential moments i.e. while passing the Arctic Circle, the sun was out. The wind was mostly in our back and temperatures ranged in between 5 to 25 °C. Bicycle cleaning and maintenance: Our bikes aged by around five years in terms of usage during this journey. Every day we cleaned the essential parts such as chain, brakes and gear shifter; sometimes twice a day. If the mud got into our chains, a horribly scratching sound evicted. Midway through the Dempster, Philipp had to replace two spokes on his rear wheel (for which he first had to remove the entire cassette). We were carrying a lot of water on that specific day, and thus had overloaded his bike and it could not withstand the weight on the bumpy road. Thanks to our excellent advisor M*** back home, we had all the necessary spare parts with us and Philipp could luckily fix it, otherwise this would have been the end of our journey by bicycle (there are no bike repair shops in Inuvik or Dawson City). Additionally, Bill could supply us with a lower pulley, which started to wear out. Other than that, we have been very lucky and no major repairs were necessary. InuvikWe arrived at the end of the Dempster Highway in the morning of our 7th day. The sun was shining, the temperatures were up at 25 °C and it was August 1st – the Swiss National Day. It felt tremendous and we were glad having had decided to face this challenge. Together with other happy Dempster-Finishers we celebrated the successful journey and rested for two days in Inuvik. Life in Inuvik stroked us as fairly different. We were impressed by the variety of goods in their supermarket (food, ski-doos, chain saw and housing supplies under one roof), the pretty Igloo Church and the houses on stilts as well as water/sewer connections above ground, both measures not to harm the permafrost. For our journey back to Dawson, we treated ourselves with a flight in a Hawker Siddeley 748 (built in 1971 and one of only 22 of its kind still in use) with exceptional service from Air North. Landing on a gravel strip was another adventurous experience :-). We will rest in Dawson City for a few days before heading for the Top of the World Highway into Alaska. |
Blog Archive
September 2016
CountersKilometers pedalled
Hours on the bike
Meters cycled uphill
Flat tires
Burgers eaten
Bears sighted
Day by day statisticsFor those interested in our day by day activities and statistics, please download the following document.
World Clock
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