Tok - Haines Junction

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  Haines Junction, Yukon, Canada
Saturday, July 12, 2008

Miles: ~300
Weather: Showers all day.  Cool, mid 50s

The trip back down the 'the hell road' was everything we had anticipated.

We departed Tok around 0830 after having breakfast with Bob at fast Eddy's.   Alex was a bit pissy.  I assumed he was thinking about the seven hours of tough riding ahead of us.  We had traversed this portion of the ALCAN on our way up so we had an idea what was in store.  The trip down, however, would be significantly cooler and probably wetter.  I would also have to resist that 'horse heading back to the barn' urge and keep the speeds safe. 

The leg from Tok to the US/Canadian border was relatively quick.  We stopped for about 15 minutes for construction and had to deal with frequent pavement breaks.  Although the pavement breaks didn't seem as bad this time.  We made it through Canadian customs easily. 

Shortly after crossing the border the frost heaves began.  Uprisings and depressions caused by the melting and freezing of the road bed.  The Canadians do a good job marking the damaged areas with florescent orange flags but there are so many it looks like a football field. Additionally there are frequent  areas of broken pavement with pot-holes.  OK, we have done this before but now it began to rain.

The sky was a mosaic of enormous rain clouds.  In an area like the Yukon,  thevistas are so great you can see many many miles.  We knew when we were going to get wet because we would ride in to most of the down-pours and see the next one or two episodes of rain to come.  Southern Alaska drizzle is easy to manage but this Yukon rain was frequent and heavy.  So coupled with the bad roads and the limited visibility afforded by the rain, the ride to Haines Junction was serious.

Imagine riding along thinking you had a couple of hundred miles of nasty road ahead so you are impatient. But now you are getting rained on - hard.  After the first or second deluge your windshield is obscured, your glasses or goggles are fogged-up and you are cold.   So what do you do? What you should do and we did weren't synonymous (big surprise), we kept riding.  Unfortunately we paid the price.  Now don't freak out.  We didn't crash but we had a couple of near-death experiences.  When Alex and I left our seats looking like astronauts on a space walk and Alex screams "Oh my god, Oh my god" probably time to slow down.

Today's ride was one f the most demanding motorcycling experiences I have had in 30 years of riding.  Fortunately I had made reservations at the Cozy Corner (stayed there on the way up) in Haines Junction.  So the thought of a warm room and showers carried us through.  We were spent when we rolled in to Haines Junction and the Cozy Corner.  The bike was dirty but I'll have to say it faired very well.  Any doubts I may have had about a Harley making an Alaska trip are gone.

Tomorrow we head to Haines Alaska (different than Haines Junction YT) to catch the ferry on the 14th.  Tomorrow's ride would only be 150 miles or so.  The ride promised one of the best yet.  We shall see!       

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