Arctic Circle July 2003-  Day by Day Trip Report.

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The Trip

My good motorcycle riding friend Geoff and I planned this trip two  years before it took place. It was originally locked in for summer of 2002. Geoff and I work at the same place and our company restructured just prior to the 02 trip. Our boss cancelled it.  He made it very difficult for Geoff to go and impossible for me.  We re-scheduled for summer 2003. In 03, work forced Geoff to cancel the trip. I was encouraged to cancel it as well. I think the big guy was thinking if he canceled the trip for Geoff, I wouldn't go either. That was all the push I needed to just go anyway, even it that meant by myself. If you don't just do something. It will never get done.

The Arctic Circle. One other thing that is easy to explain, but sometimes hard the understand is what really drove me to take this trip.  I've always been a map fan.  Growing up my Dad and I would spend hours studying maps. To this day, for Christmas I always ask for maps or Atlases. As long as I can remember,  I've wanted to go to the Arctic Circle. I realize its just a line on the map and once you get there, just a sign alongside the road. But I just had to go there. I tried to Cross the Arctic circle in 1998.  Just before I got there, the Dempster Highway was washed out by heavy rains 175 miles south of the Circle.  The road was closed for three weeks. Sort of a big deal for me. A really big deal for the people on the north side of the washout. At that time the Dalton Highway was open to the public by permit. I didn't have a permit and figured I'd just have to come back another day.

Summer of 2003 was that day....

Day 1. Saturday. Mid Willamette Valley to Chehalis Washington.  175 Miles

I'd been thinking about this trip for a long time.  In my mind I had a list of all the things I would need and the route I would take. I figured the trip would take three weeks. I had four weeks off if I needed it. As it turned out three was enough. After I got back I swapped my last week of vacation for another motorcycle trip at the end of the summer. Geoff got to go on that one.  During the week prior to my departure,  I'd been gathering my gear and laying it out on the garage floor. I'd look at the pile for a couple minutes each night and was pretty sure I had just enough, but not too much stuff. 

I was at a going away party for another friend from work the  night before I was to leave.  After a few beers I committed to playing 18 holes of golf the next  morning. After golf, my wife made a big going away lunch. By 2:30 in the afternoon I finally got around to loading the gear on the bike. By 3:00 I was on the road. Not the early start I'd planned, but time was on my side. While golfing the sky was blue, the air warm and still.  By the time I left, a high overcast had moved in with really strong winds.  To make up for lost time I would ordinarily take the freeway north. High winds and the KLR on the freeway aren't allot of fun, so I took the secondary roads north to Portland. I crossed the Columbia on the freeway and headed into Washington.

This particular Saturday night was the Saturday of the STP Bike ride. A two day, 200 Mile, 10,000 participant Bicycle ride from Seattle to Portland.  I've done it a couple of times and its lots of fun. As the sun set, I was heading north at about the half way point of the bicycle ride. Most of the riders camp and all the campgrounds and lots of city parts are full of camping bicyclists.  I coasted the KLR in with all the bicycles and other than a few evil looks, fit right in.

Day 2. Sunday. Chehalis Washington to Cache Creek BC - 435 Miles

The STP riders get up early. They aren't loud, but they woke me up too.  I also heard an all too familiar sound on my tent. Rain.  I guess all that high wind the day before blew in more than just high clouds. Oh well. I put on the rain gear and got back on the freeway.  There is something worse than high winds when riding the KLR on the freeway. A really heavy warm mist on the KLR on the Freeway. It was so humid that I couldn't keep the face shield on my helmet nor my eye glasses from fogging up. I got off the Freeway in Centralia before I rear ended somebody.  I rode the back roads through Tenino. Yelm, McKenna and Roy. I pulled into a covered drive through at a bank in Yelm to clean off my glasses and have a snack. The roar of a dozen wet Harley riders came through town. It must have been the return trip from an overnight ride and not one of them was prepared for the weather. I didn't feel so bad after seeing guys with open face helmets getting pelted with rain and upset wives/girlfriends hanging onto their backs trying to shield their faces.

I started to break out of the rain by Puyallup and the road was dry for a while around Bellevue. Once north of the greater Seattle area it was decent riding. I spotted a Costco in Burlington WA and stopped for sleeve of AA batteries for my camera and mini-mag light as well as some of the best inexpensive road food you can find. The $1.50 Costco Hot Dog and a Soda.  I had planned to ride through Vancouver and take Hi Way 99 through Whistler.   As I traveled north on 1-5 toward the Canadian boarder, it appeared the weather was still unsettled and that the drier route would be to turn inland and ride up the Fraser River canyon. At Bellingham I left the Freeway and took the shortcut to cross the boarder at Sumas.  I've crossed back and forth at Sumas about a dozen times. 2/3 of the time its a piece of cake. The other third of the time its a fiasco.  Luck was on my side and as soon as I convinced the kind lady young in the booth that I really did have both 4 weeks of vacation and job to go back to, I was through.  Honesty has actually caused me more problems at the border than its solved.

I love signs in kilometers. Even though I was only 1:00pm on day two, signs reading speed limit "100 KPH" make it seem like you are a long way from home. I took Canadian Highway 1 east toward Hope with a side trip to Harrison Hot Springs.  They were having an arts and crafts show by the lake. It was still sort of rainy with lots of low clouds so you couldn't see all the beauty of the area. Its the kind of town my wife would love. After a tour, I rode onto Hope, gassed up the bike, got some snacks and turned north up the Fraser River Canyon. About an hour north of Hope my wishes came true. I broke out of the rain. Soon there was actually a strong wind at my back.  The KLR is really peaceful riding at 70-75mph with a 25+ mph wind at your back. I saw a couple good looking places to camp, but kept going until the sun started to set. With that wind at my back I would have gone a couple more hours if it hadn't gotten dark.  I found a nice little privately owned campground/rv park. I sort of like these because at night I always think, "it will be nice to take a shower in the morning."  I had a good burger for dinner and called it a day.

Day 3. Monday. Cache Creek BC to Houston BC- 475 Miles

Monday morning I woke up in the campground with the shower and didn't take one. It always seems like a good idea the night before, but its easier to just get up, get dressed and go.  It was clear and crisp outside. I had donuts for breakfast at Tim Horton's in Clinton.  The place was packed and 20% of the customers were law enforcement officers reinforcing the myth that cops hangout at donut shops.  The morning was filled with smooth riding up Highway 97. At Quesnel I contemplated the idea of taking off on the back/dirt roads and cut the corner to Vanderhoof and skip Prince George.  I also know that even though the route is shorter as the crow flies, its often much longer on the motorcycle. Besides, my plan was to keep the show on the road heading north to the Arctic Circle and mess around with silly side trips on the way home if time allowed.  Early afternoon I got to Prince George. 

Prince George is where you make the big decision to take the westerly route up the Cassiar Highway or eastern route up the Alaska highway.  I went up the Cassiar and down the Alcan on a trip I took to Alaska in the car in 1998. It worked good then and I figured it would work just as good now. I toured around Prince George. It has all the looks of the largest city in the northern interior of BC. A business and distribution center as well as a jumping off spot for all points north.  I jumped off on the Yellowhead Highway traveling west toward Vanderhoof and Smithers.

Not long after leaving Prince George, I could see Thunder clouds building up on the horizon. It always amazes me how quickly thunderheads build up and  dump down on you.  It was about 15 minutes from the time I admitted to myself that I wasn't going to avoid the Thundershowers and  put on my rain gear until all Hell cut loose.  When you can hear the thunder loud and clear over the noise of the wind and pouring rain and hailstones on your motorcycle helmet, you know its a good one.  It was raining so hard the locals were driving about 30 mph.  I was in a line of cars and we all bunched up and followed the taillights of the vehicle in front of us. I thought about stopping, but was unsure if the guy following me would recognize that I was pulling over or just run over me.  I figured it was safest to just stay in line and ride it out.  The worst of it was over in another 15 minutes.

I pressed on toward Smithers. I rode in out of varying degrees of wind and rain.  It was one of those afternoons where the Darien Pants met their match. My butt was wet. In mid July I was far enough north that it got darker noticeably later.  The transition to darkness is also much more gradual. I reached Houston BC, home of the world's largest fly fishing rod, at dusk.  Highway 16 turns in a northwesterly direction as you travel west out of Houston. Looking straight ahead as I rode toward Houston I could see tall snow covered mountains and lots of really dark clouds. I really wanted to continue on to Smithers. I got a mile or two past Houston and thought this is ridiculous. I was wet and cold, it was another hour to Smithers. I rode back.  There were three equally large and run-down motels at the west end of town. I choose the one with the most cars the parking lot and got a room.  I turned up the heat, laid my gear out to dry, took a hot shower and had a dinner at the A&W down the street where I could look out the window and admire the world's largest fly rod.

Day 4. Tuesday. Houston BC to South of Good Hope Lake BC - 465 Miles

I sleep just as well in run-down motels as fancy ones; the previous night was no exception. I woke up refreshed and ready to hit the road. In Smithers I had breakfast at McDonalds. I knew this would be the second to last McDonalds I would see for the next 2500 miles and wanted to make the most of it. Smithers also has and Harley store.  The Smithers HD T-Shirt was one of the last two shirts missing from my Harley Dealers of BC collection. I would cleverly plan my route to go about 500 miles out of my way on the return trip to get the other missing HD shirt in Cranbrook.  The guy running the Harley shop spotted the KLR in this parking lot and commented on it being a great bike. "Lots of those around here." he said.  He asked where I was from and when I said Oregon, He asked if I'd sign his guestbook.

Further up the road in South Hazelton I stopped to watch the locals netting fish out of the river. A little further down the road is the intersection with Highway 37, the Cassiar, that leads north.  The big sign on the corner reads "North to Alaska..."  Its the spot on the map for me where the trip really starts.  The first 110 miles of the Cassiar are paved. There have been significant paving and road improvements since I drove it in 1998. My memory isn't the best, but there was an entirely new community called Bell II that had also been built since I was there last. 

The first 90 miles of the Cassiar I rode in and out of the rain. At the Meziadin Junction you can take a side trip to Stewart BC and Hyder Alaska. Its about 40 miles to the west of the Cassiar.  On the 1998 trip I spent the night in Hyder. If you haven't been there its well worth the time. Bear watching, the Salmon Glacier (the best Glacier you can drive too I've ever seen!) Good eating and drinking, etc.  I still had half a day's worth of riding in me when I got to the junction. It looked darker and wetter to the west by Hyder, so I kept with my plan to keep moving north. Even though it was wet, I thought the road was in great shape.  The Highway department puts lots of Calcium Chloride on the road for dust control and stabilization when its dry.  If it doesn't get too wet, the water will run off the CC covered dirt road almost as if it were pavement. Some spots were pretty rough with lots rocks stuck in the CC poking above the dirt surface.  A couple other sections were recently graded so they had to be shown respect. Overall it was smooth sailing.

Before I had dinner in Dease lake I was standing alongside a large reader board map on the roadside talking to two old German fellows.  They thought I should go fishing with them the next day at Telegraph Creek. This is a good time to bring up an interesting observation that followed with me the rest of the trip. When other people see an unintimidating  guy by himself on a motorcycle, they want to talk to you. When I got home, lots of people asked me, "wasn't it lonely going all that way by yourself?"  If I stopped anywhere other people were, It was rare to go more than a minute before I found myself talking to somebody. The further off the beaten path you get, the more interesting the people and stories you find. Furthermore, there aren't that many main roads so you start leapfrogging people and forming friendships as you go. Anyway, I'm thanking the German fellows for the offer on the fishing trip when the bright yellow R100PD pulls along side us.  The rider is friendly and polite, but quick and to the point. "I'm meeting some friends at a campground near the Cassiar/Alaska Highway intersection. Look for a sign with my name, Anton, join us if you'd like."  Then he took off running the bike through the gears.

If you appreciate a good, high miles BMW, this was it. The bike's windscreen was held on with sticks and zip-ties. It was a well loved bike, but no garage queen. As he pulled away, I also noticed Pennsylvania license plates and there wasn't a doubt in my mind he had ridden the bike from PA. It was about 9:30 at night. I hadn't had dinner yet and it was still 145 miles to the 37/Alcan junction. To me, it didn't seem realistic to catch up with him, but it wasn't entirely out of the question either.

After dinner I carried on. Two more rain showers and too many wildlife spottings later I decided to call it quits for the day. I camped at a place called Moose Meadows. A nice private campground with showers and firewood. There were some 15 passenger van tour groups of younger people there and quite  bit of activity.  The tent spots had very sturdy metal pole and blue tarp rain shelters.

Day 5. Wednesday. Good Hope Lake BC to Whitehorse YKT - 415 Miles

About 5:00 in the morning I woke up to pouring rain. I stayed in my tent until 9:00 waiting for it to pass. No luck. I got up, skipped the shower and packed my stuff.  The blue tarp shelter was a life saver for packing my gear and getting dressed without getting soaked. It was wet and pretty cool, This was the only day on the trip I used my heated vest. I never used my heated gloves. About 100 miles up the road I leave BC and enter the Yukon. This is also the same spot on the road where the dashboard went crazy and the airbag pre-deployment sequence started after I hit a bottomless pot hole in my car on the 1998 trip.

Upon intersecting the Alaska Highway I went east toward Watson Lake.  Two things pulled my that direction. A good hot meal and more importantly some pictures of the KLR in at the signpost forest. My original plan was to take the Campbell Highway from Watson Lake to Ross River. Geoff and I then planned to take an out and back run on the North Canol Road to the Northwest Territories boarder. We would then ride from Ross River to Carmacks, and continue on toward Dawson City.  This was one of the times that I really missed having Geoff along. He and I would have done it.  I didn't know how much longer it was going to rain, and had visions of slogging along at low speeds on slippery gravel roads and not having that much fun. At times like that, misery loves company. By myself, I decided to skip it.

After lunch I hopped back on the Alaska Highway and rode toward Whitehorse.  The Alcan highway is in great shape.  Goldwings outnumber dual-sport bikes. Its a big wide road with gentle bends.  The pavement on the Canadian sections of the Alcan is in better shape than lots of the roads in Western Oregon. The trees are cut back far from the road, so its easy to see ahead. Read that as: its easy to pass the motor homes. There are quite few construction zones. The Highway department waters them down for dust control. These sections are about the only mud most vehicles traveling to and from Alaska will ever see.

About 150 miles west of Watson Lake, near Teslin, I broke out of the rain. As it turned out this was the last rain that would fall on me for the rest of the trip. Another 30 miles up the road, I stopped at Johnson's crossing for Gas and a snack. The South Canol Road intersects the Alcan at Johnson's crossing. There were two groups of bikes at the little store.  There were four Germans who had shipped their bikes from Europe. Three rode KTM Adventure R's and the forth a "street legal" DRZ.  They were pretty hard core and off to see how far they could ride into the Northwest Territories on the Canol Heritage trail after the road ends.  The other group were three KLR Riders from Vancouver BC. They had ridden the ferry up from Vancouver and just gotten off in Skagway that morning. 

I chatted with the KLR riders for a while. They had a well planned figure 8 route around the Yukon. At that time they were headed north and I was going west, we parted ways saying "I suspect we will see each other again."  I rode on. A little further up the road is Jake's Corner. There used to be a gas station there with a fantastic collection of old junk scattered everywhere. The highlight were three old land Rovers. I remember a Red Series II Station Wagon, A green Series II pickup and a bare Series I 2-door.  They had evidence of last being road worthy in the 70's. Stuff seems to preserve real well up north. This time all the stuff was gone. I stopped to ask what happened and the attendant explained the old owner has sold and took all the stuff to his house. Too bad, now its just another place to buy gas.

Whitehorse. The town has added a Wal-Mart, Boston Pizza and a fancy new Honda dealership since I was last there. I'm sure they've added other things, but these three jumped out at me.  Wal-Mart lets RV'ers park in the lot. The Whitehorse Wal-Mart Parking lot looked like an RV show. Its funny to me to see so many people driving all that way to park their six-figure motor homes for free at Wal-Mart. Different strokes for different folks. I had read about camping at Takhini Hot springs 20 miles NW of town. I went to check it out.  Parked outside the registration office was Anton's bright yellow R100PD. Its a small world.  I got a camping spot next door to Anton and his friends, Phil, Bud and Jakita.

The trio had borrowed Phil's Mom's Sable to road trip from Duluth MN to Skagway to drop off Jakita. She was going to Ferry to Ketchikan and work for a few months at a cannery. It was unclear if Phil and Bud would make it back to Duluth on time. There were several bets and job implications around Duluth riding on it. There was also a buzz throughout the North about the Dawson City Music Festival. A big weekend long event that attracts 1000's of fun loving music fans.  Bud had met a girl earlier on the trip who would be going to the festival. Phil and Bud were fun loving guys.  I could see the writing on the wall - They weren't going to make it back to Duluth on time.  As a note. all three of them said good things about Aerostich as a company and place to work. From that day forward, I've just referred to it as they did,  "Stich"

Anton and I had an on and off discussion during the evening where he welcomed me to join him and on his trip to cross the Arctic Circle in Alaska on the Dalton. I had my heart set on the Dempster crossing.  As it turns out Anton ended up riding both roads. Hindsight being 20/20 I should have tagged along with him, used my fourth week of vacation, and ridden both. Oh well.

Day 6, Thursday,  Whitehorse YKT to Dawson City YKT - 350 Miles

In the morning I bid farewell to Anton and went back into Whitehorse to take care of some business. My rear tire was holding up well, but would need replacing before I got home. I figured it was better to put a plan together before I needed the tire, rather than after. A checked a couple places and nobody had my size in stock. The local Yamaha shop, STM Motor sports, was very helpful and ordered a tire in from Edmonton. Since I would be passing back through Whitehorse on my return trip. The folks at STM asked  me to call and make an appointment when I knew the exact date I would be in town so they could quickly change the tire and get me back on the road.

Back on the road.  Highway 2 travels north out of Whitehorse to Dawson City. Its a paved road kept in very good condition. While stopped at a construction zone, the flagger was about the 10th person I'd met who asked me, "Are you going to the Dawson City Music Festival?"  She went on the tell me that If I planned to get a camping spot in one of the campgrounds around Dawson, I'd better keep it moving and get there to stake out a spot as soon as possible.  I took her advise and skipped a side trip on the Silver Trail to Mayo, Elsa and Keno.

I visited this once bustling Silver mining area on my 1998 trip. Its still a center for mineral exploration in the area.  Mayo has about 500 residents. Its claimed to be both the hottest and coldest spot in the Yukon.  A record low of -80F and record high of 97F. A 177 degree temperature swing. Further up the road at Elsa, only about 10 residents remain to left to look after the United Keno Hill Mine.  It was one of North America's largest Silver Mines until closing in 1989 as a result of dropping silver prices.  If prices rise again to profitable levels, the mine could be quickly re-opened.  I've read several account of life as a miner at Keno Hill in the 60's and 70's.  It was fascinating to see the buildings and area exactly as described. As I looked around I could easily imagine the cast of characters living the hard life of the miner. Keno City has about 25 residents, a fantastic mining museum and plenty of its own history.

I got to Dawson City about 5:00. The town was very busy. The best camping is at the Yukon River Campground. Its across the Yukon River by Ferry from town. By car it would have been a long wait for the Ferry. The ferry personnel are really good about slipping a motorcycle on if they have room. I got the second to last campsite. The ferry runs 24 hours a day and welcomes foot traffic. Walking is the best way to get around Dawson and if you have a couple beers after dinner, you don't have to worry about riding back to camp. Dawson is touristy, but reasonably authentic. Many of the building are old. The sidewalks are elevated boardwalks and the city streets are dirt. About 2000 people currently live there year-round. I can't imagine what it would have been like in the Gold Rush days. I bummed around town and wandered back to camp to try and fall asleep in pretty light campground at 1:00 in the morning.

Day 7. Friday.  Dawson YKT - Rest Day - 65 Miles

Yukon Time. I had been on the road for a week and noticed a definite change to my sleeping pattern. At home I'm a get up a 5:00-5:30, walk the dog, read sports section and classified ads, and be to work by 7:00 sort of guy. I have a hard time falling asleep is its not dark. Likewise I usually wake up when it get light. Since even after the sun sets, it never really gets that dark up north, I kept staying up later and later. Eventually I'd just get tired and fall asleep. I'd wake up around 4:00 when it started to get noticeably brighter outside.  I'd typically lie in my sleeping bag for an 1/2 hour or more trying to fall back asleep. After I did, I'd sleep until I wasn't tired anymore. Friday morning I woke up at 11:00am.  Oops. 

I declared it a rest day.  There is lots to do and see around Dawson. Particularly with the Music Festival starting that afternoon. I rode through the gold fields and explored the current placer mining sites. I did some of the more aggressive off road riding of the trip on that day. The "unimproved" roads and trails have lots of loose dirt coupled with sharp jagged rocks cemented into place.   I found myself cutting up what remained of the tread on my rear tire. I still planned to ride that tire up and down the Dempster so decided to limit my aggressive exploration. If in the area, take the time for a tour of Dredge #4.  The Canadian Parks department is restoring the largest wooden dredge of the fleet that ran up and down the valley s around Dawson until the 1960's.  The area needs much more than a day to fully explore.

Late afternoon I returned to town to check out the Music Festival.  The sun was out under bright blue sky's. Shorts, a T-shirt and sandals were standard dress.  There were smaller free performances by the river. A large tent and fenced indoor, outdoor stage and gathering area were set up in town.  It was a very well organized event and everybody appeared to be having a good time. I called it a day about Midnight to go and get some sleep before beginning Saturday's trek up the Dempster.

Day 8, Saturday,  Dawson City YKT to North of Eagle Plains YKT. 305 Miles

I was excited to get back on the road and managed to get out of my sleeping bag by 8:00am.  The Dempster starts 25 miles east of Dawson City. There is a lodge, restaurant and gas station at the junction. I had topped off the KLR's gas tank and was having a fresh baked chocolate muffin when a tan Sable screeched to halt at the pumps. I heard the driver say, "Man am I glad to see a gas station, we've been in the red for the last 50 kilometers!"  "Yeah, me too, and I bet they have good food here." added the passenger.  I immediately recognized the voices. It was Phil and Bud from Duluth. They came over to say hello and ask the all important question, "Did you go to the Music Festival?"  I went on to give them the details. Good food and good music. I explained the biggest decision they were going to face after purchasing their wrist bands  was, do you want to drink your beer out of flimsy plastic throw away cups or purchase the official music festival re-usable mug.  Their heads nodded and smiles continued to get bigger. As if this wasn't enough I closed with, "...and by the way, there are so many good looking girls..."  Phil and Bud gave each other big high five's and had a look of pride and satisfaction on their faces like that of a Superbowl winning quarterback. "I KNEW it was a good idea to come to the music festival!" Phil said.  I thought to myself, they are never going to make it back to Duluth on time.  We wished each other well and I started up the Dempster.

There wasn't a cloud in the sky. Traffic on the Dempster is light. Sometimes you can go up to 45 minutes  without seeing someone else, other times you will see 3 or four cars in a row. The Canadian government spent a ton of money building the road and puts equal effort into maintaining it. Construction consisted of finding the nearest available rock and driving to the end of the road and dumping it down. Eventually enough rock would settle into the permafrost that a solid road bed had been created. Some sections are standard issue crushed gravel. Near some of the rivers, the Peel River in particular, round river rock is used. Some of it wasn't ground up so well and had the effect of riding on marbles. These sections needed the most respect on the motorcycle. Other sections near the NW Territories boarder are built out of black shale.  These sections were hardest on tires.  In the tracks,  the shale gets ground down to smaller pieces. On the shoulder and in the windrows its sharp and jagged. I believe the largest number of flat tires occur from the sharp pieces of shale getting caught in the tread of the tire and then getting driven into the rubber as the tire goes down the road. I went up and down with no flats.

If its wet, all bets are off. I can see why it would be very slippery on a motorcycle, or car for that matter. Calcium Chloride is used to control the dust and stabilize the road when its dry. (I'd hate to see uncontrolled dust). Reasonable amounts of rain can run off the surface of a calcium chloride treated road.  Heavy rains get absorbed and its turns into a slippery, muddy mess. Other than some watered down construction zones and the left over moisture of an afternoon thundershower, I got to ride a dry road.  The same time it had been raining on me in BC, it had rained heavily on the Dempster. I could see evidence of deep ruts in the mud in the areas of road that dried before the graders had a chance work the surface.   It looked like the kind of mud that would be great fun on the KLR if you had good knobby tires and went out in the hills for the afternoon of "gettin' muddy."  It looked like it would have been miserable with my road biased tires and riding in it all day trying to get somewhere. Certainly possible, but not much fun. 

Most of the north has landscape similar to that found within a hundred miles of my home in Oregon. The biggest difference being the size and scale.  For example in Oregon you can find areas of short, near tree line, pines. You can drive through them in 10-15 minutes.  You can spend two days driving through the same region of vegetation up north. The Dempster is some what different. Over a 450 mile road, you see wide variety of terrain and fauna.

The scenery for the first 30 miles is like that I've gotten used to seeing. Short dense trees and lots of underbrush on rolling hills. Soon I head up into the near 7000 foot Ogilvie mountains. I stop at the Tombstone Mountain Campground to enjoy the scenery the jagged mountains offer.  There are still scattered patches of snow. At mile 51 the road reaches North Fork Pass Summit. The highest point on the road at 4,265 feet. North of the Ogilvies the road wanders through several river valleys. Most of the hills are barren rock. The protected areas thick tundra with trees. At one point the road widens to become an aircraft landing strip.  There are three parts of the Dempster where it doubles as an Airstrip. Another emergency strip at mile 241 and again at mile 219.

The road travels alongside the red colored rocks of iron rich Engineer creek. There are a couple scattered bright blue sulfur ponds. When I tried to drive the Dempster in 1998 it was closed for three weeks by a major washout along Engineer creek. I didn't drive all the way up to the washout. I saw a spot where three very large culverts were installed beneath the road to assist with heavy water run off. I suspect this is where the road was closed.

Mile 121. The Engineer Creek Campground. I pulled in for another break and saw the four German Fellows I met on Day five at Johnson's corner.  They had successfully ridden into the NWT on the Canol Heritage trail, but couldn't make as far as they wanted. There had been quite a bit of rain and there were lots of high water crossings.  They were enjoying the experience of the Dempster, but found the actual riding pretty boring.  They looked more like Paris-Dakar Rally types, so I understood their point.  The next 30 miles are very scenic. There are lots of unusual rock out croppings and erosion pillars.  The road then climbs away from the Ogilvie River and onto to the Eagle Plains Plateau.  Its smooth riding to Eagle Plains at Mile 231.

Eagle plains was built as the half-way travelers oasis in the wilderness.  Engineers found a spot where the bedrock was at the surface and it was easy to build. They didn't have to build on pilings as in Inuvik to keep the buildings from sinking into the permafrost.  Eagle plains has a big highway department maintenance station. There is both a Hotel and Campground.  The restaurant is first class. Great food, big portions and a selection of homemade desserts to die for.  There were two large triple-deck tour buses at Eagle plains. The campground was pretty full. People everywhere. I finished Dinner about 8:00 and knew I was only about 20 miles from the Arctic Circle crossing. The sun was out and I hadn't seen a cloud all day. I was going to keep going.  I asked the Gas station attendant about camping options further up the road. He said the pullouts are ok. Just don't camp at Rock River, too many mosquitoes.

I didn't see another car between Eagle plains and the Arctic Circle. I was hoping there would be somebody there to take my picture. I saw my first car at the Arctic Circle pullout. I stopped and there were two guys there really happy I showed up so I could take their picture. They returned the favor. I spent about an hour at the sign. As I stated in my introduction, the trip was all about the sign. The Arctic Circle is just a line on the map and once you get there, just a sign alongside the road, but it was really cool. Mission accomplished. Everything else for the next 12 days was just icing on the cake.

Thus far mosquitoes were a non issue on this trip. I'm not real bothered by them anyway. When I go hiking with our family, I'm the last one they come after.  If I get bit, I get a little red mark for an hour and its over. I remember a couple times on the 1998 trip running for my life to get away from the Mosquitoes. Most of the locals had commented that this had been a dry spring and a really hot summer and free of bugs.  I should have taken the warning from a local advising me to stay away from Rock River Campground. Two things caused me to ignore his good advise. First as an employee of Eagle Plains, I figured he might be biased toward having me camp there. My second reason was the real one. Bears. 

At no point on the trip did I spend any real time worrying about bears, but I did follow a couple simple precautions when in bear country to keep issues from arising.  I'd always put all my food and personal Hygiene products in my tank bag and either pulley them way up in a tree with my nylon cord or hang them in the bear racks provided at the campgrounds.  This far north there aren't any trees big enough for me to pulley my stuff up into, so I figured it would be best at the campground. I pulled into Rock River. There were five bicyclists camping in the Screen house and two other self-contained RV's. No people in sight.  I took my helmet off and the swarm attacked.  I quickly showered in repellent and pulled my mosquito head net out of its factory packaging. It worked pretty well. Careful planning kept the number of mosquitoes in my tent in the hundreds, not thousands. I spent the last hour before bed in my tent reading the Milepost and killing mosquitoes.

Day 9 North of Eagle Plains YKT to Inuvik NWT. 140 Miles

Aside from the flying wildlife, Rock River was a beautiful campground. Not only was it the first spot I was bothered by Mosquitoes, it was the last. The next morning I didn't waste any time getting out of there. My first stop was at the Yukon/Northwest Territories Boarder at Wright Pass in the Richardson Mountains. This spot is also the third Continental Divide crossing on the Dempster.

My apologies the log isn't done. Currently in Process. May 2004.  -ml

Day 10 Inuvik NWT to South of Eagle Plains YKT. 340 Miles

Day 11  South of Eagle plains YKT to Dawson City YKT. 150 Miles

Day 12 Dawson City YKT to South of Beaver Creek YKT. 380 Miles

Day 13 South of Beaver Creek YKT to Whitehorse  YKT.  275 Miles

Day 14 Whitehorse YKT to Watson Lake YKT. 315 Miles

Day 15 Watson Lake YKT to Bucking Horse River BC. 450 Miles

Day 16 Bucking Horse River BC to Jasper Alberta. 525 Miles

Day 17 Jasper Alberta to Radium Hot Springs BC. 235 Miles

Day 18 Radium Hot Springs to Spokane Washington - 405 Miles

Day 19 Spokane Washington to Sisters Oregon 450 Miles

Day 20 Sisters Oregon to Home. 90 Miles - 6440 Total Miles.

 Contact me via:  Mike's Motorcycle Discussion Forum.

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