Wednesday 27 June 2012

Tangle Lake To Dawson


Tangle Lake to Dawson - D2D
Wednesday morning, we carried on to Tok to meet our friend Dicon and Leslie going to Dawson together. From Paxson to Delta junction was beautiful, the road was windy and smooth.

We stopped at Delta junction and fill up - both us and the bikes. The first 50k from Delta junction to Tok was unbelievably boring - it was straight (my first thought was this is gonna hurt - thinking of my bum), not a single up and down, you can’t see the end. I was hoping some road works can keep me awake, finally, there was a bit gravel, Yah, at least can keep me concentrating. That’s how you can change your perspective so quickly, unwanted gravel could be like a treat in different situations!

It didn’t take us long to find CJ who is famous for being in the Long Way Round and he had just come back from France. He is working in a RV repair shop which is a full workshop. We took the advantage to change oil for Chiwi and Hobbit. They have done 4000 miles now (which is 6400ks)



Just as we arrived in the workshop, a thunder storm came down hard with hale and very heavy rain. Under the full cover of the workshop we were totally dry and happy.





Dicon and Leslie found us later at CJ’s and we all went out for a big feed of burgers in a restaurant, the carpark is full of motorcyclists who are going to the same Dawson City the next day.

Huge thanks to CJ for his help with the workshop, perfect timing for us. We stayed at CJ’s home on Wednesday night, got up had eggs and salami on toast for breakfast then headed off to Dawson.

The man himself 



Some Alaska pipeline info for you.



At mid point there is a place called Chicken .... yeap Chicken, it is the last town before we cross the boarder. It was very hot, might be 25 -30 degrees C. There is a fact sheet displayed on a shop door, you can have a read, I won’t repeat it here again.









You gotta see this place to believe it



As you all know Alaska is FULL of trees... so the local dog comes along and pisses on MY wheel .. thankfully the thunderstorm just up the road took care of that 







There is a funny fact, every time we ride with Dicon, it rained. Dicon and Leslie were ahead of us before we got to Chicken, they waited for us there and we went together. It was sunny and hot before Chicken too, then it all turned to shit again. We had a thunder storm again and this time, lighting too. After the boarder crossing, we said to them if they want to go ahead, we will take some photos, so we slowed down a bit.

As they went away, the Sun came out we were riding in blue sky again. The top of the world highway was partly paved, it is built on the ridge, so you can see both sides of the mountains and big open areas, beautiful road.The Canadians are not very tourist oriented so unfortunately there was no pull over area for us to take a good picture on the Top of the World. But we did see some lighting strike that caused a bush fire, couple of airplanes dumping fire retardants on it.



As we continued towards Dawson City we entered Canada which was our first official border crossing on land .. no hitches, they asked us to take off our helmets and asked if we are carrying any alcohol or guns, cause we didn’t. Then we set off to the top of the world highway destination Dawson.





There was only 127k from the boarder to Dawson, by 5pm we were at the river. There is no bridge on the river, so we have to use the ferry, it’s free but you have to wait. The staff are very motor bike friendly, the ask us to come forward and get on first. One tourist bus wasn’t happy, we saw him waiting for two rounds and still kept waiting..... we are finally here at D2D 2012.

Upon crossing the Yukon river, we got to Dawson City, saw lots of people we meet in Anchorage. We set up our camp, had some thing to eat, then set off to town for a look around.















There was only 127k from the boarder to Dawson, by 5pm we were at the river. There is no bridge on the river, so we have to use the ferry, it’s free but you have to wait. The staff are very motor bike friendly, the ask us to come forward and get on first. One tourist bus wasn’t happy, we saw him waiting for two rounds and still kept waiting.

Upon crossing the Yukon river, we got to Dawson City, saw lots of people we meet in Anchorage. We set up our camp, had some thing to eat, then set off to town for a look around.


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