Feature image is of the Watson Lake Sign Post Forest
We are heading to Dawson City for a rest day of the bike, it’s a long ride, it will be a week before we get there. We had a lot of fun and some adventures on the way including camping in Jurassic Park, more about that later.
Tuesday 16 July to 23 July 2024. 1817 Miles
Tuesday 16 July 2024, up early this morning so I can be at Barnes Powersports to get the bike service, Barnes are dealers for a number of manufactures including BMW. When I arrive, just before 9.00am, the place was all locked up and there was a queue of 8 motorcyclist waiting for the doors of the service department to open, this didn’t look very promising, I was the 8th person in the queue. At 9.00am precisely the door opened and a member of staff complete with clip board walked out and announced there were 3 people with waitng appointments who would be checked in first, everyone else would be checked in in the order they had arrived. My named was called as a waiting appointment, 2.5 hours later and £250.00 worse off I was back on the road.
Banff
I took highway 1A to Banff, this road has been replaced by highway 1, a newer fast road, 1A is a twisty road with a lot less traffic. When I approached the first set of bends I had a sudden moment of doubt, how do I get a motorcycle around a set of bends, what a ridiculous thought, I have only been riding motorcycles for 50 plus years. In my defence it was 14 days ago that I last saw a set of bends that resemble anything like we see in the UK. After a wobble first bend it all came back to me and I was happily riding bends and loving it, after all this is one of the reasons I ride a motorcycle.
The ride to Tunnel Mountain 1 campsite near Banff was a short one, I planned it this way just in case the bike needed more work than the service I had booked, it didn’t, which was good news.
Camping in Banff National Park, BEAR COUNTRY!
The campsite was in Banff National Park and of course in bear country, so the usual warning about keeping the camp area clear, cooking food away from the tent and making sure anything with a smell, toothpaste, deodorants etc are locked in the bike panniers or in a campsite supplied bear safe. It sounds daunting at first but you soon set used to it, although, I seem to wake up at 2.00am every night remembering I have left something, mints, hand gel or some other thing bears might think is food in a pocket. Once this thought is in my head I have to get up and lock the offending item away out of my tent, if I don’t I lay awake worrying about a bear coming to investigate.
Bear statue in Banff
A shuttle bus is available to take campers into Banff, it’s free to take the trip into town and $2 to come back. I jump on the bus and head into town, I quickly wish I hadn’t bothered, Banff is crowded with tourists and is expensive, not a town I will remember fondly or rush to go back to. Al arrived at the campsite later than me and took the bus into town to join me, the bus going back was crowded and as far as I could tell no one paid for the return journey.
We chatted with a lady who had emigrated to Canada from Peterborough in the 1970’s before retiring to our tents. Once in the tent I was trying to figure out what I had forgotten that would wake me in the earlier hours and would need to be locked in the panniers away from the bears, this time it was hand cleaning gel, at 2.00am again.
Wednesday 17 July 2024, I am riding with Al today to Jasper Gates campsite which is approximately 35miles North of Jasper. This was a great ride through some fantastic mountain scenery made all the better by seeing a black bear, 3 moose and a group of wild mountain goats at the side of the road. We stopped for a snack at Lake Louise, disappointingly we couldn’t get access to the lake side, it was closed, too many tourists in the town.
Lake Louise
After Lake Louise we passed Sunwapta Falls so we pulled off the road and joined the other tourist on the walkway above the falls. Spectacular to see the water crashing through a narrow cutting in the rock.
Sunwapta Falls
It was a hot day 35 centigrade shown on the bike temperature gauge, can you imagine how good it was to be camped close to a brewery that had a restaurant. Phil, Val, Chris and Kerry were staying close by in a hotel so they joined us for dinner, it was good to catch up with them have dinner together and drink local beer. Val and Kerry had joined Phil and Chris in Calgary and would be riding with them for a couple of weeks.
Signs all over the campsite warned of a bear on site, the staff told us that over the last few days a black bear had been seen on site, yes you have read that correctly, seen on site and I’m in a tent. This nights unforgotten bear bait that woke me in the early hours was 2 cardboard cups that had been used by me an Al to drink wine. Will I ever learn.
Posters at Jasper Gates campsite
Thursday 18 July 2024, today I am meeting my brother Steve, he lives on Vancouver Island and is taking a break from work to ride with me into the Yukon and Alaska, I am looking forwards to spending some time with him. We arranged to meet at a campsite named Mile “0” in the town of Dawson Creek. The Alaska Highway starts in Dawson Creek, the campsite gets its name Mile “0” (zero) from the road starting here.
With Steve at the start of the Alaska Highway
It’s a comfortable site with good facilities camping on grass rather than the gravel we have been camping on since Bear Cove, no sharp stones sticking into my knees as I get in and out of the tent. We are told there is a local pub nearby so we head of for a beer into what turns out to be a shady place, we ask what draft beers they have and they tell us they aren’t good, “the gas isn’t right and they aren’t the best.” We get some bottled beer and are asked if want to see the food menu, we all say in unison “no thanks” finish our beer and head to Boston Pizza for dinner. It had been a hot days ride, the bike temperature gauge rose to 36 centigrade, cold bottled beer even in shady pub was very refreshing.
Camping in Dawson Creek
It wasn’t a good nights sleep, we are close to the Alaskan Highway and I could hear the very loud exhaust brakes from the trucks as they slow down for the towns speed limit. This is despite the road signs asking drivers not to use their air brakes in the town.
Friday 19 July 2024, today we are riding the Alaska Highway to Fort Nelson, 10 miles out off Dawson Creek we start to smell and see a haze of smoke, this continues for the rest of the journey, in some places we see signs that tell us to take care, reduced visibility. The smoke was that bad it was like riding in fog with the acrid taste and smell of woodsmoke. At Fort Nelson the air quality index on my iPhone was showing as 11, extreme, his means the air quality is a serious hazard to heath, not surprising although very worrying. On the journey we passed a lot of burnt woodland, some that looked quite recent, fires appear to be a serious problem in this part of Canada.
Thick smoke on the Alaska Highway
Air Quality in Fort Nelson was a serious health issue, not somewhere to stay for long
We opt for a hotel tonight, sleeping in a tent doesn’t seem like a good plan in this air quality.
Saturday 20 July 2024, when we get up there is still a lot of smoke in the air and this continues for the first 100 miles on today’s ride. By the time the air clears we have ridden over 400 miles in smoke, at times thick choking smoke. To put this in some context that’s the same distance as riding from Lincoln, my home city to Inverness in North Scotland close to Al’s home, would anyone do that? It seems that most if not all of Northern Canada is on fire and even though the fires are a large distance away and not threatening our journey it’s all a bit scary and unsettling.
It’s time to start carrying spare fuel again, fuel station in parts of the journey ahead are 100 miles apart, if you find one that has run out of fuel or has a power cut fuel anxiety soon sets in. It’s not a big deal on my BMW that has a 30 litre fuel capacity unlike my travelling companions that have 20 litre or less tanks. Nevertheless a spare 5 litres of fuel is comforting.
Today we continue West on the Alaska Highway towards Watson Lake, after the smoke clears the scenery is spectacular. We pass the Liard River Hot Springs and pull off the road to look at the campsite, its only 2pm in the afternoon and we haven’t travelled that far, nevertheless the campsite looks inviting so we book a site and erect our 3 tents. We quickly nickname the campsite Jurassic Park because it is surrounded by an electric fence, the difference between the campsite and Jurassic Park in the film is that the humans are the residents in the electrified compound protected from the predators that are outside. I have images of the bears sat outside the electric fence licking their lips, Iike the recent Twix advert, if anyone hasn’t seen the advert have a search on line for the Twix bear advert and you will see what I mean.
The electrified fence around Liard Springs camp site
There are natural hot pools not far from the campsite that are accessed by a board walk which is outside the electric fence, armed with a can of bear spray we gingerly open the gate and step outside the protection of our secure compound. We see no bears and arrive safely at the hot pool. The pool is on 2 levels, on the upper level at one end its too hot for me to “bear”, as the water flows across the pool and into the lower pool it cools a little, I would still describe it as hot. A soak in the hot water is very relaxing and soothing for the aches and pains I pick up from long distance motorcycle travel.
Liard natural heated pools
The board walk to the hot springs. It’s outside the protective electric fence
The walk back to the security of our electrified compound is thankfully as uneventful as the walk to the pool, not a hungry bear in sight. We walk back past the pool to take a look at the hanging gardens after dinner and still don’t see a bear. According to the wardens at the campsite they see 3 or 4 bears everyday, I would have liked to see one, preferably not close enough to need the bear spray, The staff tell us the electric fence was erected to stop bears becoming to use to humans taking food and becoming dangerous. Before the fence was erected 3 or 4 bears needed to be shot and killed every year, since the fence has been erected no bears have needed to be destroyed, good news. As a result of the electric fence we were allowed to cook around the tent and needed to be a a lot less caution about leaving things like toothpaste in the tent with us.
Camping inside the electrified fence at Liard Springs
A German arrive on his bike at around 9.30pm and asks if he can set his tent up on our pitch, apparently the staff have told him the site is full but if we agree he can pitch on our camp. We agree and he sets up for the night.
Sunday 21 July 2024, Al decided he needed a new front tyre on his KTM so we make the decision to ride to Whitehorse so he could be at a motorcycle shop when thy open at 8.00am tomorrow. Al booked the hotel accommodation for the 3 of us as rain is predicted, unfortunately we discovered when we arrived in Whitehorse that the booking was for Sunday a week today not today. No big drama we found a cheap motel that would fit the bill for one night, it was next to a pub so beer was at hand.
Today we crossed into the Yukon
We could see rain and storms all around us are rode into Whitehorse, luckily it held off until we were in the town close to our accommodation for tonight.
Smoke was in the air as we left Liard Springs, thankfully it didn’t last for long and we were soon in clear air. A good days ride in some good scenery, I saw 4 bears, 3 black and 1 grizzly, very exciting although I wasn’t brave enough to stop and take a photo. I was brave enough to stop and take a photo of a herd of wild Wood Bison, apparently they like grassing on the road verges because of the quality of the grass and that predators are easier to see and avoid. The herd looked very relaxed with calves laying in the sun and the adults grazing happily.
Wood Bison grazing on the road side
Monday 22 July 2024, today we are continuing our journey towards Dawson City where we have accommodation booked for 2 days from tomorrow. We decided to have a late start as it looks like Carmacks, which is only 100 miles from us is the only town between Whitehorse and Dawson that has accommodation and we can’t locate any campsites on route.
When Al returns with his new tyre we discuss our options and decide to ride through to Dawson City and spend a further night there, thankfully our accommodation can accept the 3 of us for this extra night. it was now going to be a long day and a late arrival in Dawson, if I have accommodation booked never see this a problem, searching for accommodation after a long ride isn’t much fun particularly as Booking.com doesn’t have everything available in towns like Dawson.
The ride was Dawson was uneventful apart from evidence of fires that closed to road 3 weeks ago, massive areas of trees were burnt down and you could see that the fire had jumped across a road and 2 wide verges that had a combined width of 30 or more metres.
Evidence of the wild fires that closed the road 3 weeks ago
What we all noticed on this road was the suicidal truck drivers overtaking and speed with the attitude of “might is right”. There are 3 places to get fuel on the journey totalling 323 miles, this reinforces my thoughts about carrying spare fuel. On the way into Dawson I turn of onto Dome Road, I can’t understand why this road isn’t advertised, after 7 miles or so you arrive at Midnight Dome a spectacular viewing point overlooking Dawson City and the point where the Yukon and Klondike rivers meet, this is called a confluence and is made all the more interesting because the Klondike is clear water that mixes with the light brown silty water of the Yukon.
Looking over Dawson City and the point where the Yukon and Klondike rivers meet
We arrive in Dawson City in the early evening, I have fond memories of the City when I last visited it in 2016, I am looking forwards to relaxing here for a couple of days.
