Big Chain Ring, Fireweed, and Gawking Tourists

The trip out of Haines Junction was really easy riding for once. I even used my big chain ring quite a bit, something I rarely get to do because the riding is usually too hard. The road was fairly flat after climbing a small pass and there was no headwind, for once. It was still pretty smokey so I couldn't see much of the mountains I was riding by.

I found an amazing campsite right on the shores of huge 150 square mile Lake Kluane and slept great with the sound of the lake lapping the shore. Any other place and this lake would have condos and hotels surrounding it. Here, there are two tiny villages and one RV park along it's shores and that's it.

I had another great day yesterday, hauling out 60 miles in under five hours from Burwash Landing, home of the biggest gold pan the world.





Sam wanted to try out life with a hood ornament but after a bit of thought, we decided maybe it wasn't such a good idea because of the excess weight.






I was in camp by 2:30, had a nice, lazy lunch, and set up my tent. It started sprinkling so I climbed in the tent and took a nice nap. It rained all night but I stayed cozy and dry.

This morning it was cold but had stopped raining and, Yeeha!, the smoke had completely cleared and I could see all the mountains the tallest of which had a sprinkling of snow on them! As I headed north, the sky cleared and I had a nice warm day with lots of sun.

The vegetation has certainly changed in the last few days and is now boreal forest growing on permafrost. The dominant tree is black spruce but it doesn't grow very tall and is often tipped every which way making for a strange looking forest. Because the trees are small, I can easily see for miles in all directions.






The territorial flower of the Yukon is the fireweed, the same plant we have back home.






The locals told me that they track the progression of summer by the blooming of the fireweed. It starts flowering at the bottom and slowly works it's way up to the tip. When the tip is done flowering and seeds have formed on the stalk, fall is here. Based on this system, there is still a bit of summer left.

I've noticed that the attitude of drivers going by me has changed a bit in the last few days, especially RV drivers. I'm used to them waving and I either wave back or nod my head if they do but lately they've been gawking at me like I'm some sort of exotic wild animal. They just stare at me, bug eyed, with their mouths literally hanging open as they go by. Sometimes they take photos and one guy even took video of me while driving!

Today some of them were downright rude. I had stopped for lunch at a rest stop and since they don't have picnic tables in the Yukon rest stops, (they do in BC) I spread my plastic tablecloth on the pavement and sat on the ground and ate. Well, these Germans took a picture of me eating on the ground like I was some sort of feeding animal! They never even said hello or anything. I couldn't belive it!

The road has had lots of frost heaves, small roller coaster bumps and dips, on it because it is built on permafrost and as the permafrost melts, the road above it becomes destabilized and ends up looking like some giant crumpled it. It's not a problem for a bike but the RVs have a rough time of it. They bob up and down like boats in a heavy swell. It's pretty funny to watch. If they go too fast, they can even catch some air. I saw a 40 footer almost turn into the General Lee! I was wondering where all the skid marks on the road came from.





I finally figured out that they are trailer landing marks kinda like the skid marks at the end of runways.

I certainly have a love-hate relationship with RVs... mostly hate, especially with the monsters that are the size of a city bus with four or more slide outs pulling an SUV. Yesterday, I saw one pulling a Hummer! Their model names are pretty funny: Wilderness, Montana, Monaco,Tuscany, Hitchhiker. Yup, your RV is about the size of a principality. I think they should start naming RVs after battleships, aircraft carriers, or, better yet, oil tankers. I've watched some of them pay over $350 for gas. Even the small ones don't get more than 10-12 mpg while the big ones towing a car are around 4-5 mpg.

Of course, all my arrogant snobbishness hides a secret RV envey mostly towards the end of long days. The thought of a warm, dry place with comfy couches, beds, and a fridge full of food sounds really nice when compared to a picnic table, a tiny tent, and yet another pasta meal for dinner.

I just crossed the border into Alaska again.











The road up to the border was especially bad with horrible washboard. I ended up riding down the middle of the road to avoid the worst bits. It's hard to believe that this is the only road leading to Alaska. There is surprisingly little traffic on it. I was told that traffic is down about 50% in the last five years.



I got shaken up badly and managed to lose a water bottle somewhere and didn't notice until miles later. Now, I'll have to find a replacement somewhere.

A strong headwind kicked in around the border and i decided to cut the day short because of the ominous rain clouds that were heading towards me. I set up camp just in time and dove inside as the rin started. Later, there was a gorgeous sunset over the lake by my campsite.



-- Post From My iPhone

Smokey Mountain Blues

Mileage: 1898
Critter count: 2 wolves
Quote prize: Carolyn

Nope, I haven't gone south to North Carolina and the Smokey Mountains, however, there is smoke here, a lot of it. There is a big fire by Teslin in southern Yukon and the smoke has carried over here. Where is that wind when we need it? It's really unfortunate since the ride from Haines to Haines Junction went right by some spectacular huge mountains. I could make out their outline in the haze just enough so I knew what I was missing. Here is one of my better photos.


The first thirty miles out of Haines was a magical combination of flat road, smooth asphalt, and no head wind, something I haven't seen since around Oregon or southern Washington. All the hard riding has paid off though. I was cruising at between 14 and 15 mph on a fully loaded bike and found it easy riding.

The second day out of Haines was a long climb to Chilkat Pass. It was hot, buggy, and smokey. The smoke and almost complete lack of traffic made for a pretty creepy ride. I saw two wolves! The first one was on a hill side. I thought it was a mountain goat at first but then I realised that it was running like a dog. The second one stood in the road and watched as I pedaled closer but took off before I could get a picture.

As soon as the sun sets, it gets pretty cold- around 40 degrees so my nice warm sleeping bag is a real treat to snuggle in to. It's tough getting up in the mornings with 60-70 miles to ride especially since I can't really see anything.

I'm currently in Haines Junction. They have a sculpture that looks like a giant frosted muffin with people and animals stuck in it instead of blueberries.



Speaking of berries, I had a slice of Saskatoon pie a few days ago. Saskatoons are berries that grow on trees and taste pretty good in pie. I always thought that Saskatoon was just a city I'm Saskatchewan but I guess the town is named after the berry.

I'm heading for Tok today, which is five days ride from here. I'll make the decision as to where I go from there whe I get in. The fire situation in the Yukon is really bad and I'm guessing the same is true for Alaska. I talked to some motorcyclists yesterday and they said that the smoke in northern Yukon is really thick and they could barely see twenty feet. There is a bit of rain coming that'll probably help a bit. I'm still hopeful that I can ride until the end of the month somewhere but I don't see the point to continuing if the conditions stay as they have been the last few days.
-- Post From My iPhone

Spur of the Moment Detour

I was all set to take the noon fast ferry to Haines so I could continue my ride back up towards the interior of Alaska. I had a few hours to kill so I went in the National Park hiking center to find out how I would need to reserve a spot to hike the Chilkoot trail, the next time I was in Skagway. The ranger looked at me and said, "Why don't you do it now? Do you think there's much of a chance that the next time you come back here, you will have this great weather?" I went back outside, pondered my maps and decided he was right. I went and rented a pack and hiking poles and a few hours later was getting a ride to the Dyea campground, which is right next to the trailhead, with Dyea Dave. Sam was locked in Dave's sister's back room back in Skagway. The next day I hit the tail.

I had signed up for a three day hike so my first campground on the trail was at Sheep Camp, about 12 or so miles up the trail. Now, in the Cascades in most places, I would consider twelve miles a short day. The Chilkoot is not like the tame Cascades trails I'm used to. It is full of rocks and roots that I had to pick my way through. There isn't a single switchback on the trail. If there is a hill, the trail goes straight up over it. Some sections felt like I was on a stairmaster.

I finally got into Sheep Camp in time for the ranger's trail report and history talk. It had been a hot, muggy day and the next day was also going to be hot so we were encouraged to get an early start. There was a group of boy scouts from Seattle, a Kiwi, a couple of teachers from Wasilla, Alaska who didn't seem too thrilled with their association with Sarah Palin (no, they can't see Russia from their house), three women from the Yukon, and me.

The history of the gold rush is all around the trail. There are bits of metal, shoes, clothes, a steam engine, stoves, pieces of old boards, horse bones, pots, etc. Here is a woman's boot.


I'm definitely a history buff but I've never been somewhere like the Chilkoot where I got to experience the past in such a direct way. Everyone, including the boy scouts, who were loving the trail, spent hours each day thinking about the experiences of the Stampeders as we slowly picked our way through the trail. The further we went, the more impressed we got with the tenacity of those people.

Day two was the tough one with the climb to the Scales and then over the Golden Stairs. The Scales was the last flat section of trail. Here, the porters hired by more well to do Stampeders weighed their loads on a set of scales set up on a wooden frame and, in a lot of cases, raised their rates. I suggested to Mike, the scout master, that he should hire out his scouts as porters and, in the interests of historical accuracy, raise their rates at the scales. He could call it a fund raiser.

The Golden Stairs is a steep boulder field that we had to climb our way through. The photo isn't great but you can see two tiny hikers on the snow field. The pass is the second notch from the left. (I have better photos on my nice camera.)


Here is a view looking back south with a rusting pipe of some sort.


Most Stampeders crossed the pass in the winter, which is much easier to do since it becomes a steep snow field instead of the jumble of boulders that are there during the summer. Remember that each person had to haul 2000 pounds of supplies up the trail, something that required between 40 and 50 round trips. Here is a photo from the Skagway museum of the recommended pile of supplies each person crossed the pass with.





Going up the boulder field was challenging with a pack. Coming down, even with an empty pack would be pretty bad. At least in the winter, one can glissade (slide on the butt) back down.

Some of the stuff that was hauled over the pass was just amazing. I saw a huge saw blade maybe 4 feet across several miles past the pass. The ranger at sheep camp told us that an entire steamship was taken apart, carried over, and reassembled on one of the lakes. An entire brothel, complete with employees, was also carried up.

After the pass, there was still some tough going left but it slowly got easier. The second night, I spent at Deep Lake. Here is the view from my dinner spot.


The last day, I hauled out the final ten miles to Bennett where I had lunch and then took the train back to Skagway.

What was amazing about the gold rush was that few people died despite the incredibly harsh conditions. This can mostly be attributed to the Canadian Mounties who kept order (they had a machine gun set up on the pass to ensure that everyone behaved) and required that each Stampeder have adequate food and supplies. They even inspected the boats that were built by Lake Bennett after they saw what a few of the early Stampeders were doing. One guy showed up, made a raft, and off he went. That was fine. Another guy showed up with a dog sled, tied his dogs to the side of the sled for floaties, shoved the whole thing in the lake and sailed off. 'Oh man, these people are all gonna die' the Mounties thought. That's why they did boat inspections and even required a boat sailing test before Stampeders were allowed to sail down the lake.

I'm now in Haines and am hanging out on the beach by the campground watching some bald eagles fish.


Tomorrow, I'm back on the bike heading for Haines Junction. The weather is supposed to hold with only a day or two days of light showers in the forecast. Otherwise, Days are in the 70s and evenings are in the low 60s.
-- Post From My iPhone

There Are Strange Things Done In the Midnight Sun...

Today's Homework Assignment: Read some Jack London. Call of the Wild, White Fang, and/or To Build a Fire

Pop Quiz: Who and what am I quoting in today's blog title? The first correct answer posted in my comments gets a prize. Seiously!

Put on your 'Must do in my lifetime' list: Ride the White Pass Yukon Railroad from Skagway to Carcross.

Today was absolutely fantastic! I took the White Pass Railroad to Carcross, a gorgeous and relaxing trip.


It was so nice to have something else providing my forward motion. My legs were loving the lazy day.

The railway was built during the Klondike Goldrush to haul supplies over the mountains to the Yukon.


Gold was discovered in the Yukon in 1896 but it took until '97 for the news to reach the lower 45 states. The gold miners who had struck it rich took a ship to Seattle and brought the sacks of gold that they had discovered with them. News spread like wildfire and over 100,000 people took to ships to head north.

Tens of thousands of people ended up in Skagway, which had sprung up overnight as a lawless tent city. To get to the Yukon, Stampeders, as the newly arrived greenhorns were called, had to cross one of two passes to the north. The more popular trail was the Chilkoot that left from Dyea, eight miles to the west of Skagway. This was a strictly foot path with a steep final ascent to the pass called the Golden Stairs. The other path was through White Pass. This was heralded as easier since pack animals could get through on it. Because of the sheer numbers of people and their incompetence, however, the trail turned into a quagmire and thousands of horses died along it.

The Canadian government required every person entering the Yukon on these trails to have one ton of supplies to see them through the harsh conditions. These supplies were carried up on the backs of stampeders 40-50 pounds at a time. The Chilkoot trail to Lake Bennett, where the staging area was to head farther north is around 35 miles. That's 70 miles round trip. To carry the ton of supplies up the pass required each person to walk the trail about forty to fifty times covering around 3500 miles. And, this was all in the winter with temperatures of 50 below, howling winds, only a few hours of daylight, and massive blizzards.

The trip up the Chikoot was only the beginning. Once the Stampeders got to Lake Bennett, they erected the largest tent city the world has ever seen and proceded to build boats so they could float down the lakes to the Yukon River when the ice on the lake finally broke.

Most of these people were completely inexperienced. They were office workers from the cities. And now they were building boats in the middle of winter. When breakup came, the entire town packed up and floated downstream.

Almost none of the Stampeders made any money from the gold rush. All the good claims were already taken even before news about gold had reached Seattle.

Bennett was the lunch stop on the train trip today. There is nothing left of the town of Bennett except the church and the rairoad depot. It is in an absolutely fantastic spot at the head of this huge lake.






-- Post From My iPhone

A Strike is Declared

The warning signs had been there for several days but I ignored them. My legs were threatening a general strike claiming unacceptable working conditions and I just didn't listen to the signals they were sending. My quads started hurting (something they haven't done in over 1000 miles) especially when pushing hard and just didn't want to respond. Any chance at negotiation disappeared when I continued to try to press on to Skagway into yet another day of headwinds, now gusting to 40 mph after four days of tough riding with severe headwinds.

The ride down to Carcross the day before the push to Skagway was particularly tough, especially after taking the Tagish Cutoff after Jake's Corner with rough chipseal to go with the nasty headwind.

I crawled into camp, ate dinner at the diner so I wouldn't have to bother cooking and collapsed in the tent.

Two days ago, the day that strike was declared, I headed out along a string of lakes that lead towards White Pass and on to Skagway.


The valleys that the lakes are in serve as fantastic funnels for wind. And, Boy Howdy, (as a Texan I met on a different trip would say) the wind was funneling. I was told by a Mountie I met later that it was gusting to 40 mph and holding steady at around 30. In biking terms, it meant an all out effort to go 5 mph on the flats, three gears from the bottom. Any hill, even the dinkiest little pimple required my granny (lowest) gear and a Herculean effort to go almost 3 mph.

There were some neat looking old mine workings along the way, which briefly took my mind off of my suffering.


After 28 miles of this fantastically enjoyable riding experience, I stopped at a rest area on the shores of one of the lakes for lunch. It was chilly so I pulled out my stove and made some hot chocolate to go with the bagel sandwiches. When I finally was ready to stand up to pack up and go, I found that my legs were not cooperating. I walked around a bit and realized that another 25 miles to the pass was not going to happen.

I walked around the side of the lake and found a sweet little campsite, set up the tent, and collapsed for a four hour nap.


I woke up, cooked dinner, and shared the campfire that my neighbors had built. The spot I had found was well known to the locals who go there to camp and fish. My neighbors were Shannon and Tom, the Mountie I had mentioned earlier.

After dinner and a beer, kindly supplied by my neighbors, I went back to bed. I had finally gotten the message my legs were sending: more rest and more food. I decided that I needed a rest in Skagway.

The ride the next day over White Pass was spectacular. The wind had died down to what I now considered negligible but on previous trips would have called strong. I finally made it to the pass and entered Alaska.


There was a helpful sign pointing out the direction in which the sun can sometimes be seen. I was lucky and did see it!



I then got a glorious 15 mile downhill through a gorgeous valley.





Skagway is a neat little town that was established in 1897 during the Klondike gold rush. Iit's a bit touristy because of all the cruise ships that visit.


The food is really good, though. My favorite place is The Red Onion Saloon, which used to be a brothel during the gold rush.


Tomorrow, I'm taking a ride on the famous White Pass railroad up over White Pass to Bennet and Carcross and back. It'll be great to let something other than my legs provide forward motion for a change!


-- Post From My iPhone

Food

Eating the right food and enough of it can be a real challenge on a long bicycle tour. I spend between five and ten hours in the saddle every day, which requires a lot of energy. A google search for calories burned during moderate bicycing (is riding a 70-80 pound bicycle on these roads up these hills considered moderate?) is around 500 calories an hour. So, that's between 2500 and 5000 calories per day in addition to the roughly 1500 base metabolic calories I need per day.

Eating 4000-6000 calories a day is actually pretty tough and I usually don't so I've been steadily losing weight. I have to be careful, though, because if I don't eat enough, I 'bonk', which means I have no energy and really struggle riding even a few miles. I'll also get cold really easily and start shaking.

I notice the cold bit usually at the end of a long day. During the last 15-20 miles, I get impatient to get done with the day so I rarely stop to eat. I just push through even if I'm really hungry thinking that I'll have dinner soon. Then, when I finally sit down to eat, I'll start shivering even if it's not too cold until I start digesting my food and start filling my energy deficit. About an hour after I eat, I warm right up.

So, what do I eat? I work on the Hobbit diet: breakfast, second breakfast, lunch, onesies, etc. I can't eat too much at one sitting and then immediately hop on the bike since pedalling on a full belly is really uncomfortable. If I do eat a big meal, I leave time to sit and digest for a bit.

If I'm preparing my own food, I have cereal or packets of instant oatmeal and tea or hot chocolate for breakfast, sandwiches (peanut butter or cold cuts and cheese) for lunch and a Knorr pasta meal and hot chocolate for dinner. Snacks include fruit bars, fruit, fruit juice, milk, or yogurt from convenience stores, crackers, and the occasional soda, candy bar or ice cream bar.

Here is my picnic lunch from yesterday. Unfortunately, Yukon rest areas don't have picnic tables so I have to eat sitting on the ground.





Here is my usual pasta meal dinner.





The foil thing around the pot is insulation so my food doesn't get cold in the pot as I'm eating it. It's not easy getting all that pasta down so it's important to keep it hot otherwise it becomes absolutely disgusting.





Unlike at home where I focus on trying to restrict how many calories I eat, here, I'm always trying to increase them. I put butter on my sandwiches, in my pasta, and in my oatmeal. I also grate extra cheese into my pasta meals. I drink 2% or whole milk, and scoff at fat free foods.

Sometimes, during my meals, I have uninvited company so I have to keep a close eye ony food to ensure that it isn't pilfered. This little guy was quite brazen.





Now that I'm out in the boonies, I stop to eat in restaurants for dinner and especially breakfast if I can, which isn't all that often because there isn't much out here. It's a nice break from the oatmeal/ pasta meal diet when I can get it. I focus on high protein and higher fat foods as opposed to low fat high carbohydrate foods so I eat lots of eggs and bacon or ham and rarely eat pancakes or french toast. I've found that high protein and fat foods allow me to eat less and give me a longer, more steady source of energy than high carb, low fat foods. My sugar cravings that I battle during the school year are completely gone so I don't eat many processed sweets like candy bars or ice cream.

I do try homemade deserts like the famous rhubarb pie at Dawson's Peak Resort.






So, that's how I fuel the engine. It's nice being able to eat whatever I want in large quantities but I am mindful that it's purpose is to fuel my legs so I can get through the day.

I was amused at the gas bill for filling up a large RV at a gas station I stopped at yesterday: $157. My fill up of food that day was about $5. And, it's a lot more enjoyable filling my belly as opposed to a gas tank!
-- Post From My iPhone

Awful Day and the Kindness of Strangers

I had breakfast and got going but quickly realized that I had a headwind. It got stronger and stronger as the day progressed until I was barely going 7 mph on the flats when I usually go 11ish. It was so demoralizing. The Alaska highway is like a funnel, channeling wind with nothing to block it.


Then, since I was pretty grouchy, I got careless with Sam and didn't shift carefully to my small chain ring. Well, Sam doesn't like it when I get impatient with him and in retaliation,he jammed the chain, locking up my pedals. Luckiy, I didn't fall but now I had to fix the chain, making me even grouchier. At this point, the f bomb was mey primary adjective as I struggled with the chain, getting myself covered in chain grease. I finally got the chain released by unscrewing a plate under the front dérailleur.

I stood Sam up and wheeled him a bit to check the chain which was now fine. What I didn't notice was that my iPod headphones had fallen into the front wheel spokes and as I rolled the bike, one of the earbuds got ripped off. Seriously? Here I was, fighting a headwind without having music to help take my mind off of how much the day sucked. So, I spent the rest of the day pedaling against sustained 15-20 mph winds listening to it roaring in my ears. I have to admit, I was near tears several times as I fought my way up steep hils in the damn wind.

Just when I thought things couldn't get worse, I hit a long section of fresh chipseal which was ridiculously rough riding. It really beat me up and my butt got really sore for the first time in over 1000 miles. Uphill in a screaming headwind on rough chipseal. I kept wondering, 'Why am I doing this?'

Things definitely turned around when I finally crawled into Rancheria where I had a great burger for dinner. The owner, Dennis, who remembered me from last year, gave me a room with a bed and a hot shower for $20 which is what I had paid the previous night for a pretty lousy campsite. I met Rob, a motorcyclist from Seattle who was so kind, he gave me his earphones to replace my torn up ones. One of the best parts of bike touring is meeting people who often go out of their way to help me out. Thanks Dennis and Rob! You really made my day!
-- Post From My iPhone