The Great California & Yukon Gold Rush of '17

The road into Dawson City from the south is the only tarmaced way in. The road out to the West and into Alaska is gravel. This is the Top Of The World Highway.  To reach the start you take a ferry across the Yukon River and then climb up to the top of the hills. The road winds along the ridge line through forest to the Canadian / US border at Poker Creek. Then a fantastic stretch of perfect tarmac for 20 miles before hitting roadworks into the town of Chicken (population 2) and then "sketchy pavement" until you reach the Alaska Highway again in Tok. So why the MotoGP quality stretch? It is the only part that is high enough for the ground to be permanently frozen. The absence of thaw/freeze means the road doesn't buckle and break up, making it worth building. The road works are going to put in a foundation with a foam layer so that it doesn't thaw in the summer allowing a better quality road through Chicken. Seems like every trip I do, I learn more a...

Dawson City was the heart of the Yukon Gold Rush. The first gold was found by three Prospectors in Bonanza Creek among the White Gravel of a tributary of the Yukon River. When news reached the "outside" men and women rushed to the area and within a year all of the streams around were staked into 500 ft claims.  Miners spent the winters digging shafts to reach the bed rock. Then excavating chambers to bring the gold bearing gravels to the surface. To do this they had to melt the permafrost with open fires, denuding the hillsides of timber. Once the thaw arrived and running water was available, it was used to wash the gravel to find the gold. Only then did they know if their claim contained "colour" or whether their winter had been wasted. After only three years all of the easily extracted gold was gone. Large scale miners bought up the small claims and used industrial methods; steam to unfreeze the ground and powered dredges to process the dirt. These have...

Chatting to a fellow motorcyclist in the Airforce Lodge (our hotel) a couple of nights ago, we discovered that there is a ferry from Skagway to Haines. We had planned to ride down to Skagway and back to see the route the Klondike Prospectors used to get to the goldfields. By using the ferry we could ride to Skagway over the White Pass, cross to Haines and ride back over the other Prospector route, the Chilkoot Pass, and so back to Whitehorse for the start of our own ride to the goldfields of the Yukon. For those of you unfamiliar with the political geography of this part of North America; Skagway and Haines are in Alaska (part of USA) but are not connected to the rest of the state by land except via Canada. A ferry system, called the Alaska Marine Highway ties all the disparate Alaskan ports together and that's what we will be using. So we started in Yukon (a Canadian Province), crossed the provincial border into British Columbia for 5 miles, then over the White Pass and th...

After a wet day yesterday the sun shone as we left Fort Nelson. The Highway here is wide and fast with the woods cut well back leaving a 20m wide strip of grass and scrub. Looking ahead you can see the road slicing through the forests for miles and miles as it snakes up the hills and then down to wide rivers crossed by steel girder bridges.   It wasn't long before we found our first wildlife. A black bear ambling through the grass. The first of four for the day.  Shortly afterwards a Caribou, then a Moose. As we climbed into the higher mountains: Big Horn Sheep and Mountain Goats. The Highway is being repaired  constantly . Stopping at the control point for a 20km resurfacing project we got chatting to one of the workers. They all live in the local towns and come out to work for the week before traveling home. It must be a big local employer. When you add in the service sector for travellers (restaurants, gas stations, bars etc.) and compare the total to...

Today we started the section of the trip which inspired the whole enterprise. The Alaska Highway. The Highway runs from Dawson Creek in Canada to Fairbanks, Alaska. It was built by the US Corps of Engineers and the 1700 miles were completed in 1942. The road was intended to support the string of airfields used to ferry aircraft from the US to Russia to support their war on the Eastern Front. Construction work (photo courtesy of Wikipedia) Milepost 0 of the Alaska Highway is in Dawson Creek (see photo) and all of today's ride was along it. The first cup of tea was at Milepost 101 in the small town of Wonowon (see what they did there...), Inch in Pink Mountain and the end of the day in Fort Nelson 300 miles later. The road has been improved and realigned a number of times and is all good quality tarmac now. It is also 35 miles shorter. The original construction project is just extraordinary though. Built in less than a year, in horrible conditions through virgin forest...

A perfect start: The best Eggs Benedict ever and Moose Deer by the side of the road as we left Jasper.  We overtook a charming couple from Venice riding a bike they bought in Costa Rica who are three months into an exploration of the US and Canada. They are camping. Two up on a 250, with full camping gear, dressed in jeans and trainers for 6 months. Now that's a proper adventure! We were suitably humbled as they described our bikes as "Rolls Royces". The plan is to run north on the fast roads through the Rocky Mountain foothills and across the Praire to Dawson Creek. All was going well until Grand Cache when the rain started. A tactical lunch while the worst went over worked well but the rain was intermittent for a few hours. To add insult to injury, a road crew had planed the surface off the road for 10km in preparation for new tarmac. Now I like a bit of roadwork as well as the next man (see Silk Road blogs passim) but the grooves the planers leave behind are hor...

Thought it might be fun to remind myself where we've been and how much further there is to go to Anchorage. It's a big country. (Yes, I know, spherical projection etc. etc.).

A late start and a quick stop at the excellent and helpful Konquer Motorcycles in Kelowna to tighten Gray's chain (and eliminate the knocking sound) and it's time to head for the hills. We took Highway 1, the main trans-Canada link through Glacier National Park and over Roger's Pass. A fast Highway through great scenery but a bit busy with trucks, RVs and weekend drivers. Needed a lot of concentration but the glorious sunshine a fast pace raised our spirits. Despite the late start we got to Lake Louise at about 6 with plenty of time for a shower, beer and dinner. That's when we discovered that Alberta is not in the same timezone as British Columbia and it was already 7. A quick walk up to the lake and the VERY swanky chateau hotel and then back to Deer Lodge for dinner. Sue and I stayed here with the boys 15 years ago and it hasn't changed at all. We decided to eat in the lounge where the waiter was a "character". Graham had the gnocchi and salmo...

An early start saw us heading north on the I5 past the early morning commuters into northern Washington State. Turning east before the border, we took the SR20 into the North Cascades National  Park. Wow. Just wow! 80 miles of sweeping turns, snow capped mountains, cascading river and views to die for. A few clunky noises from Graham's bike put the damper on it but we revived our spirits with lunch in Winthrop, an old western town. We chose the oldest saloon in the state - "Three Fingered Jack's". Not sure old Jack would have served Caesar Salad wrap somehow. Further progress down the SR20 was impossible due to it being closed (story of this ride, third road that has been closed) and a 40 mile diversion meant we rode 350 miles in total. Once back on the main highway it was a fascinating run alongside the Okanaga River, through the apple growing area of Washington State - home of the Washington Red Apple. Acres and acres of trees, packing sheds and cold s...

So, here we are in Seattle. Home of Amazon, Starbucks, Boeing, Microsoft and Frasier. Sue and I spent a day on the major sights (Pilkes Palce Market, Space Needle etc.) but the surprise winnner was an extraordinary exhibition at the foot of the Space Needle. Dale Chihuli is a world famous glass blower, artist and designer (who we had never heard of). His work is organic, colourful, exquisite and monumental all at the same time Seattle is the end of the first stage of the adventure. Susie flies back to Englamd and Graham arrives via Portland. Riding two up with Sue has been great. We've explored California and seen the Oregon and Washington coasts. The next stage through Canada, the Klondike and Alaska will be more challenging. Longer days, more basic hotels and worse roads.  It will be an adventure. And definitely not a holiday!

Crossing the amazing Astoria Bridge we entered our third state, Washington. Seattle isn't too far from here but we took the advice from Motoquest and went the roundabout route circumnavigating the Olympic Peninsula. After the Redwoods of Northern California and Oregon, Washington seems a lot more like Canada. Logging is all around and huntin', shootin' and fishin' seem to be the main hobbies. A cool day's riding took us up to Forks. Apparently the Twilight novels are set here and it is described in them as a wet but friendly place. No disagreement there but the only "wet" bar was on the edge of town and it took 20 mins to walk there. I'm not at all surprised the US has a problem with drunk driving. It was damp the next morning as we rode the northern part of the circuit but the roads were good. As I accelerated out of a rather nice bend on to a clear straight road, I spotted the white SUV and thought oh-oh. Sure enough the red and blue lig...

After all that to and fro around California the next part of the route is pretty straightforward. Head north up the coast using California State Highway 1 and interstate 101. The road follows the coast line along deserted beaches and around towering headlands. From time to time you divert inland through the magnificent Redwood Forests, winding up and back down through groves of trees hundreds of feet tall and thousands of years old. To my mind the road is as good as the Adriatic Coast and better than some alpine passes. Not as tightly twisting, more open and sweeping which is fine for me. The bike eats up the miles and it is easy to do 200 to 300 miles a day with a couple of stops for coffee, lunch and petrol. The first day took us from Jenner through Mendocino (Willie Nelson) to just below the Oregon State line at Ferndale. A sleepy Victorian dairy town on the flood plain of the Eel River. There wasn't any tumble weed blowing down Main Street but that's only because the T...

Leaving Yosemite we crossed the Central Valley again, this time further north through the delta of the California River. You expect levees and lift bridges on the Mississippi, not here in California.  The weather closed in as we reached the coastal range. The wind picked up and it got cold, so we stopped for the night in Fairfield. This was our first "strip mall" stop. A Motel 6 for the night, dinner in the Chinese restaurant in the mall and breakfast at Hucklebury's. Not great, but not bad and cheap! This is the great thing about travelling without much of a plan in the US. You can always find a place to stay and something to eat. It rained overnight so it was a late start up into the wine growing region around Napa and Sonoma. Damp, twisty roads took us over to the coast at Point Reyes which is so like Scotland there is a town called Inverness. Then up the coast to Bodega Bay  (Setting for Hitchcock's "The Birds") and on to an overnight stop on...

From San Francisco we rode across the Central Valley to the mountains and Yosemite national park. The Central Valley is an extraordinary agricultural production house. Fields of almonds, peaches and strawberries. Massive irrigation systems and roadside packing houses. Here and there bands of agricultural workers, mainly Mexicans, work in the fields. Each gang accompanied by a portaloo. They say the only people who got rich from the gold rush were those who sold shovels. The winners from this agribusiness are the toilet hire companies. The roads up to Yosemite from Mariposa are some of the best we've travelled. Great surfaces, constant radius curves, well signed. They rise up through the foothills and then alongside the Mariposa River until you enter the high meadow of Yosemite Valley. This really is one of the extraordinary natural spaces in the world. Ringed by towering granite cliffs, the flooded meadows and pine trees frame every view.  After a night at the Big Tre...

A day off in San Francisco today. We are staying in a great 1960s motel right in the city with easy access to China Town, Fisherman's Wharf and the cable cars. After a great dinner last night at House of Nanking we thought we would take the Big Bus tour of the city. Now, I'm not a fan of guided tours and normally avoid them like the plague but with 24 hours to sample this large and diverse city we thought we'd do the "once over lightly". The route took us through the commercial and government centre, past the summer of love in Haight Ashbury, across the Golden Gate to Sausolito, by boat back to the Ferry Terminal, cable car up to Nob Hill and down to Fishermans Wharf, Sealions at Pier 39 and back to our motel. San Francisco. Tick. Here are few of the must sees of SFX: Golden Gate, Cable Cars and the gay capital of the world.

It seems our bodies are still not quite on California time so we woke up at 5AM in a motel that didn't provide breakfast. The only thing to do was get on the road. We ran down the coast on the Pacific Highway to Big Sur before the sun had risen above the mountains. Sure enough Highway One was shut from that direction too. There was hardly a person on the road in the chill morning air. Fantastic conditions and great views of the waves crashing on deserted beaches sharpened the appetite for a proper American breakfast in Clint Eastwood's home town, Carmel. We made it back to Monterey in time for opening at the aquarium. The hundred dollar entrance fee seemed a little steep but we aren't likely to come here again, so in we went. Wow. Just wow. This is the uber Aquarium. From the kelp forests to the Sea Otters. The never ending stream of sardines to the Hammerhead Sharks. The Octopus to the Nautilus. The Sea Turtle to the tame Avocet. Not to mention the jellyfish...

We rode the highway out to Ragged Point (is that a Springsteen lyric?) just to check that it was really closed.  It was. So we had a fascinating tour of Hearst Castle and watched the Elephant Seals chillin' on the beach before riding north on the freeway to Monterey. Not the best day's riding but some good quality sightseeing.

The staff at Motorquest were very helpful and efficient. The bike was ready and prepped when we arrived (Eagle Rider - please note) and the paperwork was quick and efficient. They turned out to know Kevin and Julia at Globebusters and Nigel Richardson through his guiding work in Alaska. Adventure Bike riding really is a small world. They asked where we were heading and I outlined a route up the Pacific Coast Highway, the world famous Route 1. Graham and I had ridden it in 2008 in dense fog so, while I can say I've ridden it, it doesn't really count if you couldn't see the ocean at any point. So this time I thought I'll do it properly and Sue can enjoy it too. It's shut. A major landslide near the southern end that will take a year or more to clear and a bridge out near the north end. So definitely no way through. Motoquest suggested a few routes and recommended I bought some Butler maps. Butler maps are designed by bikers for bikers and show all the go...

... all ends with beginnings. We picked up the bike for Motoquest in Long Beach and headed up the interstate through the centre of Los Angeles to Santa Monica Pier. The pier is the historic end of Route 66 which Graham and I rode back in 2008. It seemed like the right place to start the next chapter. A lunch at Bubba Gump Shrimp Shack (named from "Forest Gump") set us for a bit of tinsel town sight seeing. Through cross town traffic to the Hollywood Hills to see Griffith Observatory, star of "Rebel Without a Cause" and my favourite film of last year "La La Land". The road to Cathy's Corner (scene of the iconic dance scene in "La La Land") was shut. A harbinger of things to come. So a blast up the interstate through Burbank and on over the hill to Ojai, a chichi health and wellbeing resort at the foot of the Los Padres mountains. Riding a big bike in slow moving traffic is not my idea of fun but we feel we have "done...