The last time I wrote I was in Fairbanks, Alaska, drying out from a couple of days of rain since crossing the border from Canada. Unfortunately this weather pattern set the climate and the mood for the coming two weeks - rain! Constant drizzle that made a London Monday morning look bright and shinny.
I couldn't see any on Denali National Parks famous Mt McKinley, even if it does poke in the sky to an altitude of 20,000ft. It rained in Anchorage, it rained at the coast, it rained in the mountains, actually that's all it bloody weel did do. I did stop , briefly in Wasilla, Sarah Palins home town, where I hope to buy some SP memorabilia, but unfortunately I couldn't find anything with a moose with lipstick on it, oh well next time.
I did manage to see some really spectacular scenery riding along the Glennallen Hwy and especially the Haines Hwy, but in fairness , quite a bit of this was when I crossed the border in to BC again, before returning to Alaska further south. It is without doubt on of the prettiest places on earth, surely all those documentaries that I have seen over the years cant all have been lieing? I did manage to glimpse the stunning scale and magnitude of the mountains at Haines. This small fishing port is the quintessential small American town. Only a few shops, where the staff all know the customers names ( except mine that is) and restaurants full of locals and not hordes of tourist, but there were a few. It is surrounded with towering mountains that plunge deep in to the fjords below and glaciers sit suspe
nded , mid air, in there irrepressible decent to the sea . I did at last glimpse a bear, a mother with two cubs , happily eating berries on the side of the road, and a slightly larger grizzly, who was a little more camera shy.But it was still raining as I arrived by ferry to Skagway, a famous town in the gold rush to the Yukon, but now a deep water harbour for cruise ships and the tourist horde. The rain just got heavier as I crossed the border back in to Canada for the last time and arriving in Whitehorse, it seemed like the worst of the rain was over, so I pitched my tent and crossed my fingers. But you will guess right, it rained.
Packing up and wet tent and putting on damp riding gear is not much fun I can tell you, especially when you are heading to Watson Lake. This town has an air of desperation about it, bordering on the angry; the inhabitants are angry at you, because you are getting out of the place and they are stuck there, condemned to eat the shit food they serve you up, drink copious amounts of alcohol and smoke endless cigarettes, because there is nothing else to do but to get fat and ugly. Of course there is, this is not Cuba, no one is really stuck, and interestingly some people come here for its sort of remoteness and because they find the kindred spirits of other drifters and losers.
So the tent was put up again feeling rather damp, as I was myself, of course there is the option of a cheesy motel, which are dry, but frankly appalling value for money, so I did have a choose, so no need to feel to much sympathy. I just struggle to cough up the dough when the place is little more than a shack, but cost what a 5 star hotel does in Bangkok. Still thats how it is in the north. The rain did easy and it was actually looking like I might get a dry night, but alas that was not meant to be and it pissed down all night. Waking in a veritable lake,I headed off down the Cassier Stewart Hwy, which should have been a highlight due the the scenery and to be fair there were some breaks and it is a truly beautiful vista, but there where far too rare a glimpse.
The town of Stewart is located 40kms off the main hwy and the road is flanked by beautiful mountains, which for once I was actually able to see, and has hanging glaciers gripping like limpets to a boats hull along the side of the road, its a great ride and you have to cut your vision from the road to the mountains as every turn produces a jaw dropping scene. Its a small town of 600, which makes it feel like a city compared to its neighbour in Alaska, Hyder, population 65!
The reason to take the turn off, apart from the mountains was to try - in vain - to see bears feeding on the salmon that are spawning, I got to see the salmon, which is a spectacle in its self, the migration of thousands of fish thats sole purpose is to return to the place of there birth, breed and die. I was happy to see this, as its a true wonder of the world, but not a bear in sight.
Next stop was back at my friend Tylers, were I was pleased to find some dry weather at last. 2 and a half weeks of rain, out of the 7000 miles that I have done on this leg, 3000 have been ridden in the rain. Im glad that I have ridden up there as it was the goal of the journey and a place that I have always wanted to visit, but I dont feel like I have seen what Alaska has to offer, I would like to return one day, but perhaps not on a bike. I met a couple of lads that had flown up and rented a camper and were just hitting the best fishing spots and doing some sights. A nice dry camper and some fishing, now that sounds like a great idea to me.
With a combination of rain and poor visibility due to forest fires, the north has not revealed its true beauty and I feel like I want to end this trip with some greater memories. So I have decided to end it New York. Not that I think NY is so stunning, but there are some parts of Canada that i have yet to see and if I dont do it now I probably never will. But quite importantly there are some friends that I have made along the way and in life that are scattered about north America and I have managed to aline the stars so that I can almost ride in a straight line across and spend some time with them all. And if there is one thing I will take away from this journey, its how important your friends are and how empty life would be without them. But NYC is, defiantly the end of the road. I want to just be somewhere for more than a few days and not be thinking of packing up a tent and what rubbish food am I going to have to put up with today, plus the bike is starting to feel as knacked as the rider, she has been good to me and its time to put her in a garage for a long long time.
I have just spent a few days relaxing in Vancouver, a city that I really love and hope to come back to at some point, its incredibly clear and open city, right on the ocean and flanked by mountains, its a hard setting to beat, and makes London look like an absolute flea pit of a place. Ill head out this weekend, after spending some time in Whistler and then make the slow crossing of the North American continent and hope to be in NYC for 4th Oct. Its a long road ahead, but I can see the horizon.
