South to Seattle: A Bicycle Journey Down the Alaska Highway

bears

mtn bikes vs road

speed

camp grounds

how carry gear

how long

ave speed/day

why?

how we proposed idea

about our other trips

Wed am

-pack

-enter nëw tenantsX

-get R's bikeX

Wed pm

-showsX

-go 2 houseX

-F's bike ptsX

Thu

-n poleX

-plow gardenX

-pack

-R&R super paints @ 2p;12pmX

Fri

-roof of GCX

-showsX

-dinner w/FredX

Sat

-rug dr

--10p1,2,3

--2p

--12a2

--6b6

--6a250

-shows

-meeting w/2p ex's

-plant garden

Sun

-close down greenhs

-move floats

-shows

-wash

-pay Al Cox

-dinner w/mom & dad

Mon

-rebuild 12a1

-shows

Before go

-get $ from bank

---

5/23 27 miles to Chena Lakes.

cloudy, west wind.

departed 14:30, finished 19:30

odometer starting= 936

Temp 50-60

Expenses = 0

met Matt, a newsminer photographer

met a couple of guys biking from Anchorage 2 LA (via FAI)

mom & dad-17:30 on road. They fed us bananas & went on to see how far Chena Lakes campground was off the highway so we could decide if wanted to go in there for the night. They returned just as we were finishing our break with a report of about 6 miles to the campground.

Mom and Dad went back to the campground and we made it in less than an hour. After a very pleasant picknic of hot dogs, potato salad and baked beans they helped finish a last bit of business which hadn't gotten done (writing checks to cover business expenses for while we are gone). This final task finished, Mom and Dad walked us to a better camp site before they headed home. It was pretty late so we set the tent up and went to bed.

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5/24 Rain. 30 miles to Salcha River

West wind off & on. Rain all day.

Odometer starting = 963

Started 13:30, finished 20:30.

Total miles finished = 56.7

Ave speed = 8.6

Odo ending = 992

Ride time = 6:32

Temp 40-44

Expenses = 61.77

-food 16.77

-hotel 45.00

Rain. Which gave us an excellent excuse to sleep in. But we did eventually get up. We are poorly equipped for rainy breakfast, so we ate chips and granola bars and diet soda left over from the picnic.

During the night the squirrels had gotten into a bag of chocolates, and pretty well demolished a loaf of bread. In the evening we discovered they had also chewed a hole in one of my bike bags. We were so worried about bears we forgot about squirrels!

It took awhile to get packed up in the rain. We put on all our wet and cold weather gear (the temperatures were in the low 40's) and were finally ready to leave about one.

Biking in the rain with all our rain gear was pretty slow going. But we managed. We were pretty hungry by the time we got to Moose Creek, so we stopped in at the store and got some lunch. While we were at it we got some food that didn't require cooking for dinner and breakfast--since the rain seemed like it was going to last.

The guy at the corner store was very helpful, and gave us distances. So we knew how far it was to the next place we could get out of the rain! After a nice break there we rode on to the Knotty Shop, which has really great ice cream. Not to mention it is a good place to get out of the rain and browse around.

From there we called the Salcha River Lodge. It turned out they were booked up, but they had a motor home they were willing to clean up for us. So, with a warm place to stay and dry out our soggy gear, we pushed on. We got there around 8 pm, spread out our wet things, cooked dinner and went to bed.

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5/25 30.3 miles to gravel pit

West wind off & on. Sunny-cloudy.

Odometer starting = 992

Started 11:30, finished 19:00.

Total miles finished = 87

Ave speed = 9.5

Odo ending = 1023

Ride time = 3:11+6:32=9:43

Temp 50-60

Expenses = 0

Both of us left Fairbanks with colds. Riding in the rain did not help, so we took the opportunity to sleep in while staying in the warm, dry RV. We finally got up at 9, and had pancakes before packing, paying our bill and finally getting on the road about 11:30.

10 minutes after departing we encountered the first hill of the trip. Although it was not much of a hill we walked a part of it--we are really concerned about Frankie's knees holding out. There were a number of hills throughout the day, 4 or 5 we had to walk up.

At the bottom of one of these hills we paused for a snack. Just as we were about to tackle the hill, 3 people headed north on bicycles paused to chat. One of them had biked all the way from Argentina. While we were talking to them the two guys we met Tuesday joined us. We all talked about half an hour before going our separate ways.

We stopped for the night in a gravel pit about 20 miles before Delta. We set up the soggy tent so it would dry before we gathered drift wood from the banks of the Tanana river, built a fire to make spaghetti dinner over, did the dishes, wrote the diary and went to bed.

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5/26 To 20 miles S of Delta. Silver Fox Roadhouse at Sawmill Creek.

West wind all day. Sunny-cloudy.

Odometer starting = 1023

Odo ending = 1062

Miles ridden = 39.1

Total miles finished =126

Ave speed = 9.3

Started 10:00, finished 17:30.

Ride time = 4:10+9:43 = 13:53

Temp 50-65

Expenses = 70.35/132.12

-hardware (tarp) 6.00

-groceries 9.35

-hotel 55.00

A nice tailwind and very few hills made for an easy day. A good thing, because Frankie's cold was worse. We made good time to Delta, with a few short breaks at the Tanana River bridge and along the way.

In Delta we bought another tarp to cover the tent with (the one we started with proved to light, and the tent needs a fly to keep it dry). We also bought a little fresh fruit, a few other groceries and splurged on a couple of doughnuts with chocolate milk.

On the way out of Delta we officially started the Alaska Highway (so far we had been on the Richardson Highway). We stopped and took a picture of our bikes and us under the roadsign.

Out of Delta the road was gradually uphill, with a grade so slight the tailwind more than made up for it. About the time we were ready to quit for the day (our goal being 40 miles, and we'd gone 39.3) we came to the roadhouse at Sawmill Creek. Both of our colds were worse, so we decided to splurge and spend another night in a nice warm cabin. Cabin it was, a very nice one, complete with kitchen, running water and a sauna!

We unpacked, took a nap, made dinner, endulged in a sauna and shower, and after a little reading went to bed.

animals seen:

2 marmots

5 rabbits

2 moose

geese

sguirrels

sandpiper

ducks

---

5/27 42 miles to Dot Lake

West wind all day. Sunny-cloudy.

Odometer starting = 1062

Odo ending = 1104

Miles ridden = 42.0

Total miles finished =170

Ave speed = 10.2

Started 10:00, finished 17:30.

Ride time = 4:06+13:53 = 17:59

Temp 48-58

Expenses = 9.10/141.22

-food 9.10

Sleeping in until 10 on a long distance bike trip is a very lazy thing to do. However, considering how sick we were the evening before, it was well worth it, as we were feeling much better when we awoke.

By the time we had cooked pancakes, eatten, packed, loaded the bikes and checked out it was noon. Fortunately our helpful tailwind continued, and we made excelent time, covering 27 miles before we stopped for a late lunch. After lunch we got into some hilly country (well, bumps in the terrain), which slowed us down. Still we managed to cover another 14 miles to Dot lake. We were planning to do a few more, but the guy at Dot lake said we could could camp in the back yard, which was all set up with picnic tables, outhouse, etc. So we decided to stop for the night.

Frankie went to borrow wood for the cookfire while Ray got the tent ready to set up. The clearing is not in a very protected area from the wind and as a result, getting the tent up was a bit tricky. Then came the real challenging part--getting the tarp over the tent (since our tent is not very waterproof and has no real fly, we need to cover it with a tarp to keep out any rain). Everytime we'd get the tarp in position, the wind would blow it off. After several attempts, we finally managed to get it to stay and tied a stake to keep it in place. At least that was the theory. After typing this for awhile, a strong gust came along and sent the whole thing flying: tent, covering tarp, and ground tarp. So we chased them down and once again positioned the tent. The stake held, but the string had come untied. We left the cover tarp with a rock on it to put in place later.

After dinner, conquering the tarp and writing a couple of email messages to be sent out from Tok we went to bed

---

5/28 43 miles to Tok

Variable wind all day. Sunny-cloudy.

Odometer starting = 1104

Odo ending = 1147

Miles ridden = 43.0

Total miles finished =170

Ave speed = 9.9

Started 10:30, finished 18:30.

Ride time = 4:18 + 17:59 = 22:17

Temp 31-65

Expenses =0/141.22

Porkupine

Disaster! After a nice day of riding, everything came to a crashing halt (quite literally). We had parked the bikes on the side of the road since there was nice wide margins and gone down the ditch to have a snack before continuing the last bit into Tok. A white pickup backed into the ditch to chat. The man driving was drunk. His passenger was not much better. On their way out the front of the truck was uphill. The driver did not see the bikes in front of the truck until it was too late, despite our shouting. He came down firmly on Frankie’s bike. He realized what he had done and backed off before totally driving over the bike. Unfortunatly, to damage was already done. The frame and forks were bent, pedal crushed and arm bent, front wheel badly bent, mirror useless, crankshaft slightly bent, and yet the bag only slightly torn. Our heart went out to the poor dinner fork, for it was unrecognizable after being drug on the ground. When Ray asked the driver for his ID and license, he sped off. We took pictures of the damaged bike and the tracks left by the truck speeding off.

After much crying, we hailed a passing car to go phone troopers. While telling the trooper what happened, a van going the opposite direction stopped. It turned out to be the owner of the only bike shop in Tok. What luck! He also ran a bed and breakfast. We finished talking with the trooper and plans were make to bring us to the bed and breakfast.

We must have made quite a sight; two bicyclist talking earnestly with a trooper at the side of the road. Needless to say, we filed charges. Around 11 pm the trooper returned to where we were staying for us to identify a man thought to be the passenger in the truck. He was.

---

_5/29 to 5/30 no biking.

On the 29th Ray spent most of the day rebuilding Frankie's bike. Although he got it so it could be ridden, it certainly wasn't in any shape to go 2,000 more miles. So the decision was made to return to Fairbanks and buy a new bike.

The 30th we got tickets to Fairbanks on the van that 40 Mile Air ran into town. Ray's folks picked us up at the airport and delivered us to Frankie's apartment, where the car was located. We spent the afternoon trying out bikes, and after trying 20 or more Frankie chose one. We had the shop put in a few modifications for touring, since it was a mountain bike and not a road bike. Not an ideal solution, but an adequate one all things considered.

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5/31 Tok to 5 mi. S

Mostly sunny.

Odometer starting = 1147

Odo ending = 1155

Miles ridden = 7.7

Total miles finished =219

Ave speed = 10

Started 19:00, finished 22:00.

Ride time = 0:46 + 22:17 = 23:03

Temp 60-65

Expenses =0/141.22

We arrived back in Tok about 6pm, loaded the bikes and resumed our trip. Many thanks to 40-mile air for donating the freight on the new bicycle to Tok. A few miles south of Tok was our destination, a campground on the Tok River. There was a phone there, so we called our folks to let them know we were on the road again.

After getting the tent set up we wandered around a bit, reading signs about the area’s history. While looking at one of the of the signs, the pair who ran over Frankie’s bike drove by. We'd eaten dinner during the ride back to Tok, so we made it to bed by 11.

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6/1 Tok River to 3 mi north of Northway

Mostly sunny.

Odometer starting = 1155

Odo ending = 1192

Miles ridden = 37.7

Total miles finished =256

Ave speed = 9.0

Started 10:15, finished 21:00.

Ride time = 4:10 + 23:03 = 27:17

Temp 60-75

Expenses =0/141.22

Although we had ambitions of getting up at 7, the stressful last few days caught up with us and it was 8:30 before we woke up. Even though we didn't have breakfast before leaving, it was still after 10 by the time we broke camp and got under way.

The Tanana River bridge was only a few miles down the road and made a good place to eat our cold cereal.

Today the road left the Tanana valley flood plains (which we have been on since Fairbanks) and went through a series of rolling hills. These really aggrivated Frankie's knees so going was really slow with a lot of walking up hills.

We took a long lunch break at 1, stopped to cook dinner in a gravel pit and then rode on. We used most of our water for dinner so at the first creek we came to we tried our water filter for the first time. The filter is fine enough to remove all human pathogens except virus (and when we are worried about them we have a filter that will mix a small amount of iodine in).

By 9 pm we were getting pretty tired so we stopped and set up camp on an old stretch of highway, and by 10 we were in bed.

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6/2 4 mi S of Canadian border @ Little Scottie Ck

Mostly sunny.

Odometer starting = 1192

Odo ending = 1236

Miles ridden = 44.0

Total miles finished = 300

Ave speed = 10.3

Started 9:30, finished 19:30

Ride time = 4:15 + 27:17 = 31:32

Temp 60-75

Expenses =3.60/144.82

-food

We really wanted to get across the border today so we set the alarm for 8, which gave us 9 hours of sleep. Barely enough for as hard as we have been working!

First thing in the morning I built a quick fire and cooked oatmeal while Frankie worked on breaking camp and packing our sleeping gear. By 9:30 we were on the road, dealing with more hills. We had to walk a number, and even my knees were giving me trouble by the end of the day.

Not too long after getting under way we passed the turnoff to Northway, which is 9 miles off the main road. Shortly before this we'd seen our last sight of the Tanana River, which we'd been following since leaving Fairbanks.

We took a lunch break around 2 at a rest area. While we were eatting a Grey Jay got very friendly, coming up close enough to eat out of our hands.

After lunch we ground on. We pushed on hard all day and by late afternoon we made it to the border. We'd taken a short break at the last gas station in Alaska, and recharged our failing energy with a couple of ice cream cones. Shortly after we'd crossed the border we ran out of energy and started looking for a place to camp. About 5 miles into Canada we crossed Little Scottie Creek, which had a small turnout that made an excelent camp site, though a little close to the road. We made spaghetti with a pizza sauce (bought because it came in a plastic jar, rather than a glass--when we have a week of food every ounce counts!)

Canadian customs was another 15 miles, so we washed up and tried to make ourselves a little more presentable, finally getting to bed a little after 10:30.

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6/4 31 miles to the Donjek River

Mostly sunny.

Odometer starting = 1284

Odo ending = 1315

Miles ridden = 31.6

Total miles finished = 379

Ave speed = 8.8

Started 11:00, finished 18:30

Ride time = 3:34 + 36:37 = 40:11

Temp 51-74 (felt hotter though!)

Expenses =4.00C+ 221.13C = 225.13C

-food 4.00C

When the alarm went off at 8 it was raining. So we decided to sleep in for a little while, in the hopes it would go away. When we woke again at 9:30 the rain had quit, and it was turning into a very nice day. So we rushed through breakfast of cold cereal with a fresh roll from the lodge. An hour and a half after getting up we were on the road.

We had lunch in the early afternoon in a campground, which made a nice break. On the way out Ray powered his way up the hill, which likely contributed to the serious problem we had later in the day.

By late afternoon we had covered about 30 miles. Ray's bike had gotten a little wobbly; he suspected the load was shifting and hadn't checked it. This turned out to be a big mistake, because by the time he finally got around to checking it the back tire had 11 broken spokes! 4 on the drive side and 7 on the other. This was probably due to the heavy load over the construction and powering up the steep driveway at lunch.

When we discovered the problem, we were in the middle of a long stretch of construction. Riding was out of the question, so we started walking. It was 5:00 when we started walking, and about 6:30 we came to the Donjek River. There was a place by the river that looked like a good campsite so we stopped and while Frankie made dinner Ray worked on his bike.

11 broken spokes was a major problem. We had 6 spares for Ray's bike, 3 for each side. Unfortunately 2 of these turned out to be the wrong size. So to fix the 11 spokes we had 4. Ray replaced these 4, and re-positioned some of the others. By then dinner was done, so he took a break and ate. Then he put the wheel back on the bike and balanced it (it was pretty crooked). When he was all done he took it up to the bridge and tried it on the bridge with no load. It was still pretty wobbly, so we decided to sleep on it.

Ray's rear wheel gear cap is reverse threaded. We found this out when he took the back wheel off the bike (this is more for Ray's future reference).

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6/5 23.5 miles to Burwash Landing

Mostly cloudy.

Odometer starting = 1315

Odo ending = 1339

Miles ridden = 23.5

Total miles finished = 403

Ave speed = 8.1

Started 10:30, finished 19:00

Ride time = 2:53 + 40:11 = 43:04

Temp 60-70

Expenses 103.60C+ 225.13C= 328.73C

-eat out 16.70C

-room 74.90C

-food 12.00C

As soon as we got up Ray tackled his bike again. He re-positioned one spoke to cover one of the gaps better, and then wove the broken spokes into the wheel to further stiffen it. Another test ride showed that he had the problem under control.

While the wheel no longer wobbled as you went down the road, it certainly wasn't strong enough to carry much of a load. So we tied the heaviest bag on top of the handle bar bag, put the lightest of our bags on the back rack, and gave the other to Frankie.

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6/6 9.9 miles to Destruction Bay

Mostly cloudy.

Odometer starting = 1339

Odo ending = 1354

Miles ridden = 9.9

Total miles finished = 418

Ave speed = 6.3

Started 16:00, finished 18:00

Ride time = 1:34 + 43:04 = 44:38

Temp 60-70

Expenses 127.04C+ 328.73C= 455.77

-eat out 12.70C

-food 16.54C

-hotel 98.00C

Today was a day that didn't work. Ray got up at 7:30 and spent 3 hours working on the spokes, getting them tightened, adjusted, and woven in with Frankie's spares. Not to mention moving a spoke from a place where there was good coverage to the gap left by the one that had broken the previous day.

After putting the bike back together we loaded the bikes, and then spent 4 hours writing and trying to transmit the newspaper column. Unfortunately we couldn't get the computers to connect. So we left.

We hadn't even made it to the top of the hill up to the highway when we had our next mechanical problem. Frankie's bike rack broke just above where it ties into the frame. It was designed for the old road bike and didn’t fit properly on the new mountain bike. Ray tied it in place and finally, at 4 in the afternoon, we were on the road.

There was something of a headwind (I would say fierce headwind, but I am writing this the next day after dealing with a lot more wind!) so progress was slow. About 6pm we arrived at Destruction Bay, and decided to can it. We were really tuckered out and frustrated so we decided to really splurge and stay in the hotel.

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6/7 to 27 km N of Haines Junction

ending k-post 1662; 49 miles total

dst 32.1

ave 6.4

odo 1386

t 5:00

Today Ray's bike went for a swim. He had leaned it up against a post and a gust of wind blew it off the post and into a raging, flooded stream. Fortunately it didn't get damaged, nor did anything get hurt other than the bike odometer (which died).

The day started out hard, for all the way down the spectacular Kluane Lake the wind was blowing a direct headwind. Thus, the going was very slow. When we finally left the lake behind us and climbed up the pass, the hill blocked a good bit of the wind--but the going remained slow because of the hill.

Because of the failed odometer we weren't sure how far from Haines Junction we were, and as we were hoping to get there we pushed on far later than we should have. Because of the urge to make miles we didn't eat a very good diet either, eating junk food at every break.

When we finally stopped we were pretty badly burned out. As it turned out we still had a long way to go; 27 kilometers and another pass to Haines Junction.

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6/3 47.4 miles to the White River

Mostly sunny.

Odometer starting = 1236

Odo ending = 1284

Miles ridden = 47.4

Total miles finished = 348

Ave speed = 9.3

Started 10:30, finished 18:30

Ride time = 5:05 + 31:32 = 36:37

Temp 60-72 (felt hotter though!)

Expenses =28.04C+193.09C = 221.13C (Note: for our trip through Canada, US dollars have been converted to Canadian at the rate of $0.75 Canadian to $1 US. That is why the big change; $144.82/0.75 = 193.09C)

-food 18.04C

-campsite 10.00C

We got up at 8:40, which isn't quite as lazy as it sounds because of the time change. We were eager to get through customs so Ray fixed oatmeal while Frankie packed the bedding. After eating we took down the tent, loaded the bikes and got going.

The first 10 miles continued the rolling hills that had plagued us for the last 2 days. We managed to ride most of them, though a few of them proved too long or steep.

5 miles before Beaver Creek we left the hills behind us. So the last 5 miles to the customs station was very easy and quick. Passing through customs was a breeze; she asked for our driver's licenses, whether we had any firearms, tobacco or alcohol, what our final destination was and checked to be sure we had enough money for the trip.

Beaver Creek was a couple of kilometers on, and when we arrived there we decided to take a break and buy a snack as well as a couple of cans of stuff to fancy up our plain macaroni dinner (the mushroom soup really spiced it up!)

We left Beaver Creek a little after noon, and pedaled steadily for several hours. The road, while not entirely flat, did not have very many hills either so it was easy to keep up a steady pace. Though it consumed a lot of energy, and by 2 we were ready for a hearty lunch.

For the rest of the afternoon we took a number of rest breaks. Energy reserves are getting low; we have both lost weight and need to increase our food consumption (at 50 calories per mile a 45 mile day will burn 2250 calories!). We made it to the White River in the early evening.

Bear 'guard'. At the bottom of a mountain just before crossing the White River, a van parked on the side of the road.
When we approached closer, they told us there was a bear on the hillside. The van drove slowly between us and the hill in case the bear became curious about us. Thanks!

The White River Campground is a commercial RV park that had camp sites in the back. It was an opportune place to spend the night, and the $10 they charged for a campsite covered the use of the shower, which was most appreciated.

Since we were so low on energy we decided to make a high calorie dinner by adding half a stick of butter to our macaroni and mushroom soup. It made for an excellent meal.

After setting up the tent we both took a nice long shower. It was 11 by the time we finally got to bed.

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6/8 53.4 miles to 60 miles from Whitehorse (km post 1673)

Mostly cloudy.

Odometer starting = ?

Odo ending = ?

Miles ridden = 53.4

Total miles finished = 552

Ave speed = ?

Started 11:00, finished 21:30

Ride time = ?

Temp 40-65

Expenses 22.75C+ 455.77C = 478.52

-food 22.75C

Because of the hard day the day before, we slept in. We finally got up around 8:30, but were so sluggish that it was 11 by the time we had finished breakfast and breaking camp.

Our camp was really high (around 3,000 feet) and it was still early spring here. There was plenty of snow out in the woods, though it did not get especially cold overnight.

Haines Junction was about 1,000 feet lower, so it was easy biking down the hills from camp to the Junction.

We bought lunch in the grocery store and then ate it out front, at some tables. Unfortunately Frankie overate, and was ill for the rest of the day with an upset stomach.

We stopped by a biking place to see if they had parts (spokes or wheel) for Ray's bike, but they didn't (they were mostly a rental place). So we pushed on for Whitehorse.

Our goal for the day was the kilometer post 1575, which would leave us 60 miles to Whitehorse. So when we passed the 1576 post we started looking for a good place to camp, finding one around km 1573...a gravel pit just off the road.

We were pretty tired and Frankie's stomach was still queasy, so we skipped dinner, set up the tent and went straight to bed.

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6/9 62 miles to Whitehorse

Terrain: mostly level, with a few short sharp dips to traverse, and a few hills at the Whitehorse end.

Mostly sunny, with a few rain showers that essentially missed us.,.

Odometer starting = ?

Odo ending = ?

Miles ridden = 62?

Total miles finished = 614?

Ave speed = ?

Started 10:30, finished 20:30

Ride time = ?

Temp 60-75

Expenses =81.04C+478.52C = 559.56C

-eat out 11.49C

-hotel 69.55C

This was a tense day. We didn't get quite as early a start as we wanted, but the road was pretty easy going so we figured we still wouldn't have any trouble doing the 60 miles to Whitehorse, which is the biggest town that we go through between Fairbanks on one end of the Alaska Highway and Dawson Creek at the other end.

The day started real well, but early in the afternoon Ray broke another spoke. Then another. At this point it was no longer possible to true the wheel, so it wobbled pretty badly. Because of the damage we rode very slowly, putting as little strain on the wheel as possible. We were walking up even the slightest of hills to avoid any possible strain on the wheel. Still we had broken a third spoke (for a total of 15 broken spokes...only 4 of which had been replaced!). We were wondering just when the wheel would collapse and leave us walking. But it held and we arrived late afternoon in Whitehorse.

The first thing we did when we arrived in Whitehorse was to go by A&W for a milkshake. Frankie went ahead and ate there (Ray stuck to his New Year's Pledge not to *eat* out, and only had a milkshake). After eating, Frankie called her folks, and Ray called a couple hotels, finding one that was fairly reasonable. We rode to the Chilkoot Trail Inn, unloaded our bikes and parked them in an un-used room. Then we had the luxury of a bath and went to bed.

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6/10 In Whitehorse

Terrain: None :)

Mostly sunny, with a few rain showers that missed us.,.

Odometer starting = ?

Odo ending = ?

Miles ridden = ~0 (rode to the bike shop and back)

Total miles finished = 614

Ave speed = ?

Started -, finished -

Ride time = 0

Temp 60-72

Expenses =406.10C+559.56C = 965.66C

-books 7.49

-food 10.46

-food 12.38

-laundry soap 2.00

-food 3.09

-movie + drink 21

-hotel 69.55

-bike parts 280.13

Today was bike repair day. We went to Philippe's Bicycle Repair (867-633-5600) and he did a great job of fixing us up. We got a new wheel for Ray's bike, a new chain, extra spokes, a freewheel tool and a new rack for Frankie's bike plus bike odometers for both bikes.

Phillipe was rather amused at the state of Ray’s wheel. It should be put in an engineering museum for it was held together with so much different wire, odd sized spokes and electrical tape it was hardly recognizable. Frankie took pictures of it before throwing it out.

It was mid afternoon by the time we returned to the hotel. We bought hot dogs for lunch and hamburger meat for dinner, along with fresh fruit and broccoli. It was such a treat after a diet of mostly starches and sugars!

After lunch we started the laundry and then took a nap. By the time we got up it was nearly 6, so we dashed next door to the used book store and picked up a couple of books. Then we splurged and went to the movies. We saw Gone in 60 Seconds, and both liked it.

We stayed up rather late finishing the first load of laundry and reading.

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South to Seattle: Biking Blues

by Ray R. Collins and Frances Nichols

We ended the first week of biking (May 28) with serious questions about whether Frances would be able to continue. Her bike was pretty badly crunched by a drunk driver while we were sitting at the side of the road taking a break. Even more inconsiderate, he had driven off. So we flagged down a passing car and had him call the state troopers.

Half an hour later, while we were talking with the trooper, Jill and John Rusyniak stopped to see what the trouble was. It turned out they owned the only bike repair shop in Tok, as well as the Cleft of the Rock Bed & Breakfast. A most opportune meeting! They gave Frances, her broken bike (and the gear from her bike) a ride to their place, while Ray rode his bike the few miles there.

The next day, Ray took the bike apart, effected many repairs, and put it back together. Although he managed to fix it well enough to ride, it still couldn't be trusted for more than 2,000 miles. So we decided to return to Fairbanks for a new bike.

We got tickets on a van that went into Fairbanks, and by one the next day we were in town shopping for a new bike. Unfortunately, there were no bikes like the one that got crunched (a lady's style road bike), so after trying nearly 20 bikes we settled for a mountain bike, on which we put 'slick' tires (which are much more efficient than 'knobbie' tires for road cruising). This was not ideal, but we only had 24 hours in Fairbanks and it was the best we could come up with.

We had also done our grocery shopping, so when we got back to the Rusyniak's (who had graciously stored our stuff) we just had to load up and resume biking. So, after loosing 3 days, we were back on the road Wednesday evening pretty much where we left off--just arriving in Tok.

Before we resumed biking again, we had only ridden the new bike around the block a couple of times. That is not enough to get it entirely adjusted, nor had we put on some of the things that you want on a bike for a long trip. So in spare moments over the next few days we worked on her bike. When we had adjusted everything on her bike to be ready for the duration of the trip, we thought we had put the worst behind us. Not so! Ray's bike took this opportunity to misbehave.

Sunday (June 4) afternoon Ray's bike had gotten a little wobbly; he thought it was just the load shifting. When he finally checked it, the back tire had 11 broken spokes (his tire had 36 total)! This was probably due to the heavy load over the construction. We walked to a good place to camp (Donjek River) and stopped for the night.

We had 6 spare spokes for Ray's bike. Unfortunately 2 of these turned out to be the wrong size. So to fix the 11 spokes we had 4. Ray replaced these 4 and re-positioned some of the others. Then he put the wheel back on and took it up to the bridge to try it with no load. It was still pretty wobbly, so again we are left wondering how to continue. Hope we can make it the 200 miles to Whitehorse!

---

South to Seattle: A Slow Start.

by Ray R. Collins and Frances Nichols

Shake down cruise. What an apt term. Unfortunately we did not find time to take one before we set out on our 2,300 mile bicycle trip to Seattle. So our shaking down occurred during the first week of our trip.

Handling a loaded bike is very different than an empty one. It wobbles different, it peddles different and most important it must be kept exactly upright or it will fall over. Likely taking you with it, unless you are smart enough to let go. We weren't. Smart enough, that is. But we learned.

So our first day was spent learning how to ride a bike. Not that we inexperienced at bike touring. When we first thought of the idea of biking the Alcan Highway 3 years ago, we were biking all the way around the Hawaiian island of Oahu. Since then we have taken a number of other trips, long and short. Though this is our first major expedition.

The first 'day' of our trip we shall have to call day 0, because it rained. So we didn't depart. The next day we had to finish packing so we got a late start (now why didn't we pack on the day before? Hmm...). But by mid-afternoon we were finally headed down the highway. Slowly.

This turned out to be the drop-it-on-the-highway part of our shakedown. First we shook the knife loose. Then a stream of envelopes came off Ray's bike. By the time we made it to the Richardson Highway we had the dribble under control.

Ray's folks met us at Chena Lakes, which was our destination for the day. The brought a picnic dinner for us,

We awoke to a wet world the second day. It had started raining during the night and our tent was flooded. We had put the tent on a tarp which was slightly larger than it is without folding the edges under. As a result, water ran off the top of the tent onto the tarp then puddled under the tent and seeped in through the bottom. Luckily, we had air mattresses which kept us and our bedding from being completely soaked through. Now we knew better than to leave the tarp edges sticking out.

Since the tent was flooded, there was no point staying in camp so we packed up the bikes and rode on into the rain. It rained all day, giving us a good opportunity to test our new rain gear while still close to home. With temperatures in the low forties, we were wearing warm clothing under our rain suits. Once we started riding we quickly warmed up. In fact we were hot. When we stopped for a break we rapidly cooled off to the point of being cold. So for the rest of the day we rode until we got hot, usually about four miles, then rested until we were chilly. This made for a slow day, but we stayed dry and that's what's important. We splurged that night and stayed in a hotel, soggy gear scattered everywhere to dry.

Physically we were not really ready to ride long distances. In particular we were concerned about Frances' knees. So the plan is to ride very gently and slowly for the first week, (250 miles) and gradually increase the pace the second week (300+ miles). By the third week we hope to be doing 450 or more miles a week. Not to give you the idea we were entirely out of shape; we had put 300 mile on our bikes this spring before we started the trip.

Besides sore muscles and straining knees there are other aspects to breaking yourself into a long trip like this. By the end of the first week we had been sunburned, windburned, chapped lips, bumps, bruises and scrapes. Most of this usually occurs during the first week. We hope!! Unfortunately both of us came down with colds about the time we left, so in addition to all the other normal breaking in, we had to combat runny noses and bleary eyes.

Alaska 3452cu lisc of guy who ran over f's bike.

Our third day was much nicer weather. But today we got to try climbing hills. Not that the hills we encountered were anything very much. Or they shouldn't have been, anyhow. Our straining muscles and joints thought otherwise though, and to save ourselves damage we walked a number of them.

A gravel pit made an excellent camping place. Our nice shiny new pots got broken in, and we realized with some dismay that we did not have a plastic bag to contain them, keeping the soot from our other belongings. So we had to empty one that was already in use.

Our fourth day was another nice one. With fewer hills we were finally able to add onto our dismally low mileages, covering 40 miles. Around lunch time we (finally) passed through Delta, where we could practice our resistance at buying food and goodies to stuff our bike packs with.

The longer day aggravated our colds, so when we neared our 40 mile goal a handy motel was much too tempting. A nice warm environment could help us shake the virus so we decided to splurge on a room.

The fifth day brought us to Dot Lake. Another fine day, it was our first serious encounter with sunburn and chapped lips. Nothing very serious though, so after a nice night beside the lake we headed for Tok, our next destination.

Our joints and muscles were, by this time, getting accustomed to the work. Our biking skills were improved to the point where the loaded bikes now seemed normal, and 40 miles a day was comfortable. We were still spending less time biking than otherwise, but were improving rapidly. Our colds were nearly gone, and the 48 miles to Tok were not daunting. Well before we expected to arrive we were nearing the outskirts of Tok. Then disaster struck.

We had paused beside the road, in a small driveway to take a break. While we were sitting there a guy pulled up to chat. He (rather oddly) backed into the ditch to chat with us, and when he left, he drove into Frances' bike! When asked for his driver's license he rudely rolled up his window and drove away. What a test of the tools I had brought!

Half an hour later, while the police were getting details about it, some people from Tok stopped to see if they could help. It turned out the Rusyniaks ran the Cleft in the Rock bed and breakfast just a few miles up the road. Although they had been heading the other direction, the turned around and took Frances and he bike back to their place. Ray rode on the last couple of miles to join her, and then he spent the evening working on her bike to see if it was recoverable.

The frame was bent, one of the petal arms was bent, the front gear was damaged and the front tire was mangled. A few hours of work and Ray had it back in rideable condition. But another problem surfaced; the petal crank arm was bent. Nor was the frame straight enough to make it easy to ride. Certainly not for another 2,000 miles.

---

5/28

15-17 Robertson R

Frankie's bike

stem 60

front wheel 40

brakes

bike pump 20

frame 340

water bottle holder 10

mirror 25

3452cu lisc of guy who ran over f's bike.

---

Road Ettiquette: The do's and don'ts for Bicyclists and Motorists

Running over a bicycle parked along the side of the road while the rider is taking a break is NOT proper road ettiquette! Yet this is exactly what happened to us on our fifth day. We were parked along side the road taking a break, munching on M&M's when two men backed into the ditch beside us, almost running over Ray's bike in the progress.. After chatting briefly they started to drive away, and drove up over the front of Frankie's bike. We yelled at them to stop, since they had the window down still, but it was too late.

Finally realizing what they were doing, they stopped and backed off the bike. When we asked the diver for his license, he rolled up the window and drove away. It turned out he did not have a driver's license and was drunk at the time.

Other than not running over parked bikes, there are other ways motorists can make bicycling more enjoyable and safer for everyone. The most simple one is honking, do not do it.

Motorists honk to try to warn the bicylist of their approach and as a way to say hello. Honking to warn of your approach from behind is more likely to startle the bicyclist and cause them to swerve than warn of your approach--most likely the bicyclist can hear your car comming anyhow. If your must honk your horn, do so with a very short toot at least 100 yards before you reach the bicyclist. For saying hello, a wave and a smile are more courteous and safer than a honk.

We have noticed a very odd habit of dirivers. Drivers are more likely to swerve wide into the other traffic lane to pass bicyclists on a two-lane road, even when there is a shoulder, than to change lanes or even scoot over a little bit on a four-lane road. Why this is, we can not say. We appreciate the courtesy of motorists who move over.

Although we do not condone riding at night, there are times when we get cought on the road after dark. Dim your headlights when around bicyclists.

We enjoy talking with people who wish to slow down and chat. However, bicyclists are unable to understand anything that is yelled out the window of a vehicle at normal speeds. If you wish to speak to the bicyclist, slow down or even stop, but please be aware of other traffic and do not create a traffic hazzard.

The most important safety thing a bicyclist can do is wear a helmet, even on a short ride around the block. This is true of any bicyclists at any age. We have observed families riding together where the parents were not wearing helmets. This does not set a good example.

Another good piece of safety equipment we use is a mirror. Ray has a mirror that is mounted on his helmet. Frankie's is mounted on the bike's handlebars. These mirrors are helpful to see if an approaching motorist is driving erratically or close enough to the shoulder to pose a hazzard. Without the mirrors, we could only hear their approach and would not know if they pose a hazzard.

Riding side-by-side along the road allows bicyclists a way to talk easily with each other. Yet doing so should be done with caution, and never in traffic. Bicyclists should go single-file when motorists approach.

One final thing, when taking a break, always move bicycles as far off the road as possible. We learned this lesson the hard way.

---

Also:

the shirt off her back

2 buy

7-up

granola bars

starter fluid?

Whitehorse

Bez Kneez Bakpake

408 Hoge St

867-456-beee

159 km from H.

H.Jct. 1634 km post

1573=nite

granola bars

fruit rollups

powdered milk

oatmeal

sugar

7-up

Black Rapids Lodge for sale

Annie/Michael Hopper

455-6155

---

6/11 29.8 miles to Marsh Lake

Terrain: Mostly level with a few minor hills (except the hill up out of Whitehorse.)

Mostly sunny, with a few rain showers that nailed us.,.

Odometer starting = 614

Odo ending = 644 (note: the new odometer was set to the total trip miles to date, so total miles ridden will no longer be tracked)

Miles to Seattle = 1682

Miles ridden = 29.8

Ave speed = 9.4

Started 14:00 finished 18:30

Ride time = 3:08

Temp 60-72

~16th day of riding

Expenses =26.30C+965.66C=991.96C

-food 18.30C

-camp fee 8.00C

Days left to July 10 = 29

Miles per day to arrive July 10=58

Since we had been up late the night before, we slept in until nearly 9. As soon as we got up we started our second load of laundry, ate breakfast and then re-packed all our gear and managed to get checked out of the hotel by 12:15. The hotel proprietor offered to mail a box of our stuff back (things that we didn't want to carry any more because they were too heavy for the use we were getting from them).

While Ray installed the bike odometers Frankie went shopping for food and a few supplies. Then we made a detour to the gas station and bought something to drink and used the facilities before heading out of town.

Just up out of Whitehorse a nasty little rain nailed us. We stopped at a truck stop and put on the rain gear. We had only ridden for an hour and a half when we came to a campground that made a perfect place to pause for lunch. We even lucked into a campfire that was still burning, so we cooked our hot dogs and ate them before resuming biking.

We stopped at 6:30 when we came to the Marsh Lake Campground. We hadn't gone very far, but it was a good place to camp so we stopped. We set up the tent and ate macaroni with butter and powdered milk for dinner. We made a leisurely evening of it, with tea before dinner and hot chocolate after. We went to bed around 10.

---

6/12 77.7 miles to Teslin

Terrain: Mostly level with a few minor hills.

Mostly cloudy, with a few rain showers that missed us.,.

Odometer starting = 644

Odo ending = 721

Miles to Seattle = 1601

Miles ridden = 77.77

Ave speed = 8.6

Started 8:15 finished 21:30

Ride time = 9:00

Temp 45-72

~17th day of riding

Expenses = 51.75C+991.96C

-food 4.00C

-hotel 47.75C

Days left to July 10 = 28

Miles per day to arrive July 10=57.18

(the No Phone place) Long day of riding. We were going to ride all the way into Teslin but it was getting dark so we stopped at a place which rents cabins. We got ourselves settled and went to bed.

---
South to Seattle: Gone Swimming

by Ray R. Collins and Frances Nichols

Posted from Teslin, 720 miles from Fairbanks and 1600 miles from Seattle

Today my bicycle went swimming.

Ray wrote that last week to remind himself that it happened. Not that it is an occasion you are likely to forget; it isn't every day a bicycle decides to go swimming.

Of course, bikes can't swim. Fortunately his bike wore life preservers (well, ok, just packs with plastic bags full of clothes), so it didn't sink straight to the bottom. If it had, we would have been in trouble, because where it entered the water was the outlet of a raging culvert and a pool that was probably ten feet deep.

The bare facts are funny in retrospect, but at the time we didn't think it funny at all (or at least not until after rescuing the bike). We had stopped for a break...hmmm, why does everything seem to happen when we are taking a break?

I

Ray had parked his bike against a post beside the road. There was a pretty good wind blowing, and while he was across the road getting water from a pond we suspect an extra strong puff of wind assisted the bike in heading for the water. When he came back up to the road his bike was gone! Ray ran over to the creek and spotted the bike stuck on a sandbar 100 yards downstream.

During our riding, it made for interesting speculation as to why Ray's bicycle wanted to go swimming. Especially given it's lack of aquatic capabilities. Too hot? We had been doing a lot of hills that day. Suicide? Maybe the long trip was too much. Bath? We had been riding through a lot of muddy construction. Or perhaps it was just having an argument with the odometer. The bicycle won; the odometer has not properly worked since.

Now going swimming is not the only whimiscal notion Ray's bicycle has had. Shortly after getting into Canada it broke 11 spokes. Tired of carrying a heavy load over all the construction, we suspect. Not that it wanted to quit the trip--just make Ray walk for awhile. For once the spokes were supported with wire and tape, the remaining spokes kept us going for the 200 miles to Whitehorse. Of course the bike didn't want us to have it easy. Oh, no, when we started getting close to Whitehorse more spokes started breaking. So right up until the time we arrived we weren't sure whether the bike was going to make it, or was going to fold the tire and leave us walking the last 30...20...10...5 miles.

Ray's bike is not the only one that has whimsical notions. When Ray's bike broke spokes, we shifted a large part of the load onto Frances' bike. Naturally her bike didn't like this idea very well, and responded by breaking a support on the bike rack. This was not a serious problem, for it could be tied well enough to continue. So we suspect it was just an expression of disgust over the extra load.

When you live on a bicycle you get to know them very well. Too well, you might say. The tricks our bikes have played on us are only partially listed here. While we hope these are the only tricks our bikes will play on us, with 2/3 of the trip left to do we suspect they will find many other things to torment us with. Especially when they are tired, get bored with the trip, or are just feeling mischievous.

---

6/13 to ~ 40 miles past Teslin

Terrain: Major hill right outside Teslin, then lots of ups & downs and a second major hill before the Morley? River

Mostly cloudy with sunny spell; minor tailwind. Got caught in a shower.

Odometer starting = 721

Odo ending = 769

Miles to Seattle = 1543

Miles ridden = 48.35L

Ave speed = 8.1

Started 11:30-12:30; 1500 finished 21:30

Ride time = 5:56

Temp 60-70

~18th day of riding

Expenses = 35.53C+C

-food 18.52C

-eat out 17.01

Days left to July 10 = 27

Miles per day to arrive July 10=57.14

We had a buffet breakfast including blueberry pancakes while writing our newspaper article. As this place had no phone, we had to ride on into Teslin to post the article. That turned into a headache because the phone lines were not good for the little modem. However, we had a nice conversation with a shopkeeper who gave Frankie a bright orange whistle to ward off bears. We had to use the computer in the town library and re-type the article to send it. After doing so we rode around the small village of Teslin and found a store where we bought a few foodstuffs.

---

6/14 to ~55 miles from Watson Lake

Terrain: Mostly uphill for the first 40 miles to the continental divide; then a great downhill run for 30 miles.

Mostly sunny but 2 rain storms got us.

Odometer starting = 769

Odo ending = 842.4

Miles to Seattle = 1492

Miles ridden = 71.88

Ave speed = 10.0!

Started 10:45 finished 22:00

Ride time = 7:09

Temp 48-70

~19th day of riding

Expenses = C+C

-eat out 56.70C

Days left to July 10 = 26

Miles per day to arrive July 10=57.38

Watson Lake

4 dinners

4 lunches

6 breakfasts

-raisins

-pow. Milk

-oatmeal

hot choc

mini toothpast

trail mix

candy

granola

---

South to Seattle: Low-tech and High-tech

by Ray R. Collins and Frances Nichols

"Is that a solar panel hanging from your handle bars?" was a question we were often greeted with. We'd get some pretty odd looks when we replied yes; of course the next question was "What for?". Odd looks would change to chuckles and shakes of the head when we told them we were packing a computer for writing our daily journal and keeping track of the outside world via e-mail.

Now we must confess that the computer was very small. As in, tiny. A Palm Vx, to be exact, which fits nicely in Ray's shirt pocket. We used the solar panel to charge a battery which ran an inverter which would charge the Palm. [High tech tools for a low-tech trip.

Bike touring has become very popular in the last ten years. Every week we passed several other people who were bike touring. Some of these people had top of the line equipment, from their clip-in pedals down to their polished titanum bike frame. Others were using plastic bags and pillow cases to carry their gear in (one particular guy was not a local either; he had started in Florida and we met him in British Columbia on his way to Alaska!)

As for us, we used a mix of high and low technology. We actually had three computers with us: the Palm and a cycling computer on each bike. These handy devices told us our speed, daily distance, average speed for the day, and total distance. This was often useful at the end of the day when we had a destination in mind and could tell just how much farther it was. Of course, toward the end of the trip, it made for good bragging about our total distance--proven with a push of a button.

Our bikes were not especially high tech by today's standards. Ray's bike was a typical 10-speed, vintage 1972. Frances' was a new mountain bike.

Our camping gear was basically low-tech. We had a small tent, sleeping bags, silverware, matches, and lots of rope for tying things down. Our pots, while still basic cooking pots, were high-tech because they were titanium, which made them very lightweight.

It was this combination of high-tech and low-tech gear which we relied on for the 2370 miles from Fairbanks to Seattle. It took us 51 days, and in that time we had as many difficulties with the low-tech as with the high. The pot would tip over, spilling dinner into the fire. The Palm's modem would not connect. Flat tires and flat batteries caused unexpected delays. Broken spokes (a total of 21 for the trip) and a misbehaving keyboard gave us headaches. These problems are to be expected on a trip like this, no matter what the quality of your gear. It is how well you can deal with them that is the key to a successful trip.

Looking back, these problems helped to make the trip memorable. We are now considering other far away destinations we can cycle to..

50 days:

42 days of actually biking

days off: 9

Tok: 3

Whitehorse: 1

Liard: 1

Dawson: 2

Chetwynd: 1

Prince George: 1

July: 12

June: 30

May 9

---

South to Seattle: Liard Hot Springs

by Ray R. Collins and Frances Nichols

Posted from Liard Hot Springs 1019 miles from Fairbanks, 1294 miles from Seattle.

From sign at beginning of trail

The rejuvenating waters of the Liard River Hot Springs receive nearly 150,000 visits per year.

Boardwalks, viewing platforms, and other facilities built around these hot springs help to both protect them and allow visitor enjoyment of this unique environment. Costs though, continue to rise to maintain and improve these structures.

From the parking lot sign:

On the Liard Plain, a special place exists where the black spruce forest is transformed into a boreal jungle.

Groundwater seeps through the porous limestone of the area and circulates through faults deep within the earth's core. There the water warms and accumulates minerals. As pressure buids, the water is forced upwards and eventually resurfaces through cracks in the earth.

This hotspring ecosystem is considered to be teh second most significant in Canada. The warm percolating waters have created a fascinating micro-environment where over 250 species of boreal forest plants thrive. Sundws, butterworts, and 14 species of orchids delicately spot the landscape. As well, the 2 degree C increase in air temperature caused by the springs creates a niche for plant species not usually found at this latitude.

The lush vegetation and warm waters in the surrounding marsh provide an excellent habitat for moose, waterfowl, and shorebirds. In wanter, especially when snow levels elsewhere make travel difficult, the area is a welcomed refuge.

You can contribute to making the hot springs a lasting experience. All donations received ill go directly back into the Liard River Hot Springs area.

Sign at hot springs end of boardwalk:

Tropical Valley

Many plants prosper near the hotsprings. Ostrich ferns and cow parsnip grow so tall inthis warm, rich environment that they gave the area the name it was known by in the 1940's--the Liard Tropical Valley.

From boardwalk:

Hot water fish

The samll fish in these pools are lake Chub who were isolated from others of their kind thousands of years ago. This unusual population has adapted to life in the hot springs where they feed on the abundant invertibrate life, plankton and algae.

From by the main pool:

Origin of the springs

1. Ground water, following gravity's pull, seeps down through the folded, faulted sedimentary rock of the Liard area to the hot core below.

2. Here it is heated and - under great pressure - forced back tot he surface along natural faults.

3. En route, it dissolves minerals from the rock, and finally emerges as the Liard River Hotsprings.

These springs could accurately be called thermal springs, hot springs, mineral springs, or all three. Thermal springs have water which is 5C warmer than the average air temperature; hotsprings have water warmer than 32C; mineral springs contain solids in concentrations higher than 1,000 ppm.

The origins of these springs is unknown but may be related to a major geological fault that parrallels the valley on the south side of the Liard River.

From sign at compost toilet

Waterless Toilet System

Over 150,000 people visit these hotsprings each year. In this sensitive and isolated environment, human waste disposal is a problem. ...

Decomposition of solids is so thorough that after 4 years the volume is reduced to 5% of its original amount. The material created is a biologically stable, nutrient rich product, which could be used as a soil suppliment.

From above the main pool:

Alpha Pool

The source waters of Alpha Pool are hot (53C), slightly alkaline and contain the strong smelling compound called calcium sulphate. Alpha Pool water mixes witht he cooler Psi Spring waters to produce pleasant temperatrues ranging from 40 to 49C.

From the lower hanging gardens:

Hanging Gardens

The warm climate and abundant nutrients create a perfect medium for algae, mosses and numerous wildflowers. Some species, such as Kalm's lobelia, Philadelphia fleabane, and yellow monkey would not survive this far north if not for the special hotsprings environment.

Upper hanging garden sign:

Tufa

As the hot springs water bubbles from the earth, it reacts with the air and deposits its minerals. One of these minerals is calcium carbonate which forms tufa (pronounced 'toofa'). The cellular structure of tufa forms the base for the springs' beautiful hanging gardens.

Sign across street:

Liard River Hotsprings

If you are a construction worker-soldier or civilian-working on the Alaska Highway in 1942 and 1943, you had to cope with dusty summer heat, the mud of autumn rains, and frigid cold in winter and spring. The warm, steaming waters of Liard River Hotsprings provided a warm respite.

Many road building facilities were situated near the Liard River crossing, including the main construction camp, the hospital and sawmill, a fuel depot and repeater station. Long familiar to local Kasaka Indians, Liard River Hotsprings with its natural pools year-round warmth and luxuriant vegetation had great appeal to road-weary workers.

My Shangi-La

In the early days of construction in 1942, US soldiers developed the first convient access to the springs, establishing a boardwalk across the broad 'fens' between the road and the pool. In the reccollection of one workers; "I used to call this my Shangri-La" - where even with snow on the surrounding mountains a rich assortment of plants flourished in the mists. The temperature of the mineral waters in the pools is between 38-48C (100-118F), origionally superheated deep underground before it rises through faults in the bedrock.

Once a week during construction, soldiers would clear out to give the camp's female contingent the run of the springs. Long line-ups would form that day for the cable ferry across the river. Rather than wait for this, many of the women hitched a ride over in steam shovel buckets being used to b uild the bridge.

The Hotspring facilities fell into disrepair very soon in the post-construction years. In the 1950's, highway residents organized a repair "bee" to rebuild the boardwalk and rejuvenate the pool areas.

In 1957 Liard River Hotsprings Provincial park was established to preserve and protect the geological features and biological diversity what is considered to be one of the most unique hotspring environments in Canada.

The Alaska Highway

Winding in & out

Leaves serious doubt

If the lout who built this route

Was going to hell or coming out.

Author unknown

Later contributed to Sgt. Troy L. Hise written in April 1943 while working on the highway. He was surprised part of his poem had become part of the highway lore when returning to Alaska and saw it on a postcard contrubuted to Author Unknown. (Details of story and pictures of highway construction at Summit Lodge).

---

6/15 55 miles to Watson Lake

Terrain: Rolling hills with generally good going, but 2 pretty good hills.

Very sunny & hot.

Odometer starting = ~842

Odo ending = 897.7

Miles ridden = 55.25

Ave speed = 8.7

Started 8:15 finished 17:30

Ride time = 5:44

Temp 55-80

~20th day of riding

Expenses = C+C

-food 84.63C

-hotel 95.23

---

6/16 84 miles to Coal River

Terrain: Very easy going for the first 35 miles, with generally downhill grades. After that it continued on down the Liard river, but went up and down a lot of hills.

Mostly sunny but clouded up with showers by evening, 1 of which got us.

Odometer starting = 897.7

Odo ending = 982.3

Miles ridden = 84.48!! (new record)

Ave speed = 9.1

Started 7:50 finished 21:00

Ride time = 9:16

Temp 60-75

~21st day of riding

Expenses = C+C

-eat out 17.46C

-food 5.26

-motel 51.75

Days left to July 10 = 24

Miles left to Seattle = 1339

Miles per day to arrive July 10=55.79

We knew the day was going to be a very long one, so we got up promptly at seven. We had a hurried breakfast of pop-tarts, made some sandwiches for lunch, repacked the bikes and got on the road before 8.

We rode very steadily for an hour and a half, took a short break. By the end of 3 hours we were getting pretty tired, so we stopped for our first lunch. After eating we went on, finishing 33 miles by noon (a new record for this trip). Shortly after noon the terrain changed, going from long steady grades (averaging downhill) to a lot steeper and windier road. This really slowed us down, and our average plummeted from 11.5 down to the more normal 9.2.

In the early afternoon we came to a long stretch of construction (10 miles) that was all torn up. Fortunately we were offered a ride in the pilot car. Shortly after getting dropped off at the end of the first construction zone we were at another, and after another ride in the pilot car (only 5 miles this time) we resumed riding on the intermittently nice/bad & windy road.

We arrived at Fireside, where we were planning on spending the night, at about 7. Unfortunately she said she didn't have the hotel working (even though we'd been told by several people--and also there was a sign out front saying 'Motel')! But she did have a cafe, so we decided to eat there and then ride on the 10 miles to Coal River. Whom we called to make sure they had a room before we left, just in case!

It was about 9 when we got to coal river. We got our room, plus a snack (we were hungry again) and settled in for the night.

---

6/17 38 miles to Liard Hot Springs

Terrain: Mostly long even downhill runs, interspersed with a few hills that were pretty easy.

Mostly sunny, but showers in the early afternoon.

Odometer starting = 982.3

Odo ending = 1020

Miles ridden = 37.67

Ave speed = 10.4

Started 9:00 finished 13:30

Ride time = 3:37

Temp 55-70

~22st day of riding

Expenses = C+C

-food 4.35C

-campsite 30C (for 2 days)

Days left to July 10 = 23

Miles left to Seattle = 1294

Miles per day to arrive July 10= 56.26

We were pretty excited about arriving at Liard Hot Springs, so even though we only had a half day of riding we were under way by 9. The going was very easy, and even with a nice break about halfway there we arrived at there by 1:30.

Campsites tend to fill up early, so we found a good one as soon as we arrived. We set up the tent, put all our gear in it and ate a quick lunch. Then we rode our bikes over to the trail to the hot springs. The lower pool was very crowded (there was a tour bus in), so we went on up to the upper pool and went swimming there for awhile. Then we wandered down to the lower pool, which was now clear of the tourist bus folks (though there were still quite a few folks), and spent another hour soaking and swimming in the hot water.

By then we were getting hungry, so we returned to our bikes. We were hoping to get some soda, so we biked across the road to Trapper Ray's. We talked with him for awhile (I had met him long ago on a previous trip through here) and then got our sodas (not to mention ice cream).

We'd not eaten a big lunch, so we were pretty famished. We returned to our campsite (gosh the unloaded bikes ride strange!!) and made macaroni and cheese for dinner. Three boxes turned out to be a little bit much; we didn't manage to quite eat all of it. But I think 2 boxes would not have been enough, so...

After dinner we lazed around camp for awhile and then went back up to the hot springs for a late evening swim in the lower pool before returning to camp and a welcome bed.

---

6/18 At Liard Hot Springs

Terrain: None experienced :)

Sunny.

Odometer starting = 1020

Odo ending = 1020

Miles ridden = 0

Ave speed = -

Started - finished -

Ride time = 0

Temp 65-75

~22st day of riding (no change since did not ride)

Expenses = C+C

-food C

Days left to July 10 = 22

Miles left to Seattle = 1294

Miles per day to arrive July 10=58.81

Miles per day to arrive July 4 = 81

Today was a very lazy day. The night before, the guys in the next campsite had a drunken party until 3 am, which kept us from sleeping very well. Good thing we had already planned on taking the day off so we could sleep in! Which we did, with a vengeance.

After we got up we had breakfast and then went for a swim. When we got back to camp after swimming we sorted through our food, ate lunch and then took a nice long nap. After we got up we went swimming again, had rice for dinner (flavored with a ramen flavor packet, which turned out very well). Sometime today we rode down the road to the little store. They did not have anything we wanted and were really expensive. On the short ride back we saw buffalo.

We hadn't overhauled our bikes since Whitehorse, so I turned them over and went through them real well. Didn't find anything really wrong, but a few things needed tweaking (eg Frankie's front reflector had gotten loose). My seat was also a little low, so I raised it. My shoulder was still giving me a lot of trouble, so I raised the handle bars a little. Of course I also oiled the chains, derailers, etc.

There is a pull out for day use parking with signs saying ‘No Camping’. Well evidently people can’t read or don’t think rules apply to them. There was a car driving out of the lot with a fully erected tent on top. The park ranger chased them out. No biggie because there was a commercial campground right next to the lot. They sure looked funny with that tent flapping on top of the car.

By then it was nearly bedtime, so we decided to go for a swim before bed. “Frankie” a man’s voice called from somewhere behind me. Surely not meant for me since it wasn’t Ray’s voice and I didn’t think anyone from Fairbanks would be there. “Frankie.” A little louder this time. The voice sounded familiar. I looked around and was much surprised to see my friends Tovan Adams and his wife Deb. I had met Tovan and Deb while living in the dorms my freshman year of college. After introducing them to Ray, they told us they were moving to Arizona where he had a new job. We spent more time than planned in the pool talking and playing before we all agreed it was time to head to bed.

---

6/19 42 miles to the Muncho Lake (south end).

Terrain: Rocky Mountains (going UP)

Sunny with variable winds to 25 (both headwinds and tailwinds, which we had a hard time figuring out because it was often within the same 1/2 mile stretch of road!).

Odometer starting = 1020

Odo ending = 1062.7

Miles ridden = 42.52

Ave speed = 7.9

Started 13:00 finished 21:00

Ride time = 5:20

Temp 65-75

~23rd day of riding

Expenses = C+C

-eat out 22.60C

-campsite 10.70

-food & misc 12.00

Days left to July 10 = 21

Miles left to Seattle = 1252

Miles per day to arrive July 10=59.61

Miles per day to arrive July 4 = 83.46

Although we got up at 7, we did not manage to leave on our bikes until after noon. First we had breakfast. Then we broke camp and got all packed up. After we got everything ready to go we went and copied all the signs in the hotsprings area (so we could possibly write an article about the hotsprings).

Since we were already up at the hotsprings anyhow, we went swimming :).

We had put all our gear into the bear-proof container the park had provided. This made the campsite look abandoned, so it wasn't too surprising to find someone in our spot when we returned. They weren't there, so we took over the picnic table and ate lunch. They showed up about the time we were loading our bikes, so we chatted with them while we got our bikes loaded. Finally we got under way. But only to across the street, where there was another sign to copy down. Then, finally, we were really on the road again.

We had been expecting a tough day, for we were heading up into the Rocky Mountains. For the first 10 miles after crossing the Liard River we had very good going; smooth slightly downhill and a nice tailwind. Then we started climbing up into the mountains, and our average speed dropped down to around 6 mph.

We went up and up, with a few small downhill stretches. We were pretty tired and hungry by the time we got to Muncho Lake so we stopped for dinner at a lodge. After dinner we had a very nice ride down the length of the lake (7 miles)--late evening sun, level road right on the lakeshore.

We stopped for the night at a lodge just past the south end of the lake, getting a campsite. We stopped at 9, and by 10 we had camp set up and were in bed.

---
6/20 65 miles to Summit Lake Lodge

Terrain: Rocky Mountains (going UP). Surmounted 2 summits; nice 20 mile run down the Toad River Valley.

Ending elevation 4250!

Sunny-cloudy with 2 rain showers that hit us; tail winds to 25.

Odometer starting = 1062.7

Odo ending = 1127.6

Miles ridden = 64.6

Ave speed = 8.0

Started 10:00 finished 21:00

Ride time = 8:01

Temp 55-70

~24th day of riding

Expenses = C+C

-eat out 17.12+20C

-food 13.23C

-hotel 56.96C

Days left to July 10 = 20

Miles left to Seattle = 1187

Miles per day to arrive July 10=59.35

Miles per day to arrive July 4 = 84.7

Although we meant to get up at 7, it was closer to 7:30 by the time we got out of bed. We decided to cheat and eat in the restaurant for breakfast. After breakfast we broke camp, but by the time we actually got on the road it was (look of great disgust) 10.

An interesting side note- this morning at breakfast Ray was typing the journal and just goofing off with the Palm. A couple started chatting with us and described hearing about some people who stopped at a gas station to use the modem of a small computer. The couple was sending an article to a paper. Well that was us they were describing to us! Seems we made quite an impression on that shopkeeper in Teslin.

Right off the bat the road headed up. We rode as much as possible, walking maybe 5% of the distance. By noon we had climbed nearly 1,000 feet.

While we were walking up a steep grade near the top of the pass a van pulled over to the side and the guy got out and chatted with us for half an hour, giving us a couple of root beers (which was VERY much appreciated). He had just ridden in the Haines to Haines race so he understood how thirsty we were.

As we were talking, one of the rain showers that had been threatening nailed us. So we dug out our rain gear before we rode on.

Shortly after that, we topped out on the pass and headed down a 7% grade (one of 4 that we saw today) for 4 kilometers. That put us in the Toad river valley, which we whizzed down with grades as high as 2% and a terrific tailwind. This went on for nearly 30 miles. A much needed respite between passes. We met a family of stone sheep eating gravel on the side of the road. Very cute, young lamb and the parents.

A little over halfway down the valley we stopped for lunch at Poplar's. Less than an hour after lunch (but 10 miles on down the road) we left the Toad river valley and started up McDonald creek. This was the beginning of a climb of perhaps 3,000 feet over 25 miles. We went up and up and up. Slowly at first but near the end we wound up walking up about a mile and a half of 7% grade that went up a cliff. Really very neat. There were more sheep up on the steep slopes of the cliffs.

We got up to Summit Lake around 9 pm. Frankie wanted a picture with the sign at the top so we made a short stop. And since we didn't feel up to dealing with a tent, fire, etc we rented a room from the Summit Lodge. Most fortunately it came with a kitchen, so we could make a hot dinner. By the time we'd cleaned up, eaten and got to bed it was 11.

Today was a great day for seeing animals. It started out with a Stone Sheep ram, then a family of Stone sheep (ewe, ram and lamb). In the early afternoon a bull moose started to cross the road in front of us (but was scared back in the woods by a passing car). Later in the afternoon we saw a chipmunk; probably not a big deal for most people but we hadn't seen a chipmunk in *years*. Late in the evening, while we were climbing up the pass to Summit Lake, a ewe and small lamb climbed up to the road, ate some gravel (!) and then climbed on up the cliff to avoid us.

Today was also a great day for scenery. We spent the entire day in the Canadian Rockies, with peaks to 7,000 feet and higher. While not nearly as high as the Alaska Range, they were very spectacular. Several times we complained that the scenery was so fantastic that even on bicycles it was too fast!

---

6/21 89 miles to Fort Nelson

Terrain: Mostly downhill, but a long climb up Steamboat Mtn

Sunny; mostly tail winds to 15.

Odometer starting = 1127.6

Odo ending = 1216.7

Miles ridden = 89.02

Ave speed = 10.5

Started 8:00 finished 20:00

Ride time = 8:27

Temp 45-80

~25th day of riding

Expenses = C+C

-(bed & breakfast paid next day)

Days left to July 10 = 19

Miles left to Seattle =

Miles per day to arrive July 10=

Miles per day to arrive July 4 =

First 20 miles very nice downhill

Climbed over Steamboat Mountain

Mel's bike and B&B.

They made us dinner, internet access, shower...

Nelson

2 l. 7-up

Xlunch stuff

X-bread? Pilot bread

X-peanut butter

X-jam

X-fruit

X-cookies

butter

Xcandy

Xtoilet paper

X1 dinner

--small toothpaste

---

6/22 58 miles to Prophet River

Terrain: Primarily long even grades, with a few exceptions that were short and steep.

Mostly sunny; with tail winds to 15.

Odometer starting = 1216.7

Odo ending = 1275.4

Miles ridden = 58.4

Ave speed = 9.4

Started 10:00 finished 19:00

Ride time = 6:10

Temp 65-75

~26th day of riding

Expenses = C+C

-bed & Breakfast (last night) 40

-food 47.42

-eat out 30.47

-hotel (tonight) 40

Days left to July 10 = 18

Miles left to Seattle = 1050

Miles per day to arrive July 10=58.3

Miles per day to arrive July 4 =87.4

Although we got up at 7, we were a little slow getting going. Mel's wife made an excellent breakfast and then she gave us a ride down to the grocery store--and returned for us half an hour later. First time we'd been in a car in 1,000 miles!

We hauled out bikes out of the basement where they'd been stored for the night, got them loaded and were under way by 10. Right out of town the road dips down to the Muskwa River. Then climbed up the other side. This was the worst hill of the day (though just before Prophet River there was another fairly good hill).

We stopped at the top of the hill at the small store, to have a soda. About an hour after we stopped a horsefly bit Frankie on the leg. It turned out she was allergic to the venom, and within 10 minutes she couldn't ride, and ten minutes after that she had completely lost the use of her leg and it was having cramps and spasms. Fortunately there was a nice patch of grass there so we stopped for the 2 hours it took her to recover to the point where she could ride.

We took it easy for the rest of the day, for Frankie's leg was pretty sore. We saw 2 bears alongside the road, one of which watched us intently--probably just to make us nervous; the other kept on munching grass. We got to Prophet River about 7, ate dinner in a café. There we met another couple traveling by bicycle (they were headed north) and exchanged bear stories for about an hour. We got a room for the night in a bunkhouse(which only had a single bed on it, so Frankie volunteered to sleep on the floor). There was a good movie on TV, so we splurged and stayed up to midnight watching it.

Today was the day we should have gone over Trutch Mountain, but the road has been straightened to the point it completely goes around it. If it hadn’t been for a sign we would never have even known this was the place.

---

6/23 54 miles to Buckinghorse River

-note: we got a ride around a bear, rain storm and hill for ~10 miles

Terrain: Primarily long even grades, with a few exceptions that were fairly short.

Mostly rainy with one sunny patch; with variable winds to 15.

Odometer starting = 1275.4

Odo ending = 1319.9

Miles ridden = 44.4 (not including the 10 miles we got a ride for)

Ave speed = 8.2

Started 11:30 finished 19:00

Ride time = 5:22

Temp 48-54 (with a very brief bit at 58 when the sun came out)

~27th day of riding

Expenses = C+C

-eat out 30.47

-hotel (tonight) 63.25

Days left to July 10 = 17

Miles left to Seattle = 1050-54?

Miles per day to arrive July 10=

Miles per day to arrive July 4 =

What a nasty day. Although it didn't rain all day, there was a lot of showers all day long so we had to keep our rain coats handy. Late morning we tackled Sicianie (sp) Chief Mountain. We zoomed down it to a café for a rest and refreshment before climbing up. We were racing the trucks up (and not loosing by much). The grade was in two parts with a leveler stretch, which we rode, in between. Arghh! A few hours later we went up Pink Mountain, this time racing a nasty looking rain cloud. We reached a small store at the top just in time to make a mad dash for the door. It had begun to rain. Boy were we thankful for that store since the storm had nasty winds, rain, and even hail.

We stayed in a set of cabins. We were having an evening snack when a man asked if we knew first aid. We did. He asked us if we would help doctor his foot the next morning. We agreed and went to bed.

---

Liard Hotsprings article

South to Seattle: My Shangri-La

by Ray R. Collins and Frances Nichols

Posted 6/28 from Dawson Creek, 1486 miles from Fairbanks and 827 miles from Seattle.

Ray first visited Liard ('Lee-ard') River Hotsprings when he was very young. From then on, whenever his folks took him and his sisters down the Alaska Highway the questions always were 'when will we get there' or 'how come we couldn't stay longer'?

This trip we were even more excited about arriving at Liard River Hotsprings. Not only is it only one of 3 places we plan a break in our bicycling, but it is the only place we plan to go swimming--hence the reason we brought our swim suits.

There are two pools at Liard River Hotsprings, a lower pool (called the 'Alpha' pool) that is primarily a large wading pool, and the 'Beta' pool that is a natural swimming hole. The Alpha pool has a very hot source (127 F) that mixes with a cool spring, providing water that is 100 to 118 F. The Beta pool is cooler, but still plenty warm enough to make a great spot to swim even in the middle of the winter.

Hot springs are natural springs where the path the water follows has gone deep enough to be warmed by the heat of the earth. The deep fractures need to not only go down, but must return to the surface at a point lower than the water source to allow it to siphon. The Liard River Hotsprings source has never been identified, but it is believed to be related to the fault system that runs up the Liard River valley.

Thc climate near the hotsprings is moderated by the hot water. The 2 degree or so rise in air temperature near the hotsprings allows many species of plants to grow that are normally only found farther south. Even the common local plants (especially ferns) grow much larger than normal, stimulated by the warmth.

Long before white men entered the country the Teslin Indians bathed in the warm waters. By the 1800's trappers and prospectors had come to the area in search of its riches.

The first and only homesteader at the hotsprings was the American trapper and prospector Tom Smith. He built greenhouses and used the hot water from the hotsprings to keep them warm and extend his growing season. In 1925, after a visit to see Smith at the hotsprings, Lieutenant Colonel J. Scott Williams descrived the hotsprings area as a 'Tropical Valley'. From this grew rumors of a tropical paradise, populated with monkeys, parrots and even dinosaurs!

To the solders building the Alaska Highway the 'Tropical Valley' at Liard River Hotsprings was a great recreational spot. One even called it his Shangri-La. These solders built the first boardwalks to the hotsprings and the initial improvements to the spring transforming the hotsprings into a recreational spot. They built the first boardwalks over the marshes that separate the hotsprings from the road, dammed up the lower hotsprings creek to form a pool and made several other improvement to the area.

After the solders left the improvements fell into disrepair until a group of local citizens got together in the 1950's and put in the time and money to rejuvinate the area. In 1957 the area was declaired a Provincial Park to help preserve the fragile environment.

Today the hotsprings area is maintained by contributions from the 150,000 or so visitors every year. In spite of the very large number of people who visit the area the boardwalks preserve the environment and it remains pristine. Maybe not a Shanrgi-La to everyone who visits it, but certainly a wonderful, natural place to soak away the traveler's weariness--whether traveling by bicycle or more conventional method!

---

South to Seattle: Life on the Ground

by Ray R. Collins and Frances Nichols

Posted from , on July 25, miles from Fairbanks, miles from Seattle.

Ants in the pants. Oh so true for those of us who live on the ground. Which, if you are bicycling long distance is essentually where you live.

other things to cover:

tent turned into a swimming pool

runaway tents (even when occupied)

Seasoned with sand.

Lumps in the bed

Rain

Food & Pots in the fire

Leaving the pot handle behind

Bird and squirrels stealing food

---

6/24 74.27 miles to Wonowon

time 8:45

ave 8.5

odo 1394.5

Terrain: Lots of roller-coaster hills (zoom-crawl) that made for a long, hard day.

Mostly sunny, with a race with one thunderstorm to Wonowon. We won!

Odometer starting = 1319.9

Odo ending = 1394.5

Miles ridden = 74.27

Ave speed = 8.5

Started 9:30 finished 21:00

Ride time = 8:45

Temp 55-75

~28th day of riding

Expenses = C+C

-eat out

-hotel (tonight)

Ray doctored our neighbor’s foot as agreed and the man bought us both breakfast this morning in the cafe. He offered to drive us up the first set of hills but we declined. He was a nice older man. After saying good-bye we set off on a zoom-crawl day (zooming down one hill just to crawl up the next).

---

6/25 102 miles to Dawson Creek

Terrain: slightly rolling hills trending downhill to the Peace River. A long, steep climb out of the Peace River Valley, and more rolling hills from there to Dawson Creek..

Mostly sunny with 2 thunderstorms that soaked us.

Odometer starting = 1394.5

Odo ending = 1496.4

Miles ridden = 101.76

Ave speed = 8.9

Started 7:40 finished 22:00

Ride time = 11:19

Temp 55-74

~29th day of riding

Expenses = C+C

-eat out 14.70

-hotel (tonight) 69.00

Days left to July 10 = 15

Miles left to Seattle = 827

Miles per day to arrive July 10=55.13

Miles per day to arrive July 4 =91.89

We had high ambitions of doing the 100 miles to Dawson Creek, so we got up at 7, rushed through a light breakfast (of cookies!) and got on the road by 7:40 (our earliest start of the trip).

We rode about 15 miles and then stopped for more food, peanut butter and jam sandwiches. A few hours later a thunderstorm caught up with us. While the rain was starting to pour down and we were frantically digging out our raincoats a really rude guy drove by in a motorhome, turned on his outside speakers and said "get off the road"! For the next 20 miles I made up curses for him, like changing a flat with no shoulder to get off on.

We got into Fort St. John around 2, and stopped at Wendy's for lunch. After lunch we proceeded down to the Peace River, averaging a very good pace. About halfway down the long, even slope we met a German guy headed north on his bike, so we stopped to talk to him. He has done a lot of real long distance work (eg from India to Germany), and is planning on going up to Inuvik and through Alaska.

We got down to the bottom of the valley and walked across the bridge. Then we had to climb the steep (7-8% grades) up out of the Peace River valley, which took us an hour of mostly walking (though we did manage to ride about 1/5 of the hill).

From there we were going through rolling hills, which trended upwards for awhile, and then dropped down into Dawson Creek. About halfway across this we were caught by another rainstorm, drenching us a second time. But after that it cleared off and was a very pretty evening. We arrived in Dawson Creek (named for George Dawson, an early geologist in the Canadian west) around 10, just as it was starting to get dark. We found the first hotel that looked reasonable. Unfortunately we wound up with an upstairs room, so we had to haul our bikes up the stairs, put down mats and then into our rooms. We were too tired to unpack, so we went straight to bed.

---

6/26 miles locally in Dawson Creek

Today we took a day off from biking. But we put it to good use, overhauling the bicycles (changed Frankie's chain, cleaned and oiled everything, adjusted the spokes on the back of my bike--which had stretched so the wheel wasn't true any more), bought groceries for the next leg of the trip, and also visited a museum at the Mile 0 milepost at the beginning of the Alaska Highway where we watched a movie about the building of the road. While Ray worked on the bikes, Frankie did the laundry.

We spent the evening relaxing, eating and watching TV.

---

6/27 miles locally in Dawson Creek

Finished writing the newspaper article. Rode a few miles back down the road to see a museum of old buildings (kind of like Alaska Land). We spent most of the afternoon here. There was 3 schools and 2 churches, a store where we had ice cream cones and sodas, a blacksmith shop, and several houses. This was an interesting place. We returned the motel to pay for tonight and ask about a movie theater. Turned out the only movie showing we had seen in Whitehorse. We got a box and mailed back about 10 pounds of stuff including sleeping bag, the solar set-up, and other misc stuff we no longer need. Stayed up late watching TV and reading. All in all, a relaxing day.

---

6/28 64 miles to Chetwind

Terrain: nearly level with long, rolling hills, with a 3 mile 6% descent to Pine River-and a similar climb on the other side. Chetwynd is also at the bottom of a similar descent.

Mostly cloudy in the morning and sunny in the afternoon with thunderstorms that missed us.

Road surface: fair-good.

Shoulders: 5' wide 2/3 of the time, down to none.

Odometer starting = 1503.3

Odo ending = 1567.6

Miles ridden = 64.32

Ave speed = 9.7

Started 12:15 finished 20:15

Ride time = 6:36

Temp 70-84

~30th day of riding

Expenses = C+C

-eat out 15.41

-food14.70

-hotel (tonight) 52.90

Days left to July 10 = 12

Miles left to Seattle = 763

Miles per day to arrive July 10=63.58

Nice riding today through farmland. We saw some deer. There was one steep descent down the Pine River then back out but it was so pretty we didn’t mind too much. It was early evening when we arrived in Chetwind.

---

6/29 In Chetwind

Terrain: -

Good weather.

Road surface: .

Shoulders:

Odometer starting = -

Odo ending = 1567.6

Miles ridden = -

Ave speed = -

Started - finished -

Ride time = 0

Temp 70-75

~30th day of riding

Expenses = C+C

-eat out 7.41

-food 25.70

-hotel (tonight) 57.90

Days left to July 10 = 11

Miles left to Seattle = 763

Miles per day to arrive July 10=69.36

We ate doughnuts this morning for breakfast. We walked back to the hotel to pack up. Frankie started feeling sick stomach on the way and by the time we arrived she was ill. We decided to be safe and stay put today. She slept a good deal of the day and ate only lightly, giving her stomach a chance to recover. We did move to another larger room though which had a small kitchen.

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6/30 66 miles to the summit of Pine Pass

Terrain: Very gentle, even climb from Chetwynd to the top of Pine Pass (a climb of more than 2,000 feet) that made for easy biking in spite of the climb.

Mostly cloudy in the morning and sunny in the afternoon with showers, of which hit us.

Road surface: great.

Shoulders: 5' wide 2/3 of the time, down to none.

Odometer starting = 1567.6

Odo ending = 1634

Miles ridden = 66.34

Ave speed = 9.1

Started 10:15 finished 20:30

Ride time = 7:14

Temp 52-74

~31st day of riding

Expenses = C+C

-food15.70

-hotel (tonight) 25.00

Days left to July 10 = 10

Miles left to Seattle = 697

Miles per day to arrive July 10=69.7

That was a pass? Hmmm. We went up a gentle incline just about all day. We had to stop for an overturned truck at a railroad crossing. Further on we stopped for snacks and heard about another overturned truck that was burning further up. It took us awhile to get there, but the truck was still smoldering. It was carrying wood chips, some of which were spilled into the river. Frankie took 2 hits of her inhaler before rushing passed the smoldering wood, and another after.

We were going to take a break in a nice meadow but it was already occupied, by a bear. We stayed on the other side of the road. Unfortunately, it had other ideas. Every time it tried to cross the road, a car came by and honked, chasing if off the road. It stood on its hindlegs and stared at us. This happened several times before it finally got across the road. We waited a few minutes before continuing on past just to be sure it was gone.

We found a lodge at the top of the pass. The restaurant had shut for the night. While we were wandering around we met a man who took one look at us and said “I bet you need a room”. We did. It was a bunkhouse in the process of being converted to a motel. We had to wait for the sheets to finish so we cooked our emergency food of stroganoff. There was one bathroom with stalls and showers. The room had two twin beds. I was cold so Ray lent me one of his blankets for the night. It took us a long time to fall asleep for some reason. We were awakened several times by a noisy (drunk?) neighbor during the wee hours. But it was a dry bed out of the weather and that was important.

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7/1 80.12 miles to Bear Lake

Terrain: Fast but not too steep downhill for the first 10-15 miles and then mostly level. During the last half of the day the road was nearly flat which made for easy biking.

Mostly cloudy in the morning and sunny in the afternoon with.

Road surface: great to fair.

Shoulders: 5' wide 2/3 of the time, down to none.

Odometer starting = 1634

Odo ending = 1714.2

Miles ridden = 80.12

Ave speed = 9.7

Started 7:25 finished 18:30

Ride time = 8h 12m

Temp 42-75

~32nd day of riding

Expenses = C+C

-food 2.50

-hotel (tonight) 52.90

-eat out 56.00

Days left to July 10 = 9

Miles left to Seattle = 617

Miles per day to arrive July 10=68.56

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7/2 50 miles to Prince George-went 4 mi. Past town & returned for a total of

Terrain: Fairly level until you descend into Prince George.

Rain.

Road surface: great to fair.

Shoulders: 5' wide most of the time.

Odometer starting = 1714.2

Odo ending = 1772.2

Miles ridden = 57.95

Ave speed = 9.0

Started 8:00 finished 18:30

Ride time = 6:24

Temp 48-52

~32rd day of riding

Expenses = C+C

-hotel (tonight) 75

-eat out 56.00?

Days left to July 10 = 8

Miles left to Seattle = 568

Miles per day to arrive July 10=71

Arrived in Prince George around dinner time. Ate at McDonald’s on the outskirts before heading on. We wanted to be on the other side of town tonight. Well we thought we would find lodging near the airport. We headed that way. The airport turn is at the top of a 5% narrow climb. Up we went. Nothing up there. We finally stopped for directions. Turns out we passed the last hotel right at the bottom of the climb, so back down we went (ughh!).

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67/3 Prince George

Rain all day so we stayed put.

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7/4 76.95 miles to Quesnel

Terrain: Fairly level for about half the total distance, up and down the Fraser River valley wall for the rest (300-500 foot climbs).

Cloudy with some sunny patches.

Road surface: great to excelent.

Shoulders: 5' wide most of the time.

Odometer starting = 1772.2

Odo ending = 1849.2

Miles ridden = 76.94

Ave speed = 9.9

Started 10:00 finished 20:00

Ride time = 7:46

Temp 50-72

~33rd day of riding

Expenses = C+C

-hotel (tonight) 45

-eat out 76.00?

Days left to July 10 = 6

Miles left to Seattle = 491.5

Miles per day to arrive July 10=81.9

We ate breakfast at the restaurant next to our room, got our bikes out of the room and turned in our key. We got on the road a few minutes before 10.

The Fraser River was nearly flooding, and carrying a lot of debris down it. We crossed the bridge over it, rode up the 5% 2 mile long hill (the best hill Frankie has ever ridden up!). Once on top the road was fairly level, with a slight downhill grade, for quite a few miles.

By early afternoon we were in zoom-crawl country. We ran into a guy who was biking around BC and chatted with him for awhile. He was making his living by collecting aluminum cans!

Flat tire.

We stopped for a hamburger at 2. By 3 we were back on the road, and got into Quesnel around 8. We went most of the way through town before we stopped, getting a hotel near the south end of town.

After unloading the bikes (they wouldn't let us put them in the room--one of the very few who wouldn't, though I don't blame them because they have new carpet) we walked to a restaurant and got dinner. Then we returned to our room and went to bed.

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7/5 76.65 miles to Williams Lake

Terrain: Fairly level for about half the total distance, with very long climb up the Fraser River valley wall for the rest (3-5 mile climbs).

Rain in the morning, and cloudy with some sunny patches in the afternoon.

Road surface: great to excellent.

Shoulders: 5' wide most of the time.

Odometer starting = 1849.2

Odo ending = 1926.0

Miles ridden = 76.65

Ave speed = 8.1

Started 7:15 finished 20:30

Ride time = 9:27

Temp 50-72

~34th day of riding

Expenses = C+C

-hotel (tonight) 62.18

-eat out 16.00?

Days left to July 10 = 5

Miles left to Seattle = 415

Miles per day to arrive July 10=83

Flat tire. Frankie had an episode with her heart this afternoon which tired her out. However, we kept on and reached Williams Lake in the evening. Although at the end of the day we did walk quite a lot.

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South to Seattle: Of Bears and Bikes

by Ray R. Collins and Frances Nichols

Posted from Sedro Woolley Washington, on July 11, 2240 miles from Fairbanks, 75 miles from Seattle.

We have been riding through a lot of bear country. Thus far, we have seen ten black bears. Now seeing bears is a great thrill in a car, especially knowing you can outrun them at 60 miles per hour. However, bears can easily outrun bicycles, giving bears the advantage.

Combine the bear, car, and bicycles and a few things can happen. The first is the most common: nothing. That is, the car drives on. We continue pedaling. The bear continues doing bear things, paying no attention to us.

Second, the car slows or stops and tells us there is a bear ahead. One time we had already seen the bear and crossed the road to put more room between us and it. Several cars had stopped to take pictures. While we rode by, one of the picture takers said, "I suppose you know there is a bear over there?" Another time a camper headed north stopped and told us of a bear on the roadside ahead of us. This warning was really appreciated because the bear was just over the crest of a hill and we would not have seen it until we were very close.

Another thing is using a car as a shield. This happened at our first bear sighting. A van passed us and then pulled off to the side of the road. When we got closer, the driver told us there was a bear in the edge of the woods. He drove slowly along the edge of the road, keeping the van between us and the woods where the bear was This was very much appreciated!

The final thing thing was probably the safest for us; we got a ride past the bear. A pickup pulled up behind us. The driver got out and said, "A bear is in the road ahead of you. It is not getting off the edge of the road when cars drive by. I'd be happy to give you a lift past it." We agreed. When we got to where the bear had been it was gone. But it was now raining, so he gave us a ride out of the rain. When we were out of the rain we were at the bottom of a steep hill so he drove us to the top. When we were done it was about a ten mile ride. The most amazing part is, the man was actually heading north when he had seen us and turned around to give us the ride.

The bear that gave us the biggest headache was one that wanted to cross the road. We were going up Pine Pass (north of Prince George, British Columbia) and ready for a break. A wide, grassy spot would do nicely, or so we thought until we saw it was already occupied by a bear. We crossed the road to go past the bear. A car drove by, saw the bear and honked. The bear, who had started across the road, ran back towards the woods when the car honked at it. We stopped to see what it would do. It returned to the road and another car came by and honked, causing the bear to head for the woods again. This happened three times, each time the bear would stand up and look at us like we were responsible! Finally, the bear got across the highway and into the woods on the far side. We waited a bit before continuing so the bear would have time to get further into the woods.

We have been very fortunate in our encounters with bears. This is not to say we are not worried and taking precautions to avoid unnecessary encounters. This time of year, bears are hungry. Mostly they eat grasses and plants. But, being opportune feeders, they will gladly eat our lunch for us and then ask for more. We keep all our food in Ziploc bags to keep the odors from attracting bears. When camping, we put our food in a plastic bag and hang it in a tree well away from the tent.

We also carry a pepper solution called Bear Spray. We have heard mixed reports from "It puts the bear down, disabled completely.", to "He only shakes his head.". We do not think it a reliable defense from a bear, but it is better than nothing six feet from a charging bear. Several other bicyclists we talked to also carried Bear Spray, as well as some motorists.

Despite all precautions, bears are still dangerous and unpredictable. There have been occasions where bicyclists have been attacked by bears. The best thing to do is try to avoid them and be alert when traveling in bear country.

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7/6 58.85 miles to 100 Mile House

Terrain: Fairly level for about half the total distance, with many climbs for the rest.

Cloudy with some sunny patches and rain storms in the afternoon.

Road surface: fair to excellent.

Shoulders: 5'-8' wide most of the time, but a few sections of no shoulder.

Odometer starting = 1926.0

Odo ending = 1985.4

Miles ridden = 58.85

Ave speed = 8.4

Started 7:45 finished 17:30

Ride time = 6:55

Temp 60-75

~35th day of riding

Expenses = C+C

-hotel (tonight) 62.10

-eat out 46.00?

Days left to July 10 = 4

Miles left to Seattle = 357

Miles per day to arrive July 10=89.25

We were planning to go further but we were pretty tired when we stopped for dinner. We asked how the road was to our intended goal of 115 Mile House (why the towns are named like this I don’t know) and found out it was uphill. Ughh, blah! We stayed in 100 Mile House.

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7/7 71.0 miles to Cache Creek

Terrain: As we left 100 Mile House we climbed up and up for 4 miles. Then there was several miles of slightly downhill, a steep short climb and then from there to the town of Clinton it was a zoom-zoom-crawl type terrain (ie it went down about twice as much as it went up). From Clinton to Cache Creek (about 20 miles) it was a very fast downhill ride (punctuated by a few very small uphill stretches).

Cloudy with some sunny patches in the afternoon.

Wind: minor headwinds (to 10).

Road surface: bad to excelent.

Shoulders: 5'-7' wide most of the time, but a few sections of no shoulder.

Odometer starting = 1985.4

Odo ending = 2056.5

Miles ridden = 71.0

Ave speed = 10.7

Started 10:00 finished 8:00

Ride time = 6:38

Temp 60-75

~36th day of riding

Expenses = C+C

-hotel (tonight)

-eat out ?

-food 13.46

Days left to July 10 = 3

Miles left to Seattle = 280

Miles per day to arrive July 10=

We had gotten pretty tired the day before, and then stayed up until 11 working on our next article for the newspaper, so we slept in until 8. We weren't exactly prompt in getting going either, so by the time we'd bought breakfast from the grocery store, eaten and got on the road it was 10.

It was a steep climb up the hill right outside town, so we alternated between walking and riding--probably riding more than 3/4 of the total distance. Once on top we made better time to the next hill, which was even steeper. This was the summit (the last one of the trip), at about 3,500 feet.

After that we made better time, though there were a lot more uphill stretches than we'd been led to believe (one person had told us "you won't pedal for 20 miles"). Early in the afternoon I had another flat on the front tire; the same area as before. Looked like the previous patch had not worked right. We had lunch while I repaired the tire.

Just before arriving in Clinton we were zooming down a hill and I had a blowout at about 25 mph. I got stopped and looked things over. It turned out the front brake, which had been sticking, was misalligned. It has squeezed on the tire instead of the rim, causing it to puncture the sidewall. Sounded about like a rifle going off when it went!

We had a second lunch while I repaired the leak. Then I switched tires (this one was now not much good), using the one that had the bad sidewall. I re-enforced the sidewall with a Canadian $10 bill, and hope it will work until we can get another tire.

We stopped in Clinton for an ice cream cone, and then began what was probably the most enjoyable ride of the trip. It was about 25 miles of easy downhill riding from Clinton to Cache Creek in the sun. The headwind was the only drawback but it wasn't strong enough to slow us much.

The first hotel we stopped at in Cache Creek wouldn't let us put our bikes in the room, so we went to a second. No problem there, and after we'd got our bikes settled we went across the street for dinner.

After dinner we called Morgan and Dolly, watched a little TV and went to bed at 10.

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7/8 77.5 miles almost to Boston Bar

Terrain: After around 15 miles of up and down (trending mostly down) we had a steep downhill of 7-8% for 5 miles. Then we stayed in the bottom of the Thompson River valley, going downstream with a fair rate of descent (but quite a few ups and downs as the road followed the terrain.) This continued, though the ups and downs got steeper and longer the farther south we got.

Alternatively sunny and cloudy.

Wind: minor headwinds (to 10).

Road surface: good to excellent.

Shoulders: 5'-7' wide most of the time, but in the canyon areas there were many sections with no shoulder.

Odometer starting = 2056.5

Odo ending = 2134.1

Miles ridden = 77.51

Ave speed = 9

Started 9:00 finished 21:15

Ride time = 8:35

Temp 60-85

~37th day of riding

Expenses = C+C

-hotel (tonight) 54?

-eat out 40?

-food 0

Days left to July 10 = 2

Miles left to Seattle = 203

Miles per day to arrive July 10=101.5

We got up a little after 7, had breakfast in the restaurant across the street, and by 9 we were on the way.

The first 20 miles were a very nice ride. Fairly easy going downhill, sunny but not yet hot.

We stopped for lunch at Spence's Bridge. It turned out to be a pretty lousy lunch; a milkshake that was mostly milk for $3, and a (small) grilled cheese with watery soup for $5.

Shortly after lunch I heard a ping from my back tire. Upon investigation I discovered a broken spoke. Since we were eager to get to Boston Bar (a long stretch) we decided not to fix it until evening.

After lunch we went up and down and up and down. By late afternoon we were at Lytton, where the Thompson River (which we had been following) and the Fraser River came together. We stopped there for dinner (a very good Chineese dinner).

We had asked the waitress what the road was like, and she said it was all downhill to Boston Bar. So, in spite of the lateness (6 pm) we decided to tackle the 25 miles. Unfortunately our information was seriously in error; there were plenty of hills to be climbed as we went down the Fraser River canyon. They were offset by just as many downhill stretches, but that didn't help us make real good time.

On one of the steeper downhill stretches I had another spoke break. It went with a very loud crack. I thought I'd had a blowout, and was happy to find it was only (-!-) another spoke.

By 9:15 it was starting to get dark. A parked motorhome heard us discussing the quickly disappearing light and asked “What will you do when it gets dark?” To which Ray simply replied, “Stop.” Luckily, we came to a hotel about 4 miles before Boston Bar, so we stopped for the night. The managers were having a party on their lawn which they invited us to but we declined and went to bed.

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7/9 45 miles to Hope

Terrain: Up & down for half; mostly level as we approached Hope with one long hill just before town (up & down).

Rain in the morning before we left, then cloudy.

Wind: headwinds to 15.

Road surface: good to exelent.

Shoulders: 5' most of the time, but in the canyon areas there were many sections with no shoulder.

Odometer starting = 2134.1

Odo ending = 2179.4

Miles ridden = 45.17

Ave speed = 9

Started 11:15 finished 19:45

Ride time = 5

Temp 60-70

~38th day of riding

Expenses = C+C

-hotel (tonight) 56.35

-eat out 60?

Days left to July 10 = 1

Miles left to Seattle = 158

Miles per day to arrive July 10=158

We got somewhat of a late start because Ray overhauled his spokes and we re-packed everything this morning. We left some food we no longer needed since we are now in more populated country and threw other stuff away.

Shortly after starting, the road began winding up and down through the canyon. We went through the first of 7 tunnels this morning. Frankie got a flat tire just after exiting one. She repaired it and we rode on to Hells Gate Airtram where we parked and took the tram across the river for lunch.

Continuing after lunch took us down the canyon and through 6 more tunnels. All of which had supposed bike paths yet none were wide enough to ride on (the bike handlebars wouldn't even fit!)

The afternoon brought us out of the canyon. At a roadside stand we snacked on fresh cherries and cider. The last hill of the day seemed to slowly rise forever. Finally we were at the top and treated to a long gentle downhill into Hope where we decided to call it a day

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7/10 105 miles to Sedro Woolley!

Route: 7, 11, 9

Terrain: Mostly level (very nice).

Sunny.

Wind: headwinds to 5.

Road surface: good to exelent.

Shoulders: 1-5' most of the time, but in some areas there were sections with no shoulder.

Odometer starting = 2179.4

Odo ending = 2284.8

Miles ridden = 105.36

Ave speed = 10.2

Started 6:45 finished 21:30

Ride time = 10:19

Temp 60-80

~39th day of riding

Expenses = C+C

-hotel (tonight) 65 US

-eat out 30C?

-food 20C

Days left to July 10 = 0

Miles left to Seattle =

Miles per day to arrive July 10

We crossed the border this afternoon into Washington state. Had to wait for the train just after the border. Nice flat farmland. Stopped for a berry stand this morning and had a long chat with the woman running it.

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7/11 64.96 miles to B (outskirts of Seattle)

Route: 9

Terrain: Mostly hills.

Sunny.

Wind: headwinds to 5.

Road surface: good to exellent.

Shoulders: 1-5' most of the time, but in some areas there were sections with no shoulder.

Odometer starting = 2284.8

Odo ending = 2349.8

Miles ridden = 64.96

Ave speed = 9.3

Started 10:30 finished 21:30

Ride time = 6:56

Temp 60-80

~40th day of riding

Expenses = C+C

-hotel (tonight) 125 US

-eat out 24C?

-food 5C

Days left to July 10 = -1

Miles left to Seattle = 20

Miles per day to arrive July 10=?

Called this afternoon to a hotel but were told they were full. We rode on anyway. We played leap-frog with some police. We asked the third time we passed them where a hotel was, since it was getting late. They told us to try some town which didn’t have one. We asked at a gas station and were given directions. The directions put us in a residential neighborhood. It was now dark. We wandered around a bit then knocked at a door where lights were still on. Frankie borrowed a phone and was able to make reservations. The woman offered to follow us behind in her car to give us light. It was not far, just down the hill, but we were grateful. It turned out to be the same hotel we phoned earlier. We were glad they found us a room, but it was expensive. It was a Hilton. We asked about food and were given a list of pizza places open for late delivery. The desk clerk brought us some excellent fruit in case the pizza places were closed (it was not 11pm). We dined on pizza and went to bed.

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7/12 20.4 miles to downtown Seattle

Route:

Terrain: Nearly level along the bike path, steep climb up Capital Hill.

Sunny.

Wind: 0.

Road surface: good to exelent.

Shoulders: 0-1' most of the time.

Odometer starting = 2349.8

Odo ending = 2370.2

Miles ridden = 20.25

Ave speed = 8.8

Started 12:30 finished 14:30

Ride time = 2:17

Temp 70-80

~41st day of riding

Expenses = C+C

Days left to July 10 = -2

Miles left to Seattle =0

Miles per day to arrive July 10=?

Our last day of riding! We had a free, yummy, buffet breakfast in the hotel and were given directions to a bike path the avoided most of the traffic going into downtown Seattle. It was a nice ride along Lake Washington and through UW. We arrived at Morgan’s in the early afternoon. We had done it!