Day 28: Hatcher's Pass.
"Curve: The loveliest distance between two points."
-Mae West
Nice shootin' tex.
Friday August 19, 2011
It was raining on me on the way to work and it basically rained all day. Everytime I would look outside.. rain. I pretty much resigned myself to staying at home doing nothing my last weekend in Alaska. I wasn’t going to volunteer for another rain soaked weekend. When 4:00 rolled around and it was time to poop or get off the can the weather still didn’t look all that great. It wasn’t raining when I came out of work, although it looked like it should be. It was foggy, cold, dreary, and uninviting for a motorcycle ride. When I left the hospital I was convinced I was staying at home at least tonight. When I actually got home and saw all the stuff packed and ready to go I just started putting it on the bike and getting ready. I never really made the decision to go anywhere. I just went. I ended up heading back up to Wasilla and then on to Houston and finally Willow. Then I hit the turn off for Hatcher pass in a sprinkling rain. I’m so very glad I did. Hatcher pass was on my “maybe” list. It’s only 50 miles long so I wasn’t all that interested but I am happy it worked out this way. It’s a beautiful area. What can I say about it that the pictures won’t tell you. Hmmm, the road is terrible on the dirt section in the middle. It is way worse than Dalton ever dreamed of being. Pot holes everywhere. Not big ones, just medium sized ones. I think I averaged about 20 mph because you just couldn’t even try to avoid them sometimes. It was very lush green everywhere and the river was beautiful; there was a fog hanging around it when I got there. I really hope that comes out in the pictures because it was really something to see.
At one point I was above some of the snow spots I keep seeing on some of the lower mountains. I was really hoping to be close enough to get to one and make a snow angel or something. No such luck, I’m sure anything easy enough to get to one have been trampled to death by other visitors long before I got here anyway. Hatcher leads up to Summit lake, which is really more of a pond. It was so unimpressive I didn’t even bother to take a picture of it. The views from the top were pretty sweet though. The ride back down the mountain was like a flume ride for the most part. Very steep. That’s when I first heard the noise. At really low speeds the bike had developed a rhythmic noise like “chusha, chusha” that went away as you sped up. Very concerning since I’m leaving for 5,000+ miles in a few days. I decided I need to do some checking as soon as I stopped tonight to figure that out.
When I got back on to the pavement section I felt like I was back home. A curvy road following a river (the river here is prettier) with mountains on both sides and cuts going through the edges of the mountain to make room for the road. It was a LOT like southwest Virginia roads. I loved it. It’s the first time I’ve been on what I consider a “curvy” road since I’ve been here. I was killing the 35mph speed limit but it felt great to blast through some curves. The vstrom is no sport bike but it felt great even with the weight on it. Don’t misunderstand I wasn’t dragging pegs or anything. I was just riding more to enjoy the bike and road than the scenery like I have been doing most of the time.
After that I found a little store and bought a big Dr. Pepper and a candy bar and consulted my mile post. (I’m starting to really like this book) and found a few camping areas close by. I ended up at one called “Government Hill” that is just off the highway.. plus it gave me a chance to drive a few miles back up the curvy road between Palmer and Hatcher’s pass again.
So I got everything set up and ate dinner and then remembered the Chusha Chusha sound and went to investigate. It turns out, and I’m betting this is the source of the noise, that my chain was loose. Way loose. Way looser than I would normally ever let a bike chain get. I know I adjusted it when I changed the tire. Surely it hasn’t stretched this much in 2,000 miles. It’s still got plenty of adjustment left but it still concerns me a little. I think I’m going to just assume I didn’t have it adjusted right when I did it the last time. I spent about 20 minutes getting things adjusted back to good shape and then crawled in the tent to do this.
I have no idea what I’m doing tomorrow. I may ride out to Monteluska glacier and check that out or maybe just chill in Palmer, or maybe go on to Valdez like I somewhat had planned. We’ll see how the weather looks in the AM and go from there.
Good riding day! Enjoyed it very much. Thank you Alaska for not crapping all over my last weekend here.
It was raining on me on the way to work and it basically rained all day. Everytime I would look outside.. rain. I pretty much resigned myself to staying at home doing nothing my last weekend in Alaska. I wasn’t going to volunteer for another rain soaked weekend. When 4:00 rolled around and it was time to poop or get off the can the weather still didn’t look all that great. It wasn’t raining when I came out of work, although it looked like it should be. It was foggy, cold, dreary, and uninviting for a motorcycle ride. When I left the hospital I was convinced I was staying at home at least tonight. When I actually got home and saw all the stuff packed and ready to go I just started putting it on the bike and getting ready. I never really made the decision to go anywhere. I just went. I ended up heading back up to Wasilla and then on to Houston and finally Willow. Then I hit the turn off for Hatcher pass in a sprinkling rain. I’m so very glad I did. Hatcher pass was on my “maybe” list. It’s only 50 miles long so I wasn’t all that interested but I am happy it worked out this way. It’s a beautiful area. What can I say about it that the pictures won’t tell you. Hmmm, the road is terrible on the dirt section in the middle. It is way worse than Dalton ever dreamed of being. Pot holes everywhere. Not big ones, just medium sized ones. I think I averaged about 20 mph because you just couldn’t even try to avoid them sometimes. It was very lush green everywhere and the river was beautiful; there was a fog hanging around it when I got there. I really hope that comes out in the pictures because it was really something to see.
At one point I was above some of the snow spots I keep seeing on some of the lower mountains. I was really hoping to be close enough to get to one and make a snow angel or something. No such luck, I’m sure anything easy enough to get to one have been trampled to death by other visitors long before I got here anyway. Hatcher leads up to Summit lake, which is really more of a pond. It was so unimpressive I didn’t even bother to take a picture of it. The views from the top were pretty sweet though. The ride back down the mountain was like a flume ride for the most part. Very steep. That’s when I first heard the noise. At really low speeds the bike had developed a rhythmic noise like “chusha, chusha” that went away as you sped up. Very concerning since I’m leaving for 5,000+ miles in a few days. I decided I need to do some checking as soon as I stopped tonight to figure that out.
When I got back on to the pavement section I felt like I was back home. A curvy road following a river (the river here is prettier) with mountains on both sides and cuts going through the edges of the mountain to make room for the road. It was a LOT like southwest Virginia roads. I loved it. It’s the first time I’ve been on what I consider a “curvy” road since I’ve been here. I was killing the 35mph speed limit but it felt great to blast through some curves. The vstrom is no sport bike but it felt great even with the weight on it. Don’t misunderstand I wasn’t dragging pegs or anything. I was just riding more to enjoy the bike and road than the scenery like I have been doing most of the time.
After that I found a little store and bought a big Dr. Pepper and a candy bar and consulted my mile post. (I’m starting to really like this book) and found a few camping areas close by. I ended up at one called “Government Hill” that is just off the highway.. plus it gave me a chance to drive a few miles back up the curvy road between Palmer and Hatcher’s pass again.
So I got everything set up and ate dinner and then remembered the Chusha Chusha sound and went to investigate. It turns out, and I’m betting this is the source of the noise, that my chain was loose. Way loose. Way looser than I would normally ever let a bike chain get. I know I adjusted it when I changed the tire. Surely it hasn’t stretched this much in 2,000 miles. It’s still got plenty of adjustment left but it still concerns me a little. I think I’m going to just assume I didn’t have it adjusted right when I did it the last time. I spent about 20 minutes getting things adjusted back to good shape and then crawled in the tent to do this.
I have no idea what I’m doing tomorrow. I may ride out to Monteluska glacier and check that out or maybe just chill in Palmer, or maybe go on to Valdez like I somewhat had planned. We’ll see how the weather looks in the AM and go from there.
Good riding day! Enjoyed it very much. Thank you Alaska for not crapping all over my last weekend here.
Day 29: Beautiful but cold.
"Glaciers are delicate and individual things, like humans. Instability is built into them."
-Will Harrison
Looks warm, but it was damn cold.
Saturday August 20, 2011
I am not sleeping well in the tent lately. I’m not sure why. I think it’s just the foam cell pad I’m using. It’s just not comfortable at all. I think I keep moving trying to get comfy and wake myself up. Anyway, got up around 8:30 and remember thinking I would just like to go back to sleep… It had rained last night so I figured it was more of the same for the day. But I HAD to go pee so I decided to do that first. As soon as I opened the ten door I was amazed to see blue sky above me. I am not kidding it was about the most beautiful morning I have seen since I got here. There were clouds, but nothing like what it had been. I could actually see sunshine. My eyes literally hurt for 10-15 minutes trying to get adjusted to the brightness.. it honestly has been at least a week since I’ve really seen sunshine. Amazing! It was cold though. Very chilly. My fingers were almost numb as I was packing everything up. The thermometer on the bike said 43 degrees but that was after I had everything loaded up and was ready to go. Plus that was after the sun had come up some more and was actually bathing the area I was in with sunlight instead of just the mountains across the way. I was sort of at the foot of some mountains so I could see sunlight but it wasn’t actually hitting where I was yet until the sun got higher. Anyway.. it was cold.
I got everything packed up and cranked up the heated hand grips and that problem took care of itself pretty quickly. It warmed up after a little while and was a beautiful morning. I decided as soon as I felt the sunshine that I was going to Valdez to check it out and headed that way. About 30 minutes later I stopped for a late breakfast at a little café in some town I can’t even remember the name of. Population me and the lady that cooked the breakfast I think. Haha very small. As I had breakfast I started a conversation with two older guys that seemed like locals and they were. We talked about motorcycles, the weather, the road going toward Valdez, and where they came from originally. One of the guys grew up about an hour from where I live in Jonesboro (now called Jonesborough since it decided to take advantage of being the oldest town in Tennessee). He told me some of the history of the town. Apparently George Washington stayed there for a few days way back when. It was an interesting, if out of place, conversation to have in middle of nowhere Alaska. After that it was just a matter of cruising up the Glenn to the Richardson intersection that would take me down to Valdez. It’s about 340 miles from Anchorage but I was in Palmer (not sure if I explained where Hatcher’s pass ended) so I had a little less than 300 miles to go. 180 to Glennallen, then 120 to Valdez. It was a gorgeous morning and I debated taking off the rain suit from over top of the riding suit and decided to just keep it. Then I got stuck in construction work on the glenn. I’ve always heard there are delays all the time. We sat there for about 15 minutes but everybody was cool with it. People got out of their cars and walked their dogs around or played ball or just talked. It’s a bit surreal for complete strangers to just hang out like that and not be pissed about having to sit there. The little flag lady came around and talked to everybody and told us how long and just basically joined our conversations. Very odd. We ended up sitting there for about 20 minutes total and then a pilot truck led us through the construction. I expected something major but they were just paving. I’m not sure why the whole road had to be closed for that. In the lower states they would have just used cones to make new lanes and made us drive slow. Who knows. I guess that’s just the way they do it.
One little note about Glennallen the town, not the road. It’s nothing. A little blip on the radar and that’s it. I don’t understand why roads in Alaska are named after tiny places when they actually go to much bigger places. The Glenn Highway should be called the Anchorage. The Sterling Highway should be called Homer, or Soldotna. I guess there is a reason, but anyway, back to the point. Glennallen is a tiny little town with 2 gas stations, a quickie mart, and a few odd shops.. oh, and a cop that likes to radar the 40mph zone on the outskirts of town. Jackass. I was there for 20 minutes getting gas and drinking a dr. pepper and saw him pull over 3 different people. I suppose speed traps are universal no matter what state you are in.
It was really pretty for the next 2-3 hours then it got cloudy again. It never really rained on me but it sprinkled a bit and got really cloudy again later in the day. The temperature hovered in the mid 50’s and that was about that.
The ride down to Valdez was mostly uneventful. It’s a pretty ride. I noticed the leaves are changing in some spots. Alaskan fall I suppose. I hear it’s very short. September is when they normally start getting snow. I can tell a difference in the weather lately. It’s colder in the mornings and it gets dark much earlier now than what it did when I got here. When I first got here It was like leaving in a permanent daylight because it was still very light at 1am and then the sun was back up at 5am. Now it’s dark by 11ish at best and it’s still dusky at 6:30ish (or maybe that’s just clouds causing it? ?)
Anyway, the ride was pretty. I ended up stopping at Worthington glacier (see pics) and hiked up to it and took some pictures. This glacier is just awesome to be close to. You can walk up to and actually crawl under it (very troubling to be under it when you think about what would happen if it decided to move). It’s so blue in spots that it looks like it has a neon sign inside it. I took a bottle and filled it with glacier water, no not to drink, real glacier water has a ton of grayish sediment in it. I filled up the bottle with water coming down from the glacier and then collected a bunch of the rocks from near the glacier. When I get it home I’ll boil it and put it into something more permanent and seal it so I can keep it. It’s neat to watch the water from glaciers. I mentioned the sediment in it. It’s a very fine grayish/blackish powder. Presumably it’s powdered granite or whatever else the glacier runs over as it goes. It look s like there is smoke under the water though. I’ve tried to get pictures of it a few times but it won’t focus right. Very cool experience… plus I didn’t have to pay $20 like I did at the other one near Anchorage.
The best part of riding to Valdez is Thompson pass. It’s a road cut through the mountains and is just outstanding. You are driving along with cliffs on both sides of you so high you have to basically look straight up to see them. There are waterfalls everywhere (some more famous than others) and a creek that all the waterfalls collect into. I made a video of the bridal veil fall. It’s obvious why it’s called that. I’m going to try and upload the video so hopefully it works. I have pictures too but you can really see why it’s called that if you watch the video. The other well known one is horse tail falls. It’s name is obvious as well. There were a few other ones that didn’t have names that were as pretty or more so depending on your point of view and opinion. They were harder to get pictures of because no turn outs near them though. That’s probably why they aren’t named… or maybe they don’t have turn outs because they weren’t named. Which came first the name, or the turnout… hmm..
So anyway I got to Valdez and had some dinner. Prawn and Halibut. I was kind of bummed at the portions. For $16 I got 2 of the prawns (just big shrimp.. not that big!) and two small pieces of halibut and some fries. I would rather have paid $25 and had more food but oh well. There were lots of fries and it was good so I was content. I went to a few of the shops in Valdez but never really saw anything unique. I ended up buying Chloe a shirt and a sticker to add to my collection and that’s about it.
I actually left Valdez fairly early in the day.. I’m guessing around 6:30 ish. I saw a place I wanted to camp out that had a shelter to put the tent and bike under ( I expected more rain) so I went back to it. It was about an hour outside of Valdez. I had just started putting my tent up and collecting firewood when some guy driving through stopped to chat for a minute or two. We talked a bit and then as he was leaving he mentioned that this area was really popular for bear and that I should watch for them. “Thanks, I’ll do that!” is all I said and in the back of my mind I was really wishing he had just kept it to himself. I’m not too proud to admit that camping in a bear hotspot is not something I would do on purpose but now I was 95% “camped” here and I wasn’t moving.
I went back to the camp and set everything up for my fire later and sat down to read some stuff in the milepost book. Of course now my mind was focused on seeing bear out of the corner of my eye so I was distracted. I turned on some music on the phone and let that play for a while thinking if there were bear there at least they would know somebody was here.
I almost jumped up from the picnic table when a dark gray rabbit (fairly large rabbit at least) went hopping across my campsite about 15 feet away. He’s lucky he didn’t get bear sprayed. Haha I had it half way out of my pocket before “long ears, cottony tail” registered in my brain.
Around 9:30 it was getting dusky out so I started up the fire. I can proudly say I’ve gotten better (if I have a little dry wood anyway) and skipped the gas trick. About 20 minutes later I had a pretty impressive fire going and had collected a ton of wood to burn. Some wet, some mostly dry. I had a great campfire tonight. Which was good because the longer It burned the better I felt. My socks were, of course, wet again from the crappy SIDI boots. I tried to dry them out using the fire only to forget to turn them. I melted a hole in one of them and just melted the other one. They went in the fire. I was smart enough to bring extras so no big loss.
Around 11:00ish an RV pulled in and set up shop about 5o feet away. Then another tent set up down from me and I started relaxing a lot more. Up till then I was the only person within probably 5-10 miles at best. I put the rest of my wood on the fire around 12:30 and crawled in the tent and started writing this. It’s at least 1am right now and the fire is glowing and crackling outside. I can see it through the tent wall. I’m not overly concerned with the bear thing. I do everything I’m supposed to do. I keep all my food/toothpaste/etc. etc. good smelling stuff all in a stuff sack by itself and don’t leave food out at my campsites. I even do the bear hang thing with my food. Probably not as far away as I really should but I do get it at least 20-30 yards away from the tent. Anyway.. point being I am still on high alert for bear but it’s time for some sleep so I’m hoping for an uneventful night.
Bed time.. well no.. I feel like watching Robot chicken.. so Robot Chicken, Star wars edition it is.. then bed.
Oh, crap.. How could I forget this. I finally saw a wild bear today. 4 of them actually. 3 of them were just outside of Valdez crossing the road. Momma Bear and two cubs running their little fuzzy butts across the road. They were black bears. Then a bigger black bear by itself about 10 miles up the road. I slammed on the brakes and was pulling a u-turn to get a picture of him but as soon as I stopped (about 60 yard away) he ran back into the woods. I never had a chance to get a pictures. It’s probably for the best that he is scared of people but dangit I just wanted one picture! Anyway.. 4 bears after 30 days of 0 bears. That’s the way it happens I guess. I want to see a brown bear and a grizzly… just not around my campsite. Haha at least 60 yards away and I want to be on the motorcycle and at least a little in control of the situation when I do it. Fingers crossed.
I am not sleeping well in the tent lately. I’m not sure why. I think it’s just the foam cell pad I’m using. It’s just not comfortable at all. I think I keep moving trying to get comfy and wake myself up. Anyway, got up around 8:30 and remember thinking I would just like to go back to sleep… It had rained last night so I figured it was more of the same for the day. But I HAD to go pee so I decided to do that first. As soon as I opened the ten door I was amazed to see blue sky above me. I am not kidding it was about the most beautiful morning I have seen since I got here. There were clouds, but nothing like what it had been. I could actually see sunshine. My eyes literally hurt for 10-15 minutes trying to get adjusted to the brightness.. it honestly has been at least a week since I’ve really seen sunshine. Amazing! It was cold though. Very chilly. My fingers were almost numb as I was packing everything up. The thermometer on the bike said 43 degrees but that was after I had everything loaded up and was ready to go. Plus that was after the sun had come up some more and was actually bathing the area I was in with sunlight instead of just the mountains across the way. I was sort of at the foot of some mountains so I could see sunlight but it wasn’t actually hitting where I was yet until the sun got higher. Anyway.. it was cold.
I got everything packed up and cranked up the heated hand grips and that problem took care of itself pretty quickly. It warmed up after a little while and was a beautiful morning. I decided as soon as I felt the sunshine that I was going to Valdez to check it out and headed that way. About 30 minutes later I stopped for a late breakfast at a little café in some town I can’t even remember the name of. Population me and the lady that cooked the breakfast I think. Haha very small. As I had breakfast I started a conversation with two older guys that seemed like locals and they were. We talked about motorcycles, the weather, the road going toward Valdez, and where they came from originally. One of the guys grew up about an hour from where I live in Jonesboro (now called Jonesborough since it decided to take advantage of being the oldest town in Tennessee). He told me some of the history of the town. Apparently George Washington stayed there for a few days way back when. It was an interesting, if out of place, conversation to have in middle of nowhere Alaska. After that it was just a matter of cruising up the Glenn to the Richardson intersection that would take me down to Valdez. It’s about 340 miles from Anchorage but I was in Palmer (not sure if I explained where Hatcher’s pass ended) so I had a little less than 300 miles to go. 180 to Glennallen, then 120 to Valdez. It was a gorgeous morning and I debated taking off the rain suit from over top of the riding suit and decided to just keep it. Then I got stuck in construction work on the glenn. I’ve always heard there are delays all the time. We sat there for about 15 minutes but everybody was cool with it. People got out of their cars and walked their dogs around or played ball or just talked. It’s a bit surreal for complete strangers to just hang out like that and not be pissed about having to sit there. The little flag lady came around and talked to everybody and told us how long and just basically joined our conversations. Very odd. We ended up sitting there for about 20 minutes total and then a pilot truck led us through the construction. I expected something major but they were just paving. I’m not sure why the whole road had to be closed for that. In the lower states they would have just used cones to make new lanes and made us drive slow. Who knows. I guess that’s just the way they do it.
One little note about Glennallen the town, not the road. It’s nothing. A little blip on the radar and that’s it. I don’t understand why roads in Alaska are named after tiny places when they actually go to much bigger places. The Glenn Highway should be called the Anchorage. The Sterling Highway should be called Homer, or Soldotna. I guess there is a reason, but anyway, back to the point. Glennallen is a tiny little town with 2 gas stations, a quickie mart, and a few odd shops.. oh, and a cop that likes to radar the 40mph zone on the outskirts of town. Jackass. I was there for 20 minutes getting gas and drinking a dr. pepper and saw him pull over 3 different people. I suppose speed traps are universal no matter what state you are in.
It was really pretty for the next 2-3 hours then it got cloudy again. It never really rained on me but it sprinkled a bit and got really cloudy again later in the day. The temperature hovered in the mid 50’s and that was about that.
The ride down to Valdez was mostly uneventful. It’s a pretty ride. I noticed the leaves are changing in some spots. Alaskan fall I suppose. I hear it’s very short. September is when they normally start getting snow. I can tell a difference in the weather lately. It’s colder in the mornings and it gets dark much earlier now than what it did when I got here. When I first got here It was like leaving in a permanent daylight because it was still very light at 1am and then the sun was back up at 5am. Now it’s dark by 11ish at best and it’s still dusky at 6:30ish (or maybe that’s just clouds causing it? ?)
Anyway, the ride was pretty. I ended up stopping at Worthington glacier (see pics) and hiked up to it and took some pictures. This glacier is just awesome to be close to. You can walk up to and actually crawl under it (very troubling to be under it when you think about what would happen if it decided to move). It’s so blue in spots that it looks like it has a neon sign inside it. I took a bottle and filled it with glacier water, no not to drink, real glacier water has a ton of grayish sediment in it. I filled up the bottle with water coming down from the glacier and then collected a bunch of the rocks from near the glacier. When I get it home I’ll boil it and put it into something more permanent and seal it so I can keep it. It’s neat to watch the water from glaciers. I mentioned the sediment in it. It’s a very fine grayish/blackish powder. Presumably it’s powdered granite or whatever else the glacier runs over as it goes. It look s like there is smoke under the water though. I’ve tried to get pictures of it a few times but it won’t focus right. Very cool experience… plus I didn’t have to pay $20 like I did at the other one near Anchorage.
The best part of riding to Valdez is Thompson pass. It’s a road cut through the mountains and is just outstanding. You are driving along with cliffs on both sides of you so high you have to basically look straight up to see them. There are waterfalls everywhere (some more famous than others) and a creek that all the waterfalls collect into. I made a video of the bridal veil fall. It’s obvious why it’s called that. I’m going to try and upload the video so hopefully it works. I have pictures too but you can really see why it’s called that if you watch the video. The other well known one is horse tail falls. It’s name is obvious as well. There were a few other ones that didn’t have names that were as pretty or more so depending on your point of view and opinion. They were harder to get pictures of because no turn outs near them though. That’s probably why they aren’t named… or maybe they don’t have turn outs because they weren’t named. Which came first the name, or the turnout… hmm..
So anyway I got to Valdez and had some dinner. Prawn and Halibut. I was kind of bummed at the portions. For $16 I got 2 of the prawns (just big shrimp.. not that big!) and two small pieces of halibut and some fries. I would rather have paid $25 and had more food but oh well. There were lots of fries and it was good so I was content. I went to a few of the shops in Valdez but never really saw anything unique. I ended up buying Chloe a shirt and a sticker to add to my collection and that’s about it.
I actually left Valdez fairly early in the day.. I’m guessing around 6:30 ish. I saw a place I wanted to camp out that had a shelter to put the tent and bike under ( I expected more rain) so I went back to it. It was about an hour outside of Valdez. I had just started putting my tent up and collecting firewood when some guy driving through stopped to chat for a minute or two. We talked a bit and then as he was leaving he mentioned that this area was really popular for bear and that I should watch for them. “Thanks, I’ll do that!” is all I said and in the back of my mind I was really wishing he had just kept it to himself. I’m not too proud to admit that camping in a bear hotspot is not something I would do on purpose but now I was 95% “camped” here and I wasn’t moving.
I went back to the camp and set everything up for my fire later and sat down to read some stuff in the milepost book. Of course now my mind was focused on seeing bear out of the corner of my eye so I was distracted. I turned on some music on the phone and let that play for a while thinking if there were bear there at least they would know somebody was here.
I almost jumped up from the picnic table when a dark gray rabbit (fairly large rabbit at least) went hopping across my campsite about 15 feet away. He’s lucky he didn’t get bear sprayed. Haha I had it half way out of my pocket before “long ears, cottony tail” registered in my brain.
Around 9:30 it was getting dusky out so I started up the fire. I can proudly say I’ve gotten better (if I have a little dry wood anyway) and skipped the gas trick. About 20 minutes later I had a pretty impressive fire going and had collected a ton of wood to burn. Some wet, some mostly dry. I had a great campfire tonight. Which was good because the longer It burned the better I felt. My socks were, of course, wet again from the crappy SIDI boots. I tried to dry them out using the fire only to forget to turn them. I melted a hole in one of them and just melted the other one. They went in the fire. I was smart enough to bring extras so no big loss.
Around 11:00ish an RV pulled in and set up shop about 5o feet away. Then another tent set up down from me and I started relaxing a lot more. Up till then I was the only person within probably 5-10 miles at best. I put the rest of my wood on the fire around 12:30 and crawled in the tent and started writing this. It’s at least 1am right now and the fire is glowing and crackling outside. I can see it through the tent wall. I’m not overly concerned with the bear thing. I do everything I’m supposed to do. I keep all my food/toothpaste/etc. etc. good smelling stuff all in a stuff sack by itself and don’t leave food out at my campsites. I even do the bear hang thing with my food. Probably not as far away as I really should but I do get it at least 20-30 yards away from the tent. Anyway.. point being I am still on high alert for bear but it’s time for some sleep so I’m hoping for an uneventful night.
Bed time.. well no.. I feel like watching Robot chicken.. so Robot Chicken, Star wars edition it is.. then bed.
Oh, crap.. How could I forget this. I finally saw a wild bear today. 4 of them actually. 3 of them were just outside of Valdez crossing the road. Momma Bear and two cubs running their little fuzzy butts across the road. They were black bears. Then a bigger black bear by itself about 10 miles up the road. I slammed on the brakes and was pulling a u-turn to get a picture of him but as soon as I stopped (about 60 yard away) he ran back into the woods. I never had a chance to get a pictures. It’s probably for the best that he is scared of people but dangit I just wanted one picture! Anyway.. 4 bears after 30 days of 0 bears. That’s the way it happens I guess. I want to see a brown bear and a grizzly… just not around my campsite. Haha at least 60 yards away and I want to be on the motorcycle and at least a little in control of the situation when I do it. Fingers crossed.
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Day 30: Perfect day (90% anyway) part II.
"Like all great travellers, I have seen more than I remember, and remember more than I have seen."
-Benjamin Disraeli
What it's all about.
Sunday August 21, 2011
I woke up this morning still in one piece so I guess the bear thing didn’t pan out. Just as well. I have plans today anyway. The weather is still pretty which amazes me. The weather forecast called for crappy weather all weekend no matter where on the map I looked. That just further reaffirms my feeling that Alaska has no weather people.. it’s just some guy pulling the forecast from a hat… or just guessing rain for everyday. In Alaska’s defense I keep hearing that’s it’s an excessive amount of rain lately and it’s not normally this much. I don’t know. I may check just to see what the amount of rainfall is. I know average is about 7 inches for Anchorage in August. I think it’s probably about 7 inches.. it’s just that only about ¼ inch falls per day. It just slowly drizzles down over the course of the whole day. Just enough to drive you insane and make you loathe the rain.
Enough about that dribble. I loaded up and headed out toward Glenallen with no particular plan. I took a few random side roads and intentionally went to Copper Center. I didn’t really see much there so I just kept trucking. I ended up back in Glennallen pretty early, like 12:30ish, so I grabbed lunch. Jalepeno corndogs… pretty good stuff really. Then I just started riding towards Anchorage after I grabbed some gas and just kept riding. It’s about 190 miles from Glenallen to Anchorage so I was kind of surprised when I looked up and I was 15 miles from Palmer, which is only about 40-50 miles from Anchorage. I had basically rode the whole thing just listening to music and cruising and taking the odd picture here and there.
I hit the construction zone again. Yes, they work on Sundays. I talked with the flag girl for quite a while. Let me just say.. I'm sure you have heard the rumors about no women in Alaska.. or at least no good looking women. I can confidently say that those rumors are incredibly false. Everywhere I look there is another gorgeous down to earth female with a sense of adventure. We were there for about 20 minutes and as I was waiting a guy walked up and started talking to me about the peg packers (the little things that hold the 1 gallon gas tanks I have on the sides of the bike) It turns out he is a rider as well. He was walking his dog around which was about the prettiest dog I have ever seen. I asked out it and it turns out it is a German Shepard/Husky mix. It was a gorgeous dog and you could tell it was a powerful dog as well. It's Mom and Dad were both sled dogs and he was training this dog to be as well. It was only about 6 months old but had already done over 1,000 miles of simulated sledding. I assume they have some type of machine for dogs that lets them exercise like they would pulling a sled. I didn't ask for details.
After the construction which was a pretty good break since it lasted about 30 minutes I got going again. I stopped for a few pictures here and there but mainly I was just riding and enjoying the sunshine. I think it may have been the warmest day I have had here. It touched 70 degrees for a good solid hour on the way back. I got to thinking I would like to go back and ride through Hatcher’s pass with the weather like this so I started making my plans for that. I wanted to stop and get the tripod out and take some awesome pictures and make a Panorama from near Summit Lake. So that was my plan. When I got to Palmer the rain started again. When I turned off the pavement onto the dirt part going up Hatcher’s pass the rain really started and my second trip across Hatcher’s pass was basically just like my first time across. Rainy, muddy, and chilly.
The thing that really irks me is that not 5 miles after I got to the other side of the pass the sun was back out and it was 65 degrees again. It’s like the weather personally dislikes me up here. It doesn’t really make much difference to me riding whether it’s raining or not. Obviously I would rather ride in the sunshine but I’m so used to it now I just keep on trucking. I keep the rain suit over my riding suit all the time because I already know it doesn’t matter where I go or what I do I’m going to be doing part of it in the rain. Note to self – Come to Alaska in June or July next time. August is rainy!
By this time it was starting to get a little later in the evening. I’m going to say it was around 7 but I really don’t know for sure. I just knew I had plenty of time and wasn’t paying much attention.
I rode toward Anchorage again through Wasilla and down the parks road and back onto the Glenn going past Knik River and stopped off in Eagle River for a bite to eat. I had some tacos at a little Mexican place that were above average. I like Eagle River a lot. If I were going to live in Alaska that’s where it would be. It’s about 15 minutes from Anchorage but it’s got a small town feel to it. It’s actually part of Anchorage according to the sign but it’s completely different. I left Eagle River and decided to head on back to Anchorage.
I had filled the tank in Glenallen and I had to put the 2 gallons from the spare tanks in so I was pushing 450 miles for the day. I mention it because I wasn’t tired at all. I could have ridden a lot more which is good because I need big numbers every day for the trip back to make it on time and do everything I want to do. The Vstrom is still making that funny noise when I pull out. It concerns me because it’s obviously in the drive line somewhere because it only does it when I’m releasing the clutch and if I pull the clutch back in it stops immediately. I hope there is nothing bad going on. I need to check everything out closer tomorrow before I leave.
Sorry for getting off track there. I left ER and came back to Anchorage and saw the Richardson Army Base/Artic Valley turn off. I had meant to go check out Artic Valley since day one but never got around to it. No time like the present I thought and hit the exit. It turns out Artic Valley is owned by the military and while you can come as go as you please you have to be out of there by 10:00pm because they shut the gate. It was about 8:15 now so I wasn’t worried about that. I rode up the road a little and saw some guys stopped in the other lane. I thought it was a little odd but I was just watching them and going on my way. As I went by I saw what they were looking at, another bear! I scared it away when I went through (damnit!) and probably messed up there picture too, Sorry guys!
I went on up the road and found out there is a nice golf course up there that anybody can play on. I wish I had played golf up here just to say I did it but it’s really too late to worry about it now. Besides, it’s expensive! $85 for a 18 hole round if you have to rent clubs as well. I’m not good enough at golf to pay that much for a round.
After that the road started up a mountain and turned it dirt. It just kept going and going. Then it turned a corner and the most amazing view of Anchorage was laid out in front of me. I got pictures that you can see below. It was beautiful. I went up the road a little more but it was a few minutes after 9:00 by now (I told you the road went on forever and I stayed at the overlook a long time) so I decided I should get back down before I got locked in.
After that I went on home.. and then started typing this after a shower and unloading the bike. I’m ready for some sleep. I didn’t mention it above but I didn’t sleep worth a crap last night. Any little noise would wake me up. I’m assuming it was bear-phobia. I’ll be glad when I either get over it or get out of bear country. Either one is good with me at this point. I didn’t have this problem the other weekends. I’m not sure what is going on. Anyway. Great weekend. Alaska gave me a mostly gorgeous riding weekend and I can’t complain at all. All of my trips have been great and all of the side trips have been great as well. I can’t wait to get started on the ride home though.
I woke up this morning still in one piece so I guess the bear thing didn’t pan out. Just as well. I have plans today anyway. The weather is still pretty which amazes me. The weather forecast called for crappy weather all weekend no matter where on the map I looked. That just further reaffirms my feeling that Alaska has no weather people.. it’s just some guy pulling the forecast from a hat… or just guessing rain for everyday. In Alaska’s defense I keep hearing that’s it’s an excessive amount of rain lately and it’s not normally this much. I don’t know. I may check just to see what the amount of rainfall is. I know average is about 7 inches for Anchorage in August. I think it’s probably about 7 inches.. it’s just that only about ¼ inch falls per day. It just slowly drizzles down over the course of the whole day. Just enough to drive you insane and make you loathe the rain.
Enough about that dribble. I loaded up and headed out toward Glenallen with no particular plan. I took a few random side roads and intentionally went to Copper Center. I didn’t really see much there so I just kept trucking. I ended up back in Glennallen pretty early, like 12:30ish, so I grabbed lunch. Jalepeno corndogs… pretty good stuff really. Then I just started riding towards Anchorage after I grabbed some gas and just kept riding. It’s about 190 miles from Glenallen to Anchorage so I was kind of surprised when I looked up and I was 15 miles from Palmer, which is only about 40-50 miles from Anchorage. I had basically rode the whole thing just listening to music and cruising and taking the odd picture here and there.
I hit the construction zone again. Yes, they work on Sundays. I talked with the flag girl for quite a while. Let me just say.. I'm sure you have heard the rumors about no women in Alaska.. or at least no good looking women. I can confidently say that those rumors are incredibly false. Everywhere I look there is another gorgeous down to earth female with a sense of adventure. We were there for about 20 minutes and as I was waiting a guy walked up and started talking to me about the peg packers (the little things that hold the 1 gallon gas tanks I have on the sides of the bike) It turns out he is a rider as well. He was walking his dog around which was about the prettiest dog I have ever seen. I asked out it and it turns out it is a German Shepard/Husky mix. It was a gorgeous dog and you could tell it was a powerful dog as well. It's Mom and Dad were both sled dogs and he was training this dog to be as well. It was only about 6 months old but had already done over 1,000 miles of simulated sledding. I assume they have some type of machine for dogs that lets them exercise like they would pulling a sled. I didn't ask for details.
After the construction which was a pretty good break since it lasted about 30 minutes I got going again. I stopped for a few pictures here and there but mainly I was just riding and enjoying the sunshine. I think it may have been the warmest day I have had here. It touched 70 degrees for a good solid hour on the way back. I got to thinking I would like to go back and ride through Hatcher’s pass with the weather like this so I started making my plans for that. I wanted to stop and get the tripod out and take some awesome pictures and make a Panorama from near Summit Lake. So that was my plan. When I got to Palmer the rain started again. When I turned off the pavement onto the dirt part going up Hatcher’s pass the rain really started and my second trip across Hatcher’s pass was basically just like my first time across. Rainy, muddy, and chilly.
The thing that really irks me is that not 5 miles after I got to the other side of the pass the sun was back out and it was 65 degrees again. It’s like the weather personally dislikes me up here. It doesn’t really make much difference to me riding whether it’s raining or not. Obviously I would rather ride in the sunshine but I’m so used to it now I just keep on trucking. I keep the rain suit over my riding suit all the time because I already know it doesn’t matter where I go or what I do I’m going to be doing part of it in the rain. Note to self – Come to Alaska in June or July next time. August is rainy!
By this time it was starting to get a little later in the evening. I’m going to say it was around 7 but I really don’t know for sure. I just knew I had plenty of time and wasn’t paying much attention.
I rode toward Anchorage again through Wasilla and down the parks road and back onto the Glenn going past Knik River and stopped off in Eagle River for a bite to eat. I had some tacos at a little Mexican place that were above average. I like Eagle River a lot. If I were going to live in Alaska that’s where it would be. It’s about 15 minutes from Anchorage but it’s got a small town feel to it. It’s actually part of Anchorage according to the sign but it’s completely different. I left Eagle River and decided to head on back to Anchorage.
I had filled the tank in Glenallen and I had to put the 2 gallons from the spare tanks in so I was pushing 450 miles for the day. I mention it because I wasn’t tired at all. I could have ridden a lot more which is good because I need big numbers every day for the trip back to make it on time and do everything I want to do. The Vstrom is still making that funny noise when I pull out. It concerns me because it’s obviously in the drive line somewhere because it only does it when I’m releasing the clutch and if I pull the clutch back in it stops immediately. I hope there is nothing bad going on. I need to check everything out closer tomorrow before I leave.
Sorry for getting off track there. I left ER and came back to Anchorage and saw the Richardson Army Base/Artic Valley turn off. I had meant to go check out Artic Valley since day one but never got around to it. No time like the present I thought and hit the exit. It turns out Artic Valley is owned by the military and while you can come as go as you please you have to be out of there by 10:00pm because they shut the gate. It was about 8:15 now so I wasn’t worried about that. I rode up the road a little and saw some guys stopped in the other lane. I thought it was a little odd but I was just watching them and going on my way. As I went by I saw what they were looking at, another bear! I scared it away when I went through (damnit!) and probably messed up there picture too, Sorry guys!
I went on up the road and found out there is a nice golf course up there that anybody can play on. I wish I had played golf up here just to say I did it but it’s really too late to worry about it now. Besides, it’s expensive! $85 for a 18 hole round if you have to rent clubs as well. I’m not good enough at golf to pay that much for a round.
After that the road started up a mountain and turned it dirt. It just kept going and going. Then it turned a corner and the most amazing view of Anchorage was laid out in front of me. I got pictures that you can see below. It was beautiful. I went up the road a little more but it was a few minutes after 9:00 by now (I told you the road went on forever and I stayed at the overlook a long time) so I decided I should get back down before I got locked in.
After that I went on home.. and then started typing this after a shower and unloading the bike. I’m ready for some sleep. I didn’t mention it above but I didn’t sleep worth a crap last night. Any little noise would wake me up. I’m assuming it was bear-phobia. I’ll be glad when I either get over it or get out of bear country. Either one is good with me at this point. I didn’t have this problem the other weekends. I’m not sure what is going on. Anyway. Great weekend. Alaska gave me a mostly gorgeous riding weekend and I can’t complain at all. All of my trips have been great and all of the side trips have been great as well. I can’t wait to get started on the ride home though.
Day 31: Maintenance needed.
"A motorcycle functions entirely in accordance with the laws of reason, and a study of the art of motorcycle maintenance is really a miniature study of the art of rationality itself."
-Robert M. Pirsig
Monday August 22, 2011
I’m trying to get ready to pull out of here tomorrow if my preceptor lets me or Wednesday, whichever is fine with me. I’ve got to get finished packing tomorrow and get some stuff to the post office to be mailed. I wanted to focus on the bike today. The noise is still there and it really bothers me. I hung the bike back up from the ceiling and loosened the rear wheel and readjusted everything, cleaned the chain good, and lubricated it good. The bike sounds 100% better now. I think I may have over tightened the axle nut and the chain was just dirty. The sprockets were dirty, everything was dirty and in bad need of cleaning. It was so loud just turning the wheel before I started and it sounds much better now. Plus the noise is gone. I’m assuming the dirt was causing it somehow. Not sure how, but the important thing is that it seems to be gone. I just hope it stays gone. I have one more dirt road in mind before I leave Alaska so I will try to remember to clean the chain as soon as I get off that road instead of leaving it like I did after Dalton and Hatcher’s pass. I am a little concerned about my rear tire. It’s squared off pretty good, which was expected, most of the roads here are straight. I’m not sure it has 5,000+ miles left on it. It’s going to easily get me back into the states so I’m not overly concerned. I just didn’t want to have to buy a new one until I got home. We’ll see how that works.
Other than that I adjusted the shifter (it’s been to high for my liking since I got the bike) I readjusted the clutch lever/cable, and I adjusted the headlamps down a bit. If I were hunting for raccoons they would have been awesome but I’m partial to seeing the road more than the tops of the trees beside the road.
That brings up another good point to talk about. At 10:30 you need headlights now. When I first got here you could have driven at 1:00am with no lights and been okay. It is flat out amazing how quickly it changes here. It’s been a swing of almost 3 hours of daylight in the last 30 days. It’s just amazing.
Other than that nothing to report really. I ate dinner with Adam and Christine. She made some cool chicken taco’s with some spicy stuff in them. It was pretty good. Then I went out to Fred Meyers and got some more dehydrated food and other misc. stuff for the trip back. I’m ready to roll the best I can tell other than loading up everything and figuring out what to do with all these clothes I brought. Uhhgg. I would love to have the chance to have rethought what I brought up here and in what kind of luggage. It’s proving to expensive and troublesome to get it back to VA.
Well, I was going to upload everything to the website but it appears the internet is busted. I’ll try to get totally up to date tomorrow before I leave.
I’m trying to get ready to pull out of here tomorrow if my preceptor lets me or Wednesday, whichever is fine with me. I’ve got to get finished packing tomorrow and get some stuff to the post office to be mailed. I wanted to focus on the bike today. The noise is still there and it really bothers me. I hung the bike back up from the ceiling and loosened the rear wheel and readjusted everything, cleaned the chain good, and lubricated it good. The bike sounds 100% better now. I think I may have over tightened the axle nut and the chain was just dirty. The sprockets were dirty, everything was dirty and in bad need of cleaning. It was so loud just turning the wheel before I started and it sounds much better now. Plus the noise is gone. I’m assuming the dirt was causing it somehow. Not sure how, but the important thing is that it seems to be gone. I just hope it stays gone. I have one more dirt road in mind before I leave Alaska so I will try to remember to clean the chain as soon as I get off that road instead of leaving it like I did after Dalton and Hatcher’s pass. I am a little concerned about my rear tire. It’s squared off pretty good, which was expected, most of the roads here are straight. I’m not sure it has 5,000+ miles left on it. It’s going to easily get me back into the states so I’m not overly concerned. I just didn’t want to have to buy a new one until I got home. We’ll see how that works.
Other than that I adjusted the shifter (it’s been to high for my liking since I got the bike) I readjusted the clutch lever/cable, and I adjusted the headlamps down a bit. If I were hunting for raccoons they would have been awesome but I’m partial to seeing the road more than the tops of the trees beside the road.
That brings up another good point to talk about. At 10:30 you need headlights now. When I first got here you could have driven at 1:00am with no lights and been okay. It is flat out amazing how quickly it changes here. It’s been a swing of almost 3 hours of daylight in the last 30 days. It’s just amazing.
Other than that nothing to report really. I ate dinner with Adam and Christine. She made some cool chicken taco’s with some spicy stuff in them. It was pretty good. Then I went out to Fred Meyers and got some more dehydrated food and other misc. stuff for the trip back. I’m ready to roll the best I can tell other than loading up everything and figuring out what to do with all these clothes I brought. Uhhgg. I would love to have the chance to have rethought what I brought up here and in what kind of luggage. It’s proving to expensive and troublesome to get it back to VA.
Well, I was going to upload everything to the website but it appears the internet is busted. I’ll try to get totally up to date tomorrow before I leave.
Day 32: T-15 hours.
"Expecting is the greatest impediment to living. In anticipation of tomorrow, it loses today."
-Lucious Annaues Seneca
Tuesday August 23, 2011.
A minor bit of annoyance today. I assumed today was my last day at the rotation site. Apparently not. I have to go in tomorrow until 1:00pm. Not sure why. I’m not on the schedule and my grading part is finished, everything is turned in and etc. Whatever I suppose. This is causing me stress already. I just want to get started on schedule. I am going to make it to Tok tomorrow before camping (about 350 miles) even if it takes me all night. I refuse to start off this trip 300 miles off schedule from day 1. I have been debating whether to do the Top of the world road or not. It’s about 300 extra miles and is 50% dirt. I think I may skip it. I want to do it but skipping it saves me some time, gets me ahead of schedule to start with and decreases the chances of having a flat tire. Plus I am already making plans to come back so I can do it then on my way back to conquer the Dalton road.
OK, lots of stuff going on this afternoon so not much of an update. I’m trying to get the site up to date before I leave tomorrow. If I can I will put updates up every day. If not it may be a few days behind schedule (wifi access/cell phone signal) but I think by Friday I should be able to at least put text updates up.
See you on the other side friends.
A minor bit of annoyance today. I assumed today was my last day at the rotation site. Apparently not. I have to go in tomorrow until 1:00pm. Not sure why. I’m not on the schedule and my grading part is finished, everything is turned in and etc. Whatever I suppose. This is causing me stress already. I just want to get started on schedule. I am going to make it to Tok tomorrow before camping (about 350 miles) even if it takes me all night. I refuse to start off this trip 300 miles off schedule from day 1. I have been debating whether to do the Top of the world road or not. It’s about 300 extra miles and is 50% dirt. I think I may skip it. I want to do it but skipping it saves me some time, gets me ahead of schedule to start with and decreases the chances of having a flat tire. Plus I am already making plans to come back so I can do it then on my way back to conquer the Dalton road.
OK, lots of stuff going on this afternoon so not much of an update. I’m trying to get the site up to date before I leave tomorrow. If I can I will put updates up every day. If not it may be a few days behind schedule (wifi access/cell phone signal) but I think by Friday I should be able to at least put text updates up.
See you on the other side friends.