Days Out in Alaska 2011: August 2011

Tuesday, August 30, 2011

in Dawson City

We stopped in Dawson City for the night. Ask us next week about the "bonus miles". On to Skagway tomorrow. Weather has been good, and ride over "Top of the World Highway" was all we hoped for. Will upload pictures tomorrow when have cell service.

Waking up in Tok on Day 3

The last two days have been an overwhelming rush of spectacular scenery, getting comfortable on the bikes, and figuring out the logistics of how to travel with all the gear and be ready for any weather. Mostly, though, it's been a whole lot of exclamations about the breathtakingly beautiful landscape. Awesome.

On Sunday, we got the bikes from Nancy and Keith, and then headed North out of Anchorage toward Denali. Weather was 64 degrees and sunny. We stopped with all the other tourists to gawk at the towering and massive Denali. We fueled up in Cantwell and turned onto the Denali Highway to begin heading East. We camped along a nice river, and woke up to frosted windshields. After warming up, we rode into the most amazing country, with vast wilderness and striking glaciated mountains always in the distance. It was 30-45 MPH on the 100+ miles of Denali Highway - every mile was beautiful. The seats on these bikes are planks - some general whining about sore butts.
We rode north toward Delta and fueled up before heading to Tok for the night. Once in Tok, we ate at Fast Eddy's and then got some groceries and fueled up. We stayed at the Westmark, a decent roadside stop.

So now we're waking up on Day 3, and are so grateful for the last two days of beautiful weather and inspiring scenery.

By noon, we'll have been through Chicken and cross the border into Canada on our way to Dawson City. Today we ride on the Top of the Word Highway - can't wait to load up in a few minutes and twist the throttle!