D2D Day 18 Watson Lake, YK to Fort Nelson, BC 335 Miles

We departed Watson Lake, BC, after a quick breakfast and headed south on the Alaska Highway for Fort Nelson, BC. About 50 miles into the journey we arrived at Contact Creek where the WWII soldiers constructing the Alaska Highway, known then as the ALCAN Highway, working from the south and the north met connecting the highway.

We're always keeping an eye out for critters on the highway for two reasons, we enjoy seeing wild animals and they represent a hazard to vehicles on the highway. Regrettably, we saw a dead Black Bear alonside the highway this morning. A short time later, we also saw a dead Moose on the side of the road, presumably both occurred during the previous night. Very sad.

On the bright side, we also saw several live Black Bears feeding alongside the highway today and a family of Brown Bears just south of Liard Hot Springs.  There were warning signs at Liard Springs that there was a family of Brown, also known as Grizzly, Bears in the area. We consider ourselves fortunate to have seen them. Brown or Grizzy Bears can generally be discerned from Black Bears as they are generally larger, have a small hump between their should blades and have a more distinct nose as where Black Bears have a sloping nose from their forehead. Both Black Bears and Brown Bears can be almost any color from black to blond. The bottom line is stay away from all bears.  And, the mantra here is "A fed bear is a dead bear--don't feed the bears."

Liard Hot Springs is an interesting location. After a short 1/4 mile walk on a boardwalk, you come to the hot soaking pools of Liard Hot Springs, heated naturally by the Earth. Before you reach the soaking pools, your nose tells you that you are close. The sulfer smell cannot be ignored. Unfortunately, we didn't take time to soak, but it sure looked inviting. Maybe next time.

Just south of Liard Hot Springs is the very scenic Muncho Lake in the Munch Lake Provincial Park. It is unique in that the water is a very pale green. There is a very nice log lodge/hotel and float plane operation there taking sightssers and fishermen to remote mountain locations.

We stopped for lunch at theToad River Lodge. Tourists coming in reported seeing a Moose in Toad River adjacent to the lodge. Some of us were too hungry to go out and look.

We passed through Summit Lake and Steamboat and rolled into Fort Nelson around 5:30 pm. We checked into the Fort Nelson Hotel, most likely one of the original hotels in the town. We were met by the new owner Byron, who said that he just purchased the hotel and was making several improvements, which were in evidence. The decor is early 70's with Tiki God motif. The hotel had one of the few swiming pools that we have seen in the north country; unfortunately, is was closed and somewhat resembled Muncho Lake, at least as to the color, pale green.

Lane was craving Italian food and inquired as to the best Italian restaurant in town.

D2D Day 17 Whitehorse, YK to Watson Lake, YK 324 Miles

Finally Friends, we’re leaving Whitehorse. Don’t get me wrong, Whitehorse is a nice place to visit, but we’re on a motorcycle ride.

We got up this morning and walked into town for a light breakfast at Tim Horton’s, a Canadian donut chain, and then returned to the hotel to throw in a last-minute load of laundry. Lane called the motorcycle shop about 10:00 am to inquire about the progress on his radiator repair. They said that they had it back together and the tech was test riding it. We beat feet to the shop right away.  After paying the $307 tariff the bike was ours again. We rode back to the hotel, grabbed our laundry out of the dryer, packed our bikes and hit the road for Watson Lake, YK, via the Alaska Highway at about noon.

It was a bit of a late start but it’s great to be back on the road again. We stopped at Teslin for gas and lunch. Lane and I have been having soup and been splitting a sandwich for a nice light lunch lately. Departing Teslin we had to cross the dreaded Teslin metal surface five-span bridge again.  It’s always very unsettling, but we managed to conquer it again successfully. At least it wasn’t raining.

Farther down the road we came across a couple of bears eating alongside the highway and stopped for a few photos, with the motors running of course.  It’s reported that bears can run more than 35 MPH and we were not interested in becoming a Canadian version of meals on wheels.

We made pretty good time today under fair skies and cool temperatures and pulled into Watson Lake, home of the signpost village, around 5:00 pm, checked into our hotel and walked to a nearby family-owned restaurant for the homemade meatball special.

We made an interesting observations on this trip that bodes well for the economy overall. In 2008, we saw very few recreation vehicles on the Alaska Highway, presumably the result of the economy going in the tank. This year, quite to the contrary, the highway is alive with RV’s, motorhomes, truck and campers and travel trailers, many of them rentals. People are spending money and traveling this year.

PS - The radiator is still holding water, yea!

Here are a few photos we took today:

D2D Day 16 Whitehorse, Yukon Territory -- All Day

Greetings,

We got up early this morning and were waiting at the front door of Lister's Kawasaki when they opened in an attempt to get Lane's leaking radiator repaired. We were informed that they couldn't help us; they wouldn't even look at it. We were told that it was "marine week" and they were two weeks behind in their shop work. They also service boats. We asked how long to get a radiator, if we ordered one and put it in ourselves, "three or four days." What can you do for us? "Nothing, try Yukon Motorcycle Center."

We left and went to the recommended shop where we were greeted warmly by the owner, Dean Philpott, who said that he heard from Dona Novecosky, owner of the Klondike Rib & Salmon restaurant that we were having motorcycle trouble and might be by. Phil assured us that he understood our dilemma and would do everything he could to get us on our way. "There is a radiator shop right around the corner," he said.

It looked like we were going to be in Whitehorse another night. So, we returned to our hotel and found that they were booked. We would have to move. Fortunately, they found us another hotel in close proximity.

We walked downtown and had an excellent Salmon burger lunch at Dona's Klondike Rib & Salmon restaurant and thanked her for "greasing the skids" at Dean's motorcycle shop.

Following lunch, we walked down to the south end of town where the Klondike sternwheeler museum is located. For $6.50 each we took the guided tour of the dry docked paddle wheeler. The Klondike was constructed in 1929 to transport cargo, silver/lead ore and a few passengers between Whitehorse and Dawson City. The downstream run took 36 hours with two wood refueling stops along the way. Upstream took longer. The ship burned two cords of wood per hour. Unfortunately, the Klondike ran aground in 1936 and had to be rebuilt. It remained in service until 1955. The paddle wheel alone weighs 22 tons.

Retuning to the hotel we called the motorcycle shop and were told that they had not received the radiator back from the radiator shop, but they would call when they had more news.

So, we walked into town for supper and enjoyed a good Mexican dinner at Sanchez' Mexican restaurant. En route to dinner, the motorcycle shop called and said the radiator has been repaired but the epoxy they used to repair a split in a cooling tube would need to cure overnight. They will reinstall it in the morning.

We enjoyed a couple of adult beverages in town and called it a night. Tomorrow, we will be anxious to get underway.

Here are a few pictctures:

D2D Day 15 Tok, AK, to Whitehorse, YK 397 Miles

Greetings Folks,

After our "free" breakfast at the Golden Bear Hotel we departed Tok, AK, headed for Whitehorse, YK, about 397 miles to the south on the Alaska Highway. The State of Alaska maintains the highway in excellent condition in this area, unlike the Province of Yukon, with it's numerous dusty gravel breaks.

At one of our hydration breaks we found some stop leak for Lane's bike and added a conservative amount. In doing so, we may have exacerbated our cooling problem. Getting back on the road, Lane's temperature gauge immediately went to the red line and only slowly subsided after a few miles. It appears that the stop leak may have clogged the small passages in the KLR's radiator. And, it was still leaking slightly. We added some water to the radiator and motored on. If we stopped, the temperature would rise. The message was to keep moving and keep your stops short, hence not many photos today.

We stopped at the Tetlin Wildlife Refuge for a comfort break and took in their beautiful log- constructed visitor center overlooking the refuge with it's lakes, marshes and forested land, all very scenic. They had constructed a replica food cache on a tower as was used by the early settlers to protect their food source from bears in the early years.

Around lunchtime, we stopped at Destruction Bay on Kluane Lake, one of the largest lakes in the Yukon, for lunch. In 2008 I learned here that you don't hang your helmet upside down from your handlebars in a thunderstorm, unless you want a bucket of water.

Approximately 80 miles from Tok we crossed the border back into Yukon Territory, Canada.

Arriving in Haines Junction we made a left turn to stay on the Alaska Highway and made the final run into Whitehorse with some relief. In the morning, we'll be at the front door of the Kawasaki dealer with hat in hand. Stay tuned.

Here are the few photos we took en route. The purple flower and mountain pictures are adjacent to Kluane Lake.

D2D Day 14 Dawson City, YK to Tok, AK 180 Miles

Greetings all,

Dust to Dawson (D2D) is over and we're off to Tok, Alaska, on the Top of the World  (TOW) and Taylor Highways via where else? Chicken, AK. Chicken? Really?

After a quick run to the local combination liquor store/Department of Motor Vehicles to pick up a couple bottles of wine for "The Dick" of Dawson for allowing us to use his shop to change oil, we loaded up the bikes and headed for the ferry crossing. We have to cross the muddy, fast-flowing Klondike River to reach the Top of the World and Taylor Highways to Tok.

We were hoping that by leaving late we would miss the throngs leaving town on the ferry. However, when we arrived at the crossing we were disappointed to see a long line of motor homes, trailers, cars and trucks. In a separate line were about twenty motorcycles. It looked like we were in for a long wait. To our surprise, the ferry arrived and the crew waved all of the motorcycles on board. I didn't even have time to remove my helmet. I suspect the folks still sitting in the vehicle line were not entirely happy with us.

After getting off the ferry, the BMW 1200 GS crowd shot off like they were being chased by the police leaving us in the dust, literally. It's a dirt road. We motored on alone under a beautiful clear sky with moderate temperatures. The TOW Highway is an interesting combination of pavement and gravel segregated in sections for no apparent reason--pavement, gravel, pavement and gravel again for miles. The highway runs across the top of mountains, hence the name Top of the World Highway.

After riding 100 miles of alternating pavement and gravel through forests, across mountain tops and down through low passes we crossed the Alaska border and arrived in Chicken. Pulling up to the gas pumps, Lane said, "I've got a problem." I looked over and saw the emerald green life blood of his motorcycle's cooling system running out on the ground, 80 miles from nowhere. Great!

To add insult to injury, it began to rain. Rick, the maintenance man at the Gold Panner gift shop and gas station, took pity on us and offered up a 20X40 tent to pull the bike under for a closer look. We removed the left side cover and determined that the radiator itself was leaking--major bummer. There was no stop leak available and no phone service, but Rick had some wet seal epoxy. So, we caulked the leak up as best we could and headed for Tok, some 80 miles away with our fingers crossed. Thanks for your help Rick. It was much appreciated.

Heading down the Taylor Highway toward Tok we saw a crew working the adjacent river for gold, just like on TV. Passing the gold dredging operation, Lane reported that his left boot and pant leg were turning green with coolant but his bike was not overheating. We continued and finally arrived in Tok. Everything was closed upon our arrival and tomorrow is Sunday. Not many options but to press on tomorrow.

We checked into the Golden Bear Hotel and had supper at Fast Eddys, the same place we ate on our 2008 ride to Alaska. Tomorrow, we're going to try to get Lane's bike into Whitehorse, YK, 397 miles away, where there is a Kawasaki dealer for a repair or a new radiator. Wish us luck.

Here are a few photos of today's activities: