Skagway, Good Hope Lake, Smithers, Lac La Hache, The Trans Canadian Hwy and the run home! (August 7-11)

Skagway was a blast, but it was time to move on.  It was off to Good Hope Lake and Boya Provincial Campground.  This was our way up, now we were doing it in reverse. 

Back into Canada and British Columbia...

 

I think British Columbia is the most scenic of the Canadian Provinces.  The weather wasn't always kind to us in BC, but when it did clear, the scenery was incredible.  This pic was taken from our campsite at Boya Lake Provincial Park.

More Boya Lake...

Pic across Boya Lake in the evening.

 

Campfire at night.

Boya Lake as we broke camp early the next morning.

On the road again, beautiful British Columbia scenery and weather!

When we had ridden up, it was rain for 4 or 5 days, so seeing the scenery in the sunlight was quite a bit better.

Lac La Hache/Crystal Springs Campground and us going thur our cooking routine.  Scott at one end cooking up the dogs, me at the other end, cooking up the chili!

Celebrating a great trip together with Scott.  This is our last night together on the trip.  Tomorrow he goes southeast, I go south.  It's been a great adventure!

Scott planning his route for tomorrow.

I cleaned IKRAN up as best I could for the final run home.

The road I wanted to ride was the Trans Canadian Highway.  I spent a few weeks in British Columbia on last year's motorcycle trip, but never got to ride this road.  Now was my chance.  It did not disappoint.  The highlight was Hell's Gate, in Fraser Canyon.  OMG!  The mountains, the river.  Best of the trip!

Made it to Albany, Oregon for the night.  Long day, tomorrow would be longer, as I decided I'd make a run for home.

870 miles, 14 1/2 hours, I pulled into the G'Raj Mahal

I was greeted with a kiss from Patty, and an Alaskan Amber!  Fitting end to an incredible journey!!!  Stay tuned for Baja, Mexico in March ;-))

Haines Junction to Skagway (August 5-6)

The ride from Haines Junction to Skagway is sensory overload.  It has everything.  Waterfalls, glaciers, lakes, mountains, suspension bridges...and the road is nice and twisty.  It was a bit chilly and I wasn't in the mood to stop and take pics.  But I did enjoy the ride!!!

 

Skagway...tourist central.  Fun little touristy place catering to the 'cruisers'.  Cruise ships pull in and out of here like Grand Central Station.  The town goes from zero to 100 as soon as the boats start letting people off.

 

Here's the sign you'd see as you come into town from a cruise ship...

 

Cruise ships, trains, and mountains.

One of the Norwegian cruise ships.  Another to the right.  And yet another to the left, not in the pic. 

Walking into town from the dock.

Chances are if you've taken an Inside Passage Cruise, you've taken this train, as a shore excursion, into The Yukon and back.

This baby used to clear snow off the train tracks...

Early morning Skagway, it's just starting to get busy, cruisers are on their way in, off the ships...it gets crowded!

But after 9 PM, when the cruisers are back on their ships, Skagway turns into a ghost town...sort of.

We we enjoying a couple spirits at The Red Onion Saloon and were told of The Bonanza Bar, where all the locals congregate after they get off work. 

Joe, who we met in the bar and is a chef in town, and Deb, who is a bartender in The Red Onion Saloon, invited us to join them at The Bonanza Bar for karaoke.  We did, it was a frickin blast!  No Scott nor I did any singing.  However Joe and Deb performed admirably ;-) 

The Morning Wood Hotel, not only is a hotel, but a bar that stay's open until 5 AM, closes until (supposedly) 8 AM, then opens again.  It is Skagway's 'after hours' bar. 

Valdez to Haines Junction (August 4)

We left Valdez on what would be one of the longest, but most scenic days, on our way to Skagway. 

 

Waterfalls and glaciers

 

Everywhere we rode, there seemed to be glaciers

We thought we could walk up to this one, like we did last year, as we rode thru the Icefield Parkway, in Alberta.  There was a trail up to it, but it would have been a long, grueling hike.  In our gear, forget it.

If you are interested...

As we made our way towards Skagway, we came across this place.  A Russian-American lodge, store, campground (sort of), and decided to stop.

This place was literally in the middle of nowhere.   It makes you wonder what kind of people live out here like this.

We recognize the bike outside, it's a couple from Mexico, that we've crossed paths with a number of times.  They were dining on Russian cuisine and said it was delicious.

Neat little place inside.

I asked the Russian lady owner (forgot her name, but it was definitely Russian) how she ended up here, running a restaurant.  She said she loved the location.  I told here she wasn't fooling me and that she was really Anastasia Romanov, hiding from Putin and the Russian KGB.  God she laughed at that!  If you don't know the story, look up Anastasia Romanov.

After the Russian discovery, it was off on the road again.  We stopped for some gas at a place with this view...

...and I took the opportunity to purchase a reindeer sausage hotdog.  It was spicy and delicious, not gamey at all.

We finally crossed back into Canada and The Yukon

 

We made it as far as Haines Junction and holed up there. 

Homer to Whittier to Valdez (August 3)

In Alaska there are different degrees of beauty when it comes to the scenery.  The ride from Homer to Whittier has to be one of the best! 

 

This were I was really missing my Go Pro.  My oldest son, David, had given me a Go Pro last year as a retirement gift.  I hadn't had a chance to use it until this trip, but it died after one use.  I did call Go Pro, they walked me thru some stuff, eventually telling me the unit needed a 'hard reset' and they have emailed me the process in which to reset the camera.  But thumbs down to Go Pro based on its failure after only one use.

 

Here we pulled over for a bathroom break and a view of one of the many glaciers you will see along this road.

More incredible views...

 

We arrived in at 'The Whittier Tunnel', which is the tunnel you need to go thru to get to Whittier and the ferry, which will take us to Valdez.

Traffic in line waiting to go thru the tunnel...

Here's the entrance to The Whittier Tunnel...

So, the tunnel operates on a choreographed system, whereby trains, trucks, cars, and motorcycles proceed thru to the other side.  Motorcycles go last, because if they catch a tire in the train tracks and 'go down', they don't want the tunnel to get shut down, with a line up of cars and trucks waiting for the bike wreckage to be cleared. 

 

Officially, it is know as The Anton Anderson Memorial Tunnel and is the longest highway tunnel in North America, at 2.5 miles.

 

I stole the next 2 pics off the net, as you can not stop in the tunnel, and need to concentrate, as you are riding for 2.5 miles, in-between the rail tracks.  It is only a couple of feet wide between the tracks and you definitely do not want to catch a tire in the tracks... 

This is an accurate view of what you see as you proceed down the tunnel.  The ironic thing is, when you get closer to the end of the tunnel, and you see 'the light at the end of the tunnel'...it actually IS a train!!!  I thought that rather funny as I approached the end.  You then exit the tunnel and when the bikes are clear, the train proceeds...

After we exited the tunnel, it was straight to the ferry, to board, for the trip to Valdez.  Once in, they waste no time closing the ramps.  You need to get your bike tied down ASAP, then they clear the area, and move everyone upstairs.

I had to scramble to make the ferry.  We arrived close to boarding time and I had to remove my Rotopax gas container and reorganize my bags.  We did make it and here's a pic of me after I got the bike all tied down.  It was actually a very smooth ride, didn't really need the tie downs, but better safe than sorry!

Scott's GS and another bike all tied down and secure for the ride.

View after we left Whittier

The cool air felt good.  We had been riding in warmer temps and with our gear on it can get warm.  The open air on the ferry felt great!

I was surprised at how few people were on this ferry.  Maybe 20 or so.  Not sure how they make a profit, unless it's subsidized by the state.

The MV Aurora

I was pretty tired, so went up to the lounge, fell asleep for about 3 hours, and woke to looking out the windows at this...The Fog (wasn't that a horror movie?).  You literally could not see at all beyond the bow of the ship!  Talk about IFR!!!

Then the fog broke and this is what we came out of...

Solid wall of fog...

Coming into Valdez we saw a number of oil tankers heading out of the sound.

Here's the Valdez oil facility.

 

Pulling into Valdez.

Once the door drops, we are out in seconds.

 

We are in Valdez now and this is our route since leaving Scott's, in Idaho.

Once off the ferry, it was off to find a campground.  Alaska is so easy to find a campground.  Those who make reservations for a trip like this are doing it wrong, IMHO.  Making reservations ties you up to a schedule.  Weather can effect your schedule and push you to make unrealistic mileages, which can be dangerous.  Campgrounds are everywhere and cheap.  This one in Valdez, was our most expensive, but it was mostly a nice RV park.  It came in at $15/ea.  Most were $5 ea.

 

Here's Scott about to cook up our 'dogs'.  We had it down to routine.  He cooked the 'dogs' or brats, I cooked the chili.  We could get it ready in less than 5 minutes! 

Finished product...gourmet chili dogs!  And of course a nice Cabernet ;-))

I had to take a pic of this Mercedes outfitted Citation.  Patty says she'll go 'camping' in one of these...