The tale starts in Portland, Oregon with an invitation by Biermeister brauhausbier to tag along with him on his 2nd attempt at Prudoe Bay; his first attempt being thwarted by snow at Atigan Pass a few years ago.
Joining us for part of the trip would be Wild Man Forrest, doing his last leg on a multi-month 4-corners trip, with AK being the 5th corner.
Intersecting our departure was the fascinating Ms. Chiff, who was heading down California way and on to West Fest, despite my best efforts to convince her that riding to Alaska with us would be far more exciting.
Another one of my goals was to film the entire trip with time-lapse. Between 3 cameras I managed to take over 9,200 pictures (and because of that, this trip report will be painfully slow to compose). One picture taken every 10 seconds. The time-lapse was only partially successful however. One problem was bugs:
And another was vibration (ferchrissakes, I mounted the camera on the handlebars of a KTM 640, what did I expect?)
And finally the Rube-Goldberg mount, eh, she assploded.
Ok, I really have to get back to work now
but I am going to put so many pictures up that you will want to vomit, and some other details about the trip perhaps not found in other AK trip reports. Hang in there, I'll be back!Good god it was as painful to make these clips as it was to ride that stretch from Portland to Whistler!
So instead of looking at some randomly taken pictures of slog from Seattle to Vancouver, here you can watch some time-lapse to give you a feel for what it's like. Having done Portland to Seattle a bunch of times, it's just a slog for me, but if you haven't done it before and always wondered what the ride was like, here ya go!
Part 1: Portland, Oregon to before Seattle (same as the link above that J did for me). You really don't want to speed much in the Tacoma area. Speed traps abound.
Portland towards Seattle
Part 2: Through Seattle towards the border, still on I-5.
Through Seattle
Part 3: Past Seattle, then right onto Hwy 539 to get to a deserted Customs crossing, with the pre-requisite stop at the Duty Free shop to stock up on smokes and booze.
Hwy 539
Part 4: Into Canada! Very slow traffic into Vancouver on Maple Leave Hwy 1, then road construction that lasts to Whistler. It was hot, I was sleepy, and the way was slow going. They're tearing up the road to make ready for the 2008 Winter Olympics in Whistler. If you plan on making time, do not go through Whistler!
To Whistler and onto Hwy 99
I hope you like these time-lapse movies. I can make them go faster or slower. What do y'all want to see? Due to Smugmug constraints though, I don't think I can make them bigger. Hell, I don't know. If you have some tips, lemme know.
Ok, I warned y'all that I was going to post so many pictures that you would want to puke. The pictures start NOW!
CDN Hwy 99 is a great road - well paved, and deserted. We stayed on Hwy 99 until it junctioned with Hwy 97 to 100 Mile House where we spent our first night.
Now, for me, this is the farthest north I'd ever been, and it was all "ooh" and "ahh". "Wow, look at the snow-capped mountains!". Little was I to know how this would pale with what was in store for us.
Ok, hang on for some touristy shots!
Ok, it starts like this:
Yes, it is as deserted as it appears.
There was LOTs of stopping for pics
Ok, being an Arizona boy, I saw this river on the left and thought "Huh, it must have just rained, the wash is full!" But I guess washes that always have water in them are called "rivers"
Yeah, yeah, more scenary shots. I warned ya!
Ok, a scenary shot with a bike in it. Are you happy now?
The aftermath of Forrest doing some donuts. It was afterwards that he realized where he was and was just agog at the scenary.
Squid heaven.
Lot's of these one-lane bridges on Hwy 99!
A gratuitous shot of the Mighty KTM 640 Adventure
Just in case you think I'm lying...
I just like this picture. No comment.
513 miles from Portland. Notice that it's dark, just like you'd expect.
One cool thing was, the farther north you got, the steeper the hills.
Just in case you think I'm lying
With Forrest around, these girls were not safe.
Yes, this is as steep as it looks. I don't recall any guard rails, either.
The beginning of Canadian gas price sticker shock. Ultimately I paid up to the equivelent of about $6.50 a gallon. Mostly is was around $5.50 a gallon. Canada to US $ was practially 1 to 1.
Our campsite at 100 Mile House and the end of the 1st day. Notice the cute little yellow tent on the left. More on that, later
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