photo stop East of Northway
Kodak DC50 photo (by Nelson Kibler)
Today we faced very little pavement and a whole lot of construction.
I decided to lighten my load even more. I had been carrying my front panniers
(tools, spare tubes, etc. in one; rain gear, etc. in the other) and my handlebar
bag (Casio camera, tape recorder, etc), but decided to eliminate all three,
opting instead for a small bag and my pump on the top of the rear rack.
I achieved far more precise steering and lightened my load by 5-10 lbs.
The day started out nice but became bitterly cold and windy. At one point
there were 5 of us riding uphill (about 1-2%) at 17.5 mph without pedaling
at all. We were told by USFWS (US Fish & Wildlife Service) personnel
that gusts reached 50 mph. WHAT A TAILWIND.
When we left Northway, the road was unpaved.
Then we had a couple of miles of pavement and mostly unpaved
roads up to and after the Alaska/Yukon border. At two points we were required
to ride in the back of pilot car pickup trucks (each about 3 miles) in areas
where serious excavation and paving activities involving heavy equipment
was being carried on.
The paving crews were using water trucks to keep down the dust, but there
were a number of really dusty locations typical of Alaska Highway travel.
For over 50 miles we rode on nothing but gravel--some hard but some soft
(usually at downhill locations where we were forced to brake).
We stopped at the Tetlin National Wildlife Refuge visitor center for lunch;
a really nice log cabin with a traditional trapper's sod roof (rubber liner,
covered with 8" of dirt and grass).
The visitors center had displays of waterfowl migration routes
and some stuffed Trumpeter Swans. I saw an arctic tern earlier this week
along the Tanana River. The map at the visitor center indicated that arctic
terns migrate from Alaska to Antarctica.
We crossed from the US (Alaska) to Canada (Yukon).
 US Customs before pavement removed (the cleared line on the right is the border) scanned photo |
 Mountie scanned photo |
Members of our group saw trumpeter swans today. I saw one yesterday.
Tom Sheehan saw a brown bear yesterday.
Altogether today, we climbed 3,380 feet.
End: 63 miles
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© Ed Noonan 1996, 1997