Sheep Mountain, Kluane Lake in November
Scanned photo
The weather deteriorated. We woke to cold (around freezing) headwinds
which stuck with us most of the day. As we headed along Kluane Lake, wind
off the lake ice hit us straight in the face. We did stop at the Kluane
Park visitor center at the South end of the Lake to view the Dall Sheep
on Sheep Mountain through telescopes. I spotted 14 sheep high on the mountainside.
Strong winds are the rule, not the exception, in this area of the lake.
Here is a winter view of Sheep Mountain and the Alaska Highway that I took
back in 1973 (it was about 40 below).
Here is the same view today.
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From Kluane Lake, it seemed like we climbed thousands of feet, but it was mostly the wind that made it seem like climbing, for we actually only climbed about 2,100' vertical. I've had trouble with my Avocet chronometer/altimeter in terms of consistency and accuracy. I don't trust the readings I've been getting, so I've been relying on figures from other riders with handlebar altimeters, instead.
As we climbed out from the lake, Tom, Tim and I stopped at a rest area on the left side of the road where there was a vantage point aimed back at the lake. I didn't take any pictures, so I left first and crossed over to the right edge of the road. As I was riding along the right edge of the roadway, a semi was coming uphill in my lane and another was coming downhill toward me. There wasn't room for both trucks. Rather than brake, however, the truck in my lane swerved across the centerline to pass me and then swerved quickly back to the right edge of the roadway. The other truck blasted his horn. In swerving over after passing me in order to avoid a head-on collision with the oncoming truck, the driver who passed me almost lost his load. He was hauling a huge (10' high) spool of what looked like heavy copper wire. The spool actually swung about 2-3' from one side to the other, almost flipping over the flatbed trailer on which it was being carried. The driver, whose truck said he was from Wille Transport, Deer River, Minnesota, scared himself by coming so close to losing his load, so he attempted to lay blame on me. He got out of his truck with his fists raised Joe Lewis style in anger and screamed:
"If you ever see a truck behind you and you don't get off the road, you better hope its not me, because if I ever see you again, I'm going to run right over you. You need to get off the road and leave the road for the working people."
I was relatively calm and just circled slowly in the roadway (there was no traffic) remaining on my bicycle and replied:
"Have you ever just wanted to have some fun in your life? That's all I want. I got over as far as I could. That's all I can do. You could have avoided all this if you'd just used your brakes for a whole minute."
He muttered something unintelligible and I explained that the shoulder was too rough to ride on (rocks 2" in diameter) and that I didn't want to die just because he wouldn't use his brakes. I was concerned that he might have a handgun and kill me, but by then Tom and Tim had caught up and were watching the entire confrontation take place. The trucker left in a huff and, I'm told by the cyclists ahead, drove like a maniac past all of us.
Almost two months later, on August 4, 1996, I rode past Wille Trucking in Deer River, Minnesota and contemplated bringing his behavior to the attention of his superiors. See the August 4 page for details.
Going into Haines Junction, we had a long (about 2-3 mile) downhill, but due to headwinds, I found myself pedaling hard to go downhill. It was a hard day.
End: 56 miles
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© Ed Noonan 1996, 1997