With all my gear clean and re-organized after the North Slope run, I headed back outside after a 2 day layover in Fairbanks.
More rain! The Chena River that runs through town is full to the bottom of the bridge deck!
Time to head southeast towards Delta Junction and down the Richardson Highway toward Copper Center.
Finally outran the rain and was able to enjoy some beautiful riding country overlooking the Wrangell Mountain Range. Rugged country full of large fast moving rivers and high mountain peaks!
Turning northeast towards Tok AK on the Glen Highway is more awesome scenery and good riding up to the town of Tok were I stayed the night at Fast Eddies Lodge. Nothing fancy but they have a restaurant with decent food.
Next morning I head toward Haines Junction AK which includes another border crossing. Leaving the USA and entering Canada I turn south at Haines Junction BC on the Haines Highway.
The road to Haines is not to be missed on an Alaskan visit. Of course your riding in Canada but heading back to the USA through another border crossing all the time riding with spectacular mountain glacier views. Haines City is a port town minutes away from Skagway by ferry or cruise ship.
Haines can only accommodate one large cruise ship but has a fast ferry and vehicle ferries running on regular schedule.
The vehicle ferry runs far less frequently so catching one is pretty tough.
I found a nice motel with reasonable rates in Haines and some great food within walking distance.
There were 5 motorcycles parked in back including mine, all with California plates!
Turns out that all of the riders lived within a 40 mile radius of Castro Valley!
Next morning I figured it would be a long shot to get on the ferry to Skagway without reservations but I would try anyway. I have done my whole trip this year without long range reservations and I haven't missed out on anything because of that yet!
By good luck I was able to get a standby spot on the 11:00am ferry to Skagway. If your riding a motorcycle you will be loaded even with a standby ticket. They load the bikes into front of the ferry after all the huge trailers, motor homes, tanks and cars!
A motorcycle trip would not be complete without at least one ferry ride!
The trip up to Skagway was fun and I met some nice people with great travel information for my Vancouver Island segment of my ride.
Skagway was a booming town during the gold rush days but now is a tourist town serving the cruise line ships during the week. Ships come in, tourist get off and line the streets than get on the ship and leave. Towns empty at the end of the day.
We arrived with the tourist but we had our own transportation!
After a quick run through town, I head across the border to Canada once again with Mark from Oregon another rider I met in the line waiting for the ferry.
Mark was heading up to Whitehorse and I was headed to the Cassiar Highway then south to Hyder BC so we split up just south of Whitehorse.
It proved to be a very long riding day and I arrived at my south turning point for the Cassiar Highway after 9:00pm which meant I needed to camp as it was impossible to find hotel lodging.
Luckily I found Watson Lake campground and was able to get things set up quickly to escape the hungry mosquitos!
Next morning I knew I had a long ride to Hyder so I got up early, broke camp and headed for the Cassiar Highway thinking I could get breakfast on the way. Wrong! No service for 158 miles!
On the way I fell in behind a couple of riders going my way and we finally found a gas station with food.
We all pulled in and fueled up the bikes and had a bite to eat.
I met Larry and Brad from North Carolina and later that day I would run into them again in Hyder.
The Cassiar Highway is an interesting road that starts out with no lane markers or any other signage for that matter. The landscape is beautiful in an apocalyptic way. Fires burned most of the foliage from the trees and left burned up tree trunks standing like soldiers at attention!
50 miles of the this turns into a lush park like land of lakes and rivers!
Night and day difference. This is long highway but it is another must do ride when coming up or down to AK. Since I rode the 97 north when I came in I wanted to ride the Cassiar Highway on the way home.
After a long days ride I arrived in Hyder BC late in the afternoon and ran into Larry and Brad at the gas station.
They queued me into a hotel and we all met there for dinner. Good food and great company made for good times.
It turned out we were all headed to Prince George BC the next day so we would ride it together!
After a good breakfast we saddled up for the 420 mile ride to Prince George. We stopped several times along the ride at rest stops, filling stations and Mickey D's for lunch which made for a pleasant ride.
We rode into town at about 6:00pm, had dinner and found a nice hotel. Next up, Larry and Brad head towards Gunnison Colorado and I head to Vancouver BC then back to the USA!
This was on the Haines Hwy. just before the US border.
Lined up for the ferry to Skagway.
Call in Dead! Saw this sticker on a bike riding the Cassiar Highway.
This is our hotel in Hyder.
Lined up in front of a glacier fed water fall leaving Hyder.
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