FLASK August 12-19

FLASK August 12-19 (Alaska!)
Aug 12:
114 km (71 mi) to MON (about 15 km from Otter Falls junction). 1100-630. It rained all night & into the morning but desisted temporarily as I got up reluctantly around 730 to pack up. The tent was a wet, dirty mess, as was the tarp. I got a chance to talk to Markus (Austrian touron heading to SA) before heading out - he was taking another rest day, intimidated by the ominous sky. I went to the same bakery as yesterday (free WiFi, which was hard to find) & called Jon at PBS, confirming that I'd been selected for a PBS promotion TV spot where I'll get to talk about how the Ken Burns National Park series inspired elements of the trip. He's tentatively selected September 5-7 as the dates to interview & film me riding & backpacking in Denali NP! So humbled & excited! I called Rae immediately after & she squealed with delight - fun! Groceries, then on the road, again with no intentions, to which I am becoming accustomed. The terrain has eased considerably & the rolling hills are less difficult. Around 2:00 I got to chat with Danny & Janie from Vancouver. They're finishing a 10-day Anchorage to Whitehorse tour & were spry & chipper, though unhappy that they spotted so little wildlife. They may tour AZ in November so I intend to send them some beta. Rain began to fall soon after we parted company, then a persistent, somewhat cold headwind developed. Ah well. I almost stopped at Medenhall subdivision (not what you think it means) because Janie'd said Irene, the store owner, let cyclists camp free & had a good bakery. But the road looked long & muddy & it was still early so I decided to keep riding. More rain but it was offset by some cool clouds - low ones at the middle of rising mountains were somehow lit bright white through an invisible gap in the higher dark grey ones. Surreal. Beautiful. Eerie. I finally turned up a steep gravel road that looked like it might yield a spot well off the highway, pushed the bike up 1 km, & set up in the rain. I hope I don't get eaten by a bear ... but I cooked in the tent to be out of the downpour & was unable to find sturdy enough trees to hang the food (the Takhini Valley was burned a number of years ago & there's really only young aspen, spruce, & scrub). I picked up The Girl Who Played With Fire (the 2nd in the Larsson trilogy) yesterday & am already over 100 pages in. Captivating. No stretch, no meditation today - rain wreaking havoc on my well-being - haha! Rain likely to persist so I intend to maintain an attitude similar to today's ... just ride, look around, don't work too hard, don't fret. Besides, I know how to pack & unpack in this weather in such a way that everything but the tent & tarp stay dry & they will dry out & clean up eventually.
Aug 13:
80 km (50 mi) to Jarvis River. 900-400. I waited out the rain, popping out of the tent in a lull to pack. Messy, but critical things stayed dry. After about 25 km of riding into a drizzly, cold, persistent headwind I came to the Otter Falls junction & had 2nd breakfast with a fun group of long-haul truckers. Ron & Sonny insisted that I take their #s to call if I got in trouble or needed a ride - even down to Seward after Denali. Wow! It was damp but no longer raining & I got to talk to Kobayeshi, a young Japanese dude riding from Anchorage to "maybe Mexico. I have vacation 1 year!" Once in Haines Junction, there was good intermittent sun directly on the Kluane Mountains with fresh snowfall adorning jagged peaks. I stopped at a cafe for a shake, talked to Sammy & Erin about their upcoming Kluane NP & Chilcott Trail backpacking trips, & read an article about the 20-year-long Russian touron (he's 62!) in the Whitehorse paper - cool! It was on the long climb out of HJ that I realized a trailer tire is worn through, so when I came upon an early remote camping option, I took it. I put 3 tire patches under the exposed tread & am gonna hope I can somehow resolve this in Destruction Bay - 70 km from here. I also sewed velcro on the elastic leg openings of my rain pants (so I can quit fussing about & with rubber bands), cleaned & dried the tarp & tent, tightened the wobbly trailer wheel, stretched, ate a sandwich & soup, & relaxed in front of some of the best camp scenery of the trip. The rippled Jarvis River is really a big creek & makes a lovely bend right at the gravel parking area next to the bridge. A snowy portion of Kluane peaks bask in low sun behind this bend as ducks float & paddle the eddies & currents. I'm certain I hear a wolf howling for awhile - aaah, wait ... there it is again from a different angle. F'in Wow! Some Quebecers working the summer at a local research center have stopped to flyfish - they're very friendly & I share a beer with the gal's dad who's visiting. I put on the puffy to ward off the chill wind & stay out in this wilderness beauty, enjoying a long, late evening out of the tent with no rain. It's lovely. I wish Rae were here to see it with me. She'd dig it the most.
Aug 14:
80 km (50 mi) to Destruction Bay. 1000-230. Awoke to slate grey skies, low clouds, & mist, which made the river & nearby mountains seem quiet & contemplative. Meditation with pesky mosquitos is not ... well, meditative. That 9-grain cereal hasn't gotten any better - not even a liberal dose of honey helped. I can hardly wait to pour the last serving in a bowl & finish it so I never have to eat it again. Haha! The climbing was pretty easy up & over the 2nd highest point on the AlCan between Whitehorse & Fairbanks. On the way I saw a lynx! Wow! About 2 ft tall at the shoulder, long legs, stubby tail, tan & grey coloring, & pointy ears. It sauntered across the road, pausing to look at me as I paused on the shoulder taking pictures before it padded silently into the vast, dense forest. F'in' cool, man. Brigette & Charles from Berlin stopped their car in their lane (the benefit of traveling the emptying AlCan) to get out, take pictures of me & the cycle, & tell me their son had cycled Anchorage to New Mexico 10 years ago. The trailer tire is coming apart, tearing through the threadbare portion so I reduce the tire pressure when I patch the tube & try to reinforce the tire patches with superglue. A stop at the Kluane NP Tachl Dahl visitor center allows me to spot Dahl sheep with their powerful telescopes high on the steep tan & burnt orange slopes. Kluane Lake is a serene light blue but the light's so flat it isn't brilliant & the low clouds obscure the distant peaks, but it's quiet & beautiful, nonetheless. A tailwind doesn't seem to help the pedaling as I'm tired for some reason. I struggle with the tire some more, adding worry to my weariness, but make it to Cottonwood RV Park. They don't allow tents as this area has the highest concentration of grizzlies in North America, so I move on. Eventually - after another tire/tube patch - I make Destruction Bay. I check at the tire/repair shop but Charles can't help, though he offers to get me a tire in Whitehorse when he goes on Tuesday (2 days from now). The Talbot Inn offers the same as they have a supply truck coming Tuesday. No tents allowed here either & the trailer tire's really totally toasted so I feel frustrated to have to pay $88 a night for 2 nights but ... that's the way it goes sometimes. I get a calling card to try to find a tire in Whitehorse, eventually finding one at Canadian Tire (kinda like a US Walmart chain), though the transaction isn't clean because the guy in the sports department speaks with a heavy French accent. Supposedly I've placed an email order & the tire'll be at customer service for the supply truck to pick up, though if I don't get confirmation I'll ask Charles for help getting it tomorrow. Trying to be happy, open, accepting despite the growing tension ... Hot bath, stretch, 2 beers & a cheeseburger, Hangover (unedited!) on TV, a lovely chat with Rae & Phin (shoulda got a calling card months ago). He says I "shoulda take an airplane, Gampa. Riding is not easy." Hahaha! I miss that little guy. I miss Rae.
Aug 15:
Slept in on the comfy bed. Meditated. Breakfast & internet in restaurant. Called Rae & can still make her laugh - yea! In-room movies, stretching, laundry in the tub - including the tent (I'm anxious about bears here & in Denali so I felt like I should get out any food smells, plus all the dead bug smears on the inside - haha!). Cheeseburger & beer for dinner. To bed late - reading Larrsen. I don't like the people here - they're surly - so I'll ride to Burwash in the morning & come back tomorrow night for the tire.
Aug 16:
16 km (10 mi) to Burwash Landing. 11-1200. Meditate. Breakfast (pancakes & eggs). While my tire will show up around 9 I decide to ride to Burwash Landing since I see in Bell's Mile by Mile (1985 edition was only $1!) that they have tenting. Easy ride despite the cold headwind. I ask about bears when I arrive & they report that the dogs keep them off the property but there hadn't been one here in years, though they're spotted often just 5 km south. Crazy! I set up, visit the Kluane Museum up the road (boring), then sit in the lodge dining room with soup, grilled cheese, & coffee for company until the 1st pair of an 8-person group rode in. They were sweet, though there appeared to be some discord of ambition that threatened the group - mostly about what time of day riding should occur. The rest showed up an hour later - all equally nice & fit. They all started in Anchorage, some are done in Whitehorse, others in NoCal. Stretched in a brief bit of sunshine, then wandered up the road to a garage to borrow a crescent wrench from Ollie to tighten a loose trailer axle. Ollie agrees that the wheel bearing is a little wobbly, too, but that it should last the trip if lubricated. We packed some grease in & I rolled back to camp. When I went to the lodge for a burger & beer they asked me to move my tent closer since a bear'd been spotted on the nearby road! We agreed my food should be indoors, too, & I went out into the drizzle to move camp. Talked to Rae - nice, rambling conversation. Dinner. Beer. Book. Bed.
Aug 17:
121 km (75 mi) to White River Lodge. 930-600. It rained most of the night, I think, but cleared when I got up at 730. Breakfast. New trailer tire installed but the pump lever broke inflating it. Hmm ... will make do. Tent fly damp but everything else dry - yea! Uphill out of Kluane Valley but no wind. Very crisp so I had on the pullover all day. Fantastic day of snow-capped peaks surrounded by intermittent clouds. The Wrangell St. Elias range is in view - stunning. Lots of little lakes, ponds, hills. The tree size seems to be shrinking. Colors are starting to change - just on the little trees but it's coming. Nice folks at the lunch pullout, including Austin & Paul cycling from Anchorage to Phoenix, & Koduska, a Japanese fellow they'd picked up who's got an open schedule & destination. Nice kids all. The Pine Lake bakery wasn't friendly & the cinnamon roll was flat - disappointing. I made the Lake Creek CG but it was still early & I felt like riding since it was nice out, so I rolled on looking for something else on the roadside. Panhandle Lake was nice - it's part of the Shakwak Trench, a migratory bird corridor that is formed between the Coast & St. Elias ranges - but the rest area parking lot it was fully occupied by a poorly-parked RV with a tow & there were no flat, dry spots for my tent in the woods. On to White River, which had great reviews in the 1985 Bell's book but one of the kids yesterday said the owner came out to tell them to leave because he hated cyclists. Bob & Amanda are super nice folks, it turns out. She fed me the work crew dinner & offered the same for breakfast. After stretching, I chatted with Lucas, a 32-year-old Pole hitchhiking & odd-jobbing his way around Canada - compelled to move by his wiring. Currently digging samples for geologists in search of gold. Also met some hitchikers, Shawna & Steve, trying to write a book, "The Lost Art of Hitchiking!" (www.thelostartofhitchiking.com has GREAT photos, check it out). Missed talking to Rae. Miss Rae.
Aug 18:
89 miles (83 km + 35 mi) to Lakeview CG near Northway Junction, AK. 1000-830. That's right ... Alaska! I've made it here! I'm so excited! Up at 730, packed up, & had a lovely, connected talk with Amanda as we ate breakfast together: kids, divorce, strong women, family drama BS, US entitlement & arrogance, ... great chat. She also decried cyclists (makes sense what the group of 8 said now) because too many of them seem to expect things free. Take water, she says: no consuderation for the fuel cost to run the generator to run the pump. She & Bob agreed that if they just bought something (candy bar, souvenier) & lost the attitude, everything'd be fine. So hey! Bikers! Be nice! Very crisp this morning. 15 km into tje day I notice the rear tire is showing threads ... What?! I looked that over in Destruction Bay! The roads have been very rough since Burwash ... hmmm. I make it to Beaver Creek & stopped in the VC to find Sid (the hitchhikers had a cool photo blog entry about this junk collector/museum director). "No store in town gonna have that but I got a pile a junk bikes in my backyard." VC map as my guide, I find the bikes & two good, knobby tires. Whew! I tell Sid to use the $20 for the museum to change his mind about taking money. Coffee, soup, & so-so cinnamon bun at Buckshot Betties then more uphill rollers to the border. I meet Scott motorbiking from Nebraska taking pictures at the border sign. Nice guy. 20 minutes later & down a sack of peppers confiscated by customs I'm in Alaska! Beautifully paved road - daaang! But it's just for show hecause it lasts only 5 miles before it becomes patchy, too, though in much better condition than the last 180 km in Yukon (Burwash Landing to the border was, by far, the worst road I've been on). I'm tired but I have to push on today so I can make Tok tomorrow; otherwise I'll have to wait the weekend to get the boots Rae mailed. It's tough rollers uphill. They seem endless & I feel the need to tell myself out loud to "Quit expecting this to be easy. Get tough!" I push out 35 miles already fatigued. The St. Elias range to the south is an endless chain of distant, dense, continuous snow-capped peaks. Immense. Like the Olympic Mountains on repeat - horizon-to-horizon. Distracting, thank goodness. I smile at the grandness of it. The audacity of nature resonates with me. The effort through all these hills is very tiring physically & mentally but satisfying. There's a big black bear crossing the road ahead but he stops roadside to eat some more so I "pop" my tongue & he scares to the woods. I meet Mike (Anchorage to Minnesota) & Ken (UKer on a 'round-the-world tour) a few miles from camp. Good beta exchange, tons of mosquito bites & I hear again, "You're nearly done!" Lakeview CG is lovely. Fantastic long, colorful sunset over a mirror lake. I had seen Matt & Chantell in Beaver Creek having coffee & they let me join them at the lakeside picnic table while I eat dinner (Ramen & spicy tuna). Super nice young Swiss-German couple car touring for 6 weeks. We talk comfortably: politics, travel, being outside, US arrogance, French food. As I go to bed I hear swans trumpeting, owls hooting, ducks quacking, terns splashing, & geese flying overhead. A winged symphony lulls me to sleep. Lovely end to an effortful but very special day. I'm in Alaska.
Aug 19:
60 miles to Tok, AK. 900-230. It rained into early morning but stopped as I got out. 9-grain (blegh!), cocoa, fruit bar. Pack. Pedal. It's all so familiar. The St. Elias range is outstanding again, even under threatening skies. The Chisana River cuts a meandering path through many lakes in the Shakwak Trench - some times I ride next to it, others above. The steep rolling hills are hard & seemingly endless. PBJ on CB, cheese curls, snacks. A tailwind develops & ensures a swarm of gnats on every uphill, but the route flattens dramatically 10 miles from Tok & I love the wind! Haha! At the bridge over the Tanana River, I ask a French tourist to snap a pic of me trying a Y-scale while balanced on thin railing above the fast, wide flow of cold water 30 ft. below. She snaps with her camera, as well, "No one would believe my story if I didn't!" The relacement sleeping pad is not at Tok RV . Dangit, Noni! But my hiking boots are at the post office - thanks, my love! After futilely trying to find an address in Delta Junction to which to get UPS to eventually ship the pad & as I'm re-centering the rear wheel at camp, a dude drives up with my pad! Yea! I wash biking clothes in the laundry sink, then, after stretching in the laundry room, strike up a conversation with an older Tea Party guy, Dave. He's surprised I'm so well informed & respectful, concedes a few things, & agrees it's government of, by, & for the rich. Shower. All-you-can-eat salad bar $9.95? 6 plates. Suckets ... Nice chats with Rae, Hogan, & Rob - though Rae had a tough day & it hurt not to be there to offer a little comfort. Raining ... again. My wrists hurt badly enough that I may need to stay on pavement through Fairbanks instead of taking the very scenic 135 mile dirt Denali Hwy. Will decide in 3 days when I leave Delta Junction. Still giddy about being in Alaska. Wow!