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August 3, 2014
Day 16 - Coldfoot, AK to Denali National Park, AK (Sun 8/3/14)
Above: Remus and I pause for a photo op at the Arctic Circle sign as we pass it going south. I set the camera on something...probably my helmet and used a timer for this shot.
Additional Photos in the Extended Entry.
(Sun 8/3/14)
Update: I am alive and well and resting peacefully in Denali National Park Alaska, a national park between Anchorage and Fairbanks on AK Highway 3.
Starting Odometer: 19,874
Ending Odometer: 20,267
Miles Driven Today: 391
Miles Driven This Trip: 5,614
Here's a rough map of where I drove today.
3820 Universtiy Ave south
Fairbanks, AK
Wow...so this is wild...I'm sitting here eating dinner at the 49th State Brewing Company, Denali Park, Alaska. It's just the coolest place I've ever been. Inside is a packed brewpub. I'm outside in gorgeous weather. They have a campfire, bocceball, other types of games I'm not familiar with. Zero mosquitos somehow. So, I'm sitting outside, eating pork bbq sandwich and drinking an Augtoberfest Beer.
Girls are playing with hula-hoops. There's this old school bus on the compound. It's just the dreamiest little place I've ever found, more like a commune in Eugene than something near Fairbanks, Alaska.
And this asian guy shows up and starts shooting the bus like it matters. Only, it's a cheap camera on a cheap tripod, but he's shooting it like mad. Finally, it dawns on me....this is Chris McCandless's bus from Krakauer's book "Into The Wild." And it's not like it's a replica. This is his bus. Pretty wild.
And it's not like anyone told me about it. I just sort of stumbled across it. Pretty crazy.
But I should back up....
This morning, I wake up at something crazy like 5:30 a.m. I've been waking up this early because the sun never sets up here. Well, OK...it does technically go below the horizon, but it never gets dark at night. It looks like dusk at 1:00 a.m., and then gets lighter again. So, it's never truly dark. You'd never see any stars or anything.
So, I've been waking up crazy early and, the funny thing is, I find myself wanting to get up and start getting ready. The trick to putting in a lot of miles in one day is to get up and get away as early as possible. So, I'm up in the parking lot, tightening my chain, oiling, the chain, gassing up the bike, and getting ready to ride.
I don't want for Remus to have to wait on me. I don't like being the last one ready. We're supposed to me at 8:30 a.m. for breakfast.
So, we meet for breakfast. Two other guys were supposed to meet us here for breakfast also...they stayed in Wiseman last night. They were on KLR's. They said they were going over the "top of the world" pass, a dirt road over into the Yukon, and then on up to Inuik. I was like..."you can have it...I've seen enough of the arctic ocean."
But they didn't ever show up.
So we blow out at about 9:00 a.m.
Today, the weather is gorgeous. Spectacular. Clear blue skies. Kind of cool, but not nearly as bad as yesterday. And no rain.
Blow out heading south on the Dalton Highway. Such a beautiful ride. Mostly, the road is paved today, it seems. Parts are dirt and somewhat wet/muddy, but nothing like yesterday.
We stop for gas at Yukon Crossing, and I'm talking to some dudes heading north. Explaining to them what to watch out for on the Dalton Highway.
After Remus gasses up, they gas up, then I gas up, and then I go inside to pay.
At this point, I realize I've left my credit card at the place back in Coldfoot. Like, these places don't have pay-at-the-pump gas pumps like you're used to. They have above-ground tanks, and nothing is automated, so you have to go inside and leave your credit card, and apparently in my haste to get away, I drove off and left my card there.
This is not a huge problem, as I have a few grand in my pocket.
Now, I join him inside. We discuss eating lunch. Then, he starts in on me for not filling up my gas tank fast enough, because I ended up behind the other riders.
I didn't say anything to him then, but I'm like..."there's a reason I'm not married dude...I sure as fuck don't need another man nagging me." So, that pretty much sealed the end of our riding together.
We ride, and he keeps wanting me to take pictures of him, so he keeps handing me his Nikon, but it won't autofocus for some reason. So, he keeps trying to explain to me how to make it focus correctly. And I'm like..."dude...when you hand someone a camera to take a picture, you have to set it up so all they do is push a button. I'm not a Nikon guy. These cameras are for women and children. I shoot Canon."
We rode on together to Fairbanks, where he had a room in some gay cottage on a river. I was like..."ah...yeah...I'm not staying here because 1) I'm not gay and b) It's $150 a night.
I really don't know where to go next, but Fairbanks doesn't hold any charms for me. Anchorage is too far for me to make today, but Denali is only 114 miles south, so I decide to make a reservation there and bolt.
"Good luck in all your travels, my friend. Keep the dirty side down..."
We shake hands, and I roll south.
There really are not any highway patrol officers in this state, it seems. I drive pretty fast, but hardly even pass anyone. Now, the road construction begins. I swear that half of the state must be employed in road construction. They're all either holding stop signs, driving pilot trucks, or pavers.
The woman spinning the hand-held stop-sign looks at my bike. "Lord God where have you been?" she asks. The bike is coated in mud.
"Guess," I reply.
"Prudhoe Bay?" she replies.
"Let's go. Give it up."
She puts down her sign and high-fives me. I've driven to the front of the line, around a line of cars.
OK. I'm now corrected on the bus. It is, in fact, a replica. The original bus is still down there in the woods, apparently.
I call the woman at Coldfoot Camp, and apparently they do, in fact, have my credit card. They're going to fly it into Fairbanks tomorrow.
I'm honestly not sure what to do at this point. I want to explore all of my options, and then try to come up with a plan. My current options, as I see them, look something like this:
1) Drive to Whittier/Anchorage/Valdez, and put the boat on a ferry. The ferries are run by the Alaska Marine Highway System, and they'll ship the bike as far south as Bellview, WA. If they have rooms, you can get a room. Otherwise, you can sleep in a tent on the open deck of the ship/ferry.
2) Drive to Anchorage, pay to have the bike shipped back to CO, and then fly back to CO.
3) Drive back down Highway 37 Stewart/Cassier Highway (Dease lake Road), and go down the coast to SF. Meet Carol and Jack and go to Burning Man in the Black Rock Desert of Nevada.
So, I'm not really sure which way I want to go at this point.
Ben texts me...he's about an hour north of here. Wants to meet up in Anchorage or Valdez. I'm not really sure what to do at this point. I've technically accomplished my objective(s). I made it to the Arctic Circle. Waded into the Arctic Ocean. I dunno what to do at this point, really.
Additional Photos in the Extended Entry.
Above: Driving south on the Dalton Highway (AK 11) from Coldfoot.
Above: Driving south on the Dalton Highway (AK 11) from Coldfoot.
Above: Driving south on the Dalton Highway (AK 11) from Coldfoot.
Above: Remus and I pause for a photo op at the Arctic Circle sign as we pass it going south. I set the camera on something...probably my helmet and used a timer for this shot.
Above: Driving south on the Dalton Highway (AK 11) from Coldfoot.
Above: Driving south on the Dalton Highway (AK 11) from Coldfoot. I took this shot to try to illustrate how steep the grades are on the Dalton Highway. On an interstate, a 6% grade would be considered steep. At places, on the Dalton Highway, the grades are 12%. I honestly have no clue how these truckers make it over Atigun Pass in the winter.
Above: Driving south on the Dalton Highway (AK 11) from Coldfoot. I took this shot to try to illustrate how steep the grades are on the Dalton Highway. On an interstate, a 6% grade would be considered steep. At places, on the Dalton Highway, the grades are 12%. I honestly have no clue how these truckers make it over Atigun Pass in the winter.
Above: This is the start of the Dalton Highway (AK 11), a 500 mile muddy road that leads to hell and back....err....I meant Deadhorse, AK and back. After driving 1,000 miles up and down the Dalton Highway, I'm truly glad to be alive. The KTM has so much mud on it you can hardly see it.
Above: A bridge in Fairbanks.
Above: The 49th State Brewery just north of Denali National Park.
Above: Me, doing the Chris McCandless pose in front of the bus they used in the movie Into The Wild. The original bus is still down there in Denali somewhere. This is a copy they made for the movie, currently located at the 49th State Brewery just north of Denali National Park.
Posted by Rob Kiser on August 3, 2014 at 8:37 PM
Comments
Way Cool! What a spectacular adventure. Thanks for the pictures, as I feel like I am sharing a little bit of this ride with you. If only I could have tagged along to advise you on this and that. :-P
xoxoxo
Posted by: sl on August 4, 2014 at 8:17 AM
Don't know if you'll check these comments, but I gotta tell ya Rob, I'm enjoying the hell out of your adventure. You're nuts and you have, apparently, no fear, and that makes it all the more interesting. Everyday after I plow through the morning emails, and get the staff meeting over, I join you on the road and marvel at the contrast in people's lives. I guess I long for adventure, probably not to your extent, but a mortgage and car payment, and oh, yah, a husband keep me chained to this damn desk. So meanwhile, keep churning out the adventure. I'll live it vicariously.
Posted by: Chick Voice on August 4, 2014 at 11:07 AM
Thanks for the feedback, CV. On most days, I hardly have time to keep up the website. So I don't usually check the comments. I drive for a few hundred miles every day, then spend my nights uploading pics, charging/cleaning cameras, GoPro, Garmin Montana 600, etc. So, I don't get as much done on the website as I'd like to, as I usually crash at something crazy like 3:00 a.m. and then get up and do it all over again the next day. Really got crossed up with my bike. I think I'll get it rolling again tomorrow morning before noon. Hope to catch my buddy Ben and roll down Highway 37, then through Prince George to Cache Creek, then down the Sea to Sky Highway. Should be nice once I can get the KTM rolling again.
Posted by: Rob Kiser 
on August 6, 2014 at 12:46 AM