[31/07/2024 – 07/08/2024[

Our Last Week – Whenever You Read IT

The first impression Canada left was one of rain and open minded people, which left us wondering how Canada would present itself the further we move up north. After having a quick chat with BC ferries, they said that there is a high possibility that the ferry from Port Hardy to Prince Rupert would take us aboard even if we did not reserve a spot, but after a quick discussion we opted to ride the whole way. So Vancouver Island has to wait for another time or life.
Whistler if you are into skiing/snowboarding, slopestyle mountainbiking you most likely have heard about this place. We did not stop, but for me it was quite nice to just drive by the Red Bull Joyride slopestyle arena. The landscape we crossed kept its promises, especially since the sun came out and offered wonderful views. Found a very nice campsite in Lillooet right next to the Frasier River. As we put up the tent an Emergency Cell Broadcast was issued, but we did not pay much attention to it, and went for dinner. The after dinner drinks however where disrupted by a caravan of RVs apparently leaving the campsite for the higher ground of the village. There was a landslide at the Chilcotin River which damed up the river, and the authorities issued a precautionary evacuation order for all areas close to the Frasier river in case of a flash flood. Well then first time for everything, pack up, move to an accomodation and call it a night. Anyway for the coming two days Stefan booked us one of these monster trailers we have been seeing on the roads, since we hit the U.’S., and as both of us where curious about those trailers, here we go. Compared to our tent, that was pure luxury :-), oh and compared to many of the hotel rooms we have been staying in over the past months. We booked the thing via Airbnb and as the RV was located in the backyard of a couple that is actually using this trailer, it seemed to close to the idea Airbnb had when it was founded. After our stay in the trailer, the first one and a half days were a bit tiresome as, the road was rather straight and you mostly saw trees not much change in elevation and thus little to no view of the country. However the lakes we stayed at where pretty stunning and in Burns lake by chance we caught an AC/DC tribute band which was really good. It was almost a private gig, as there were only 50 guests. Apparently there was no advertising done, except for the bands Facebook page, and Burns lake is a bit far out. The gigs they have in Prince George are sold out, or so we were told. Anyway good evening, and the night got even better as i saw my first northern lights (Stefan slept, and could not be bothered at 01:30 in the morning). I was not sure what it was as it was not the green, purple fluorescent light you sometimes see at pictures, rather a light grey. But as there was no moon, my mind crossed a thin cloud cover of the list of possibilities. Hopefully we have another chance to see them again.
At Meziadin campground, a father came and asked us about our trip, seeing our European license plates, and after telling him where we started and where we aspire to go he was impressed. So much so that he returned with two servings of grilled shrimp, just like that. Very unexpected and really cool. Thank you mate.
We are now really far up north, no cellservice on highway 37 only short before Whitehorse cell service was available. Free Wifi at the camp sites is almost non existent, at Meziadin, you got 15 minutes, after that you would have had to pay, which i was willing to do, however the payment page was a feat of engineering … aka it did not work. Nugget City at Junction 37 (with the Alaska highway) was rather slow.
At Dease Lake we did our lunch break and there was a Slovakian couple with a rather flat tire, well the tire was fully used, down to the carcass. They did not had the spoons to get the tire of the rim, and the one shop they asked if they could do it wanted to have 250.-$ (canadian), robbery. Well Stefan and I helped. Never fully changed a tire, just fixed our own flats, and it was a tubeless tire. On top of all that the replacement tire they had, was an offroad tire (would have fit perfectly on our bikes) which is not built for their rim. Took us some doing, but they are now riding a 180 tire on a 190 rim :-). Was quite cool. And apart from that we did our longest stage with 570 kilometers. Yeah it was a good day, even if we did not stop at many of the really nice places we drove by.
Currently we are in Whitehorse, which is at 61°N and the sun only sets at 22:15 hrs at midnight you still see a silver stripe at the horizon. Watching the navigation system showing me the sunset times move further and further into the evening/night was quite amazing, especially as just two months ago the sun set at about 19:30 hrs. We will not experience polar day during this trip, but let´s not be greedy.
Originally the idea was to go to Prudhoe Bay aka Deadhorse, as it is the most northern point you can reach by land. Back in Ushuaia we met a motorcyclist from Oregon who mentioned that Tuktoyaktuk is supposedly a much more interesting ride then Prudhoe Bay. We were told this the past few days again, and so we decided to go up there, and on our way down venture into Alaska, most probably skipping Prudhoe Bay.
Here in the north there are much more insects than almost all the months before, which results in cleaning our visors at least once a day or at any filling station that does offer windscreen wiping :-). And if you are a bit lucky, like we were on Tuesday when we started driving on the Alaska highway, the lakes are really glassy, and you can see the reflections of the surroundings on the surface, especially with snow capped mountains it is really beautiful.
The only other thing to add is the landscape, so many trees and lakes and so completely different then Patagonia. Ah and since the Sequoia National Park we have been in bear country, but only this week we saw our first bears in the wild. Luckily not on one of the campsites while visiting the bathroom at night.
One last thing, there might be some interesting topics coming up in terms of visa, but we will cross that bridge when we come to it. There is some time.

Wednesday: Vancouver – Lillooet

About 50km north of Vancouver the sun came out, and never went behind clouds since then. Atypical for this time of year as the locals, we met, said. The evacuation was a bit unexpected, but rather pack up the tent at dusk then being swept away by a flood.

Thursday: Lillooet – Quesnel (Trailer)

uneventful, at times a bit boring

Friday: Quesnel

very quiet and relaxing, got invited to an evening BBQ with our hosts. A German couple emigrated to Canada back in 2007.

Saturday: Quesnel – Burns Lake

AC/DC in da house. I saw my first bear.

Sunday: Burns Lake – Meziadin Lake

Even though there are general stores at most of the filling stations, whether or not you get what you need is a bit of a lottery, here we did loose, but where rather lucky with our fellow campers. Stefan saw his first bear.

Monday: Meziadin Lake – Junction 37 (Nugget City)

Roadside tire change, will not say that it becomes a new hobby of ours, but it felt really good to help the riders out.

Tuesday: Junction 37 – Whitehorse

The Alaska Highway – it does have a certain ring to it i have to say. While the ride itself is not challenging, the landscape is beautiful and you do have time to let your gaze wander.

This concludes week #36
Till next time
Happy Hacking everyone