We were in the Yukon now. Most people we had met on the way told us that if we had not seen any bears in Alaska, we surely would in Yukon… Not sure if that is good or bad news yet.
We took a rest day in Beaver Creek. It was still raining most of the
day and we could use the Wifi Internet at the 1202 motel for free, so
we could update the website and do some work. The next day we were off
and found that the wind was almost blowing in our backs, hurray! The wind
is maybe the biketraveller’s biggest friend or foe. It makes such a
difference if the downhills can be done without any pedaling, it makes
the following uphill look a lot easier, saving physical and mental
strength.
When we stopped at a campground for some lunch we were almost
attacked by a very persistent squirrel. He used all possible ways to
get on our table and to try to steal our food and when chased away,
made angry sounds from the top of a nearby tree! Guess he was also
getting ready for winter, as it was still getting colder every day..
A little
down the road we spotted 2 big moose. It is still hard to imagine
how tall they actually are; as we stay at a safe distance, we never get
the chance to check if they really are about 2 meters (6-7 feet) at the
shoulders and fortunately our bikes also do not have to test if they
are really about 700 kilos each..
We were warned by the lady in the Beaver Creek tourist office not to
stop at the White River lodge, apparently they had been very rude to
travellers. When we arrived there, the rainclouds were just about to
engulf us with full force, so we stopped to put on our rain pants.
Immediately a guy came outside and told us to continue, as the owner
apparently hates cyclists!
The rain was unavoidable, so we headed right in and got totally wet
in about 10 minutes, when we arrived at a small diner and gas station,
called Cook’s.
The office slash ‘restaurant’ was a complete mess, filled with all
kinds of junk, rocks, canned foods and miscellaneous items. We got off
on a wrong start when I paid for the can of Irish Stew and a big 1 kilo
package of cookies.
‘Ah, she had coffee as well? That is $1 more.’
‘But your wife invited us for a coffee?! We thought it was free!’. A discussion started about free coffee (everywhere in Alaska),
but soon the conversation warmed up a bit. They told us about their
life and the hard winters; in the end Mr Cook came out with a roll of
tape to try to fix Ivana’s rainpants. It did not work, but we
appreciated the gesture. Meanwhile a couple came in, totally amazed
about two motorcyclists they had talked to outside. They were going all
the way to Argentina! I casually remarked that we were doing the same,
but on bicycles and their eyes opened even wider. The man wrote for a
local newspaper and wanted to interview us outside.
After the interview I went back in to say goodbye to the Cooks.
‘What are you having for dinner?’ Mr Cook asked me.
‘Spaghetti probably, like every night. But tonight we have this Irish Stew to mix with it!’ I replied.
‘Do you like Moose meat?’
I told that that I wouldn’t know as I had never tried it. ‘Wait a
minute.’, e said and stumbled out the back. A few moments later he
came out with a pound of moose minced meat.
‘We shot it a while ago, I just grounded the meat. Here, take it and have a safe trip!’
It was great to see how an irritated discussion turned to sharing food and stories within one hour… (See their picture here on the ‘1000 Americans’ category).
Just an hour ahead we stopped at a government campsite. As we are on
a budget, we asked the first couple we saw if we could share their
spot. We could and we had a pleasant evening with them, sitting around
the fire, sharing moosemeat, our travel stories and knowledge of
foreign cultures and their life in Alaska and Northern Canada.
The next morning David and Karen even made us pancakes, but I had to take care when eating them as the hungry squirrels were even smarter over here.
The rain stopped and it turned out to be quite a nice day. The wind
was in our back and the hills not too bad. We passed quite a few empty
lodges, either deserted for the season and some seemed just totally
abandoned. This makes it a lot easier to find a shelter to camp in, but
the food and water planning does need a lot more careful planning now
as this situation will not change as the season is ending..
We ended up along the shores of Kluane
Lake. The friendly owner of the Talbot Arm motel let us camp for free
behind the Motel and we could use the Wifi and power to do some more
writing.
The ending season is also very visible in nature: some hills look
like it has been desaturated in Photoshop: dark green trees turn light
green, before they become bright yellow. As different trees are in
different stages, a nice colourful palette is created.
The next day we found out that it was good we had not continued a
bit to the next camprground as there was a big sign that tenting was
not allowed due to bear danger! So where are all those bears, we still
had not seen anything…
Just a bit further down the road we got a free ride of 7 km, on the
back of a truck. Not that we had asked for it, but we had no choice. At
the end of Kluane
lake, they were redoing the road and as they were blasting rocks, we we
forced to take a break. Unfortunately they did not take us up the long
steep hill that followed…
The day was nice though and the evening was actually very sunny, while we were cycling next to the gorgeous Kluane national park, home of Mt Logan, Canada’s highest peak (and 2nd highest of North America, after Denali).
We didn’t know if we could make it all the way to Haines Junction
though as we had been on the road for long. Also another Biketraveller
we met told us that the next 7 km would be uphill. In fact it turned
out to be almost 10km of slowly ascending, but then we got a 10km
downhill as a reward!. Totally unexpected we zoomed a few hundred
vertical meters down, without pedaling once and we arrived in one of
the few junctions on the Alaska Highway and the first traffic light since Denali Park…
We stayed at the actual junction, camped behind the Shell station.
The next morning we visited the famous bakery. The bread was actually
not as nice as anticipated, but the cozy room with free Wifi was very
much appreciated! We spend all morning there and after a needed visit
to the first Supermarket since Tok, Alaska, it was already quite late before we hit the road..
Before we even reached the airport, located 2km out of town, I noticed something moving in the corner of my eye. A huge wolf
was walking besides the road in the same direction as me. I proved that
I am a better fiancee than a photographer, by grabbing the can of bearspray and not my camera and waited for Ivana, who was 100m behind me. The wolf
looked at me, he was beautiful, different shades of grey with big
piercing eyes. Before Ivana reached me, a truck passed, stopped and
turned back to see -or maybe shoot- the wolf
and the gracious animal smartly ran into the bush, Ivana never saw it..
Suddenly we were reminded of the wild we were in. The thin line calledd
the Alaska
Highway was just a small but deep scar in the huge wilderness where
animals and native people had been living side by side for centuries..
We were not quite sure where we wanted to go, but somewhere halfway
to Whitehorse, 160km away. Like often, we would just go and see what we
would meet on our way. We had noticed that there was a small town
called Champagne, which was on the old Alaksa Highway, cut off when the
highway was redone a few decades ago. We decided to take the only
possible road less traveled and ended up in Champagne. What we saw and
experienced there was very special, so special it deserves its own
post, so stay tuned to www.worldonabike.com for updates…
Meanwhile here is a picture of a very weird place in the town:
The tailwind definitely helped our average speed, which was about
3-4km per hour higher than the headwind days. It made a few days of
100km possible, even when still climbing at least 500m per day,
sometimes more. Kowalski & Greeny are still in top shape, Santos rules 
