Dawson City, Yukon to Stewart, BC

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The trip from Dawson to Stewart is approximately 1000 miles and it would have been easier to drive straight down the Alaska Highway and we could have been in the Canadian rockies in four days, but I had planned to ride the Stewart Cassier Highway as part of our trip and that involved a detour west.

Five finger rapids, probably the best known feature on the Yukon River

BOB cleaned up and sporting a new back tyre

This is a neat way to create a bridge surface that doesn't freeze up in winter, it just scares the crap out of you when you ride across with knobby tyres!

Sue reckons this is more fun than gravel!

We stayed overnight at the Midnight Sun B&B in Whitehorse, capitol of the Yukon. The owner is originally from Iran and we had a good chat about the old days when I spent some time working there, plus we got a discount rate. Whitehorse was only a transit stop, so as soon as we'd had breakfast the following morning we were off again.

The run from Whitehorse to our overnight stop at Dease Lake was just over 400miles which is the farthest we have ridden in a day, it's not our intention to do big miles on this trip but sometimes the road conditions allow you to do that kind of mileage without stressing out. The run down the Alaska Highway to the junction with the Stewart Cassier was straight road all the way but we did a detour to visit the signpost forest at Watson Lake before hitting the gravel again (not literally).

The forest was started in 1942 by a homesick Army G.I. while working on the Alaska Highway, he erected a sign here pointing the way home and stating the mileage to his hometown. Others followed his lead and are still doing so to this day, at the last count there were around 60,000 signs covering an area over two acres. The largest is a 6 foot by 10 foot German Autobahn sign!!

If Sue didn't find the sign for the ladies toilet soon, we were in trouble!

Good Hope lake

Mountain sheep

Black bears were a common sight at the side of the road, Sue by this time had got over the fear of them lying in wait ready to poke a stick through the spokes of the front wheel. On the odd occassion we would see one first, if not it was a case of pulling up behind the queue of tourists in RV's taking snaps.

The ride is more enjoyable when the scenery is like this all the time

These two had been shadowing us all day!

Bear Glacier on the road in to Stewart, British Columbia

Our hotel in Stewart (unknown star rating)

We had decided to take a break in Stewart to rest and catch up with essentials (laundry, blog, etc.), unfortunately, as with most of these small towns finding somewhere with good internet access is a problem. We took a run into Hyder (the friendliest ghost town in Alaska) which is the southernmost town in Alaska, it's so remote from the rest of the State it has no US police presence, it's almost as though the place has been abandoned. http://www.stewart-hyder.com/hyder.html

Entering Hyder, Alaska

As there is no police force there is also no border post from Canada leaving Stewart, however, on the way back you have the regular Customs complete with Canadian officials.

Canadian Border control

We ate out at the Sealaska Inn that evening and the staff recommended we visit Salmon Glacier, which is the fifth largest glacier in North America. The ride up to the top of the access road is roughly 20 miles of sheer dropoffs and hairpins...oh and gravel, turning to Sue I said "how bad can it be, we're getting quite good on the rough stuff now. it would be a shame to come this close and not see it"

OK... so this may not have been such a good idea!!!

The occassional rockslide

If the side stand failed, I always carry a small woman to prop up the bike!

This is the safe side going up

First views of the glacier

It's that woman in the helmet again!

Click on the video below to take a ride with us up to the Salmon Glacier (patience is required when loading)

These photos can't do the scenery justice

What a guy!

Fragile beauty surviving in a harsh environment

More fragile beauty surviving in a harsh environment