Start Meziadin Lake
End Hyder Alaska
150 kms
ALASKA!!
We have ridden our little Triumphs from Oakland to Alaska. We feel like adventure bikers for real now.
There is a loveley little border town called Stewart and it has a nice glacier, nothing quite like the one we got to in Hyder, more on that soon.
We crossed the border into Alaska and stopped by a river of spawning salmon to look for bear, we did not see any this time.
We then continued on the road deeper into the mountains. The road rapidly disintegrated into a gravel road and then a deeply rutted track. It was steep and winding and we were a little worried about our skill as riders and how well the bikes (Tiger with fork seal issue and Sprint as a road bike) would handle it. I was very tense but after a few miles I relaxed and let Dora do the work.
The road wound up the mountain side, revealing more and more outstanding sights, I felt like a real adventure bike rider, standing on the pegs, weaving through the pot holes, letting momentum carrie me through the soft spots.
MyMateChris did an outstanding job of nursing the much loved up the trail.
We rode like this for about 40 kilometers, it was hard work but absolutely great fun and thoroughly exhilarating. At what must surely be the very top of the world and higher than anyone has ever ridden a motorcycle, we reached the summit and looked down at The Salmon Glacier. We pulled out the little stove and made a refreshing cuppa and enjoyed the view.
Chatting to some young lads from Austin, we learned they were creating their own version of a Top Gear episode. They had each bought a car in Austin, Texas for under $2500 and were driving it to Anchorage, Alaska. Good blokes, I say.
We checked in to a little hotel on the border and then went to a fish restaurant in an old school bus. The husband catches the fish and his wife cooks it up. I had grilled halibut and it was spectacular.
Have you ever had a dream and when it came to reality, it did not live up to expectations?
This trip is not like that.
The days keep getting better, just when I think that I have had the best of the experience, something new comes along, something special.
Today, that something special took the form of 1,000 pounds of apex predator. A full grown male grizzly bear, strolling through the shallows gobbling up spawning salmon.
We will only have one day in Alaska, this day, but wow, what a day it has been!
I have some pretty good video, check it out on the bruvsnbikes facebook page.