198 Route 16 to Prince George

Friday 5th July 2013  continued.....

We could not post these videos at the place we stayed yesterday for technical reasons so we have fitted them in here. If you double click on them they will go full screen. Double click again to go back.
 

A speeded  up video of the planes take off from a mirror calm inlet.

 And a video of some Bald Eagles doing some fishing. Until someone disturbs them !

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Saturday 6th July 2013 Miles Today 178 Total  12,591

The maid started knocking on the cabin door at 2:30am (we had jumped forward an hour as we entered Canada overnight) to prepare for disembarkation. Oh my God we had only been asleep for about 2 hours.
We packed our gear up and the boat pulled into Prince Rupert, as scheduled at 3:15am and we were off the boat and queuing for Canadian Custom till about 4am. Whilst we were waiting we noticed the first stars that we have seen for about 3 weeks. The nights were finally dark again. Woohoo.

Now, riding a motorcycle is a potentially dangerous task at the best of times, but with 2 hours sleep it was positively mad. The problem is, that at that time of the morning, nothing is open so we just had to run with it. On top of that I do not like riding at night as you cannot see animals in the road till the last minute.

We set off on the road to Prince George. Route 16 only has 1 junction in 450 miles so we just had to get on with it.  Fortunately within an hour the dawn started to break and we could slowly see again and the views in the half light and early morning mist were eerily beautiful.  We overtook a couple of trains in the 100 mile gorge from Prince Rupert. One was 190 carriages long. at around 6am we came into a small town called Terrace that was just waking up and pulled into a cafe that was already full with bikers that had been with us on our boat but had beat us through customs. Lots of coffee with our breakfast helped for the next couple of hours and at around 9:30 we found The Bulkley Valley Motel in  a town called Hazelton, where we had stopped previously on the way North. We booked in and went to bed because we decided it was better than crashing the bike!

 

Sunday 7th July 2013 Miles Today 275 Total  12,866

A normal 11am retiree start (actually it sounds worse than it is, we are usually awake by 8 and slowly shower/watch TV and pack to be away by 11.)

We set off East on the final leg of Canadian Route 16 to Prince George. Having already done this route once already in the other direction we were actually quite bored and the trip seemed to take forever. It is a strange thing that if there is a lot of good (as in new good) scenery and wildlife our bums do not hurt, but if we are bored, it becomes the main event of the day.

We (as in Karen) did take some pics of the scenery. Unfortunately a bug hit the lens so I have had  to do some Photo editing but I think it worked OK. See if you can spot where it was.

There were glaciers all along the road

 

After a clear blue start to the sky the clouds started to build over the mountains.

And then the storm clouds started to build up fortunately we only had a small shower.

 We eventually rode into Prince George at around 5:30 and found the motel we had previously used. We booked in and chilled out for the evening to nurse our sore butts and mentally prepare for the ride South to Whistler and Vancouver.

197 More Marine Highway

Friday 5th July 2013 Miles Today 235 total  12,413

A slow start and a hearty ships breakfast and we were soon at the port of Ketchikan. We made enquirers regarding Esther and were informed that she had arrived. That made us a bit happier. Ketchikan is another place with no connecting roads. However, there were dozens of small float plane and they were taking off all over the place.

Whilst we were waiting to dock, Ro made a call to a local tour company and we booked a flight on a float plane over the mountains and lakes in the area. Wohoo...

Whilst waiting for the flight, these things were all over the place.

So then it was on the plane and off. Another life box ticked.

The scenery was breathtaking.

 

After the flight it was time for posing with the pilot, Clark, and his plane.

Again, the Eagles were everywhere, for us it was unbelievable.

We then parted company with Ro & Si and went to do some shopping (after a pint of course). We ordered a cab and this darling lady turned up. She is 83 and is happily married to a 63 year old toyboy. Sadly she had just buried one of her sons who died at 52. This place is jam packed with serious characters. I suppose it goes with the territory, for 9 months of the year they are snow bound and get around on snowmobiles and aircraft with ski's on.



It was then back on the ferry for a short night and a very early get off in the morning.

196 The Alaska Marine Highway

Wednesday 3rd July 2013 miles Today 20 Total 11,928

We spent today as rest day and only went out of our room for a quick trip to a local lake where the bears go fishing. Unfortunately not today, we did however see these guys lurking in their king size bed. Bear in mind these fellows are about 60cm (2') tall and this gives you some idea of the nest size.

The Chikoot river where the bears feed on the spawning salmon. Sadly not today.

This is a real, and in use, totem pole. This river holds a lot of significance with the local Indians and is revered as a place where disputes are settled.

Once back at the motel, we got busy stripping our kit down so we could take what we needed up onto the passenger deck of the ferry (as access to the bike is not allowed when as sea). 

These motels always look tatty on the outside but are usually very nice once you open the door. I suppose the harsh winters take their toll.

Thursday 4th July 2013 Miles Today 250 total 12178

An early 7am start with one of those alien things that I believe from my distant memory that they call an alarm clock. We packed up quick and drove back to Chilkoot lake to look for bears but they were obviously still asleep. It was then back to the ferry to book in for our 42 hour sailing to Prince Rupert.

The MV Muntana. Our home for the next2 days.

The ferry, although similar in design to a UK channel ferry, they serve a much more serious purpose. The name of the service gives it away, it is the 'Alaskan Marine Highway'. For much of this part of Alaska there are no road connections so the only way in is by sea or air. Like this sign post we saw on the dock in Juneau.

Once on the boat and in our cabin we made lots of new friends with similar interests.

Karen, Esther and Ro (Rochelle)

Boat buddies. Karen, Ro, Esther, Si, Jacob and Stephan.

In the above piccy, Ro and Si (Rochelle and Simon) are from California and water ski from their garden most mornings before work (really). They are on a 1200 BMW. Jacob and Stephan are from Southern Germany (one of our favorite places). Jacob is in a VW camper van and Stephan is touring Alaska on a push bike. We intend to pop in to see Ro and Si when in San Fransisco.


 The views were spectacular as expected and we saw some of what we were wishing for, whales. All told we saw 4 killer whales (Orca's) and 3 humpbacks. One of the Orcas was playing tag with a seal (prepping it for dinner !). Unfortunately they are above the water for such a short time that we could not photograph them.

The rock streams in this glacier were amazing.

We had a scheduled stop at a place called Juneau. It is actually the capital of Alaska but has no connecting roads to anywhere. It was neat place but the ferry dock is 15 miles from the town so we departed the ferry and caught a cab into town with Si, Ro, and Esther. On arrival at the town Esther went in search of an Internet link and the rest of us went shopping and then to a bar. Sadly, we had a bit of a link up problem and Esther did not get back on the boat on time. We saw her arrive at the port from the deck as the boat was pulling away. We tried to get the Captain to return to port but he, perhaps understandably, was having none of it.

Poor Esther had to wait overnight and then catch the early flight and meet us at our next main stop, Ketchikan then next day.

A feisty lady by the name of Nancy joined our company. She was traveling alone in a small motorhome. She managed to get the chief engineer, Matt, to take us on a trip of the engine room. Needless to say, this was not Karen's thing so Nancy, Si and I went.

One of the huge turbo's feeding the main engines.

Twin 9 cylinder turbo diesels.

Ray, Nancy and the Engineer Matt, all stood on the very back of the boat.

195 Haines, Alaska

Tuesday 2nd July 2013
miles Today 153 Total 11908

The camp site was awful and as usual, I became the buffet for the bugs.  This has been the worst part of this journey for me.
Onwards and southwards though....
Again, beautiful scenery and another couple of bears in Canada, we have yet to see one in Alaska.

We are on route to Haines and are having a day off tomorrow to do some local exploring, awaiting the ferry for Prince Rupert on Thursday morning.
Haines is a strange place, to get to it (by road) you need to go back into Alaska. This means we had to cross the boarder back from Canada into Alaska/America.  We were greeted by "Miss Frostie knickers" herself, who asked the usual questions about, weapons and alcohol and money, but relaxed a bit on finding out we were retired police officers.

Check out this beauty eating a dandelion.

Karen says I take her to all the best places.

Haines has the reputation of being the Bald Eagle capital of the world. Each November around 3,500 turn up just behind the village to feast on the last of the salmon to fatten up for the harsh winters.
We saw several today.

A long shot of the Eagles looking for salmon.

It is also one of the places that species of "Dolly Varden" and "Sockeye" salmon come to spawn in early July, bringing the bears down to Chilkot lake for a feed, so we are going there tomorrow in the hope of some good views.

Below is a 'Salmon Wheel'. Only the native Indians can use them. It is a large 3 net fish scoop. Only one net is currently out of the water. The wheel rotates by the water flow and as the salsom swim up
stream they swim into the net, are scooped up, fall onto the chute and then slide into the buckets either side. All that needs to be done is to collect the fish.

A Salmon wheel

We are booked into a little motel, called the "Eagles Rest", it looked a bit tired outside, but the rooms and the family that run it are lovely.  They have made us feel quite at home.
After checking in and sorting ourselves out, we decided to go out for something to eat and have an early night, but the best laid plans....
We bumped into Vern and Mike, (from our meeting in Destruction City), they had split from Dia and Spencer for this part of the journey, and so we had dinner together and went into the equivalent of the British Legion, Vern got us in as his guests, and after a couple of beers and putting the world to right, and reconfirming our invitation to Seattle, we were kicked out at 10pm, by the barman, we finally made it back to our room.  Another fabulous evening with new friends and brilliant hosts.   

194 The route to Haines.

Monday 1^st July 2013 Miles Today 294  Total  11,755

Imagine the scene, there we are, just climbed into our sleeping bags, it is half past midnight and still light (as it always is here !) and I lean across to Karen, take her hand in a romantic gesture and then grab it tight so she cannot pull away and I give her the pinch punch first day of the month. Oh Yes !!!, it’s not often I win this contest but today, victory is mine ! Karen states I will pay for this.

Today is Canada day so for any of you Canucks that read this, Happy Canada Day!

For us it was a get up and go day, to take a big bite out of the long trip to Haines prior to catching the ferry on Thursday. As you can see we managed nearly 300 leaving us just 150 for tomorrow.

Well, we set off along a fairly boring road. Bearing in mind, a boring road here is not like a boring road in the UK. We have become de-sensitised to the views and if we think it is good then it is very good.

After 90 miles we cross the Canadian border and are asked the same mundane questions: “Are you terrorists”, “Do you have any nukes in your panniers”. The customs officer then floored us with “so how is the Queen then”. Our reply, “OK but her hubby isn’t too well”. What else could we say. He let us in anyway. We wished him Happy Canada day and we were off.

From here on in the road was rubbish. It was potholed and there were so many big settlement dips that it was like riding in a rodeo (OK slight exaggeration) but one bump caught us unawares and jarred both our backs. We are OK but it was sore at the time.

On the good side, the closer we got to Haines Junction, the better the scenery got. It was amazing, we spotted this fellow, our first Bear since leaving Canada 10 days ago.

We have a soft spot for these brutes. (Black bear)

Incidentally, Haines Junction exists as it is, yes you guessed it, the turn off junction for Haines. Villages are so sparse here that most sizeable villages are around 100 miles apart and whist travelling along the road, you meet the same people stopped at several places along route. It is more of a mobile social event. Like these guys who we met 6 times in the space of 200 miles. They eventually invited us to stay with them in Seattle.

Dunno, Dia, Spencer, Vern and Mike

We also passed this little son of Nippon. He has just started a 3 year world tour on his push bike. We initially passed him pushing it uphill into a strong headwind. He then caught us up at a cafe/bar. His eyes lit up when he saw Wallace and he ran over to it and pointed at the YAMAHA sign shouting “Japan”. Good chap, has lots of taste. His name was something like Jo-Ho and he is barking mad.

Small ut extremely hard, with Kev, another 1/2 hour chat.

The last 60 miles from Destruction City, (yes that is it’s real name) , a village of about 10 houses and a damn good bar, was the most spectacular.

Then it was find the campsite, set up the tent, go for a carry out lasagne and write the blog before hitting the sack – literally.

193 Back to Tok

Sunday 30^th June  Miles Today  255   total  11461

We enjoyed our 2^nd night in the cabins and got up ready for our trek back to Tok.  It was really cold going through the pass and the clouds were down covering the hills and the glacier.   

We stopped a couple of times to get more layers on and then, someone turned the switch, and the sun came out and we stopped to take the layers off. We stopped by a beautiful lake and I made us some lunch. 

Karen sorting lunch

One funny incident happened whilst here, we were approached by an American guy, who on seeing we were British, went on to praise the RAF for bombing the airport in the Falklands, back in 1982. (He was a big fan of the Vulcan bomber)  Only to be so excited to find out that Ray had been a sapper there and had filled in the hole,  you really do not know who you are going to meet.

Again, we stopped at Glenallen and refueled.  There are not that many roads for alternate journeys, and then hit the Tok road.   Again very pleasant scenery, but it was all about doing the miles.

Towards the end of our journey, having not seen much wildlife, I spotted 3 lumps in a marsh area.  I made the mistake of mentioning to Ray and before I could say, 3 moose, we had dived down a dirt track, abandoned the bike, and armed with bear spray and the camera, trekked through the undergrowth for these pictures.  I hope you appreciate our efforts.

These things are huge and our first big male.