Day 9 - Haines, AK to Beaver Creek, YT

Today broke down into two distinct parts. Morning seems like a long time ago....

We left Haines and headed to 33 Mile House for breakfast. It was only a few miles from the Canadian border and came recommended as a good place to eat. They were right. This was a home cooked style breakfast. Don started breakfast with a piece of homemade boysenberry pie. Very nice with light flaky crust. I only got to look. Don got to eat it! I discovered homemade rhubarb jam. Very good!

Don and Walt pick up another tip on riding motorcycles. We were told that there was gas at 33 Mile House. That was correct but it was only regular gas - 87 octane. Don and Walt need 91 octane for their bikes. Rather than go back they decide to just add a couple of gallons to the tank and have the regular gas mix with the 91 octane the have left in their tanks. Then they hope they don't run out of gas before Haines Junction and that their bikes handle the mixed gas OK. This worked out well. The lesson learned is get gas when you can and don't count on small places having what you need. (My bike runs on regular gas so I don't have a problem. Don said if he ran out he'd siphon gas from my tank. Bad gas is better than no gas!)

I had high expectation for the ride from Haines to Haines Junction. It was described as a fantastic ride by people we met at Santa Cruz BMW. It was very pretty. I felt it had some of the barren beauty of Scottish highland with some Swiss Alps mixed in. The road was very good and we made good time to Haines Junction. Although we passed from the US back into Canada this time the border crossing took only a couple of minutes and we did not have to get off our bikes.

A stream runs down through this part of the Haines valley. Streams here tend to be shallow and wide with lots of rounded rocks. This is the kind of Salmon stream where you would see salmon in only a few inches of water. A sign near the side of the road said that in lage summer during the salmon return you'd see bears at the creek getting their fill of fresh fish. We didn't see any bears.

The Haines Highway also passes through a bald eagle preserve. No eagles for us to see here. We did see bald eagles in Prince Rupert and on the ship.

Every now and then we find a cabin (shack) in the middle of nowhere. Nowhere means 60 miles from the last time we saw a person. I guess you have to like solitude and living on beans.

Once we got to Haines Junction we were on the offical Alaska Highway. The AAA map marked this part of highway as a scenic route. I don't think so. From Haines Junction to Beaver Creek we just entered the great vast north. Oceans and oceans of trees. Not particularly dense or scenic, just lots of them. Life here is very hard on the trees. They look like they fight to stay alive and the wear shows on them. I'm amazed at the number of dead trees interspersed with the live ones.

Part two of the day starts just before Destruction Bay. The wind is howling off of Dezadeash Lake. We stop for gas, some water, and a snack. We're planning on getting to Beaver Creek for an early dinner. Eating lunch along the way is not really a possibility. Out here there is not much anything between the 60-80 miles between towns. And "towns" means a few buildings and only a few more people.

Between Destruction Bay and Beaver Creek we hit what the Alaska Highway is famous for. Highway contruction, dirt, gravel, and frost heaves. When there is a pilot vehicle they are pretty good about getting motorcycles in front of the RVs, campers, and cars. It is nice to get front of the line privilege because what we are riding on can be dangerous. We ride carefully and get through most of it with no problems. There is one stretch where the flagman lets us go by ourselves but warns us to give the right of way to the graders and construction vehicles. This section has the loosest gravel we've hit. Just as we're going by a grader Walt hit a section where he nearly lost it. This caused Don and I to slow down quicker then I'd have liked. (No problem for Don he's experienced at dirt riding.) It causes me a little problem and my front and rear tires start sliding some. Not enough to have a problem and we make it through OK.

Frost heaves are sections of road where the freezing action during the winter causes dips and bumps in the road that can cause some bouncing around on the bikes. I took a few where the bump threw me up off my seat a little. Don said he hit one that probably got his bike's wheels off the road for a sec. Lots of the bigger bumps are marked by little orange flags on the side of the road. It becomes important to look ahead and examine the road carefully. No time for sighseeing and there's nothing worth looking at anyway. Sections of gravel start with little or no warning and it is no fun riding from asphalt to gravel at 70 miles per hour.

We made it safely to Beaver Creek tired. More mentally then physically. (I'm REALLY glad that I'm riding my BMW and not the Harley.)