June 17th-18th, 2010

Not sure whether or not it was kosher to camp in a gravel pit, we got up early and packed our tent as quickly as we could.  A state trooper came by and asked why we were here.  Everything had already been packed away and we were in the middle of having breakfast.  We told him we just stopped to have a snack.  

The skies were grey and the temperature was quite cool, but that didn’t keep Worthington Glacier from standing out

If it weren’t for the crappy weather, I would’ve given the ride to Valdez a 10 out of 10.  There’s a section on the highway that had us weaving through a gorge with breathtaking waterfalls on either side of us. 

We rode back to the grocery store in Glennallen just in time for when they markdown their hot food; pizza fingers, burritos, chicken fingers, the usual bar food.  We camped in an area that was closed off by huge boulders blocking the road, but that didn’t deter us from squeezing our bikes between them.

The next morning we rode to Tok and stopped at the souvenir shop that had free Wi-Fi access.  Out of curiosity, I checked the forecast over the next couple of days in Inuvik and it looked pretty good.  I asked Amanda what her thoughts on riding the Dempster Highway to Inuvik and she said “let’s do it!”  Dempster Highway it is then.  We stocked up on food at the local grocery store and made our way towards a stretch of highway known as the Top of the World Highway. 

I’m not sure I’d like it here during the winter

Due to the prevalence of ptarmigan (partridge), Chicken was the name used to avoid embarrassment for not knowing what the correct spelling for ptarmigan was. 

Chicken is one of the few surviving gold rush towns in Alaska

This is the reason why it’s called Top of the World Highway

We got rained on for a bit.  Thankfully it didn’t last too long. 

To be posted as a border patrol guard all the way out here, you’re either new on the job or you really screwed up on the job

We camped on a concrete slab just off a dirt road that led to Clinton Creek.  I noticed the temperature gauge on my bike was fairly high and the cooling fan is not turned on.  This has happened before and I had to replace the fan.  I really do hope it’s not fried. 

681 km

Vivid waterfalls.

A last minute decision.

Goodbye Alaska.