To the Top of the World!

Good morning!

It’s a beautiful day for going to the top of the world! The sun was shining again and mountainous views were everywhere. We had 240 miles to Deadhorse and it was mostly gravel/dirt roads. Atigun Pass was very beautiful!

It was a little cold going through there but we threw some more layers on so it was tolerable. There were a few sections that were a little sketchy but it was from road construction. They completely soak the road with water and calcium chloride and then use road graders to mix it all up which just turns it into slimy soft mud.

Thankfully the mechanics in Fairbanks told us about spraying our radiators with WD40 before we started up the Dalton Highway because it prevents the calcium chloride from caking on it. We stopped for lunch (a can of cold soup) on the side of the road halfway to Deadhorse. It was very scenic with the oil pipeline on one side of the road and a little pond with endless tundra on the other side. We were getting ready to leave when a truck stopped by with the guys in it. They said there was a wolf chasing 2 caribou just on the other side of the hill from us. They only saw one caribou come out alive. They also said there was a grizzly bear spotted where we were eating lunch just the other day too; so basically they were saying don’t stay in one spot too long... there were too many big hungry creatures nearby haha. I dumped more fuel in my tank and off we went. The biggest thing you need to watch out for on this road is the semi trucks.

If you slow down and give them plenty of room, you shouldn’t get a rock in your face because the truck drivers will slow down too. However if you’re a jerk and take up half the road and keep cruising at 65mph, you will be killed by flying rocks from the semi’s tires. Jason was only hit in the balls once by a rock and thankfully it didn’t hurt him because we were nearly stopped. We passed by some RV drivers who had cracked windshields from golf ball sized rocks.

With just 20 miles to Deadhorse, the road turned to crap. Early in the spring the river/lake rose too high and washed a section of road away. When we got there, they were in the process of rebuilding. It was layers and layers of big rock gravel with sunken in muddy sections from semi tires. As long as we stood on our pegs and let the bikes bounce around underneath us, we could cruise right through. Some motorcyclists took one look at it and considered turning around but pushed through because they came that far and wanted to finish the journey.

Yay!!! We made it to Deadhorse!!

We wanted to take the tour van up to the Arctic Ocean at Prudhoe Bay but the last one left at 3pm and we didn’t get there til 3:30pm. Oh well! It all worked out. While we were in the general store buying souvenirs, we were told it was going to snow on Atigun Pass tonight. That was enough motivation to push us out the door, refuel, and speed off to get over the mountain pass before we froze to death. We also figured we better take advantage of the nice sunny weather while we had it (the road gets really really slippery in the rain and it rains often up here). This time of year it doesn’t get dark til almost 1:30am so we had plenty of driving hours. We left Deadhorse around 4:30pm and only stopped once for Jason to eat some candy and refuel my bike. We were coming over a hill shortly after we started riding again and there were 2 cars stooped on the side of the road with people walking around. We thought maybe they had an accident or something so we slowed down. As we approached them we saw a huge grizzly bear sitting on the side of the road!

He was just chillin’ and digging in the dirt. We took some great pictures and decided to sneak past him. He just lifted his head to look at us and then went back to digging haha. We also saw a muskox from a long distance. We wished we would have seen one close up. We made it over Atigun Pass around 8:15pm. It definitely felt cold enough to snow. We were super tired and hungry from riding 500 miles in one day, so we tried to find a place to camp. Most of the side roads are privately owned by the oil companies, but we found a quiet corner by a gravel quarry to sleep for the night.

It was so peaceful. The wind was blocked and there were beautiful mountains on either side of us. Besides having to re-inflate my air mattress a few times throughout the night, we slept like a rock.

The next morning was a little cloudy but still dry. We took our time packing up, made coffee and breakfast, and then headed back into Coldfoot for fuel. Not too long after that the clouds started to roll in and it rained. At least the last 200 miles were half paved so we didn’t get into too much mud. Just enough mud to make us and our bikes really dirty haha. We decided to warm up a bit and eat lunch at the Yukon River camp (and refuel the bikes). When we walked through the door, there sat Chris (the BMW 1200GS rider we met in Talkeetna)! We had a great time taking with him all through lunch. Since we were all heading in the same direction, we tried to ride together; however, the boys left me in their dust (or mud I should say). Jason would have loved to fly down the road at 80mph with Chris but my poor little bike maxed out at 70mph, so he slowed down to stay with me. We caught up with Chris at the Dalton Highway sign, took some pictures, and discussed our next riding plans. Originally Jason and I had wanted to go see Manley Hot Springs but it was way too wet and muddy, so we passed on that one. All 3 of us decided to go to a car wash in Fairbanks before making any more decisions.

Calcium chloride from the dirt roads is tremendously corrosive to the bikes so it’s best to get it off asap. Even though it wasn’t a shower, it felt good to be “clean”. We were still cold and it looked like it could possibly rain again, so Jason decided he would like to treat us to a nice night at Chena Hot Springs. It was still 60 miles from Fairbanks and it was getting late so we camped on a beautiful grassy lawn at Rosehips Campground in the national park and would drive the rest of the way in the morning.

It was such a great night! It started to rain so we crawled into the tent to eat our supper and shared stories all evening about our lives before we met and reminisced on our time together.

Thankfully the rain was gone in the morning! We arrived in Chena Hot Springs around noon and Jason reserved us a room. We couldn’t check in until 4pm; so we grabbed lunch at the café, checked out the caribou, and cruised around the property.

They had a dog kennel full of sled dogs and puppies, so Jason surprised me with a tour!

I love sled dogs!! I even got to hop in the puppy pen and play with every single puppy! They quickly found out I had Velcro on my riding pants and thought it was the best toy ever haha. I couldn’t move without at least 3 puppies hanging off my pants.

Shortly after our puppy tour, our room was ready and we hopped into our swimsuits. The hot spring was soooooo nice!!

We soaked for hours and then went to the lodge for supper. The owner of the whole resort stopped by the bar while we were sitting there and bought us all a round of drinks. The people sitting next to us were there for 6 weeks as consultants for the owner guy. Supposedly the owner is trying to be completely self-sufficient in his power usage for the entire resort. It was interesting listening to how they make their power and their plans for future power plants using the existing hot water source but also recycling plastics to create different oils and fuel sources. They have a good thing going here. Chena Hot Spring’s employees are all given housing, food, and get paid for their work here. Anyway... we eventually stopped chatting with everyone around midnight and went to bed.

The morning was very very cold and rainy so we decided to stay an extra day to just relax in the hot spring. Instead of paying a bunch for a room, we downgraded to a yurt (a yurt is a large tent big enough for 3 cots and a table with chairs).

It was better than getting our own tent wet. We spent the entire day soaking in the hot springs and then ate dinner at the lodge again. We didn’t want to be up super late again so we just ate and went back to the yurt to get ready for bed. The cots provided in this yurt thing were not the greatest. We thought it was a great idea to fit both of us on one cot that night. Terrible idea!

It was the coldest most uncomfortable night ever haha! Besides having a cold hard cot to sleep on, there was a generator as loud as an airplane not too far from our yurt making noise all night long to keep their ice museum cold. The ice museum is a bar completely made out of ice inside a large dome thing and only serves appletinis. We never went in because it’s a nice 20 degrees Fahrenheit in there, you have to pay $40 to get in, and Jason only drinks Budlight. It is cool though that their martini glasses are made out of ice too. Anyway...we were like zombies the next day from lack of sleep and it was still pouring rain, so we grabbed breakfast and hit the road. We really really wanted to drive out to Circle, which is a small town where Jason’s dad visited back in the day; but it had been raining so much lately we figured the dirt road would be a terrible muddy mess and decided to head back to Fairbanks. Jason was still waiting on some parts for his bike from a moto shop there and we wanted to get a hold of Big Agnes to see if my air mattress was covered under warranty, so we stayed at a motel in Fairbanks to be able to use our cell phones and internet. Good news for the air mattress! Big Agnes said they will mail us a new one asap; but we are constantly on the move and don’t have a place for them to mail it to, so we’ll pick it up at Jason’s sister’s house in Seattle.

The rest of Jason’s spare water pump kit parts and the new odometer cable finally arrived in the morning, so it was time to head South. It’s getting too cold up here! Like Jason said, “It feels like winter is nipping at our heels!” We stopped by the North Pole to say “Hi” to Santa Clause and buy more souvenirs which we are running out of room for haha.

From there we hauled ass to Tok. We loved the motorcycle campground so much we stayed there again. We got to chat with Vanessa (the owner) and used the maintenance station to do an oil change on my bike. We decided to rent one of her cabins, so we could stay warm and cover my air pad with duct tape.

Vanessa heated up the sauna room for us again. It was sooooo nice! We need to build one of these for our home in Colorado. 

One thing that we are not used to yet is having to use our headlamps. It has been daylight for most of our trip up north so we haven’t needed them. Another thing that is going to have to change is our riding time. We have been doing some 10 hour riding days just because it’s nice and sunny and there are places we’d like to get to. Now we are back to finding a camp spot early enough in the evening to cook supper before dark. Speaking of dark... it’s time for bed. Heading toward Haines tomorrow.