N4teTheGreat
FknN8
- Joined
- Dec 5, 2009
- Location
- San Francisco
- Moto(s)
- 2012 DRZ 400s, 2018 Ducati Hypermotard SP, 2008 KTM 950 SM
- Name
- Nathan
Made it to Wasila. A short, but wet day, it was one and off sprinkling and the roads were pretty soaked most of the day. Luckily it was only about 4 hours to get here, and that is with breaks.
I woke up to rain, as expected, but since I had a shorter day today I took the opportunity to sleep in for a bit. I had some coffee, took a shower and started packing things up. I remembered I had some brisket and potato soup I got from the BBQ spot, so I warmed that up for breakfast. Damn tasty!
While I was doing all this I realized I had Skagway as it's own day, but no hotel. I think I'd originally planned to ride all the way from Skagway, after riding down from Haines Junction. That would have been a tough day so I'm glad I didn't! Hotels in a touristy place like Skagway aren't cheap but I managed to keep the night under $200 and it seems like a nice place. I'm also excited as my brother was there 10 some years ago and told me the local brewery was awesome along with the whole town being very scenic, and cooler once the cruise ships depart in the evening.
It was lightly sprinkling, but also sunny as I was loading up the bike at 11. I geared up and went to look at my hosts bike, as I'd been meaning to check it out since he mentioned I was welcome to. He used to drag race bikes in Florida and apparently knew some big names like Terry Vance. The bike looked legit, he said he's rebuilt the top end before parking it, but it's Alaska so he figured it'd need another rebuild if it was gonna run again.
I got on the road and went to gas up, thankfully I filled my gas bladder as well, I had no idea how far gas was. The machine was very specific about how it took cards, and it took my a few attempts to get the speed right.
There was a bit of clearing skies as I left town, and the views were solid.
I saw this thing and had to turn around a little while later.
There was a couple from Belgium who were touring around in an RV taking pictures, and the husband rode motorcycles so we got to talking about my trip, he was suitably impressed I'd done the miles I had on THAT bike. He wife had looked up this thing and said it was built in the 70s which kinda figures. Too bad it looks like it's melting, I feel like this could be a ridiculous AirBNB.
I realized I only done 40 miles and set out to make some time, a few cars were behind me after a bit as I was not trying to push the rear tire, so I pulled out for shot for this lake to let them by.
I saw a sign for Hurricane Gorge, though that an interesting name so far in land, saw it and of course had to stop. Pretty spectacular.
After a few more miles I was in Denali State park. The road was easy and the everything was green and densely forested a long the route. I there were views above the trees I couldn't see them.
I stopped at Denali View North and confirmed, there was no view.
The rain picked up not long after this, still a light drizzle, but fairly steady. The state park is pretty big, and I became very glad I had my gas bag filled when my gas light came on at a mere 80 miles. I wasn't quite sure where the next gas was. Turned out, it was 100 miles from where I started this morning. I gassed up and the bike only took 3.1 gallons so maybe I had another 30 miles in the tank plus another 35 in the gas bag. Maybe?
Another Hoka Hey rider musta had been through here.
There wasn't much to see that I wanted to stop for on the rain after this, so I pretty much just rode to Wasila. Apparently the towns down here are all big into sled dogs as I saw lots of adverts for that. While I DID wanna see Huskies, I didn't wanna sidetrack, so I kept going. About 15 minutes from my hotel though, I saw a sign for the Alaska Transit Museum which piqued my curiosity.
I woke up to rain, as expected, but since I had a shorter day today I took the opportunity to sleep in for a bit. I had some coffee, took a shower and started packing things up. I remembered I had some brisket and potato soup I got from the BBQ spot, so I warmed that up for breakfast. Damn tasty!
While I was doing all this I realized I had Skagway as it's own day, but no hotel. I think I'd originally planned to ride all the way from Skagway, after riding down from Haines Junction. That would have been a tough day so I'm glad I didn't! Hotels in a touristy place like Skagway aren't cheap but I managed to keep the night under $200 and it seems like a nice place. I'm also excited as my brother was there 10 some years ago and told me the local brewery was awesome along with the whole town being very scenic, and cooler once the cruise ships depart in the evening.
It was lightly sprinkling, but also sunny as I was loading up the bike at 11. I geared up and went to look at my hosts bike, as I'd been meaning to check it out since he mentioned I was welcome to. He used to drag race bikes in Florida and apparently knew some big names like Terry Vance. The bike looked legit, he said he's rebuilt the top end before parking it, but it's Alaska so he figured it'd need another rebuild if it was gonna run again.
I got on the road and went to gas up, thankfully I filled my gas bladder as well, I had no idea how far gas was. The machine was very specific about how it took cards, and it took my a few attempts to get the speed right.
There was a bit of clearing skies as I left town, and the views were solid.
I saw this thing and had to turn around a little while later.
There was a couple from Belgium who were touring around in an RV taking pictures, and the husband rode motorcycles so we got to talking about my trip, he was suitably impressed I'd done the miles I had on THAT bike. He wife had looked up this thing and said it was built in the 70s which kinda figures. Too bad it looks like it's melting, I feel like this could be a ridiculous AirBNB.
I realized I only done 40 miles and set out to make some time, a few cars were behind me after a bit as I was not trying to push the rear tire, so I pulled out for shot for this lake to let them by.
I saw a sign for Hurricane Gorge, though that an interesting name so far in land, saw it and of course had to stop. Pretty spectacular.
After a few more miles I was in Denali State park. The road was easy and the everything was green and densely forested a long the route. I there were views above the trees I couldn't see them.
I stopped at Denali View North and confirmed, there was no view.
The rain picked up not long after this, still a light drizzle, but fairly steady. The state park is pretty big, and I became very glad I had my gas bag filled when my gas light came on at a mere 80 miles. I wasn't quite sure where the next gas was. Turned out, it was 100 miles from where I started this morning. I gassed up and the bike only took 3.1 gallons so maybe I had another 30 miles in the tank plus another 35 in the gas bag. Maybe?
Another Hoka Hey rider musta had been through here.
There wasn't much to see that I wanted to stop for on the rain after this, so I pretty much just rode to Wasila. Apparently the towns down here are all big into sled dogs as I saw lots of adverts for that. While I DID wanna see Huskies, I didn't wanna sidetrack, so I kept going. About 15 minutes from my hotel though, I saw a sign for the Alaska Transit Museum which piqued my curiosity.
