AK1 Day 6

MS Day 6 – 9 Jun 12, Saturday

Grande Prairie, Alberta to Fort Nelson, British Columbia

Mileage – 363

WX – rain showers and cool

States – Alberta, British Columbia

PH 2, CA 97 ALCAN

Note 1: We picked up our bikes at the HD dealer and pulled out of the parking lot at 11:00 am heading for Dawson Creek and mile 0 of the ALCAN. This put us about a half day behind schedule caused by the “Edmonton fiasco” as it is now called.

Note 2: This is the first time we were advised that the Alcan Highway was closed due to wash outs and mud slides in Yukon Territory and no one was allowed past Ft Nelson since all the hotels and camp grounds were already full past that point. This information came from the HD dealer from the local news on TV. We decided to continue to Dawson Creek about 100 miles away and get an update at that point.

Note 3: We rode on to Dawson Creek and went to the ALCAN visitor center for an update. They advised that the hotels were filling up in Ft Nelson and there was no estimate when the ALCAN would be open. The water was still high in areas and the repair crews were overwhelmed due to the number of wash outs and mud slides. It had been raining hard for over a week in the Yukon, which caused this problem. It was a 5-hour ride to Ft Nelson from Dawson Creek, it was already 1 pm and gas availability was an open question. There were 6 to 8 other bikes in the Mile 0 parking lot all trying to decide what to do. All were planning to stay in Dawson Creek until conditions got better. Jim and I decided we would rather wait closer to the shut down so we could get through quicker if it did open. I called Ft Nelson and made reservations at a hotel and got a promise there would be a room available if we made it that far.  We started the 5-hour ride around 1:30 pm with a good chance of rain along the way.

Note 4: The ride up the ALCAN to Ft Nelson was an eye-opener. Most of the time it was good 2-lane paved road with tall trees on either side about 50 ft from the road. Not a lot to see along this stretch but road and trees. We were continually watching for animals to jump out and saw a number of them along the way. It rained off and on the whole way. Road condition varied from good to very rough but the biggest surprise was signs that said loose gravel then you would be in 3 inches of gravel on the whole road for a 100 feet or more. We also had to cross a long bridge with steel grating for the road surface that tried to take control of the bike; only answer was keep the speed up and ride it out.

Note 5: Fuel was always on our mind and we would stop anytime we were close to half a tank. During the last hundred miles it was late in the day and our expected gas stop was CLOSED! We did some quick math and determined we would have enough to make Ft Nelson without having to use our reserve in the saddlebags so continued (didn’t really have a choice since going back was not any better choice).

Note 6: We arrived in Ft Nelson around 6:30 pm and immediately stopped to fill up the bikes. While at the gas pump I started talking to a man in an SUV pulling an Airstream camper about the road closure and he gave me the deer in the headlights look and said “What road closure?” I had to inform him he was not going any further up the ALCAN. It was amazing that this information was not better disseminated further down the ALCAN like in Dawson Creek. We only found out by asking around.

Note 7: We checked into our hotel and walked to the Boston Pizza across the dirt parking lot. We sent several hours there over the next 2 days and got to know the staff pretty well.

Note 8: While riding through Canada to this point it became apparent that Harley Davidson touring bikes like ours were not the normal ride of choice. I saw many more Dual-Sport bikes, especially BMWs as if they felt they would have to ride on dirt/gravel at some point. In fact, of the 8 bikes in the Dawson Creek Mile 0 parking lot, ours were the only HDs and one guy stated “you have a lot of nerve riding those things up here.” I started to take offense until I realized he actually meant that it was not going to be easy using heavily loaded touring bikes in the conditions most likely to be encountered further up the road. I agreed with him but said we knew the problems before starting but felt we could make it ok.