Alcan Return 880 Miles

 

 

 

My ride on the Alaskan highway this time was Whitehorse to Dawson Creek. I rode down with another BMW rider named John from New Jersey who was on a similar treck and had covered even more miles. That’s him in the background.

 

At Watson Lake we stopped for the signpost photo session. This seems tradition for people traveling the Alcan. The Visitors center in Watson lake has been collecting roadsigns from all over the world for what seems like a long time. The only way I know this is they have so many of them.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

After a few minutes getting the pics we wanted we headed out, these were traveling days and we weren’t wasting much time in each town.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Ta Tonka, Ta Tonka!  Almost to Laird Hotsprings we came across a herd of buffalo on the side of the road. This is the first time I’ve been this close and they are massive.

 

 

 

Don’t ask how I know this is a bull, but the big bull was noticeably larger than the other buffalo’s.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

That evening we setup camp across from Laird Hotsprings. This place is out in the middle of nowhere on the Alcan and a popular spot to stop for the night when your traveling. The water temp varies in spot’s from Hot to Scalding depending on how close you go to the bubbling water at the end. There’s a wall separating the bubbling water from the pool and people try to walk up to the wall, in the water, and place a rock on the wall.

 

 

 

The next morning we headed on again down the Alcan and stopped at Muncho Lake for breakfast.

 

 

Just before Muncho Lake we passed these Bighorn Sheep on the side of the road. People told me to watch for the sheep but I didn’t expect to drive by 3 with full curls. They even allowed me to stop and get off my bike and take pictures. They lick the salt in the rocks and by the looks of how they were going after it, it must have been some good stuff.

 

 

 

The scenic road seemed to go on forever but all good things end and we finally broke out onto the prairie and shortly later arrived in Dawson Creek and mile 0.

 

 

 

 

Dawson Creek was a strange little town out on the prairie. We headed down to the Alaskan bar and grill and had lunch and asked about what room costs were. They told us $40 for a room with 2 twins and we decided to go for it. After getting everything upstairs, showering and locking the bike’s up we saw a cop ride by and asked how safe it was to leave a bike on the street.

 

He told us no way and our stuff wasn’t safe in the rooms. At this point I felt like I was in the Eagles song Hotel California. Almost stuck for the night and no way out. I started looking around and the bar worker was pointing out the crack addict hotel 100 yards down the road and the fact that the women outside the hotel weren’t just waiting for a ride. I walked upstairs to check my stuff and found that the door frame was chiseled out around the lock so it was easy to stick a screwdriver in and steal stuff. We rolled around town looking for a safe place to lock the bike and came by a motel on the hill and inquired about the price, $60. It was clean and we could lock the bikes right outside the hotelroom. We went back to the Alaskan and I plead my case for us moving our stuff out and getting a refund. Honestly though I would have eaten my half of the $40.

 

The manager was pissed at us for leaving, pissed at the cop for letting us know about the crime. We got out of there and all was well for the night. We ended up walking back to the Alaskan and I could here the loud, obnoxious manager yelling as we approached, here they come back, if they come in here they better be buying beer. No problems that night and we headed out the next morning for Jasper, Alberta.

 

Continue to Jasper