Blogs

Nancy's horrible mud bike


Nancy's horrible mud bike
Originally uploaded by refay.
I guess Nancy face says it all. "Yuck! I can't ride is this stuff. Actually I can't even walk in this mud" We could only walk a few yards before we had to polk out the mud from around the wheels and gears. Amazingly everything still worked after we got out of this slop. But is all part of the adventure. We had to have one war story.
Posted 26 minutes ago. ( permalink | delete | edit )

North fork pass views


North fork pass views
Originally uploaded by refay.
This is near Tombstone where the river is still frozen. This picture only shows a small bit of how cold and blue the ice on the river was. The Tombstone Mountain Territory Park are unglaciated and therefore are very smooth and round and looks a bit like Ireland.

The Arctic Circle


Nancy at Arctic Circle
The Arctic Circle is at 66 degrees, 33 minutes north latitude, and it's the place where at least on the summer solstice (June 21) the sun doesn't drop below the horizon for 24 hours. We still haven't seen real night even though we're now quite a bit south of the Circle.

The 24-hour day (and near-24-hour-day) that we've had is amazing. It's really light all the time. We have not used our camping headlights and won't for some time yet. We did bring blindfolds for sleeping at night and they've been fantastic.

Despite the 24-hour day, there is still a cycle to things. It cools off quite a bit at night, and warms up in the day. The insects know about the cycle and function quite adequately.

Truck bringing dust our way - near Fort McPherson


Truck bringing dust our way - near Fort McPherson
Our first three days from Inuvik were quite hot, which was pretty surprising since we were way north of the Arctic Circle. It was in the 90s Fahrenheit! And the road was dry, and the dust was pretty intense. The road is all dirt of course, and the trucks can raise quite a bit of it. You can imagine the dust-bath we're about to get from this truck!

Christof and Gernot just starting north


Christof and Gernot just starting north
Just at Kilometer 4 of the Dempster we met Christof and Gernot, from Austria, who were just starting up the Dempster. We shared advice and stories and sent them on their way. They had just hiked the Chilcoot Trail, canoed the Yukon from Whitehorse to Dawson, put there bikes together, and started up the Dempster!

We've met quite a number of cyclists here in Dawson City. What a treat to compare notes with new friends.

We're getting showers, even when wild camping!


Randy taking a shower with our new water bag
We're terribly pleased with our new Ortlieb 10 liter water bag with shower attachment!. Not only can we haul water, but we can get water and take a shower! We got hot water at the store at Fort Mcpherson (no showers available in town) and took it out of town, found an isolated gravel pit with this abandoned caterpillar. We hung our bag on the equipment and took the most wonderful shower. Between river washes and showers like this we've had several showers already, which is a big breakthrough for this trip!

Dempster Highway Photos

North fork pass flowers
We made it to Dawson City and the Dempster Highway is behind us! While we get our laundry done and our bikes cleaned up, here are some pictures for you to give you an idea of the Dempster:

North Fork Pass


DSC01549 north fork pass views
Originally uploaded by refay.
North Fork Pass was the last pass on the Dempster. Everything is downhill from here!
Syndicate content