Day 15 – Saturday, July 14th (355 miles, Nugget City Campground, YT, CA to Haines, Junction, YT, CA):
I slept horribly last night in my tent, maybe 4 hours total. The light that never comes out of the sky in the summer kept me up late and woke me up early. It didnt help that my cheap tent was extremely wet from condensation when I finally got up. Although I was very tired, I was excited to be getting on the road again, this time on the Alaskan Highway.
I started riding around 8:15am with with good weather and very cool temperatures. I didnt stop at many places throughout the day mainly because I wanted to cover some distance and make it into Alaska tomorrow. Several times when I stopped for gas today, I met and spoke with more motorcyclists, hearing more great stories of past trips and experiences. One couple had ridden all the way from St. Johns, Newfoundland, Canada, the furthest eastern city in all of Canada!
In the afternoon, it started to rain some so I pulled over at a small rest stop and put on my rain gear. At the same stop, another motorcyclist had pulled over to also put on his rain gear. We began talking and I asked him where he was riding from and where he was riding to. The motorcyclist, named Yun, had started his ride at his home near Washington D.C. and was riding to Alaska, just as I was. However, Yun was not returning back to D.C. after visiting Alaska. Instead, he is riding all the way through central and South America to Chile and then riding back to D.C. I almost couldn’t believe it when he told me about his trip! This was one of the most astounding things I had ever heard! I was in awe that he would do a trip like that, while doing it by himself.
Yun and I spoke for a few minutes and he mentioned he was riding to Whitehorse to get internet and food at the Tim Hortons coffee shop and I could join if I’d like. I followed him there and sat down with him to speak further and ask more questions about his trip. Yun told me he was heading to Fairbanks once he got into Alaska (same plan I had) and that he would ride up to Deadhorse, AK (10 miles south of Arctic Ocean) from there. After about 20 minutes, I decided to get back on the road and keep riding, hoping to still put in another few hundred miles. I definitely wanted to run into Yun again and talk more about his trip and past experiences on his bike (he had done several other big motorcycle trips).
I rode several more hours after Whitehorse and made it to Haines Junction, YT. While on the ride to Haines Junction, I did see my first bald eagle and coyote. The bald eagle was definitely great to see!
After the lack of sleep I got last night, I decided to get a hotel room in Haines Junction and ended up staying at the Kluane Park Inn, a small motel with great views of the mountains and the Kluane National Park, just north of the town. Once I had moved all of my belongings into the motel room, I walked down the street to get some dinner before turning in for the night.
It was a long, tiring day, but I couldn’t be more excited to get into Alaska tomorrow!
The beginning of my ride on the Alaskan Highway, just outside of the Nugget City Campground
Alaskan Highway on the way to Haines Junction
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