2 cents an acre - The Easy Way

[Brian A]

after a 3 day work trip I am now back home and ready to get going with the ride report again. So, here we go!

I think it was the morning of day 3 - Talkeetna - Swiss Alaska Inn, that I noticed the change in time and extreme change in daylight hours had not really messed up my body clock too bad. With no ability to judge time based on ambient light, you just use the clock. Go to bed about 10:00 - 10:30 and wake up about 6:00 - 7:00. And that is what we did. We were on the road out of Talkeetna around 8:00. The skies were gloomy and I think a few sprinkles fell but we rolled out sans rain gear.

The teaser pic above shows us at our first stop, about 15 minutes after we left, at a big truck stop/gas station/convenience store place on The Parks Highway. Mill bought breakfast off one of those rolling things that keep hot dogs and sausages and those Mexican things turning 'round and 'round. I opted for a ham, egg and cheese biscuit, from inside one of the display shelf things, and a Monster Vanilla Light. Both hit the spot.

Based on feedback from a few folks we asked who had pulled in headed south, we could expect light rain for quite a ways so we donned the rain gear after buying gas and hit the road.

Wasn't too far along the way we came up on road construction. There wasn't much of a line but we had already learned that motorcyclists are expected to go to the head of the line at construction stops. Since we were already the head of the line, we just talked to the girl manning the STOP/SLOW sign and waited to go.  I think pretty much all road construction in Alaska is done from the end of May through mid Sept. The conditions are brutal in winter and take their toll on the roads, so the construction crews have to make hay while the sun shines. I sometimes felt like they might be fighting a losing battle, but they are out there working, all over the place.

I'll take this opportunity to mention something: I think every single person we had interacted with so far, including the guy pumping gas at the gas station who I had just asked about rain behind him, had been very nice, very friendly and just seemed to be genuinely nice folks. While everyone had been nice, some had been pretty engaging and seemed more than willing to talk and share input and ask questions. At one construction stop the guy behind us got out of his truck and talked it up. He rode a motorcycle and we shared stories. He had a dog that rode with him in the truck and on the bike. It was a very friendly dog. I love dogs and had a good time petting and scratching him on the head and ears. I think he liked it. At least he sure seemed to.

The friendly girl at this stop gave us notice and we were back on our bikes. She turned the sign in her hand and smiled and waved. We rolled away, SLOW, behind another one of these.




5 minutes later we were out of the construction zone and motored on our way. The road was still hard pack a lot of the time and we stopped to take a few pictures. The rain was spotty and mostly light showers so it wasn't a washout, but the low clouds sure (continued to) obscured the view.




While we were sitting there, The McKinley Explorer rolled by. I wondered if they had been able to see the highest peak in North America. I wondered if we would get to see it.




We motored on, headed for a stop in Cantwell. But before Cantwell, we would be south of Denali on The Parks Highway and in the area for best viewing of Denali - only tourists call it Mt. MicKinley. (Fact: you cannot see Denali from the Visitor Center. Only from The Parks Highway or via a bus ride into the park from the Visitor Center.)

Well...... the weather simply was not going to cooperate. I have said I could have seen just as much of Denali had I stopped and stood there looking with a pillow case over my head. The highest peak in NA was right "there" and it was just as well to have been a 1000 miles away. Oh well. You win some, you lose some.

We stopped in Cantwell for a cup of java and to use the bathroom.



We then headed north again on The Parks Highway. Next stop: Denali Visitor Center.

The ride was about an hour. Mostly cloudy and a few sprinkles. Nice road that I am sure would have been beautiful in nicer weather but I enjoyed it all just the same.

It was on this stretch of road that I was reminded; Alaska is one HUGE (and geographically significant) chunk of land. 

586,412 square miles. 1/5 of the United States.
Equal to the land area of Texas, California and Montana combined.
17 of the 20 highest peaks in the US are in Alaska.
If you include the islands, Alaska has 33,902 miles of coastline. More than twice the total of the lower 48 states.
Already mentioned the most powerful earthquake (1964) but also the most powerful volcanic eruption of the last 100 years occurred in Alaska in 1912.
The Yukon River, at 2,000 miles is the 3rd longest river in the US.
Alaska has 3,000 rivers total and over 3 million lakes.

Yep. A pretty amazing place.

I sort of feel like our 2050 miles riding in Alaska would be about like riding around Jefferson, Shelby and St. Clair county in Alabama with all the rest of the state unseen.

We made it to The Visitor Center and spent some time looking at exhibits and getting educated on the history of the area. It was interesting and we saw some neat stuff. 






The weather had cleared significantly while we were there and the temp was much warmer, in the mid 70's or so. We hoped we might get lucky so we headed back south towards Cantwell.

No joy.

Clouds and then some more clouds.  Neither of us complained. Just accepted it as part of the deal.

We stopped at a nice newish-looking Chevron convenience store on the east side of The Parks Highway. Turns out it was pretty new, having opened about 2 years ago. The old business had, quite literally, "blown up". The lady who owned/managed(?) the place took time to talk to me and tell the whole story. A gas leak in the lower level of the business (underneath the store) had lead to the explosion. Right there, with customers and all, it went Boom! Yes. People were hurt and some pretty serious.

http://www.newsminer.com/witnesses-describe-explosion-at-cantwell-chevron-store/article_563ed9cd-ed3e-5692-b496-0ae7961769ae.html

Our stop was uneventful. I saw a guy walk in with a Univ of  Alabama t-shirt on. I mentioned that we were here from Alabama and asked if he was from Alabama. He answered no, that his mom was. He wasn't rude but didn't seem too concerned over the matter so I said no more.

We ate some food and snacks and joked back and forth with the guy working the register.

With our gas tanks full, we hit the road and turned left off The Parks Highway, onto The Denali Highway.

[Chitza]

I heard that Texas complained so much about being the second biggest state behind Alaska that the Alaskans got tired of the whining. Alaska told Texas if they didn't shut up, Alaska would split itself in thirds and make Texas number 4 8)

[Brian A]

FYI -  I got home and began to look at my pictures, I was disappointed in the quality overall. The resolution, the detail, the noise level..... something just wasn't right.  I checked my camera and found I had somehow managed to shoot the entire week, NOT in High Quality mode. I was in the the normal mode and the quality suffered slightly for it. Kinda bummed but nothing I can do about it now.

Carry on.

[Brian A]

The Denali Highway. 

According to Wikipedia: Denali Highway is a lightly traveled, mostly gravel highway in the U.S. state of Alaska. It leads from Paxson on the Richardson Highway to Cantwell on the Parks Highway. Opened in 1957, it was the first road access to Denali National Park (then known as Mount McKinley National Park). Since 1971, primary park access has been via the Parks Highway, which incorporated a section of the Denali Highway from Cantwell to the present-day park entrance. The Denali Highway is 135 miles (217 km) in length.

According to 'Alaska.org':  The Denali Highway is certainly one of the most spectacular drives in the world. Much of the route lies above timberline, so the vistas go on forever. The mountains and glaciers of the Alaska Range form a majestic backdrop, with miles of rolling tundra punctuated by shallow lakes in between.  The Denali Highway stretches 135 miles from Paxson to Cantwell, connecting the Richardson and Parks highways. Before the Parks Highway was completed in the early 1970s, the Denali Highway was the only road access to Denali National Park. The road is mostly gravel (max speed varies from 35 – 55 mph depending on surface conditions), and winter conditions close the road every year from October through mid-May.

According to Brian: A really cool road. Rough as a cob in some places. Smooth in others. Rumor has it there are spectacular views to be enjoyed in clear weather. Experience shows, in mostly cloudy conditions with on again-off again light rain, it is still a great ride.

To be honest, I had The Denali Highway pictured in my mind as being a lot worse than it was. Both Mill and I have ridden plenty of truly rotten stuff over the years and so maybe it was a bit "unfair" to have expectations built around what I considered truly bad roads.

Some sections were very smooth and a blast to ride on.



But, make no mistake, The Denali Highway was indeed very rough in spots. Mostly potholes. Significant potholes. Imagine basketballs and those big red kickballs you played with in grammar school, cut in half. That's about the average size of the potholes, by the thousands. Like a mini moon surface. There were sections that would be like small fields of potholes.

And this is where I will go off on a little tangent and talk about........  The Suzuki Vstrom 650.

I had been anxious to try one out. I had never ridden one but had considered one when I bought the Versys. The Vstrom did spectacular.
Mill and I both commented numerous times about how surprised we were. The bikes we were on were built in Sept 2014. They were the newer generation. 17" rear and 19" front. I am not certain (haven't taken the time to look) but I'd bet a dollar to a dime the Vstrom has a degree or two more rake than the Versys. And, the suspension was surprisingly good for stock. Mill and I rode the roughest sections at 50-60 mph and never missed a beat. The bikes tracked straight and true and at speed, the Shinkos skipped over the potholes with nary a complaint.
The stock seat? Awesome. One of the best I have ever sat on.
Features? Nice. Two separate trip meters with individual realtime MPG average. Ambient temp. And more.
Mill was a bit cramped in the seat to peg distance (he's 6' 4"). I was fine (6' even)
Mirrors are good.
Power is very linear. No surprises and not likely to ever scare you. It is plenty adequate without being intimidating. Might be a bit challenged for two-up with gear, but I am certain it would still get the job done.
All-in-all, a VERY well thought out bike. In my opinion, a very good bike for the price. I told Mill, I could do everything we did on the Vstrom if I had been on my Versys but it would not be NEARLY as easy and manageable and likely not nearly as fun and enjoyable.
With 17" front and rear, and my guess of a degree or two less rake, the Versys is a much quicker steering, more twitchy bike. It just requires more attention than the Vstrom. For sporty riding or canyon carving, the Versys wins. If you have lots of nice dirt and/or gravel to ride, The Vstrom wins every day. And as we were to find out later, with a good bash plate, the Vstrom can manage some pretty gnarly rocks.

My riding buddy for the week, stopped for a break and to take in the scenery.



A random bridge over a random river with a not-so-random guy in the mirror.



The not-so-random guy taking a break to stretch and relax his back. Mill had some back problems during the trip. Nothing major. Just annoying. I think he, like me (and a bunch of others), suffers with the generally low grade chronic aches and pains that come from more than one too many crashes.



As we rode on we came upon a gravel turn off onto a short road that lead down to a lake. We rode down to the lake and took a break. It was supremely peaceful. The road was out of sight at the top of the hill and there were no traffic sounds. There were NO sounds. At least nothing man-made. Even with the cloudy skies, it was a really beautiful spot.


Alaska is a veritable goldmine when it comes to wild flowers. They are everywhere and none too bashful about showing off.







Mill as he makes his climb up the gnarly, brutally challenging gravel road from the lake.




We headed on. Down a long grade, across a valley floor and up the other side. Behind us, and off to the south, the sky had cleared a bit.




Further on down the road we came across this. It appeared somebody's plans did not work out.



The day was winding down and we were getting close to our destination. We stopped again. Just because we could.
Another pic of the Vstroms with a decent backdrop.




Not long after that pic, we rolled into our stop for the evening. Tangle River Inn.

And that is where we'll pick up for the next update.

[Nice Goat]

Someday I hope to ride to Alaska, but I'll never get four consecutive weeks of vacation before retirement.  So glad to know about the rental option!

I'm curious about hotel arrangements ... Did you reserve rooms in advance or were the stops unplanned?  Could you get away with no reservations, i.e., being spontaneous about where you stay?

[Brian A]

The rental deal was awesome. Motoquest is top notch.

I was advised to make reservations ahead of time so I did. Now that I have been, I think you could manage it without reservations. Our only stop that was not in what was at a minimum a decent sized town, was at Tangle River Inn.

I think you could pretty easily manage to plan the days so that you made it to a town with a few options. Camping gear as a backup would be smart, but I'd guess probably not ever used by necessity.

edit to add: the only way you could be "spontaneous" is if you camp. Towns and options are not scattered here and there so if you want a bed and a shower, you plan and end the day where there are options.

You either make it to a city with options or you stop somewhere and camp.

[Brian A]

un·pre·ten·tious :  adjective
* not attempting to impress others with an appearance of greater importance, talent, or culture than is actually possessed.
* (of a place) pleasantly simple and functional; modest.

And that folks, would be Tangle River Inn. And for that matter, most of what we saw and experienced in Alaska.
The places and the people, heck, even Alaska herself came off as unpretentious.

I remember in the Idaho ride report I made an analogy. If Colorado was a fancy, high dollar hamburger, dressed up with all the trimmings, then Idaho was a simple, hand formed hamburger. Nothing fancy, but certainly not going to disappoint.

In that context, I would call Alaska a big, fat pot roast. A big slab of meat. Solid. Thick. Unpretentious.
As if to say "Here I am. More than you can manage in one meal. Come, and make of me what you will."

The Tangle River Inn was built and first saw operation about 45 years ago. I think some of the pictures on the wall in our sleeping quarters were original equipment. Now don't think it was old and dilapidated. It wasn't. It was just.... very... unpretentious. It didn't need to be anything more. It sat pretty much alone, on the side of The Denali Highway. About 25 miles from the east end of The Denali. Wasn't much competition in the area so it really didn't matter if the pictures were late 60's/early 70's vintage or something picked up recently at Target on a weekend trip to Anchorage.

Mill and I checked in and were directed to our room. Our room was one of 3 or 4 in some sort of what appeared to be a modular building. The room was clean and comfortable and another setup with a shared bathroom at the end of the hall. They had a handful of smaller cabins and a conventional row of about 8 standard, old style hotel rooms. They also had a restaurant.

Mill and I changed clothes and walked to the restaurant. Two ladies were at work, serving folks and taking away their plates when their meals were finished. I asked one of the ladies "Does it matter where we sit?"  Her reply: "On your butt is the best place."  She said it with a bit of a grin. Just a little upturn in the corners of her mouth to give away the fact that she was joking with us.

We sat at a table by the window and enjoyed a very fine meal. The two ladies were both very nice. Very friendly and we joked with them over the course of our dinner.

With dinner finished we walked back to our room. No TV. No radio. Nothing to do but relax. We went to bed early.

We woke up on day four and walked back to the restaurant to eat breakfast. I had noticed a generator (the big diesel kind) ran nonstop, and I saw no overhead service. i asked to confirm: They are 100% dependent on the generator for electricity. They have two actually. The main one and then one just a bit smaller they use for backup and when the big one is down for service.

The generator lives here.



The clouds were still low and thick that morning but we got enough of a glimpse to see that, on a clear day, the view would have been pretty darned nice.




Mill and I showered and got our riding gear on and put our stuff in the hard cases and hit the road. About 20 minutes later we were sitting at a stop sign, Paxson, Alaska, at the east end of The Denali Highway. We turned right and headed south on The Richardson Highway.

The Richardson Highway was the first major road ever constructed in Alaska. What started as a pack trail in 1898 was upgraded to a wagon road in 1910 and then again upgraded to automobile standards in the 1920s.  Mile Marker 0 is in Valdez and the end of The Richardson is Mile Marker 368 in Fairbanks.

That morning, Mill and I were headed to Mile Marker 115 - Glennallen, Alaska.

The weather was the best we had seen yet. No low clouds. No fog. No rain. Bad thing was - no big, snow capped mountains nearby, but it was nice to have clear views and nice temps. We stopped at a pull-off and took a break. We could see mountains waaayyy in the distance. I got my Garmin GPS and switched to Topo maps, held it so that the map display was oriented with my view and touched the screen to put a pin at the edge of the mountains we could see.
70 miles away.

You can just see them in this pic. On the horizon above the 3rd little green bush thing, moving from left to right.




We rode on south and came across a little airport, Gulanka Airport to be exact, and stopped for a few pics. As you can tell, the clouds were thick again.





A few miles on down the road we arrived at Glennallen. Actually we were at The Hub of Alaska Maxi Mart / Tesoro gas station. It sat at the intersection of The Richardson Highway and the east end of The Glenn Highway. Glennallen proper was a mile on down The Glenn Highway.

We bought gas and got something to eat at a food trailer that was set up on the edge of the parking lot. After a 30 minute or so break, we got back on the bikes are retraced our track, riding back north through Paxson, on our way to Delta Junction.

A friend of mine from high school had moved to Alaska years ago. We were going to spend the night with her and her family. But, before that, we would do a little off road riding.

right here

https://www.google.com/maps/@63.1791111,-145.53708,3a,90y,39.35h,74.17t/data=!3m6!1e1!3m4!1svuHFA-nX6f3s-VOLUq9S7w!2e0!7i13312!8i6656

[Brian A]

We passed the left turn at Paxson that marked the beginning (or end, depending on which way you were headed) of The Denali Highway. I will say there was a part of me that wanted to go do it again. But we didn't. We kept heading north.

Not too much later the sky once again cleared up a bit. The low clouds gave way to higher clouds and much improved visibility. Between Paxson and Delta Junction we saw what would be some of the best views of the entire trip.



I have not mentioned it until now, but we had seen quite a few miles of The Alaska Pipeline as it snaked along the terrain, roughly following The Richardson Highway. As we rode north the pipeline was often much closer to the road. We took a gravel road turn off The Richardson and rode a few hundred yards to stop at a gate. The gate only served to keep trucks and cars from driving right up to the pipeline.



No effort was made to stop anyone from walking up to it. And so we did.





Seems like I end every major trip with two or three "take-aways". Things or places that I found very interesting and intriguing and therefore they are things I read about and learn more about. For this trip it was The Alaska  Pipeline and glaciers. Mostly the pipeline.

I found myself fascinated by it. The whole thing. From planning it, to building it and all the way through today and the current level of oil flow, and the future. What does the future hold in store for The Alaska Pipeline?

Oil was discovered in Prudhoe Bay in 1968. The Arab oil embargo of 1973 pushed gas prices high and limited availability of gas at the pump all across the US. The pipeline plans and construction were then set in motion. Construction began in  1974 and ended May 31, 1977.
Oil first flowed from Prudhoe Bay on June 20, 1977.

* 800 miles of 4 foot diameter pipe.
* 480 miles of pipe elevated on 78,000 vertical support members.
* 320 miles of pipe buried underground.
* Maximum single day flow:  2,145,197 barrels on January 14, 1988.
* Total oil carried from Prudhoe Bay to Valdez: more than 17 billion barrels to-date. (A barrel is 42 gallons so that's 714 billion gallons of oil)
* More than 124,000 heat pipes (the radiator looking things seen in the pics) transfer heat from the pipeline to protect the permafrost.
* Temperature ranges seen across the pipeline over the course of a year: minus 80 deg F up to 95 deg F.
* Initial 1969 estimate of total cost to build: ~$800 million.   Actual total cost of construction: ~ $8 billion.

There is SO much fascinating info regarding the pipeline. It is a true marvel of design, engineering and construction. The more I read about it, the more fascinating it became. Dealing with the weather, the permafrost, and many other unique challenges make it a very interesting subject to study. If you find it even just a little intriguing, I bet you'd enjoying reading more about it.



We continued north along The Richardson, enjoying the nicer weather and nicer views of the mountains and glaciers.




We stopped at a little roadside pavilion near Summit Lake and saw Red (aka Sockeye) Salmon swimming along in the Gulanka River.





A few miles further north we took a right turn onto a gravel road that would lead us to some of the most motorcycle fun we had the entire week.
An impromptu decision. A very good one.  We were going to ride out close to The Gulanka Glacier.





Stay tuned.

[kdtrull]

Good stuff.  Appreciating and enjoying.

[Brian A]

Thank you sir.

One thing I forgot to mention. I asked the owner/operator man (at least that's what I think he was) at Tangle River Inn a few questions. They are open mid May  through mid Sept.

Even though they close for winter, apparently he still has to make occasional trips to the place for maintenance or whatever.

I asked him what was the coldest temp he had ever seen there.

-72 deg F.   Wow.       That's about a 150 deg temp swing between coldest in winter to warmest in summer.

[Brian A]

Just a few minutes after getting back on the road from looking at Salmon in the Gulanka River, we came across a gravel road that turned off to the right, just past the north end of Summit Lake. We took the turn, not really having any idea where it went or what it would be like.

The road went for a mile or two across a big, wide, pancake flat area, probably a mile or so across. The wide open area tapered to a much narrower width as we rode closer to Gulanka glacier. The road was very rough in spots. Chocked full of potholes and some occasional gravel and a little mud here-and-there. The Vstrom took it all in stride as we made good time for about 1.5 miles.

A zoomed in view of the glacier, taken as we got closer to it.



The road gave way to a narrower jeep/side-by-side trail and went from gravel/dirt to rocks. It was a very rocky trail. Mostly rocks average 8" to 12" and made for a rough and very fun ride. The Vstroms handled it well. An occasional bump to the bash plate but nothing ever serious enough to make you think you were breaking things.

We rode until we came to a boulder field. It would have been doable on the DR650 or the CRF 250 but not so much with the Vstrom. We backtracked and then took another trail which lead us out to the flowing water that came from glacier melt. We stopped here and took a break and a few pictures.







The Vstrom really earned higher marks after the ride into and out of the rocky areas below the Gulanka Glacier.





After a few minutes break we headed back out of the rocks and back to trun right on The Richardson, headed to Delta Junction. It would be later that evening, while talking to my friend Janet and her family, that we would learn our excursion out into the rocks and boulders below Gulanka Glacier had put us smack dab in the middle of the area where the annual Arcticman event is held. The Arcticman is a really big event.  It's hard to imagine all the rough rocks and boulders buried under so many feet of snow. But, that's what happens and the folks at the Arcticman event make the best of it.

http://www.arcticman.com/about-the-race

As we continued our ride towards Delta Junction we enjoyed more great views under pretty skies.

This pic doesn't begin to do justice for how pretty this was. We had a nice wide panoramic view of the scene behind us. To the right, rain poured from a big Cumulonimbus cloud while to the left the sun shined brightly. It was a really cool scene.

]

And more views of The Alaska Pipeline.




The remainder of the ride to my friend's house was nice and easy. We continued to enjoy nice views and good weather. We rolled up to Janet's house and unloaded our gear. It was really a good time that evening, visiting with her and her family. We enjoyed a great dinner of moose steaks and chunks of moose tenderloin. Both of which had been marinated and cooked on the grill. Also had some home prepared, canned smoked salmon. Both were outstanding.

By the way - the Alaska Moose are huge animals. An adult male is about 6' high at the shoulders and weighs 1,000 - 1,500 lbs. I learned that a single big moose can provide enough meat to feed a family for a year.

Mill and I slept downstairs.  Wednesday morning, Day 5 dawned cloudy and light rain. No worries. After breakfast and goodbyes we donned our gear and hit The Richardson, headed back south. Destination: Copper Center, Alaska.  The weather would turn much nicer and we would have a good day that day.

[Nice Goat]

Awesome photos, Brian.  Every time you post, you are making me more envious. :drool

I was watching Wild Alaska the other day, and they were cleaning a moose.  They were making steaks, sausages, jerky, etc., and wrapping it all in 5 lb packages for the freezer.  They said you can get 350-400 pounds of edible meat off an average-sized moose, so that's roughly 80 full 1-gallon ziploc freezer bags.  That's a lot of meat.  They said that most families that hunt for their food try for one moose per year.

[lazeebum]

I'm enjoying your ride report.  I am also envious of your skill with the written word.

[Brian A]

Awesome photos, Brian.  Every time you post, you are making me more envious. :drool

I was watching Wild Alaska the other day, and they were cleaning a moose.  They were making steaks, sausages, jerky, etc., and wrapping it all in 5 lb packages for the freezer.  They said you can get 350-400 pounds of edible meat off an average-sized moose, so that's roughly 80 full 1-gallon ziploc freezer bags.  That's a lot of meat.  They said that most families that hunt for their food try for one moose per year.

I hope you are able to make the trip one day. I think you would enjoy it.

The moose meat we ate was really, really good. Granted it had been marinated and cooked on the grill, so whatever "natural" flavor might have otherwise been present was masked by the marinate.  But, something tells me I could manage just fine with a few hundred pounds of moose meat.

[Brian A]

I'm enjoying your ride report.  I am also envious of your skill with the written word.

Thank you sir. I enjoy doing ride reports for trips like this. It is a good chance to revisit each day and helps cement the memories in my mind.

The icing on the cake is knowing even just a few other folks like to read along.