Top of the World - Summer of 2007

[kenwelshons]

My crew of hardened dual sport riders and I are gaming to become adventurers.

Summer of 2007!

We are going to the Arctic Circle and everywhere we can get in Alaska and British Columbia. We are camping 99.2% of the time, eatin' MRE's, and riding the whole way. We might even refine our own gas. We are planning for a number of 600 mile days breaking out of the states and back home. The total trip should be around 11,000 miles.

I am open to all contributions and help. GPS data, maps, hints, gotta' see sites, etc...

If you are willing to make a 30 day-ish trip with us I promise it will be THE Adventure of 2007 (Kit's coming). You might get to use your bear spray AND fire extinguisher.

Juice is going coast to coast and we are going to the top. So who is with us?

[sawguard]

I was going to tell everyone I was planning a ride to the West Baton Rouge Wal-Mart for some milk and a loaf of bread, but suddenly it doesn't seem so important

[DukeRyder]

what kinda bikes y'all taking? KLRs, Vstroms, GSs??

[kenwelshons]

KLR's unless I win the lottery then it's 950 ADV's for the crew. My wife has till December to decide if she wants to come. If she does then my Hayabusa is going to turn into a KTM or a BMW. So barring the good luck KLR's it is.

[MWM]

Wow! Nice sounding ride. I'm "thinking" about taking a leisurely trip to Alaska next summer too so maybe our paths will cross. My trips usually aren't as well planned. It'll be like: "Heck it's already summer. I'll see ya'll later I'm heading to Alaska tomorrow". Wiggle My New York trip this summer was the same way. We had three places to see (colleges in Dallas and Birmingham, and Niagra Falls). We figured out the path as we went!
I admire people who can plan out a nice trip and follow it though.Cool12

[CHAD1000RR]

I was going to tell everyone I was planning a ride to the West Baton Rouge Wal-Mart for some milk and a loaf of bread, but suddenly it doesn't seem so important
lol

[smith898]

Check out the ADVRIDER website for the great white north region. They are already planning a summer solstice D2D 2007 time. I went in the 06. you can see my report i started in ride reports. It is worth corrdinateing your trip around it. There were 65 dual sports in the city of Dawson City for 2 day. Doing poker runs , biker games, diner site seeing etc.

[kenwelshons]

This is not going to be a overly planned trip except for we are going to head north for about 8 days, then west for 2, then north again for a couple days before we turn and head south. We are going to do the dirt path thing in AK as much as we can. Our lawyers are currently looking into Alaskan trespassing loopholes.

We would like to do at least a week in the Utah/Colorado area too.

If you are looking for the "cheap" AK adventure this is it. We are camping everynight until we can't stand the smell. Food will be MRE's until we run out.

[smith898]

I just came back from 4 summers in the AK. It is great. I strongly suggers going to the Great White North section of ADVriders.com. There are a good bunch of guys up there, and you might not have to tent the whole way. Check out Barb at alaska leather in Anchorage. She will hook you up with tires and any thing you need for your bike. SHe is great . The web site is www.alaskaleather.com Shw has these great lamb skin butt pads that ride awesome. It gave me another 200 miles before the stand up on the peg and wiggle around part started setting in. Also in the Great white north these guys can look over your itenerary and let you know whre you might spend more time or not. Also check out my picture website if ya want www.smith898.smugmug.com I have some great picks from my trips up there. Also make sure ya get one of the Dual Sport T shirts to represent up in alaska.

[JayD]

Check out Barb at alaska leather in Anchorage. She will hook you up with tires and any thing you need for your bike. SHe is great . The web site is www.alaskaleather.com (http://www.alaskaleather.com)


+1 on Barb and the pad she sells
My mom asked me what I want for my birthday a coupla years ago and I told her to go downtown to Barbs and pick me up a front and rear set for my ZZR12
The pads rawk and my mom (a non biker) was really impressed with her stating "She is a really nice lady and super helpfull"

[iridefar]

Jasper National Park is definitely a must do. I made the trip up to Yukon last year and the two highlights were JNP and the Northern Rockies Lodge in BC. I did a lot of nights in the tent, but a stay at the Northern Rockies Lodge is worth spending a little extra for a night. This is the lodge Neil Peart wrote about in his book (Ghost Rider). You will find that once you get that far north, a night of great food and civilization (sort-of) will be a welcome find.

I would recommend going early in the summer so there will still be some snow around. It makes everything more impressive.

[ka5ysy]

1. Get a copy of "Milepost" magazine. It literally tells you milepost by milepost what to see. A lot of the stuff would be missed without it.

Must see/do...

1. Talkeetna. Go to the Talkeetna Road House and eat the best pie in the world. Used to be owned by a bunch of old hippies who ran a great joint! (Figuratively speaking, of course).

2. Denali National Park. You must take the park shuttle inside the park. No motor vehicles unless camping inside. Take the 4AM long tour to hopefully see Mt. Denali. Only about 25% of the time will the clouds move aside to see the whole Alaska range, but it is breathtaking when it is visible.

3. Take lots of 4GB memory cards for your digital camera.

4. Take a camera with a very wide angle lens. The panoramas are way wide for normal lenses. Remember to take a polaroid filter too... much better color saturation, and makes the sky look great with clouds around.

[kenwelshons]

Leave date:
We are shooting for July 28, 2007 that gives all that damn snow a chance to melt and enough time for those of us that earn a living at LSU football games to be back in time. This is by no means a hard date, but if anything it will be pushed up, not back.

[smith898]

Also i forgot bring a lot of mosquito spray. Also face sheild cleaner. You will need to clean your fase sheild at least 2 time a day. The bugs really come out in the summer.
Leave date:
We are shooting for July 28, 2007 that gives all that damn snow a chance to melt and enough time for those of us that earn a living at LSU football games to be back in time. This is by no means a hard date, but if anything it will be pushed up, not back.

[Dirt Track]

Someone mentioned mosquito spray, don't forget it. I would also take a mosquito net for your head. If you have to change a tire or stop for a while it sure helps.

The other must take is good rain gear and heated gear. You will most likely encounter a fair amount of rain. It will be hot when you leave Louisiana, but you can run into some pretty chilly weather along the way.

There should be no problem getting gas along the way, but many of the stations close fairly early in the evening and don't open real early in the morning. I would make sure to fill up in the evening if you want to get an early start.

Banff and Jasper Nat'l parks are beautiful. You won't be sorry for going through there, but you may run into a fair amount of traffic and gas is expensive through here.

Better read what you can and cannot carry with you through the Canadian Border also. They are very particular about item brought into Canada. You can find this info on the internet.

I went last year at the end of May. Ran into cold weather and rain, but with the right gear it was no problem. Going that early there were no bugs and almost no traffic on the Alcan.

Good luck and enjoy the trip.