I’ve been dreaming of doing this ride for so so long. I’ve tried to go and I even took a plane to Anchorage and rented a bike that wasn’t comfortable, so I couldn’t ride long distances. But this time, major success!
SUMMARY:
Though we had challenges and long days. I can’t think of a better ride for scenery, fun riding and enjoying the majestic nature (God’s artwork).
Several days in, felt that all stress in the past, current and future had left my body, mind, heart and soul!
Photo Album of my favorite photos from the trip:
Ride Report
ROUTE DESC: To/From and around Alaska
RECAP/SUMMARY/Ride Reflections:
Living a simple life of get up each day about 6am, start riding about 7am and ride all day was very therapeutic for me. About 4 days in, I had the feeling of all stress leaving my body. All past, current and future stress was completely GONE! The snow cap’d mountains, lakes, rivers and trees had healed me of any stress! Riding a bike through this country you smell, feel and are apart of everything. Its fun to pilot the bike. When you see an animal, you are with the animal…not separated between a car.
35 of my favorite photos from the trip:
METRICS:
15 days on the bike
6100 miles on the bike
1750 miles in the truck (to/from seattle)
407 avg miles per day on the bike, not including trucking to/from Seattle.
TOTAL MILES 7842 (truck and bike combined)
About $550 each in moto gas
About $270 each in truck gas
About 570 each for lodging
About $1000 for food…each.
Saw 5-10 moose, including calves
Saw 20 ish bear, including 2 cubs with one mom and 1 cub with other moms. One cub went up a tree
I saw about 100 wild Carabou
Avg 37 mpg. 6100/37*$3.75= $618 in gas
$522 for truck gas to/from seattle.
We saw 100-1000 Glaciers. Alaska has 100,000 glaciers.
I gained 3-4 lbs eating out so much. Even though we often got 2 meals a day and maybe even 1 meal a day a couple of times.
I had lots of jerky, PB&J oatmeal sandwiches…and ate almost all my snacks and I brought a TON of snacks!
6 months before the ride, I’ve been listening to Alaska Uncovered podcast and it was very helpful!
Audio books listened to: Build the life you want, the art and science of getting happier. Baby step millionaires, “just breath”, The full cup.
CHALLENGES:
- My t1200 rear final drive was leaking. Initially I thought I would just add fluid, but we all prayed I could get into the shop the next day in whitehorse. They couldn’t get us in until the afternoon, but I offered to take it off the bike and they got it back to us by noon, so it didn’t mess up our schedule. The shinko 705 was wearing WAY TOO FAST, so I got a hydenhow 70/30 and it did great for another 4000 miles.For a large heavy bike, I would NOT recommend shinko 705 for Canada/Alaska!
- Border was closed in “little gold” an hour earlier than advertised on their website.
- Near bear zone, we stopped to eat at a “oil company” trailer/bunks (think of double wide trailer “town”) etc and I left my lights on and drained my battery. Local workers helped us with a jump pack.
- The day or two before the end, I left my pigtail for heated jacket in SAE and it totally killed my battery. I took the cover off and tried to jump with battery bank, which didn’t work so we got intercom working and Steve pull started my bike easily. We had both done this a lot so no dramas and I left it running for a long time….skipping gas in the am, and nearly running out of gas.
- We both ran out of gas multiple times, but had our 2 gallon gas bags, which was very comforting…because in the remote locations gas isn’t always 200 miles apart. We found out our bikes run out of gas within a 1 or 2 miles of each other…and about 200 miles…loaded and going fast as we did.
- Steve’s helmet was too big and noisy, so he bought a $900 one in Anchorage.
- Steve’s handguard assembly rattled off.
- In the afternoon or when it was warm, we both got very drowsy.
- 3 days of heavy rain, my “Event fabric” mosko moto rain pants leaked and got me wet and cold. I’m trying to decide if I should return them or re-treat them…they are basically brand new. Mosko moto will return them, give me a big discount…whatever I decide. I think I’m going to keep them and bring 100% water proof pants…as rain hits my jacket and lands in my lap…and the zippers “leak” eventually. Imagine a hose running on you for 3 hours.
- Day1 on the bikes was very hot, so I stored my jacket and soaked up water on shirt and wherever I could.
- Usually wrong routes a couple of times.
- Steve’s intercom mic failed and ear pieces were uncomfortable.
- When we got back to the truck, the battery was dead. My sister was out of town, so we hunted around and found her keys and found jumper cables. She was not able to respond on the phone. We got the truck jumped and bikes loaded Saturday evening and got up early and drove back home to Utah and got home about 7:30-8pm
Memories:
One of my favorite places was Muncho Lake, our tents were 20’ from the water with an epic view. I got some good shots with the drone. I bought an overpiced hat because I lost my hat and I wanted a hat for photos and protection from bugs.
Top of the world in the dirt road was super fun for me. I really hit the throttle and was going 60mph + on the dirt.
walking on tundra is like deep moss, where your foot steps go down 3-4″. I slid down a snowbank. I also got to test ride a mt07 and ibex 450 (no low end power/punch, needs high rpms for power). got tired of cheeseburgers…if that is even possible!
Near Dawson City, we rode across a ferry. A guy in a pickup truck told us bikes go to the front of the line…so we did!
I took about 200 photos of the flightseeing and glacier landing. I go pro’d almost the entire flight too. It cost $350 for each of us, but so worth it and I would highly highly recommend doing flight seeing. If there is only 1-2 people and you can go short notice, you can get a 2 for 1 deal a half day before flight so they can fill up the plane. We had two extra seats and brought home hikers that hiked Denali…took them 3 weeks to hike it! We also got some exciting views of the summit because the hikers lost their phone with photos and pilot got up there so they could retake photos. Dramatic sound track as we are near major cliffs in the plane banking was epic and exciting! I think landing at basecamp and the extra views was super lucky too.
Do NOT go to Denali National park and not do the flightseeing(THIS IS REQUIRED, you MUST go flightseeing. Riding around the park was ok, but the flight was epic!
Glen Road along the snow capped mountains was so epically beautiful. Hwy 1 coming into Anchorage from the north east was so nice…from Tok.
Expenses:
DAY1 we traveled from Saratoga springs to Seattle. My sister was nice enough to let us stay with her and store the truck there. Unloaded the bikes in the morning and took our time to make sure everything was in order.
DAY2/Saturday. Seattle to Prince George. We traveled a long long ways (560 miles), including border crossing. The agent asked us if we had firearms and ammo…asked us several times. We got lunch at a trendy farm place. We took a few photos at a rest stop. I believe it was this day, but a long windy road along a river in the heat really wore us out. We had our gas light on for a long time. Finally made it to a gas station and got Tim Hortons and continued on. Hotel and AC was awesome. I got some pictures around the hotel and walked to a gas station and got some water.
DAY3/Sunday: Prince George to Iskut
We saw a few bears along the way. We loved the scenery and the gas stations were far far between. Our bikes run out of gas at 200 miles. We got to the Red Goat lodge and it was so cold, we upgraded to a cabin. The shower was nice, but cold when we got out. I had the eclectic heater in the bathroom, but it has not warmed up by the time I got out. I got some cool photos around the lake and I really liked how they made this place in the middle of no where and could see decades of work and I bet the owner could build/fix anything. At the red goat, I noticed my tear was wearing more than I thought it should and I was leaking a bit of oil on the rear final drive. I found some old timers on bikes…with trailers and they suggested just putting oil in it as needed. They were getting really bad gas MPG because of the trailer and had 5 gallon jerry cans of gas and large coolers. They have done this trip it seems a dozen times.
DAY4/Monday. Iskut to Whitehorse
We stopped at Jade City on hwy 37 and we both got our families some gifts. I saw another moto guy on a T1200 and got a photo with him. They were super nice people at the shop and it was a nice break. Super fun curvy road and nice and cool..almost raining. I left my lights on when we got lunch and killed my battery.
We got to the Yukon Motorcycle park. They had great showers and restaurant and the staff was super nice. I finally got some good wifi and started researching my rear differential leak and found a yamaha dealer we went to the next morning just as they opened. The wall tent with heater was super nice as it was a long cold day. I sure loved the ride and the scenery.
DAY5/Tuesday. Whitehorse to Tok.
I tend to recall an endless long straight road. The RV park was right next to the road and we heard traffic all night. The cots in the wall tent were too small for me, so I setup my tent far enough away to not hear snoring 😉 I slept well. We walked to a restaurant for diner.
DAY6/Wednesday Tok to Wasilla. The Glenn Hwy from hwy 1 has got to be the most beautiful ride I’ve ever seen. We kept stopping and getting photos. I launched my drone and got awesome shots of a glacier and us. My cheeks were itching like crazy and I was beginning to wonder if I could continue. Steve gave me benodril and it made my drowsy so I got my 1st monster drink and shaved off all my beard. The hairs would vibrate in the helmet and irritate my skin…big time. Finally found a place with running hot water and saved it off and it was so much better.
We got into Wasilla at a good time, hoping to take Shalya and family to dinner, but they were all busy (work/sports etc). So it was shopping and a nice dinner. We got to their house and visited a couple of hours and I took a shower and setup my tent in the back yard and slept well! I hear Harley Davidson has a place to camp nearby too. The dinner was my fav of the trip and I think Steve would agree. $45 ish for a nice steak and potatoes.
Day7/Thursday Wasilla to Seward.
Steve was up visiting until 2am, which I didn’t know so I woke him up about 6:30am as we agreed that up at 6am and on the bikes by 7am was the plan.
We went into Anchorage and went to 5 ish motorcycle stores looking for a helmet. It was fun to see the shops and at one of them I removed my wool midlayer (mosko ones easy zip off w/o removing boots). Our fav shop was “the motorcycle shop” because the staff was great, they had a “cabin” with AC and drinks. We came back to the motorcycle shop and steve bought the XD5 helmet. We borrowed some double sided tape from the shop and got it cleaned up and inserted into the new helmet. Steve was super happy with the comfort and quieter helmet! He packed his spare helmet all over for the rest of the trip.
We went to a restaurant along the water near a cruise ship. Looked amazing food, but it wasn’t that wonderful.
I got a cool photo with my bike by the sign. Some Asian tourist came along and I asked if they wanted a photo with my bike. They were excited. I got in their photo with them and they laughed. I got one of the men on the bike and another man acted like he was pushing the bike. They loved it!
We go to the RV campsite along the water in Seward. Steve was very tired and did chain maintenance and went to bed. I explored and found a cool dirt road going south and saw the biggest halibut I’ve ever seen on the docks and got some cool photos/drone vids.
I went for a long walk and visited with some people from Kentucky.
In the morning we got a breakfast burrito at a food truck and headed to Homer.
DAY8 Friday Seward to Homer:
A wonderful ride, really loved the ride and we went fast. We found a couple of cops along the way. Stopped for a break at 3bears.
We got to the KOA and it was super beautiful area.
I went down and got the best fish and chips of my life and hook and cook. Some epic photos on the spur of homer.
Steve was not feeling well so I went to the dinner party with Paul’s daughter and many of her friends by myself. In their front yard was a huge moose and it was NOT happy with me on my bike. I quickly scooted by and parked close to their house. We visited for about an hour and then had dinner. The food was super fancy and yummy. I got back to the KOA about 9pm. I had found a great place for photos, which I showed Steve the next day.
We were in the KOA bunk house, but the bunks were too short for me so I put my mattress on the floor.
DAY9: Saturday Homer to Talkeeta:
One week in; on the bikes! YEAH!
We stopped in Anchorage “The bike shop” again because Steve’s handguard rattled off. I test road a MT07…way way too small for me, but it was zippy.
We found some food and then headed to Talkeeta. I decided I was done buying over priced fish and it wasn’t the fresh salmon that I recall from 15-20 years ago. Diner was at some hippie convention/music thing.
Its a beautiful and fun curvy ride from Homer to Talkeeta. The RV park had only outhouses and no running water and the bugs where really bad. I went for a short walk to loosen up the muscles and got a few cool pictures.
DAY10: Talkeeeta to Fairbanks.
The high light of the trip was Flightseeing and landing on a Glacier. I found a coupon for $200 off from toursaver and we booked the day before. Being able to really see Denali National park from the air and all the majestic snow covered mountains and peaks was beyond words. I cried it was such a spiritual experience seeing the Lord’s artwork…that I love so much! It was fun riding in the plane and landing on the snow too. I believe the skids are fixed and the wheels go up/down. I’ve taken flight lessons in a cesna 172 so I was familiar with some of the jolts and landing isn’t as smooth as the large airlines. I know Steve was very nervous about the flight, but was super glad he did.
We had two seats open in the plane, so over the radio our pilot heard some hikers needed a ride back to town, so we landed in basecamp. Which was really cool to see and talk to the hikers. Sounds like it takes 3 weeks from basecamp to climb the summit. A lot of it is getting used to the high elevation, but basecamp is like 500 feet above where I live 😉
I timelapsed via gopro the flight to and from and took over 200 photos with my iphone. I also recorded the route via gaia gps.
The flight made me wish that was my job, I’d love to take people on flightseeing adventures.
After the flight we got lunch in Talkeetna and a $20 breakfast burrito.
I got some more magnets…I get fridge magnets almost wherever I go as a memento.
We then headed to Deinali National Park. We hit the visitor center and gift shop and I dunked my head to cool off. Then we road as far as we could on the road…about 16 miles and saw more moose. Crossing the bridge near the end was super beautiful coming back after being turned around. Only the park buses can go further. I would not recommend a bus tour as it’d take all day and much prefer the flight seeing.
We both ran out of gas on the way to Fairbanks…within a mile or two of each other and made good use of our fuel bags from Giant Loop.
We got to fairbanks hungry and we went to the RV park and the bugs were really bad and it was mid-high 80s and pretty hot for tent camping. Steve used his hotel rewards points and got us a nice hotel. We did drive all over town trying to find a place to eat…after 9pm.
Day11 Monday Fairbanks to Dawson City
I was pretty worn out and slept in a bit and we got a nice Bfast at the hotel.
Steve wanted to see some cool pipeline stuff and I really enjoyed it. We then found the north pole and got some pics and headed to dawson and top of the world.
I was beginning to wonder if I would see caribou/reindeer. We stopped for lunch in Tok and just grab’d something from the gas station and found a table at the RV place we stayed earlier in the shade. Yep, the lady came and asked us what site we were in and we had to explain we are eating real quick and we’ll be on our way…she chilled out once we told her we stayed there a few days ago.
We turned onto the road up to the “Top of the world” and it turned into a dirt super highway and I hit the gas as everything felt very stable on the t1200.
I passed a Tiger 900 pro or similar. Then I came upon a huge heard of Caribou…like sheep filling the road way and hills to the left. They walked like cows, but looked like big deer.
I stayed there a while and the tiger pro 900 came up and we both watched the Caribou. I decided I better wait for Steve as I really wanted him to see them. He got to see 10 ish of them before they took off.
I caught up and passed the riger 900 pro..again. We were pushing hard to get to the border in time before they closed at 8pm. We passed “chicken” a small gas station and a few cabins.
I got to the border crossing and the gate was closed. I looked on both sides and I thought if I removed my saddle bags I could get around the gate…but I’m sure the camera would catch up to me…and so I ate a snack and waited for Steve.
They had a print out that said closed 6pm…over the sign that said closed at 8pm. There was a guy walking around and I yelled to see if he would help us…nope. He told us we couldn’t park there 🙂
We took a break because we had been riding hard all day and then we went and found a campsite at the fork, but then realized trucks would be turning there all night so we moved to a better spot.
We got the tents up and it started to rain.
Steve was very tired so I went for a walk and took some pictures and then got in the tent super early and went through all my photos and deleted dups and pics that were not my fav.
About 2:30 am I got up to pee and the sky was amazing. Pink, Purple, blue…full light.
I never needed a flash light up north! It was alway bright!
We got all packed up and still have 45 min. Before they opened the next morning. Time zone differences and we didn’t have any cell data, so we didn’t know the local time.
I played in a snow drift and slid down the hill on my moto jacket…a bit of snow got down my pants and neck, but it was fun.
Day12 Tuesday border (Little Gold) to Dawson City to White horse.
I texted Craig to cancel our hotel via satellite SOS. He msg back they are keeping our money, but he tried.
On the way into dawson we met some bikers with a transalp and old harley davidson with a drz 400 forks…with home made everything. I got a picture of him and we talked awhile. Steve caught up and he visited after using the porta potty.
We then took off for Dawson. Still in the dirt..and I’d go to a ridge and turn around and wait and make sure Steve was still coming and then I’d take off.
A couple of times I had not seen him in a while so I doubled back and then caught up with him.
We came to a Ferry just before Dawson City and a guy in a truck told us Motorcycles go to the front of the line, so we did. We got right on and it was fun to ride the ferry across a large river.
No charge.
We got breakfast in Dawson at the local grocery store…they have custom made sandwiches…we ate those and gassed up and pounded the black top quickly as we could to whitehorse as we are 3-4 hours behind schedule.
We got to the Yukon Motorcycle park. By the time we went to the restaurant the grill had closed, but they let us order anyway. This time “The yukon motorcycle park” was packed and tons of bikers. We talked a bit to a few of them and went to bed early with ear buds blocking the noise.
DAY13 Wednesday Whitehorse to Muncho Lake
We got on the road and started for Muncho lake.
We bumped into our Finland Friend again…we had followed him a day or two before and I liked following him cuz he went FAST. We stopped and talked at construction stop signs a couple of times and saw him at a gas station. I got his card and we have emailed back and forth.
On the T between hwy 37 and highway 1, there is a food truck. I was looking at the menu and over heard them say…I’ll pay you went I get to cell service. I said, I’ll pay for your lunch and handed over USD. That couple was super grateful and we saw them a day or two later too.
From that T to Muncho lake, we saw so many bears…bear cubs. It was cool. We would stop and turn around and video them. One mama bear sent her cub up a tree.
We saw a wild herd of Bison. One was crossing the road so I hit the gas and went around…I didn’t want it to sit there for 2 hours.
At a look out point near Muncho lake, I launched the drone and got some cool footage. The fires we had been watching had smoke in the air.
We got to the RV park and lodge..we were right on the lake with a float plane within 40 feet of our tents. We paid over priced for a take out meal.
I flew the drone around a bit and went for a walk and then went to bed.
DAY14 Thursday Muncho Lake to Dawson Creek.
Man it really really rained hard. So hard it was hard to even see.
We both cranked up our heated grips and heated jacket.
My water proof pants leaked so when we got to the crummy hotel, I took a video of it failing and sent it to mosko moto.
There was a town with tons of wood carvings along the highway. Another Tim Horton visit…so good!
Seemed to rain all day, but fun twisty road. We are starting to see more people from being in the Yukon we hardly say anyone.
But now we are getting closer to larger towns.
DAY15 Friday, Dawson Creek to Cache Creek
Super fun…but super long ride. Lots of rain.
The hotel called or texted Steve to let us know the hot water was out. It was the only place to stay so we kept it.
Rain soaked through my water proof pants…again! 🙁 🙁
Cool rivers and canyons along the way. Kind of a blur cuz we traveled so fast and far.
We are both sad its coming to and end, but both super excited to see our family!
DAY 16 Saturday- cache creek to Seattle
Going over hwy 99 was EPIC…super twisty fun road and epic views. It was raining, but we could still see the beauty.
We both loved going along the coast into Vancouver, but hated the city.
We finally got to my sisters house. Waze and google maps conflicted so I went with waze and it was the wrong Lisa…and then we got into massive traffic jam and tolls that required exact change which we didn’t have so we really re-routed and I almost got hit by a car on the freeway.
She was out of town so she gave me the code to her garage.
Steve’s truck wouldn’t start so we couldn’t get ahold of my sister so we finally found the jumper cables and keys to her car and we jumped the truck and got the bikes loaded.
A neighbor borrowed some of my tools.
Day 17 Sunday – Seattle to Saratoga
We set our alarms for early…I think 5am, but we both got up earlier and got going.
I worked on combining all photos/video on the ride home with my laptop and battery bank.
It was nice to be in a truck with AC and comfortable seats. We took turns driving while the other slept or rested…or worked on laptop.
The time consuming thing was going through the photos and picking the favs. I think about 800 photos down to 150 ish.
DATE: June 6-June 22, 2025
SCREENSHOT OF ROUTE:
I didn’t record everything on Gaia 🙁
Muncho Lake to Dawson Creek:
Chetwynd to cache creek
LINK TO ROUTE:
Seattle to Prince George:
https://www.gaiagps.com/public/F0Rd4A1ikV4vsKTdjRzdeGfJ
Prince George to Iskut:
https://www.gaiagps.com/public/NeCOkNeHDdjnyeRXdtWegzbP
Iskut to Whitehorse:
https://www.gaiagps.com/public/LhBHe8UnU8SXlQyixJPN0072
Wasilla to Seward:
https://www.gaiagps.com/public/Zmp9fNyLwsRxPQ8Ur27BYGmD
Seward to Homer
https://www.gaiagps.com/public/kQhS0VKHxwmq27LrNK2NwpgK
Flightseeing and glacier landing at basecamp!
https://www.gaiagps.com/public/qlYH0CRjPuiA2NHEK1wUsS6a
Talkeetna to fairbanks:
https://www.gaiagps.com/public/D9oXRjBuBPjIo9eSMs5iHNFA
Fairbanks to Border:
https://www.gaiagps.com/public/eLzBilMbAeQHJoQLPmVtBSrY
Dawson to whitehorse:
https://www.gaiagps.com/public/eKBfhvMC2V4Bmz3trK4RboyN
White Horse to Muncho Lake:
https://www.gaiagps.com/public/HOHgMKcvceggBuPXxqVur8Oi
Muncho Lake to Dawson Creek:
Chetwynd to cache creek:
Cache creek to seattle:
