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KLR - Ken
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Posted: Thu Jul 09, 2015 10:42 pm |
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Joined: Wed Aug 22, 2012 1:02 pm Posts: 734
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Excellent! Thanks for sharing with us!
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snobear
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Posted: Fri Jul 10, 2015 7:30 pm |
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Joined: Sat Apr 07, 2012 2:13 pm Posts: 775 Location: Gronlid (Wapiti)
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Day 9 I did a loop around the Bonanza Creek road which is the loop several of the active mines are on. You go past old dredge #4 and can see lots of placer mining operations from very small to very large. 180 kms for the day.
This old wooden bridge is in need of some repairs
At claim 33 you can rent a gold pan and go panning in the nearby creek. When you are standing on the edge of the road it glitters in gold flecks.
Dredge #4 is well worth the guided trip, it is the largest surviving dredge in the world.
The rods going up from the clutches go up to the main control room
One of the water pumps
The size of everything is amazing for the age of it
The whole operation was run with electrical power
These are the controls that run the clutches below
As a millwright this stuff was really amazing to me
Back on the road, that is a small placer operation in the valley
And this is a very large one where the cut ran for well over a mile, they were pushing overburden with two D11's
If you watch Yukon Gold this is the Hoffmans mine, it was on a branch road off the doe road (Quartz Creek)
Several water crossings to get there
An old wooden dredge
And back on the Bonanza Creek road, it is a real nice ride and gets you into very nice high country
Some more small placer mines
Again from Yukon Gold Karl Knudsons mine
_________________ I do these things not to escape life but so life does not escape me
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snobear
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Posted: Fri Jul 10, 2015 7:56 pm |
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Joined: Sat Apr 07, 2012 2:13 pm Posts: 775 Location: Gronlid (Wapiti)
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Day 10 finally had to leave Dawson and traveled over the top of the world highway to Delta Junction, 526 kms for the day. Ran into some smoke for the last half of the day but it was cleared by morning and I only saw smoke one other day on the whole trip when I passed back through this area on the return trip.
Top of the world highway is as it says high elevation so all tundra
Marmot of some sort, there were lots of them
This is the US border crossing. The Canadian and US stations are miles apart and not actually on the border but where they could make it work
Coming down into Chicken
This is new Chicken that you first come to, don't eat here
Carry on a few hundred yards and take a left turn into old Chicken and eat there
Started hitting smoky conditions at Tok
Yep it is dry everwhere
Campsite on the Clearwater River north of Delta Junction about six miles
_________________ I do these things not to escape life but so life does not escape me
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snobear
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Posted: Fri Jul 10, 2015 8:47 pm |
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Joined: Sat Apr 07, 2012 2:13 pm Posts: 775 Location: Gronlid (Wapiti)
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Day 11, Delta Junction to near Willow (Trapper Creek I think it was called). 551 kms, no campsite picture today as I camped in an RV park for a shower and laundry mat. Took the Glenallen highway south of Delta Junction and then the Denali Highway across to the highway going north into Fairbanks, don't remember the number. The Denali highway is about 120 miles of gravel and a bit of pavement at the east side. It is in good condition and lots of good senery.
Need to come back here someday with a truck camper and dirt bike as there are side roads everywhere that look so inviting.
You start seeing the Alaska pipeline here, some is overhead and some is buried.
Starting to see lots of moose now
Just thought this was a cool picture
The country is full of fireweed, it has a great odor as well
The water is so clear the bottom is visible for a long ways out
Breakfast at the start of the Denali Highway
There was still some smoke in the air
This little place has a bar and really good rubarb and strawberry pie. It is for sale for you enteprenuers
Livin off the grid
Do not build too close to the river, lesson learned
_________________ I do these things not to escape life but so life does not escape me
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snobear
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Posted: Sat Jul 11, 2015 8:54 am |
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Joined: Sat Apr 07, 2012 2:13 pm Posts: 775 Location: Gronlid (Wapiti)
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Day 12, Willow through Hatcher Pass to Valdez. 535 kms.
The Hatcher Pass valley opened early this year, the day before I went up and they were still working on it. It typically opens the first week of July but due to the very low snowfall they got through early. This is a great pass with extremely green scenery and tight turns.
An old abandoned mine shaft but there are lots of tailings so it must go in quite aways.
This is the old Independence copper mine near the top of the pass
Once you leave the mine the road is paved again all the way into Palmer
Lots of Glaciers along the way
These are some rental cabins and a small restaurant near the old mine
Just before you get to Vladez
This is most of Valdez, the seaport towns are small but busy. A lot of fishing vessels at Valdez and the Alaska pipeline ends here and onloads to vessels.
They were cleaning fish here and the left overs go down this trough where the eagles and seagulls just land right beside you and eat. There were lots of Halibut coming in this day.
_________________ I do these things not to escape life but so life does not escape me
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snobear
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Posted: Sat Jul 11, 2015 9:57 am |
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Joined: Sat Apr 07, 2012 2:13 pm Posts: 775 Location: Gronlid (Wapiti)
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Day 13 Valdez to McCarthy and back to Chitina. You make a right turn off the Valdez highway to go down to Chitina and McCarthy and the last 60 miles into McCarthy is gravel, most of it on an old rail bed. The mine and glacier just past McCarthy at Kenneccott are something worth seeings for sure.
Valdez harbor in the morning, very peaceful.
This is the Alaska pipeline outload facility, there is security so you cannot go right in.
Barges in the harbor
The unfinished tunnel
Lots of snow left when you get near the seaports, they get up to 40' of snow in a winter
The gravel section going into McCarthy, the old bridge is part of the rail line that used to run to the mine
The Kennecott mine is an old copper mine but very interesting tour with the glacier right beside it
These are the old boilers
The gravel mounds you see beside the mine are sitting on top of the glacial ice, there were little lakes spread thoughout the gravel with ice around them
These are photos of McCarthy, the two photos are pretty much all there is, made famous by another Discovery TV show
This is the pedestrian bridge going into McCarthy. You can ride your bike across it and right up to the mine. If you come in a car you need to walk across and take the shuttles
These three photos are of a narrow bridge over a very high gorge, single lane traffic
The fish wheels were done, salmon had finished their run in Alaska and I missed them in BC as well as they had not made it down there yet
Do not park your RV in the river bottom
This is the start of the gravel section into McCarthy. It is single wide only as it was the old rail line
Campsite by the waterfall west of Chitina, what a neat place
That is the tent down by the creek
_________________ I do these things not to escape life but so life does not escape me
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calltrex
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Posted: Sat Jul 11, 2015 2:24 pm |
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Joined: Mon Apr 09, 2012 9:57 pm Posts: 2830
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Looks neat up there. all that old stuff
_________________ 2016 VESPA SPRINT 150
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ksp683
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Posted: Sat Jul 11, 2015 10:18 pm |
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Joined: Thu Oct 02, 2014 11:22 am Posts: 5 Location: Regina, SK
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Thank you for posting all the pics and the commentary. I enjoyed the McCarthy pics. I was wrapped up in that show for a while until I got tired of all the drama.
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Corney
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Posted: Sun Jul 12, 2015 6:06 am |
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Joined: Sat Apr 07, 2012 7:27 am Posts: 661 Location: Blackstrap Lake, SK
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Was the 650 Vstrom a good bike for that trip? Some big days on a KLR I think. I have been looking at the bigger Vstrom for quite some time as well. Everything is on hold until I get my shoulder fixed up though.
_________________ The guy riding the red farkled up 08 KLR where ever the front wheel goes!
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snobear
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Posted: Sun Jul 12, 2015 8:10 am |
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Joined: Sat Apr 07, 2012 2:13 pm Posts: 775 Location: Gronlid (Wapiti)
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_________________ I do these things not to escape life but so life does not escape me
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