Excellent!
Thanks for sharing with us!

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

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I do these things not to escape life but so life does not escape me

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

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I do these things not to escape life but so life does not escape me

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

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I do these things not to escape life but so life does not escape me

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.

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I do these things not to escape life but so life does not escape me

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

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I do these things not to escape life but so life does not escape me

Looks neat up there. all that old stuff

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2016 VESPA SPRINT 150

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.

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.

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The guy riding the red farkled up 08 KLR where ever the front wheel goes!

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I do these things not to escape life but so life does not escape me