Day 14, Chitina to Haines Junction. 778 kms, this was a travel day. Hit the smoke again from Tok to Haines Junction and lots of road construction. Camped at an RV park in Haines Junction. I had planned on camping at Kluane Park but no tent camping due to bear activity in the area









This is Kluane Lake, that is sand blowing across the SE end of the lake as it is quite low exposing the sandy bottom


Nice mountain backdrop at the campground


Day 15, Haines Junction to Haines. 261 kms, Haines is a lot nicer seaport than Valdez as it is not so commercialized. Cruise ships are there during the day but they leave at night and everything is peacefull again. I spent the day here as I wanted to catch the ferry to Skagway the next day.

A waterfall on one of the rest stops


I had breakfast at Mile 33 Roadhouse, it was very good and the building was decorated with whale bones and antiques






The cruise ships seem to leave in the late afternoon and the streets clear out


Haines is where the Chillcat and Chilkoot inlets come in. The Chilkoot is where you see the famous photo of the miners trekking up the mountain heading for the Yukon


Went for a hike but turned around when I came to an area where the bears had scarred the trees up to about 8' high very recently, I all of a sudden felt a little small in the woods


Campsite on Chilkat inlet west of town a few miles, very nice spot overlooking two glaciers and a waterfall










Waterfall running out the bottom of the glacier

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

Stan, this looks like an awesome adventure! Thanks for sharing!

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Chris

2017 Versys X
1991 Suzuki TS200R

Awesome pics did some of this journey many years back to Dawson Creek, Top of the world Highway and the famous Chicken Alaska, thanks for bringing back some great memories of my trip in 2003, planning Alaska again in 2017

Thanks for the report, Stan.. amazing pictures and incredible ride. One day I'll have to do this.

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2015 KTM 500 EXC
2008 KTM 990 Adventure S

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

Day 16
I took the ferry from Haines to Skagway. It is only about a 45 minute trip but saves you many miles of backtracking overland travel. The ferry leaves Haines at 12:30 and cost was $62. The landscape when you leave Skagway changes again to Tundra, rocks and lots of small lakes but for some reason the pictures were not on my camera. Ended the day at Atlin which is about a two hour trip south of the Alcan (one hr in and one hr out).

One more pic of the waterfall and Glacier at the Haines campground


A small fishing harbor at Haines




This creek runs into the Haines inlet (Chillkat Inlet)




The ferry getting ready to offload at Haines. The ferry terminal is about 6 miles east of town


When I bought my ticket they said I needed tiedowns so I spent $30 to get some. When I got on the ferry he said you don't really need them it is optional and from my experience you do not need them as the waterway is very protected and narrow


Some pics while riding the ferry




Coming into Skagway






This old mining train still runs as a tourist trip. It would be a great trip if I had more time but my time was short in Skagway as I wanted to get to Atlin for the night


To me this was some of the best senery on the trip, very unique rocky Tundra and dotted with many of these small lakes




This is Carmacks and the only sandy beach I saw, it was very warm water as well




Had dinner here, cant remember the name of the town but it was on the cut across east of Carmacks




Camped at a Lions campground south of Atlin, $10. Atlin is a very nice little community on a large lake and quite isolated as it is a deadend road. It is actually in BC but only accessed from the Alaska Highway.

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

Day 17, Atlin to Dease Lake, Telegraph Creek back to Dease Lake, 913 kms.
Lots of folks said the Stewart Cassier was a nicer drive than the Alcan. Actually I thought the senery along the Alcan was nicer but some of the side trips off the Stewart Cassier were exceptional. The SC definetly has less traffic though.

Heading out of Atlin, a good portion of the 60 mile road is gravel


Snobear was here


The next pics are all along Telegraph Creek which is about 60 miles of the most amazing riding I have done so far. It starts out mild and a bit boring but just keeps getting better as you get closer to the settlement. Looks like a native community. Telegraph Creek and the Salmon Glacier road were the two best I did on the whole trip. They get your blood pumping really good at spots. It was raining when I went into Telegraph Creek so the photos are pretty much all from the ride out. What a neat ride though. The signs say 20 percent grade and it was steep in sections.














The natives were fishing along the creek


That is the road you are traveling on


This rock formation was like a big eyeball with a cave in the middle of it


This section is on the ridge and drops off equally on both sides of the road












Jade City is right on the Stewart Cassier and another spot that Discovery Channel has a show about. They collect the jade boulders locally and cut them here












Camped just south of Dease Lake at another community campground for $12. Was visiting with two other bikers when two of the most annoying know it all over educated folks came over to tell us what was right and wrong in the world (a geologist and phychiatrist). They explained to us how amazing they were and we were all very glad when they left. The campground again was right on a river bank.

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

Dease Lake to Stewart/Hyder and Salmon Glacier. 498 kms

Any water you are at up here is absolutely clear


The Stewart area is full of glaciers




Salmon glacier, the clouds would lift and then drop frequently so the view was always changing


This is the glacier just past Salmon glacier where the old mine is


The old mining camp






I get the impression they do not want you in here



The road had not been cleared yet past Salmon Glacier but was accessible


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The seaport is split with part being BC and part being Alaska. There is no border crossing going from Stewart BC to Hyder Alaska, they are only a half mile apart. However there is a crossing coming back into BC not sure why. To go to Salmon Glacier you cross into the US/Hyder then the road winds back into BC where the glacier is.












The tide is out and the log booms are laying in the mud waiting to get loaded for Japan


The sign here said year round danger of avalanche


The glaciers all have their own unique face

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

Day 19 Stewart to Prince George 777 kms. Did an oil change at Telkwa in the little Suzuki shop on the highway. They let me do the change in their compound and were very nice folks.
This was a travel day, the highway is still real scenic through this part of BC



Camped at a little lake just east of Prince George




Day 20 Prince George to Cadomin. 541 kms, finally going to finish the section of highway 40 from Hinton to Nordegg which has eluded me several times now due to rain.

Stopped in a section of old growth cedars which I didn't even know grew this far east








This waterfall is on the Fraser River near Jasper and is the furthest point that spawning salmon make it up the river so what a trek from the ocean to here








Active coal mine near Cadomin south of Hinton on 40




Camped just east of Cadomin along this creek




Day 21 Cadomin to Red Deer 322 kms. #40 is a nice ride down to Nordegg and the final stretch of this highway for me so now I have covered all of it from Coleman to Grande Prairie

These coal trucks are huge, must be moving coal to a power plant somewhere














Well this is the end of my trip, the next day was 700 plus kms back home. It was a great 21 day trip so put it on your bucket list.
I was fortunate to have very good weather with lots of showers through the day but never once a settled in rain.
I would strongly suggest late June for the trip to avoid all the tourist masses in July and August. You do risk a few of the passes not being open though.
Thanks for following along with my ride.

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

Cool pics. I need to retire and spend 365 days/ yr on the road

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2016 VESPA SPRINT 150