troll Posted June 30, 2015 Share Posted June 30, 2015 Well... I am an oral story teller and not much of a scribe... but I will give this tale a shot. I grew up in Alaska and have been in Yukon for 25 years so this is all home turf. Dust to Dawson is an annual motorcycle gathering in Dawson City Yukon... look it up on ADVrider it is an interesting story. Anyway, it was enough to get me on the road. The plan was the D2D and then into Alaska over the Top of the World hwy. My goal was three roads in Alaska that I had not been on; Top of the World through Chicken, the Denali hwy from Paxson to Cantwell and into McCarthy and Kennecott. The trip ended up being 3600km in 10 days with hundreds of km of gravel and a hundred or so of just plan old dirt mining roads. My FJ has Conti tires, TKC80 on the front and TKC70 on the rear and I was really glad to have them as some of the gravel roads were pretty tough. I was on everything from hard pack gravel to very rough loose surfaces with pot holes and washboard. well... anyway... there I was all loaded up and I hear the FJ whisper "honey? do these bags make my rear end look wide?" And I answered back "no sweetheart, your supposed to look like that when we are on an adventure" http://i.imgur.com/PadyYBT.jpg Dawson was a 5 hour ride and I stayed across the river in the Yukon River campground which means a ferry ride back and forth into Dawson. http://i.imgur.com/QMUDSxS.jpg http://i.imgur.com/6LjIP4N.jpg http://i.imgur.com/ltU9Bn7.jpg and not a bad view from camp. http://i.imgur.com/vAOtzsQ.jpg The D2D attracted around 300 bikes from all over and there was much fun... biker games, a poker run and lots of kicking tires and telling lies. The poker run was 100km of mining roads around the Klondike gold fields. I ran the route a day early and avoided all the dust. http://i.imgur.com/UtwETKg.jpg King Solomon's Dome http://i.imgur.com/oGA1jUo.jpg and Dredge #4 http://i.imgur.com/2UXWdNj.jpg http://i.imgur.com/54yOhrZ.jpg and all the fun at the D2D http://i.imgur.com/r3uSGNt.jpg http://i.imgur.com/hsBOx5d.jpg http://i.imgur.com/T9f7XNK.jpg http://i.imgur.com/Ngjmid3.jpg http://i.imgur.com/vIz5XGg.jpg and a couple of boys wanted in on the bite the wiener. http://i.imgur.com/CuZbSur.jpg The D2D ends at midnight... usually on the solstice... the ferry back to camp. http://i.imgur.com/wbh46eK.jpg I will carry-on to the adventures in Alaska... in the next installment. Coming to you from the frozen wastelands of the barren north Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest lawrenceofsuburbia Posted June 30, 2015 Share Posted June 30, 2015 Nicely scribed and shot, troll! Based on this, maybe we should drop the sport/ tourer designation and re-badge it as a sport/ adventure bike!!! GSs - look out! L of S Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
troll Posted June 30, 2015 Author Share Posted June 30, 2015 Nicely scribed and shot, troll! Based on this, maybe we should drop the sport/ tourer designation and re-badge it as a sport/ adventure bike!!! GSs - look out! L of S L of S, you might be right. The FJ is not an MX'er but it does fine on rough and poorly maintained gravel. And I love the lightness of being. I am developing a great deal of respect for the FJ as an all-arounder. by the way... comments and questions are welcome in this thread. Coming to you from the frozen wastelands of the barren north Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Premium Member 1moreroad Posted June 30, 2015 Premium Member Share Posted June 30, 2015 Thanks. Nice photos. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
troll Posted June 30, 2015 Author Share Posted June 30, 2015 Soooo... as the story goes... The plan was as long as the weather was good and fun was to be had I would stay on the road. The D2D is put on by an Anchorage, Alaska BMW club so there were a few hundred bikes heading over the Top of the World hwy. All through the morning bikes could be heard pulling the hill out of West Dawson. Those big BMW's sure sound nice under full throttle. Poker Creek is the border station and it was busy. http://i.imgur.com/p27zE3Z.jpg And just before getting into Chicken, Alaska the skies opened up and it rained like buckets were being dumped on our heads. One of the Alaska riders described the road into Chicken as the worst 25 miles of gravel road in Alaska. One Tiger rider over cooked a corner and got a ride out in an ambulance. The road was definitely demanding. http://i.imgur.com/c9iKMx7.jpg Unfortunately Alaska was burning, due to the dry weather there were 185 fires across the interior and by the time I got home there were more than 220 fires burning. Needless to say the big beautiful views that Alaska is famous for were obscured by lots of smoke. I guess I am apologising for not taking a lot of pictures. Rode from Dawson to Tok and the next day headed for the Denali Hwy through Delta Junction and Paxson. http://i.imgur.com/PvanggR.jpg Tangle Lakes is the last gas stop on the Denali Hwy... then it is 220km of remote gravel, summer only road. http://i.imgur.com/CPqBHAH.jpg http://i.imgur.com/wphbIlt.jpg another installment is yet to come... Coming to you from the frozen wastelands of the barren north Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Cruizin Posted June 30, 2015 Share Posted June 30, 2015 Awesome awesome awesome ride report! Bookmarked this thread so I don't miss any updates! Yamaha FZ-10 Forum Yamaha FZ-07 Forum Yamaha Ténéré 700 Forum Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
troll Posted June 30, 2015 Author Share Posted June 30, 2015 Here is a map of the Alaska side of the ride. http://i.imgur.com/nrNbVZc.jpg?1 more to come... Coming to you from the frozen wastelands of the barren north Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
troll Posted June 30, 2015 Author Share Posted June 30, 2015 Now where was I.... oh, ya... the Denali Hwy. The fellow I was riding with knew of a lodge about half way through to Cantwell. So we made that our goal and arrived at the Alpine Creek Lodge just in time for dinner. http://alpinecreeklodge.com/ great folks and a beautiful spot overlooking the Susitna River drainage. http://i.imgur.com/B0QT4MS.jpg http://i.imgur.com/qcOLqsw.jpg http://i.imgur.com/WnxHYSz.jpg The next day we rode the rest of the way out to Cantwell and down the Parks Hwy to Palmer, lots of construction, flagged pilot car sections and a buzzzillion motorhomes and campers. Coming to you from the frozen wastelands of the barren north Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
suncoaster Posted July 1, 2015 Share Posted July 1, 2015 Excellent trip report ! Did you take a gold pan ? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
troll Posted July 1, 2015 Author Share Posted July 1, 2015 Excellent trip report ! Did you take a gold pan ? No gold pan... never had the fever... Coming to you from the frozen wastelands of the barren north Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
troll Posted July 1, 2015 Author Share Posted July 1, 2015 Woke up in the morning in Palmer to a beautiful clear day, the smoke had been blown out and the ride up the Matanuska valley was spectacular. Nice new asphalt, twisty and not much traffic. This was the best day of the whole ride. http://matanuska-glacier.com/ http://i.imgur.com/o0QyPLk.jpg http://i.imgur.com/4rvxNBb.jpg http://i.imgur.com/5lWUm0L.jpg Rode from Palmer to the National Historic Site of Kennecott. The ride into Kennecott had about 75km of sometimes rough and always narrow gravel road. http://i.imgur.com/BYTlhI0.jpg http://i.imgur.com/91FjWD4.jpg and I got one of the last rooms at this beautiful lodge. http://i.imgur.com/6TrxXon.jpg more to come on Kennecott. Coming to you from the frozen wastelands of the barren north Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Premium Member keithu Posted July 1, 2015 Premium Member Share Posted July 1, 2015 Looks like a great ride! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
johnnyd Posted July 2, 2015 Share Posted July 2, 2015 Troll, great pics and story. Would you mind telling me about your bags? In addition, to what kind of brackets are the side bags mounted? Thanks! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
crfan1 Posted July 2, 2015 Share Posted July 2, 2015 Excellent write up so far! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
troll Posted July 2, 2015 Author Share Posted July 2, 2015 Troll, great pics and story. Would you mind telling me about your bags? In addition, to what kind of brackets are the side bags mounted? Thanks!johnnyd, the bags are Wolfman Expedition dry bags and the tank bag is a Giant Loop. The side bags are around 20ltr and I don't remember the duffel size. I have had these bags for several years, I bought them for my Super Tenere. I would highly recommend them... my gear is always dry and clean. I built the brackets myself out of 5mm/3/16" aluminum sheet. Coming to you from the frozen wastelands of the barren north Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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