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To the Arctic Ocean and back!


Dark&Stormy

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Day 3: Sikanni Chief BC to Watson Lake YT 721km
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The British Columbia leg of the Alaskan highway... never a dull moment.
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Bighorn Sheep
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Most expensive gas i bought all trip  at Liard River hotsprings $1.90L for Regular! 
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Sharing a campsite in Watson Lake as all the sites were full. I met Tim from Johnstown NY with his 1200GS on an Alaska trip and Kamren on a KLR from Anchorage starting his round the world trip. Campsites in Yukon cost $12 and supply you with firewood.
 
 
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Day 4: Watson Lake to Pelly Crossing 721km
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Teslin Yukon
 
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You'll see alot of blackbear in these parts.
 
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A quick stop in Whitehorse YT to top up on camping food.
 
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Scenery on the Klondike hwy 
 
Bald Eagle perched on a power pole beside the Klondike hwy.
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Day 5: Pelly Crossing to Engineer Creek Campground (Dempster hwy) with a stop in Dawson City YT 484kms
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Blackbear lots of blackbear
 
 
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New friends from Japan travelling around the world on an old Honda Africatwin750 and XR250.
 
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After a few brunch beers with some Dawson locals i dialed up work to try and extended my vacation. I got the approval and headed out of town for the dempster.
 
I started the Dempster at about 2pm and took my time and made it to Engineer Creek campground around 8pm.
 
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There actually were two moose at Two Moose Lake
 
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RIMG1142.jpg Engineer Creek
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Engineer Creek campground  
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Day 6: Engineer Creek campground to Inuvik NWT(Jak campground)
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Eagle Plains Lodge is kind of the hslfway point where you can get fuel, hot meals, shower, or use the campground, $220 pernight hotelrooms, tireshop, and slow wifi. The owners are gumpy, overworked and understaffed.
I gased up had lunch and spoke with a Super Tenere rider who had given up and was heading back to Dawson. The gravel stressed him out, he made it to the Arctic Circle and had enough.
 
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Collecting drinking water
 
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Up hill to Wright Pass NWT border
 
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The first Ferry Crossing before Fort McPherson NWT.
 
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North of Fort McPherson its pretty close to sea level the rest of the way. Theres not a lot of scenery and lots of straight sections. It was quite a bit warmer up here and the first time all trip i rode without the heated vest.
 
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Tsiigehtchic NWT the second Ferry crossing across the Mackenzie River
 
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Inuvik NWT... the old end of the Dempster.
 
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Campsite at Jak Territorial park. $10 and first hot shower of the trip.
Spoke with a super T rider from Quebec who boasted about how much better the super T is compared to the GS1200. Apparently Yamaha's Shaftdive is indestructible... good to know.
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Day 7: Inuvik to Tuktoyaktuk and south to Rock River Campground 594km
 
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Inuvik's Famous igloo church
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Even the flowers have fur coats in the Arctic.
 
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End of the road. I wasnt expecting the water to be so dirty at the Arctic ocean but Tuk is located close to the Mackenzie delta so lots of silty water and drift wood. Since trees dont grow this far north the locals used to believe  all wood came from sea... imagine that!
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Tuktoyaktuk 
 
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An old Cold War era DEW radar station
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Heading South Toward NWT YUKON Border.
 
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Viewpoint from a microwave tower road
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Downhill from Wright Pass
 
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Day 8  Rock River Campground to Dawson 481km
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The last day went pretty smoothly. The road was well packed so i rode at a pace of 70 to 90kmh. I went exploring up a tower road that had pretty jagged crushed gravel and thats where i got my flat. I followed Ondrej until Tombstone park where decided to go do some hiking.
I rode through a few light rain showers before making it back to Dawson for the night.
 
 
 
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My flat TKC80
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Dawson frost heave
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Day 9: Dawson City to Dawson Peaks Campground 720km 
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Having no confidence in my double plugged 85% worn rear TKC80 i figured it would be wise to pick up a spare tire in Whitehorse at Yukon Yamaha. I bought the last tire they had in stock that would fit a Pirelli Diablo my passenger was literally the devil.
 
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Teslin's plywood copcar
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Day 10: Dawson Peaks Campground to New Hazelton BC via the Cassiar hwy.
992kms
 
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Cassiar hwy
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Young Grizzly Bear
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A break from the soaking wet ride down the Cassiar.
 
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Aliexpress fender fail. I guess something was bound to break from all of the long days in the saddle. One of the bolts came loose and the tire pulled the fender up jamming it and left a nasty scar in my rim. Luckly the back wheel didnt lock up and cause a fiery wreck.
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New Hazelton BC to Calgary AB via the yellowhead hwy16. 1222kms
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A looong day in the saddle.
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Icefields parkway by nightfall.
 
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My TKC80 made it home!
 
Now the bike is filthy and needs many hours of cleaning to remove all of the Dempster dirt, degreasing Yukon road construction oil splattered everywhere. She needs an oil change, new tires, probably a new air filter, chain cleaning, luggage rack weld repair, rear rim paint repair.
Lots to do so little time... winter is coming.
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Wow Dark&Stormy,
 
An epic trip many thanks for sharing, just shows what a determined rider and the fj-09 with the right rubber is capable of.
 
Some great pictures and no doubt some amazing memories for you. VERY lucky that the rear fender failure didn't cause a catastrophe.
 
Cheers
Steve
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Thanks again for sharing Dark&Stormy. A trip I’ll never do, but I really enjoyed reading about yours.
 

Red 2015 Tracer, UK spec (well, it was until I started messing with it...)

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Awesome! Thanks for sharing.
 
What size were the tc 80's?

"It doesn't matter who walks in, you know the joke is still the same"  Ft. Lauderdale, Florida. USA

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