Southeastern Alaska and the AMHS--Part 2

Sitka is a beautiful little town on Baranof Island, on the edge of a rainforest yet right along the coast. When we got off the ferry, we had two option--drive left 3/4 mile to the end of the road, or to the right where the town was 7 miles away, and the road ended about 14 miles away. Not much in the way of roads, and no way to ride out of the town. The only way in to Sitka is by sea or sky.

After visiting the visitors center and learning the campground on the southern edge of town was having bear problems, we chose to camp on the north end of town, but needed to have lunch before setting off. As we left the visitors center, a local woman who drove a taxi told us about Baranof Brewing Company and gave us their business card. A few minutes later, as we wandered the streets of downtown looking for a restaurant we thought we wanted to try, a girl asked if we needed help finding something. We told her what we were looking for and found out it was only open when cruise ships were in town. After we told her we were looking for a good local lunch spot, she pointed us in the direction of the Larkspur Restaurant. It was great, and in that short time, we got a taste of the friendliness of the locals.

We returned to the bikes and noticed a sign hanging over the parking lot saying there would be an all-you-can-eat crab feed the next afternoon at 3. WHAT!?! Count us in!

We headed north to our campsite, and for the story of that night and the next morning, see the post titled "Bear--Part Two".

After we made the decision to find a hotel, we headed to a coffee house with wi-fi to do some research where we found Ann's Gavan Hill Bed and Breakfast. After contacting Ann and telling her we would be there later, we headed to the raptor center. Unlike the American Bald Eagle Preserve that was a bit of a disappointment, this place was amazing. We saw a number of birds who had been injured and were unable to be reintroduced into the wild, but we also saw the rehabilitation habitats that housed, at the time, 10 recuperating bald eagles, and two beautiful snowy owls. After the tour, we talked with the tour guide for a few minutes, and because we stayed, we got to experience a young bald eagle up close, as she was brought out to do a demonstration for a small group of people. It was so neat and she was so beautiful!

 

This is how I kept my feet dry in the heavy rain days. Yup, that's a grocery store bag wrapped around my foot!




We left the raptor center and went back downtown for the crab feed. This was an event! I was a little afraid it would be all tourists, but as it turned out, it was a community event. It was held at Crescent Harbor in the work shelter where local fisherman hang nets and do off-boat work. There were no tables, and locals in the know bring their own tables, chairs, tablecloths, candle holders, floral centerpieces, and bottles of wine with wine glasses. It was great! It was, of course, raining, so we just left our motorcycle gear on, stood in line and received HUGE Dungeness crab legs, salad, bread, dessert, and drinks, and then found a seat on the edge of the water to enjoy our crab. The taxi driver walked by at one point and asked if we had found a good place to stay. We told her the story, and I again marveled at the local attitude towards visitors, which though similar to Haines, differed greatly from Seward!

We also ran into a couple of women from B.C. who we had met on the ferry, and sat chatting with them for a while. As we were leaving and getting back to the bikes, we ran into a local who had attended law school at DU and stopped when she saw our Colorado license plates. As it turned out, people in town recognized us wherever we went the whole time we were there after seeing the bikes. People wanted to talk to us about riding and tell us about the guy in town with the KLR all set for touring (which we saw walking through town the first day).

We checked into the B&B and headed off to the brewery to sample their beers. When we returned, we were ready to spend the rest of the evening in the hot tub and relaxing. At breakfast the next morning we got to meet the other two couples staying there, and really got to know the proprietor, Ann, and her sister Joan. They were such lovely people! Ann is a transplant from Texas who moved to AK when she was 24, and stayed. She had recently been diagnosed with breat cancer, sought treatment in Texas, and returned home to continue running her business while undergoing chemo. Her sister, who lives in Dallas, had come to Sitka to help her out, and getting to know these two women was inspiring.

Ann sent us in the direction of The Fortress of the Bear, a volunteer based not for profit which has created two 3/4 acre habitats for orphaned brown bear cubs. One habitat has the two original siblings, and the other has three siblings who wandered into the still-being-constructed second habitat on their own after being orphaned. We were there for just under two hours watching these bears from an elevated platform. They were fascinating! It totally helped me understand their interest in my motorcycle and my helmet as I watched them play, play, play, with each other and items in their habitats. One of them had a particular fascination with a metal dustpan. As it turns out, they make good toys, water scoops, and hats. If you're a bear, that is!

That afternoon saw us back at the brewery for lunch and hiking through the rainforest. This was unlike any other hike we had done as we constantly came upon huge beautifully carved totem poles. They are just along the trail, and we learned a little about the history of them. We also learned a little about the surfing off Baranof island, some of the best on the west coast. In case you're wondering, a wetsuit IS necessary unless you like swimming in mid 40s water. Brrrrrrrr!

The next day we were to leave on the 4:00 ferry. We spent a little time downtown going through the galleries, and I found a book at their bookstore that I had been looking for in every town since Talkeetna. Way to come through for me Sitka! We also hit up the Back Door Cafe on the recommendation from my friend Robyn.

We were sad to head to the ferry, yet ready to hit the next adventure. We stopped at the grocery to load up since we would be on the ferry for three nights. We had earlier picked up a couple pieces of smoked salmon and kept them frozen so we could snack on it the next couple of days. I knew as we wound down our trip and headed inland again, the opportunities to have such amazing, fresh seafood would dwindle with distance--we got it while we could.

 

South Eastern Alaska and the AMHS--Part 1

On our first ferry ride. This would be the only time we were given this amount of space to tie down the bikes. The other 2 boats would find us tying down awkwardly, side by side. Never mind the fact that we paid for 20 feet of length on the boats!




I love Haines! Let me start with that. It is a darling little town that is not owned by the cruise lines. Several towns along the inside passage are, and the one we visited was completely not interesting to us. Our original plan was to go to Skagway, but we kept meeting people who said we should go to Haines instead. So we took everyone's advice and changed our plans.

We rolled into Haines and stopped at the visitor center to chat with one of the most helpful people we had yet encountered. She told us about two different campgrounds and we chose the state park campground. It was beautiful, and once again we had the whole campground to ourselves.

We had been given a coupon book at the visitors center, and directions to the Haines Brewing Company. It was located at the fairgrounds, in one of the buildings in the set built for White Fang. The brewmaster was a kick and we had a great time talking beer and trying tasters. Down at the end of the set was a pizza joint. We headed there and had a dinner of really fantastic pizza.

One of the truly amazing things we saw in Haines were the bald eagles. Not the ones at the American Bald Eagle Foundation (which was a bit of a let down, to be honest) but the ones flying over our heads and out over the bay on the way to and from our campsite. We had to catch our first ferry on the American Marine Highway System on the afternoon of our second day in Haines, so we rode to the opposite end of town from our campground where we heard there were more of them and bears. We were not disappointed at all! Sat and watched bears for a good hour,but also got to see more bald eagles.

Later in the afternoon, we headed for the ferry dock and got ready for our first trip. It would take about 7 hours,dropping us off in Juneau. Although this was not our destination, we had to stop there to change boats in order to get to Sitka. We would be in Juneau from 11pm to 8am. We needed to be at the ferry dock between 6 and 6:30 to get checked in and in line, so that left us a few hours in the middle of the night during which we needed to get some sleep.

As we were undoing the straps holding down the bikes, one of the crew members told us about some picnic sites on the coast with covered tables. He said they were large and really nice, with enough room underneath to pitch a tent. We rode off the boat and found the sites pretty easily. We left the bikes up on the road (after checking to make sure there were no "No Camping" signs anywhere) and walked down a slippery staircase, in the rain (duh), and found one of the picnic pagodas. The coast was really beautiful--what we could see in the midnight twilight and rain--and we quickly set up the tent and got a few hours sleep.

We made it to the ferry dock in time to talk with a few motorbikers on their way north. In the parking lot, in the rain, I talked to the first female rider I had seen on the trip. She was a little older than me and much more interested in talking to Josh, so we didn't talk about much. But it was good to see another female motorbiker. We told them about road conditions up north and what the weather had been like. W wished them luck and they loaded up.

We had another half hour to wait before we loaded, so we spent it playing silly games and smacking each other in the helmet like children, much to the amusement of the other passengers dry and warm in their cars. We were on the "fast ferry" that morning, a catamaran, and it took about 4 hours to get to Sitka. As it was early afternoon, we drove downtown, parked at the visitors center and wandered. It was good to get off the boat and we were ready for our 3 days on Baranof Island.

 

A Fond Farewell to the Interior

We left Seward and headed back north, through Anchorage and Palmer, to Gakona where we spent the night. We stopped in Anchorage at the REI to see if we could replace the neck gaiter I lost in Talkeetna (sad!). In the store, an employee recognized my jacket as motorcycle gear and asked if I needed help. It turns out he is on the ADV Rider forum all the time, and was really happy to hear that we were taking time to really see Alaska, rather than just ride up, ride the Dalton Highway, and ride right home. He said at is what the majority of riders do. Although I understand that one does what one has time and money to do, I feel sad to hear that. We really loved interior Alaska, so we explored for a couple more days before leaving.

We stopped in Palmer at The Musk Ox Farm. It is a not-for-profit farm promoting the use of Quiviut fiber and Native Alaskan talent. The fiber is the warmest in the world and freakishly expensive. It is actually a hair, rather than a fur/wool fiber, so it is actually wearable by anyone and will not cause allergic reactions. Did I mention it is freakishly expensive? It runs $75-85 for a TINY skein. They were raffling off a blanket (at $10 per raffle ticket) which was worth $10,000.00. That is not a typo! I just reread to make sure. Anyway, the animals are fun and we thought about bringing one home because they eat dandelions, and we grow them really well.

We camped that night in Gakona at the Historic Gakona Roadhouse. It said they had camping, so we stopped and asked. The owner of the roadhouse, restaurant, and bar (who is a transplant from Wyoming named Greg and an all around nice guy) said we could just put our tent up wherever we liked. He didn't charge us anything at all, and we had a beautiful spot on the river right behind the bar. It had rained all day (I know, you're really surprised at this point) so we headed into the bar and joined two employees and a couple of grizzled locals for the evening. We found out the Kings had won the Stanley Cup, and we enjoyed the company of everyone. Although we were just gol-danged tourists, old Smoky, one of the locals, bought us drinks!

It rained the whole next day of riding, so we stopped short in Tok and got a hotel room behind Fast Eddie's restaurant. When we pulled into Fast Eddie's, there were two BMW GS bikes. Josh went to talk to the guy on the 1200 and e guy on the F650GS came over to talk to me. His name is Dave Coe, and he is blogging about his trip also. Check him out at http://daversadventuretravels.blogspot.com. He was in Whitehorse, on tour with some musicians, and decided to extend his trip. We spent a couple of hours standing outside (the rain had finally stopped for a bit!) talking about our bikes and the modifications we had each made, and we also discovered that he used to work with a singer we like (IAN, PAY ATTENTION TO THIS!) named Corb Lund. We had a good time chatting, and headed our separate ways. Us to our hotel room to dry out, and Dave, along with about another dozen guys who came and went on GSs, heading north to Fairbanks and the Dalton Highway.

The next day saw us leaving interior Alaska to head back into Yukon Territory and B.C. I was really sad to leave,but couldn't think about it much as the Al-Can Highway was a disaster through that section, and no surprise, it was raining! We met the one, crabby Canadian at the border, and quickly moved on to Kluane Lake. By the time we got there, it had stopped raining (happy dance!) and the sun was shining (fall over in a dead faint). We camped at Cottonwood Campground and it was super lovely. The lake is beautiful, and we had a great time. They even had a nine hole hand made golf course with tough holes!

When we moved on the next day, we turned off the Al-Can at Haines Junction and headed south to Haines where we would be catching the ferry. That was our coldest day of riding as we drove over a mountain pass. We got snowed on. Just a little, but still! Come on! It was the MIDDLE OF JUNE! On the backside of the pass, we dropped from 3200 ft of elevation to about 1200 ft in a matter of a couple of miles where we warmed up, and re-entered the U.S. and south eastern Alaska.

We had a very stern border official who questioned Josh and then headed to me.

BORDER GUARD: Do you have any firearms or weapons?

ME: No

BORDER GUARD: Do you have any citrus?


ME: No

BORDER GUARD: Do you have any plants?


ME: No

BORDER GUARD: Do you have a runny nose?


ME: (laughing) YES!

BORDER GUARD: Have a nice trip!


And on to Haines we rode.

 

Bear--Part Two!

I know I'm getting a little ahead of myself here, but I thought I would share this story. I am currently sitting in a bed and breakfast in Sitka waiting for the hot tub to be available. Now, we are pretty well budget travelers (24 nights of camping on this trip so far), but after our first night here, we chose to not camp anymore on this island.

We got here and actually found THE MOST BEAUTIFUL CAMPSITE EVER! Sitka is in a rainforest and we had a campsite in the rainforest, right on the edge of a bay. It was misting lightly when we set up camp,but by the time we went to find the artesian well to get water, it was raining. And I mean raining.

Eventually we found shelter to make dinner under and we enjoyed a great salmon dinner. Fresh, right out of the water, king salmon for $8.99/lb. Eat your heart out. Oh wait, we did! We packed everything up, put everything into the bear locker, and headed off to bed.

(We do not, and have not, kept any food, toiletries, or other scented items on the bikes or in our tent. It all goes into our "bear box" or into the dishes bag and these items are either put into a bear locker at night, or if one is not available, we hang it all in a tree far from our campsite.)

The next morning, when Josh came back from the bathroom, he said both bikes had been knocked over by the bear. We knew he was around and had actually seen him the evening before. We also knew, after talking to the forest service camp host, that he was very young, curious, and easy to chase away. We didn't feel like we would be threatened at all, but apparently he wanted to play with the motorcycles. No damage was done to Josh's bike,but he scratched and dented my pannier that previously had no scratches or dents. We are not sure it will be water tight anymore either. And, there are more scratches on my helmet.

So, because the bikes are all we have got for the many miles left until we get home, we chose to move into town and out of bear territory. There is no camping in town, and though we could have tried the other end of town, it was still pretty risky. The bear population here is about 1.2 bears per square mile. That is a lot of bears!

I think the hot tub is free, so I'm running off now! More to come later!

The Glacier State

This state has a LOT of glaciers! So many, it is truly amazing. Most of them are much smaller than they were even a hundred years ago, but they are impressive nevertheless. Once we left Talkeetna, we spent the next four nights camping at the base of glaciers.

The first day we drove through Anchorage and turned off onto the Portage Glacier Highway. The entire drive south of Anchorage was amazingly beautiful! Turnagain Arm, mountain range after mountain range, and bald eagles made the drive seem almost unreal. There is an area called the Ghost Forest where there are stands of long dead spruce trees standing in marsh land. In 1964, the Good Friday Earthquake made the ground sink 6-10 feet, flooding it with salt water from the inlet and killing off the vegetation. New vegetation has come back which tolerates the salt water, but the old spruce trees remain, tall and bleached white--ghosts of what used to be.

We turned off the main highway and headed toward Portage glacier, deciding to camp at one of two campgrounds. The choices were a campground in the middle of black bear territory, or a campground named for the 110 mph winds that are often encountered there.

Okay, here's a quiz. Who knows Louise? Which one did she choose? Possible death or dismemberment by a bear, or really strong winds?

That's right, folks! She chose the bears!

I really hate wind, and true to our campground's name, that was the night we discovered fresh bear scat near our campsite. I slept like a baby though--there was no wind! We hiked out a little that night and found ourselves at the base of a little glacier we didn't even know was there. Our campsite was settled nicely right between two of them. It was chilly.

The next day we continued south to Seward, along with a large number of RVs. We rode a number of mountain passes heading directly into some of the strongest winds we had yet encountered. We got into Seward and asked at the visitors center if the super strong winds were normal. No. Of course not. It is usually breezy, as are most coastal towns, but what we rode in against was highly unusual. On the plus side, it did not rain that day!

We camped at the base of Exit Glacier and spent the next couple of days hiking to the glacier, hiking out to Tonsina Point, exploring the town and the Sealife Center (disappointing if you grew up with the Monterrey Bay Aquarium as that which you judge all others by) and taking a 7 1/2 hour ship tour of the Kenai Fjords National Park. Now that was amazing! We saw huge numbers of humpback whales, orcas, porpoises, seals, sea lions, and every kind of sea bird Alaska has to offer, including two kinds of Puffins! We also saw a number of glaciers and got up close to a tidewater glacier that very kindly calved for us. The ship's crew pulled in some glacier ice and made Glacieritas for those who were interested! Yum!

Our last night in Seward saw the bear attack on the bikes. We weren't too bothered by it, and quite honestly, one can't purchase souvenirs like that! A large adventure tour group of about a dozen or so people, out of Anchorage, had camped at the campground that night. Judging by the amount of food left all over the communal eating area the next morning by this group, I am pretty sure I know why the bear came around. I am also guessing he showed up the next night too. That's okay though, we were off on our next segment of Alaska and what would be the last couple of days in Interior Alaska.

 

Side Notes 4

Mosquitos: We've heard the stories and the jokes. You know, Alaska's unofficial state bird--the mosquito. Take a head net, or a full body net. Sculptures of enormous mosquitos at visitors centers and in front of tourist stores. We chose not to camp at Wonder Lake Campground in Denali due to the horrific swarms. However, we have gotten quite lucky. Because of the late winter/spring here in AK (and also in Canada) the Mosquitos have been totally manageable. Four weeks in and we've only had to use the Deet about 3 times. We've still got a couple of weeks left to go, but we will be keeping our fingers crossed for that same luck.

Female Riders: I was chatting with someone today, and I said something like, "In four weeks of riding, I haven't seen another female rider." I've seen a couple of women riding pillion with other men, but not one single woman riding her own bike. I even thought there was a man riding up with a woman in a sidecar today, but it turned out to be a man in the sidecar too. Now, I know that with all my gear on, and my hair pulled back and tucked into my jacket, it's probably tough to tell I'm a woman. But really, there have been no other women. Part of the reason I have written this blog was to let women know how great trips like this are. I hope I can see more chicks on bikes soon!

Moose Poo Update: We tried it! We grabbed a handful of moose poo and tossed it in the campfire. Well, I did. Josh just looked stemlike I was crazy. But hey, what if we found a great fire material? As it turned out, it took a minute to catch, then burned hot and died into a glowing coal. I think it would make the perfect burn material for making, as Josh and Ian call them, Hobo Dinners or perfectly roasted marshmallows. But...I don't really want to cook my dinner or dessert over flaming poo, so I've given up the moose poo fire fuel idea. I know you were dying to know.

Skijoring: Have you heard of this? You put on cross country skis and attach yourself to a mushing dog by a long bungee and they go like hell. I can't wait to get a mushing dog!!!

Bear!

I sleep really soundly, unless there is a strange noise that doesn't belong--like a skunk in the dining room eating the cat food, a raccoon in the kitchen eating the cat food, or a bear in the parking lot eating my motorcycle. Yup, it happened at around 3:00, the morning of June 11 in Seward, and though I heard the bear pounding on things and walking around, I didn't know he decided my helmet was a play toy.

When Josh woke up half an hour later (I was still awake thanks to the adrenaline rushing through my system) and said he was going to the bathroom, I said, "Take the bear spray!" he replied that he wasn't going that far. Oh right, that whole, "I'm a boy, I pee where I want" thing. The next morning, Josh was out of the tent and heading to the cooking area. I emerged from the tent a few minutes later to Josh walking back and telling me a bear had gotten to the bikes.

WHAT!?!

He said they were fine, but I should go look. My bike was on it's center stand (this is a good thing. Had it been on it's side stand he would have knocked it over) and he moved the back end of the 500lb bike over several inches. The bear chewed one of Josh's grips, and then decided it didn't taste very good. (This is, of course, all assumption as I did not actually talk to the bear about these things!)

 

The bear tried my seat and apparently came to the same conclusion.

 

He also played with my mirrors, smashing them both into positions they should never be!

And the helmet. I think he thought it was a toy. He scratched the shit out of the left side, pulled the center padding out, (which is easily put back in but now has a greasy bear nose print) and chewed on the back padding. Thankfully, the chewing at the back missed the wires for the Sena headset, and other than a few scratches it came out relatively unharmed.

I guess I have two things to say: 1. Better the bikes and helmet than us! 2. That is as close to a bear as we need to come.