Early morning Wake up call!

I am going to have to quit camping on picnic tables, when I first met this fellow he woke me up and was less than 12" from my face!
He was not in nearly the hurry to leave my campsite as I was!
One of 6 bears which I saw this morning.
After I thought it was all clear, I found this big fella walking up the road!
This is the place that I stopped to clean myself up and take a shit "out" of the woods.
View of Kulane Lake in Yukon Canada
Road Construction at Kulane Lake.
Fish wheel on the way to Haines AK
A stereotypical Alaskan Road House.
Haines Elks Lodge

Haines Alaska!


Well it has been a busy few days to say the least, ripe with hardship, adventure and as always stunning scenery!

I left Palmer Alaska on Monday morning knowing that I needed to cover some serious miles so I could make it in time to board the Ferry at Haines on the 10th. I was a little concerned as I had changed my rear tire and thought I might have pinched the tube when I was putting the tire back on, thank goodness that was not the case, and the tire has been perfect ever since I left. I was a good thing that I had new tread on, as the ride from Palmer to Tok was in a constant downpour, not only was it raining and pooling on the road, but the temperature never got over 40 degrees, and at higher elevations it was sleeting. There were no towns of size and the 330 mile ride took almost 9 hours, when I got to Tok I was completely soaked and frozen. Thank god my bike ran like the trooper she is, we had no problems and I pushed her to the limit.

Tuesday morning when I woke up it was still raining, I had 275 miles to go to get to Haines Jct, and knew that the last 40 miles of the highway on the Alaska side was in poor shape, as was the first 100 miles on the Canadian side as I had ridden over them a few weeks back. Luckily the skies cleared up about an hour into the ride and while there were some bad areas of construction and delays, it was a fairly enjoyable ride into Haines Jct. I stopped into a cafe and had dinner and then went to the hotel that I had stayed at a few weeks earlier to get a room, for some reason their rates had jumped $25.00! There were no cars there at all and I tried everything I could to get a better rate, but the lady would not budge, so I got pissed off and left.

The weather was nice and I new that the ride into Haines would only be about 170 miles so I picked up a bottle of wine, gassed up and headed to the next picnic table I could find. About 10 miles out of town I found a nice little camping area about 100 yards off of the road, complete with a picnic table, and a fire ring. There were a couple of other spots close by, but no one else showed up. I drank the bottle of wine and explored around a bit, as it was still day light out, (as always) I knew I would not sleep well, so I took an "Ambien" yes I know that you are not supposed to take them with alcohol, because it enhances the effect, but I knew other wise I would not sleep well. I put my pad out on the picnic table, got out my sleeping bag and covered up with my tarp in case it rained. As usual I left my riding gear on and kept my helmet on to keep out the mosquitoes.

Well the sleeping pill worked, I crashed out and had all kinds of weird dreams, the last dream I had I was rescuing Whitney Houston from a tornado, it was back when she was good looking and not a strung out "Crack" head. The next thing I know, I smelled something gosh awful and heard a weird noise, when I opened my eyes, there he was looking right into the visor of my helmet! (600lbs of Canadian Grizzly bear) At first I thought I as still dreaming, when I jerked up, he backed up a few feet, I raised up my helmet shield and there was no doubt that I was not dreaming. I yelled at him and he sauntered off a few feet, I emphasis sauntered, not run. I edged off of the picnic table keeping it between him and me. I grabbed my stuff and shoved it into the gap that my spare tire I have been carrying created on my motorcycle. I had been keeping my camera with me at all times, so I snapped a couple of quick picks! Some times my motorcycle is hard to start in the morning, but this morning she knew that I needed her, I put on the choke and she started right up, as I took off I gave the bear a shot of my air horn, he just looked up and gave me a look, like "Just get the hell out of here before I change my mind!" He never moved more than 20 feet away.

I got back up to the road and drove down about 200 yards, then packed my gear up in my side boxes. Still shaking I drove down the highway a few miles then on the side of the road, there was a big black bear, I slowed down and took a quick pic on the fly. Within the next 10 miles a saw another black bear and two Cinnamon black bears. You can tell the difference between black bears, Cinnamon black bears and grizzly bears, first of all the black bears are smaller and will run off, the grizzly bears are twice the size and have a big hump on the back of their shoulders, I think that is where they store the fat from people they have eaten! After I thought I had seen it all a few more miles down the road, I came around a bend and there was another grizzly bear walking up the middle of the road, I took a quick pic and gave him a blast of the air horn and he ran off.

Surprisingly enough I had not evacuated my bowels by this time, but nature was calling, I was not going to use my back country bathroom skills along this stretch of road, I finally came across a rest area with primative facilities and used them. While I was there some other motorcyclists I have been running into over the past few days pulled In. I asked them if they had seen any bears this morning, and in a disappointed tone said "no". I told them my story and showed them my pictures. We talked a while took a few pics of each other and I told them to go ahead of me and maybe they would see some bears. For the next 50 miles to the border crossing I did not see another bear. I caught up with the other motorcyclists and they had seen 4 on their way ahead of me.

The next 40 miles into Haines was uneventful, I was very beautiful, I stopped at an old road house and had a great breakfast, and along the river saw many people fishing and a number of fishing wheels that they use to catch salmon. When I got into town I found a reasonably priced hotel, (No picnic tables tonight) and also spotted an Elks Lodge. Some I am resting up tonight, and trying to stay warm, I have just not been able to stay warm for the last few days due to the weather. Thursday I will hop onto a Ferry and spend a couple of days going down the inside passage. Alaska is quickly disappearing into the rear view mirror, it has been quite a ride, not quite over but getting close. After I get back to the lower 48 I will write a separate log entry after this part of the journey has had an opportunity to "sink" in.

Tim