Jasper and Banff - must be on the bucket list for touring destinations.

[MacDoc]

Plans for the cross country on the Burgman in June got cancelled in favour of a road trip with Aussie GF and I - train to Edmonton, rent a car and head through Banff and Jasper

When we went out to a moraine lake we saw a pair riding the same direction on a couple of small dirt bikes.
Thought the trailing rider was a girl from the narrow shoulders ( later confirmed ).
She was struggling a bit with corners and riding very cautiously which was not a big issue given the road speeds and the scenery.

Well my respect level went up big time when we got a closer look at the gear and the licence plate at the moraine lake we were visiting.

Jasper is a long ride on a small bike for a new rider from Alaska - let alone camping the whole way.
She was really tiny and so was the bike. Kudo's to a brave girl.

This was the attraction - worth the visit.... could not capture the entire scene...and yes the lakes are that crazy blue - not enhanced at all.

Now aside from the obvious scenery...this is why this area should be high on the bucket list.

In addition to these pics was a black bear as well we didn't get to photograph.
And this is just day one. IF you are camping you really have to be bear aware in the extreme. There are grizzlies and cubs around and lots of black bear ....

The roads are lovely tho can be crowded around the attractions and you have to be hyper-alert on both the wild life and the sudden stopping of cars to photograph it.

So cuddly ya just wanna pick him up....

not the greatest idea with mum around

Speaking of cute..

and then they grow up

we were quite glad to have a largish vehicle between us and him.

All these animals are wild in Banff and Jasper National Parks in BC/ Alberta

The griz looks dangerously close but we were on a chair lift about 4m off the ground. Because of the slant of the slope it looks eye level. Everything else was up close and personal....and the same could happen with a grizzly. Enjoy but ride safe and camp smart.

This was about a 300 km day from Banff to Jasper along the Bow River. Get out there!!!

Of course the bikes get special treatment and that's realllly special given the distance to some of the cage parking lots

 

[RockerGuy]

Not bad, I just toured Yellowstone National park. Nothing they don't have.

 

[Riceburner]

Some beautiful country. I've ridden and driven the area, but trail riding it would be so much more...

 

[MacDoc]

Yeah - off road bike or bicycle woud be superb.

Bit of scenery and wildlife


Now an hour south of Whitehorse Yukon after a long day from Burns Lake BC


Seems such a short time ago we were still in Jasper enjoying Lake Maligne - long haul - was fried when we got into bed last night ....not so bad tonight.

11.30 pm - very light out

Our list for the last two days
Fox - could not get a shot
Big horn sheep
Grizzly bear
Black bear
couple of deer sauntering across the road in front of us.


Surprised by Longhorn along the road

Black bear quite casual

hilight of the day - a gorgeous young Alaska Brown about 50' away -

something good here

- he sent the chips flying

**** all gone

Time to move on - he was so gorgeous with that ruff

Saw a lot of bikes and bicycles going up BC 16 and then across The Stewart-Cassiar HWY 37 to the Alaska Highway.

Rough in some areas and a bit of gravel but superb scenery and wildlife, some twists better suited to adventure bike suspension. Most of the road fine at 100-120+

Bicyclists are crazy......that's pretty remote.

 

[NightShadow]

Some nice pics Mac - Also the 93 just north of Lake Louise to Jasper is a spectacular ride - Fabulous roads - Scenery is unbelievable and the lakes are very blue in color just like your pic. Hope you are heading up that way as you will miss a lot if you don't.

 

[MacDoc]

Yes we did head up there and it's a fabulous route.More pics when we get time.
RIght now Whitehorse beckons

 

[inreb]

Pics of girlfriend for context? Nice trip btw, did up to Jasper early '80's. Can relate.

 

[MacDoc]

Warning to riders going to Tok - there is an hour's worth of nasty just before the Alaska border. Many km of gravel and rough pavement - has pilot vehicles take people through.

There was a convoy of 20 or so Brazilian riders on an escorted Harley Tour - glad we were waved ahead.
Not fun for them, worse for the bicylists which there were many.

GF? Have to catch Jude on the fly...camera shy heading for some needed r&r after a long day.



our little cabin in the woods
Very nice for $119 all in with breakfast and a proper espresso machine in the kitchen.



Thought we got skunked on wild life....then ....more later
A little too close to a grizzly

 

[inreb]

:thumbup: livin' the life......

 

[Chasem]

Nice pictures MacDoc!

 

[MacDoc]

Thanks - enjoying it while we can....now this young adult grizzly looks like something out of Disney = smelling the flowers n all - he's about 6m away in thi shot.

a bit closer and angling our way - still not minding us at all...Jude shooting from the open window.

My what big claws you have....

Now there is a little detail on the this shot.
The camera is on full auto and the closest range it can focus is 6' ....less than 2m.
I'm sitting in the drivers side and I can no longer see the bear

You'll notice this shot is out of focus.....ergo said Alaska Brown Bear is inside that 6' focus.

Next thing I know is his head pops up just outside the window as he starts to stand to see what goodies are in the meat locker aka SUV that smells so good.

Jude was looking him straight in the eye, she swears the window was part way up....I didn't notice that detail.
..just a very large bear head coming up very close to what appeared to me to be an open window.

Hit the accelerator and flying stones and "Are you crazy" yell from me and the bear was gone.....Jude is kiilling herself laughing mostly at my reaction.

THAT is way too close to bear quite happy to dine on both of us.....she said he wasn't that close, I have photographic proof....it was inside the zoom focus.

So only one close encounter with Alaska wildlife today....perhaps a tad too close.

 

[MacDoc]

Oh my what a day... a young humpback put on an aerial display for us for an hour.

and the Columbia Glacier decided to respond...

There is no way photos are adequate for either of these.
Must add to the trip is to Valdez and hit the Lulu Belle cruise Best $125 every sent - all day cruise through absolutely spectacular scenery and wildlife, whales, sea lions, sea otters and a stunning and active glacier and all surrounded by the Wrangell- St.Elias mountains.

Would be a fabulous bike tour and there was dozens doing so....

not in winter tho....

The winter of 1989-90 is in the record books as the snowiest winter ever for Valdez with a total of 560.7 inches (46 feet) of snowfall. A daily record was set on January 16, 1990 with 45.7 inches of snowfall in just 24 hours!. And on January 17, 1990 a new snow depth record of 108 inches was set in Valdez.

 

[MotoBini]

Those are spectacular pictures, thank you very much for sharing!

 

[MacDoc]

My pleasure and hopefully inspire some spectacular rides too. Many many bikes up here.

Yeah - it was worth the trade off tho - was going to do cross continent on the Burgman and up through Banff and Jasper but this worked out better use of time and funds.
More fun and cost effective for two to share travel expenses especially when it's exotic.


Will do more east coast US shorter rides ( 2-4 days ) when I get home.
It is sooooo cheap to tour the mid US like PA compared to almost anywhere in the world.
Fuel, shelter and food is ultra cheap. Even without camping you can usually get away with $100 a day all in or less for 5-600 km of riding, a motel and basic food.


We were beat today tho. DId that cruise the pictures above are from that arrived back at port at 7pm then drove 700 KM to our next destination that was booked arrived 1.30 am
The good thing is you can drive and ride all night this time of year. This is midnight on the road to anchorage.

Tired puppies but it's very light all night - enough to read by.


The Wrangell National Park is the largest for the US - even bigger than Yellowstone and the mountains and glaciers are breathtaking. We were both overwhelmed - oohing and ahhing even tho tired and late at night.


Then we had to drive another 140 km at 7am this morning to get to the Kenai Fjord sealife cruise which was not as spectacular ( that was purely dumb luck with the performing whale and the glacier MOre pics soon.


But still lots to see and photograph. Just got in - tomorrow is take it easy day before we go to Denali.


You really need an adventure bike and longer time frames to do Alaska.
Banff and Jasper and Victoria Island/Vancouver are fine on a road machine.


The smart money would be to come up the marine highway along the inside passage.

 

[MacDoc]

Took a much needed two day break at Tok Alaska. Before heading back into Canada.
Tgought we got skunked on wild life today but at 10.30 PM the biggest elk I've ever seen was standing in a small clearing along the road. Huge animal and even bigger rack than the one in Jasper.
We tried to stop and get back for a photo but he melted back into the bush - was a major elk herd region for the Yukon.

The a coyote scampered across the highway 10 mintues later....enough excitement to carry us the last 90k to Whitehorse.

Dawson City was neat - they've preserved it very well.
Pics and stories tomorrow - long day that started late and the Top of the World highway from Tok across to Dawson CIty was
a) not paved for about 40 miles
b) it was raining.
c) it was foggy.

If you are going to do it - be warned. There were some very muddy adventure riders. 850 k day and finally settled in Whitehorse at 11 pm but we got started at 11 am.

 

[MacDoc]

Left Whitehorse after a lovely espresso and munchies at a cafe next to the legendary station.

lovely expansive scenery with showers the Tstorms looming off in the distance.

One of the more intense rainbows - the ultraviolet very clear

Some consideration was given to staking a claim .....

Then followed the craziest day yet for bears ( 20 or so ) and moose, and bison and mountain goats and !!!!! WTF Caribou??????!!

the bear version of "in the clover"....there were bears munching everywhere

It had loomed darker and darker as we came down the centre of the valley at Muncho National Park and then the deluge - this lovely bull moose decided to have a afternoon munch in his salad bowl.

Your can see how hard it is raining.

Out of the doom and gloom and into the kingdom of the Muncho Bison herd presided over by this giant.

keeping an eye on the future contenders - there were several dozen wandering the highway

playing silly buggers in dust wallows

mountain goats were down for salt along the road

as was this very unexpected caribou

followed by one of the wildest storms in the mountains just after we pulled in

never quite have seen something like this....severe enough to close the highway we just came in on

and then 3.30 am ...ready for another long day in the wilds heading to Yellowknife

There were many riders and not a few spots I'd even be leery of with an adventure bike....serious mud in construction zones and slippery and uneven even with a 4x4
Our vehicle had been rock solid in anything up till the latest mud wallows on the way through the BC Mountains near Muncho Lake. Worth it tho and most of the highway is gorgeous with some seriously nice twists as well

Just in this AM - a motorcycle traveling the opposite way as us collided with one of the mountain goats head on - he walked away limping and got into the same place we are at 1 am after hitching a ride.
Bike was not rideable and he said his Alaska trip was cancelled

 

[Jayell]

those snow walls are 20m high

You sure that's not the snow wall in Japan?

Looks like a fine trip; great photos.

 

[MacDoc]

yes it is - there were two pics on same page - will correct.

 

[MacDoc]

hack hack - cough...joyous Yellowknife



hmmm



yep




ground escort






the air cavalry



lurid - you bet

 

[MacDoc]

Took a long time to shed the smoke from the fires around Yellowknife. Now in Peace River AB on a bright sunny day at 25 degrees with white fluffy clouds.

Finally got skunked on wild mega fauna tho yesterday a very large black bear loped across the road through the smoke not far out of Yellowknife and there was a smaller bear later on grazing along the highway into Hay River....likely not a destination to bother with.

Getting decent coffee on a Sunday in Alberta small towns is a no go tho there are a couple excellent ones open tomorrow here in Peace River.
We hauled out the French press with our cache of Reunion Island bullet espresso we kept for emergencies
and with the micro wave and some milk purloined from the excellent snack room at the Super8 ( nothing but good things to say about this chain ) got our daily fix a tad late. Good muffins from the free snackery completed the caffiene fix.

A leisurely drive to Edmonton tomorrow for the midnight train back to Toronto. .

A totally unexpected treat tho in Manning Ab ...a reaaaalllly small burg and we were hungry so went for a soup at the local Asian food restaurant.

Sing's Restaurant.
This review sort of sums it up.
http://www.yelp.ca/biz/sings-reaurant-manning

Just a fantastic enhanced wonton soup with chicken, beef and prawns, chinese lettuce, brocolli, carrots, - lovely presentation and the two of us were stuffed for the princely sum of $13.95 tax in.

For a hungry pair of touring riders it's good food for little money.....and ours was the small we shared !!!
Called War Wonton Soup ( who knows ??!! ).

Ya never can tell.

On the west side of the main highway through town. Leisurely drive down from High Level through pretty farming country and this was an unexpected catch.

Today clicked over 10,000 km from when we left Edmonton so touring riders can get an idea of what they undertaking once they get near the Rockies around Calgary.

Of course there is lots more than we did but with 3 weeks to tour west Alberta ( Jasper Banff, up through the Yellowhead and the major aspects of SW Alaska and a bit of the interior it should be fine.
The long daylight this time of year really stretched touring and sight seeing time.

Yellowknife was a toss in that we are glad we got to see despite the smoke.