Alaska and Yukon Adventure (AYT170A)

A scenic ride across the big north! This long adventure with our very kind group of Taiwan with Manuel (Italy) and Mark (USA) in the lead has just finished! I have collected a few of the hundreds of memories.. follow us in this big trip! Many greetings to our fantastic riding group: Robin, Julin, Tala, Trina, Captain, Adam, Tomy, May... thank you for travelling with us and we hope to see you soon! Day 1: Welcome to Alaska! The airport has already quite some charm, with a small plane (the most - and often only - way to reach remote areas in the bush) hanging form the ceiling! Day 2: Anchorage - Valdez Our first riding day will bring us along the Portage glacier highway to Whittier, where we will embark on a 6 hours ferry ride across the Prinz William Sound, reaching Valdez in the evening. So many glaciers along the way! Day 3: Valdez - Tok Today we cross Thomson Pass along a nice gorge with steep dark montains, reaching the little junction town Tok in the late afternoon. Day 4: Tok - Haines Junction Today endless forests and some pretty long straight roads: not the best fun to ride but we need to cover long distances in this enormous country! Plenty of nature surrounding us... and today we are gonna cross the border and enter the Yukon territory in Alaska! Day 5: Haines Junction - Skagway It was meant to be an easy and short day, arriving in Skagway around mid afternoon but a truck had an accident just before Whitehorse, spilling lots of fuel on the road causing a total block of 5 hours. And no, no alternative ways of any sort, not even through the forest. Day 6: Skagway - Whitehorse We backtrack again the wonderful White Pass, leaving Alaska and returning to Canada. After a nice lunch stop in Carcross (which stands for Caribou crossing, watch out!) we arrive in Whitehose, one of the old stop along the route towards Dawson and the search for gold. Day 7: Whitehorse - Dawson The old Gold Rush town of Dawson is really fascinating: here the pioneer ambience is surely still intact! Today we have a very long ride to get there and we pass through immense forests and a few lakes. Not so many options for lunch and gas, you better fill up gas when you can, and eat when you find the only restaurant open! Day 8: Loop day in Dawson Finally a break from the long rides, only about 65 miles today. First a panoramic overview of Dawson and the Yukon river, then visiting Claim33 and a big dredge. Full Gold Rush mood today, ah some fun gravel roads like the Upper Bonanza River. Day 9: Dawson - Tok We have such a great road ahead of us: after a short ferry ride (fre of charge, how nice!) across the river we ride the 60 miles of the Top of World highway, mostly hardpack and gravel with grand views on both sides of the road. Day 10: Tok - Fairbanks Going west and reaching North Pole! Yes, you did read right, North Pole, the home of Santa. Not really the magnetic pole, not even the geographical pole, but a town named accordingly... Destination for tonight is Fairbanks, our northernmost point during the tour. Day 11: Fairbanks - Denali Riding south today and we reach Denali National Park for lunch time, allowing us a relaxing afternoon learning new things at the visitor centre and then following the ranger for a guided natural walk. Day 12: Denali - Anchorage The last day has arrived: after more than 2200 miles we are riding back towards where we started! So many sights, so much nature behind us.. Alaska and Yukon are truly a nature-lover delight!