Destruction Bay, Yukon, Canada. September 21, 2014

DAY 1

I was looking at the long and lonely roads, hundreds of miles between town and with a population of thirty thousand, there are certainly more bears than people in The Yukon. It really didn't cross my mind that I would actually make it down here.

The rain began at Kluane Lake, right after I decided to be a hero and test my “waterproof” shoes by walking through the water to take a shot of the lake (above). They failed the test.\

After the legendary Haul Road and cycling through Denali National Park, I thought that the last bit would be boring and uneventful.
And that's when I met Sarah. Last year I had found a video of a woman who cycled through Europe and Asia and then rowed across the Pacific Ocean. That was her!
She completed her row across the pacific on the second try and kayaked the Aleutian islands of Alaska. Then she began riding her bike from Homer. I was glad to be able to share this gloomy, rainy day with someone else. Riding side-by-side and talking, looking back for trucks and racing down the hills, the day went by very fast.

Rain turned to snow but that didn't matter, we were both having a blast. We decided to camp at a trailhead beside the Alaska Highway.
Suddenly two Argos (8-wheelers) rolled in, carrying a moose. I am not sure who was more surprised, us seeing them come down the trail or them seeing two people on bicycles in the middle of nowhere.

Up until last year I've never camped in my life and have never seen a bear. I also have never made a campfire. When Sarah learned that she showed me how to make one, despite the rain and the cold.

AY 2

The morning was cold but there was no rain, we had unknowingly camped at the highest elevation between Homer and Whitehorse.
I've heard many cyclists complaining about the traffic, the trucks and RV's. But the truth is they are all very, very nice.

We got to Haines Junction where we'd have to go out own ways: me to Haines and on the ferry south and Sarah was going to Whitehorse and across Canada and USA to New York, then rowing across the Atlantic Ocean.

Down the Haines highway, I met a man riding bikes with his 4 year old daughter. They later drove up to me.
“We saw that you have license plates on your bike, so we brought you one.”
The little girl was holding a Yukon license plate. I proceeded to explain that I used to have one but decided not to carry them since it would get too heavy. The girl looked at her dad and said:
“So he doesn't want the plate?”
As of writing this (some 7 months later), this is my biggest regret. If I could go back in time and change something, I would take that plate.

DAY 3

Tick-tock. Two more days until my ferry leaves. I had to make good time if I wanted to make it to Haines and do the hikes I wanted to do.

The wind was not cooperating but the scenery more than made up for it.

A short bike ride up an old mining road took me to a hidden lake.

Problem? Can't see the lake? That's why it's a hidden lake!

Pringle Mountain up ahead. Not bad for being named after a potato chip.

Although I've seen many eagles it's rare to get a good shot when they are in the air.

A gravel truck going down a hill slammed on the breaks upon seeing me. The trucker told me there is a small cabin that is free to use, it has a stove, a bed and even a grizzly bear wandering the nearby creek.

...on my to-do list, after a whole bunch of crazy stiff was “ride under the northern lights” and tonight was the night. I hopped on the bike and rolled down the highway, shivering, looking up and wondering if this can get any better.

DAY 4

I need to be in Haines tonight but there was a tempting 14 mile return ride along an old mining road to a glacier. In Yukon, an old mining road means that a CAT had once, a long time ago gone through. This was more like a rough, overgrown singletrack...

...with a little bit of mud on it.

An hour and a half of walking across the tundra I finally got there. But wait… where is the glacier? Oh… I was on the wrong side of the mountain.

It took me another hour to get to the right spot. But this isn't it.

Samuel Glacier, a check with the map shows it as a tiny tentacle of a much, much larger ice field. Maybe one day I'll get to go on one of those!

I didn't expect to be hiking for a total of 3 hours and finding my bike in the tundra was rather difficult. I was scouring the terrain for a sign of the trail or my bike and luckily I found it.

I was now approaching the coastal range and the long-awaited downhill to sea-level

Sadly none of the photos properly depict the overwhelming feeling of descending down the valley surrounded by steep snowy mountains.

Back into Alaska, I was welcomed by a crazy-eyed eagle.

And then the setting sun across the valley. My 5 hour fiasco to get to Samuel Glacier will mean riding in the dark to Haines.

After a microwave-dinner at a bar in downtown Haines, I headed to a park to sleep before getting up at 4 am for my ferry.

The last 40 days have been a blast, a wild ride through unbelievable scenery that would take some time to sink in.

But the only thing I can think about now is The Great Divide Mountain Bike Route. It's winter but the mountains are calling and I must go.

(Alaska movie coming out in May, 2015)

NEXT: THE GREAT DIVIDE: CANADA