American Adventure

Yukon (Return)

Starting on September 02, 2002, 11:03:50 AM

Back across and into the Yukon Territory it had rained on me quite a bit. I did get the opportunity to see the northern lights again but was a little disappointed because of the cloud coverage. I could see a large amounts of green color in the sky glowing from behind the clouds. Every once in a while I found a small opening in the clouds and could see a slight glimpse of this amazing phenomena.

On back through into the morning I stopped at a small cafe to get a bite to eat and rest a little. As I sat there it began to rain outside. I waited a while to give me a chance to warm up a little more and it kept raining. I asked the cafe owner if he thought it would stop any time soon. He gave me a strange look, as if I were stupid, and said, "No, its going to do this for a VERY long time." I decided to go on.

It did let off a little bit down the road but the occasional shower here and there kept me convinced that it was a bad time of year for this area and I decided to travel on and try to get south.

I found these trees al along side the road indicating more to me that summer was over for this part of the world.

Passing back through the same area I had covered on my way up displayed mountain tops with snow on them where there was none on my trip up.

I thought the next image was interesting. The rock you see in the picture had a trail that made it look like it had moved across the ground all by itself or that somebody or something had drug it and left the indentation in the ground. Not quite as easy to see in this picture, it was actually caused from the wind blowing along the the sides of the rock creating the illusion of the rock moving across the ground. There's actually stories of rocks like these down in Death Valley that appear to move across the ground but its just an illusion caused by the wind and sand drifting past the rocks.

Here again, out in the open, I got to see another bald eagle. It was riding along the wind just above me. I quickly turned the bike around and headed back under it and pulled off in a turn-out along the banks of a lake. My camera was all nestled inside its camera bag, inside the plastic bag, all tucked away inside my coat and sweatshirt. I stopped the bike and clambered and grasped for my camera in an attempt at catching some shots of this bird. I finally got the camera out just in time to get some of these far away shots. I was slightly excited but yet, still disappointed.

In hopes of his return I waited a while. Turning to the lake I could see various colorations in the water. You can see some of the blue out in the distance. The wind was causing some pretty good size waves as they crashed along the shore. I thought that the scenery was pretty ominous with the clouds looming in the distance.

More snow covered mountains and fall colored leaves displayed more threatening views of the approaching winter to come. I drove on to Haines Junction where I made a dramatic decision in my trip and my plans.

Here again at the little town of Haines Junction I had a decision to make. Should I drive on and back through the remainder of the treacherous Alaska Highway or do I head down to Haines and catch a ferry on south? Do I keep riding in the cold and rain or do I seek the comfort and safety of the ferry system? My original plans were to take the ferry part of the way down and then ride some more into British Columbia and down into Washington. I asked some of the local people and they all told me that the rain was pretty much all through the remainder of the highway where I was headed. I ran into another guy on a bike, Andrew Deutscher, from Montana. He had decided to take the ferry and informed me that I might need to make a reservation. He gave me the number of the ferry so I made the call. At such a short notice I wouldn't have been able to catch the ferry that would drop off in Prince Rupert so I could resume my ride through part of Canada. There was only one ferry and it was leaving that night from Haines and all the way down to Bellingham, Washington. I had changed my plans prior to avoid the ferry all together because of the expense but now, due to the harsh weather conditions, I had decided to go and take the ferry.

Andrew and I rode along together down the highway "3" to where it changed into highway "7" in Alaska, to Haines where we would catch the ferry and ride for the next four days.