Introduction

"Where will your next trip take you?" That is the question I have been asked many times since returning from my Vancouver to Winnipeg trip. My standard reply was that I would like to go out west again by train and bike a few more mountains. Last December I started to research the possibility of biking the Alaska Highway. Quite a few questions had to be answered before I could make concrete plans. To mention a few: Is it not too cold? When and where do I start and how do I get there? Is the highway paved? You will not be surprised to read that the internet was a great help to find the answers to those questions.
Here is a spreadsheet I put together showing June temperatures along the Alaska Highway.

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Not exactly beach weather but with a pair of gloves in our kit and a good sleeping bag we should be able to handle those temperatures.

I found a WEB site for the Alaska Marine Highway System. They are running ferries all along the BC and Alaska coast lines. One can travel from Prince Rupert to Juneau by ferry through the inside passage and then with another ferry all the way from Juneau to Whittier. The Juneau to Whittier ferry goes twice a month and was key in developing my trip schedule. I first looked at starting my bike trip in Whittier but the only way out there is through a long one way tunnel under the mountains, also used by the train. There are no bicycles allowed in that tunnel. Next logical starting point was Valdez. It takes one more ferry ride to get there. Valdez and surroundings are famous for their beautiful scenery. The extra ferry ride may be well worth it. Valdez is the starting point of the Richardson highway and that one eventually links up with the Alaska highway.

Here is a map of the Ferry routes I will travel to get from Prince Rupert to Valdez.


View Ferries Prince Rupert to Valdez in a larger map

There is lots of information available on the internet about the Alaska highway. The highway was constructed during the 2nd world war to create a land route to Alaska. It was initially a narrow gravel trail but has been improved over the years and nowadays the whole highway has been paved. This was also confirmed using Google streetview.
Initially I was planning to bike from Valdez to Jasper but there is not enough time. I have to be in Winnipeg beginning of August. The Frost - Sigurdson - van Amstel families are planning a get together for the long weekend of August 1 and I don't want to miss that one! The bike trip will therefore end in Prince George.

Here is the map of the bike route from Valdez to Prince George.


View Valdez to Prince George in a larger map

We will leave home on May 16. Lucy, Bob and myself will board the train in Halifax and travel to Toronto. We will be visiting the Frost family for a week and continue on by train to Winnipeg. Lucy will remain in Winnipeg for another week or so. Bob and myself will board the train again for Prince Rupert and from there by ferry to Valdez. We will be arriving in Valdez on June 9 and we start biking on June 11 for Prince George, a distance of 2800 KM. In Prince George we will board the train again for Winnipeg.

Here is the complete schedule for this trip.



The schedule refers to waypoints to map the daily distances. E.g. W1D1 - W1D2 (Week1Day1 to Week1Day2), a distance of 85KM.  I was not able to show the waypoins on the Google maps. They are visible on Google Earth. You will also see waypoints like AA0580 in Google Earth. They give elevations (580M in this case). I included those as part of the GPS routes. If my GPS shows that I am presently at 120M elevation and the next waypoint 20KM down the road is at an elevation of 850M, I know that a significant climb is ahead of me.

Here is a link to the Google earth file. Download this file to your computer and open it, it wil get loaded into Google Earth.

Valdez to Prince George.kmz - Google Docs

We will be travelling a remote highway with few communities and services. This is especially true for the part from Watson lake to Fort Nelson in the northern Rockies. There is a stretch there where I will have to carry food for 6 days. Once leaving Valdez I don't expect to get internet access until we reach Whitehorse. Updates to this blog will therefore be infrequent. I am sure that a few pictures of grandchildren will be posted while visiting in Unionville and Winnipeg.  From what I have been reading about the Alaska Highway, I will be seeing quite a bit of wildlife. I may see herds of buffalo, caribou, few moose, big horn sheep and if lucky, a few grisly or  black bears.  I have been advised by more than one friend to carry bear spray. I am planning to buy that in Valdez, I don't want to cross into the US with bear spray in my luggage.
The first day of biking on June 11 we will have to get over the Thompson pass at an elevation of 824M. Quite a climb considering we start at sea level. In the northern Rockies we have to cross 2 significant passes, Summit Lake at an elevation of  1302M and Steamboat Mountain at 1076M. At the bridge crossing the Muskwa River just pass Fort Nelson we will reach the lowest point of the Alaska Highway at an elevation of 288M. Next the road climbs up again to an elevation of 1163M near Sikanni Chief but we don't have to do that climb in one day.
On this trip we will also carry front paniers. They give me a little bit more space for stuff and I also found it to be a better distribution of the weight.

I hope to get a few followers again and to receive some comments. It is always a real booster to know that folks follow your progress and care. And I am going to need a few boosts on this trip!

Here is a short video clip of me and Bob (the trailer) making a U-turn in Shubie park. Guess who handles the camera!