Valdez to Whittier to Homer Y'all

That night I stood by the campfire until 11.30pm.  They guys had gone to bed.  I watched the water.
A dark shape took form, swirling and gliding through the low light.  A huge sea otter bobbed along on his back, rolling and spiralling, alternating from front to back.... My first sea otter.  A nice way to end a lovely day with Bryan, his sister and Gary.

The Breakwater

I woke at 5.30am and began packing down camp and reloading the bike.
The ferry terminal was only a three minute cycle away.
The first rain I'd experienced in over four weeks of being in Alaska fell during the night.  

Various folks chatted to me as I boarded the ferry, interested to find out where I was headed and where I'd been.  I spotted the large Winnebago that had been parked just over from my tent at the Bear Paw RV park.  Maybe a potential ride through the Whittier  tunnel.
I bumped in to Lee & Mary-Anne in the canteen area.  We got chatting and

The Denali Highway.... The Quietest of all Highways....

There is a bicycle under that lot!

It was 3pm on Thursday afternoon.  The road was rough.... rougher than I could have imagined in fact. Stones varied from one inch to four inches, I graded them on their sharpness.... Some I feared were as sharp as my saddle!

My first down hill on the freshly grated surface sent my bike in to a very unhealthy speed wobble.... I yelled, 'No No Noooooo Nooooooo!' as I felt the handle bars and frame swerving beneath my body..... This could be a disastrous start. My front wheel decided to take it's own course towards a ditch full of large, jagged stones over a three foot steep slope at the edge of the road. I applied my rear brake as gently as possible.  The swerving and wobbling intensified. Where had I packed the first aid kit I wondered as the edge of the road got closer and closer. A millisecond later the swerving and wobbling slowed, my heart beat reciprocated. I brought the bike to a gentle halt and breathed a deep satisfying sigh of relief.  First lesson learned. No speed whatsoever. Riding with this much weight over the back wheel was like riding a two wheeled tank.... This set pay to any idea of timescales as the slow up hills were no longer being levelled out by fast free wheeling decents. Ah well not to worry, I'm uninjured and I'm wiser.

The road improved... Honest this was an improvement!

I encountered a hill.... A hill long and steep enough to break any cyclist.  Matters were made worse by the slippery rough cut surface and the 60lb of equipment on the back.  After sweating for 10 minutes I succumbed to failure and dismounted.  As soon as my weight was removed the bike wheelied in to the air.  Getting it back on to two wheels took great effort.  Walking the bike turned out to be tougher than riding, the pedal constantly hitting my leg, as I wrestled to keep the front wheel in contact with the gravel.  I named this ascent 'Bitch Hill'.

Four hours later after some grueling riding I arrived at a little unopened campsite. I set up my tent, unpacked some food and made a hot chocolate. I had a feeling it was going to get cold. I put all my clothes on and slipped in to

Kayaking Nenana and Beginning the Denali Highway to Valdez.....

I packed all my belongings including my pictures of Amanda along with the purchases for the road trip which lay ahead.  These were essentials such as a Goretex jacket, cycling gloves, camp stove, fuel bottle and fuel, pot for cooking, mosquito head net, puncture repair kits, spare inner tube 'hand me down' underlayer and t-shirt from Sam, Value Village thermals and padded biking shorts ($70.00 in the sports store, $6.00 like new second hand!), lots of food and a bike lock.  

I was sad to be leaving the Hiltenbrand crew.... But I'll return to see them again.

John and I packed up the car for our drive to the Denali Highway.  That evening we had a canoe session planned.  The logistics of these trips takes a bit of working out.

We needed to drive 10 miles out on to the Denali Highway, an old rarely used stretch of hard and sharp gravel track. From here we would launch the canoe and head a total of 6 hours down stream. Now you can probably already see the problem. How do we get back to the car? We had decided one of us would hitch back to the beginning of the Denali Highway and hope that someone else would be going along it as 'one of us' walked the 10 miles out to the John's 2 year old Toyota Prius V. We both knew it would be unlikely that we would encounter many vehicles... If any!

Shallow rooted trees....

 As we unloaded the canoe and all the gear, a four wheel drive truck towing a trailer with two all terrain vehicles on the back approached from the other way... Heading out on to the main highway. John flagged them down. It was two

The Cycle Begins.... and the Cycling Begins....

Recently I've found myself comfortable procrastinating about my place here in Alaska and my position in life.  Since our trip to Denali I've achieved very little.  I've written, I've taken photographs of a cabin inside and out for a new friend, and last night I was invited to the cabin of a guy and gal I met in the REI store where John works in Fairbanks!  How lovely.

REI Store

We sat around a campfire eating Jake's delightful moose burgers washing them back with fine Alaskan beer.  Lily one of the girls kindly gave me with an UnderArmour (top brand underlayer) top which she'd picked up at the student free-cycle event during the week.  She was afraid I'd be getting cold on the road and then the low temperatures I may encounter camping at night.  How very sweet.  The people of Fairbanks have been incredibly welcoming.  It's very easy to feel at home here, especially when you're sharing the house of a loving family like the Hiltenbrands.

I've been a little lackadaisical, lacking motivation.... sloth like....I've lost myself in sorting out plans and logistics for the ride, and found myself getting totally bogged down, but this morning things fell in to place.  John got up ready for action.  He has a few days off.  We re-jigged my new cycle route (which may include hitching depending on timescales) to take me through the true wilderness of Alaska rather than the main highways.

Today I've been busy buying the final bits and pieces for the journey.  Important things.... like food.
John was talking to one guy in a store who I over heard saying, 'Well you know what's in my freezer John?  A dog!  My boy's pooch died, and they wanted $200 to cremate it.  I said we'd put her in the freezer until the ground thawed then we'd bury her.'  Sad, amusing and sweet all at once.

Tomorrow John and I head for another river adventure.  We'll kayak a few hours downstream, set up camp for the night, then head a few more miles down river on Thursday.  When we finish we have a 30 mile jaunt back to the car.... Hopefully we'll manage to hitch a ride.... Hopefully this part runs smoothly.
Once we're all sorted I jump on my fully loaded bike (the one Sam Chamberlain so kindly lent me for my tour of Alaska) which will be carrying almost 57lbs of gear, including food.... It'll be a tough ride.

Sam the bicycle man.... Thank you so much.

The road is rough gravel.  There are bears.  And the air will be cool.  The Denali Highway is 125 miles in length.... If I get lucky I'll complete it over 3 days, including two nights of camping near rivers for water.  Exciting!
Once I reach Paxton, then Glenallen if I'm making good time, I'll continue cycling two more days down to Valdez where I'll pick up a 5 hour ferry to Whittier.  From Whitter I either have a 3 to 4 day cycle to Homer with an arrival deadline of 30th May for a guided fishing day or two.  An exchange of services where I'll write and article based on my experience of Alaskan salmon fishing.  If the days are closing in on my ride to Homer I'll hitch, as it's only a three and half hour drive from Whittier where the ferry drops me.
After a couple of weeks exploring and fishing the Homer region I jump aboard a ferry on 14th June at 2am, arriving on the island of Kodiak 9 hours later.  I'll spend 36 hours here before the ferry departs again to Whittier, a 19 hour journey.

Five hours in Whittier then I'm back to Valdez where I'll climb and climb all the way to McCarthy, and old copper mining town out in the sticks.  A few days there, then back to Valdez to grab a ferry..... and from there maybe back to Homer for another fishing gig, or over to Anchorage to process my images and writing before returning to the UK......

First part of cycle from Denali Highway to Valdez.

I'm looking forward to this part of the journey.  Hitting the road again.  Just me and the Alaskan air.
My gear isn't perfect, but when is life perfect?  I'll adapt where I need to adapt.  Things will happen that need to happen.  Everything will work out.  

Denali National Park

I'd been writing and planning my cycling adventure over the past few days....
Wondering if I'd bitten off more than I really wanted to chew.  Then John said, 'Hell Mark I have four days off, lets go camping, cycling and trekking in Denali National Park & Preserve.'  Great idea I thought.
I helped with packing the car as much as John's OCD (Obsessive Compulsive Disorder) would allow.  He has his ways, habitual, well planned and honed over many centuries of mini expeditions.  He's good!  He likes to check, double check and triple check.  It's a wise process few of us bother with.  But when you're heading in to the wilderness, and I'm not talking heading up Snaefell or up around Injubrek (for the Isle of Man folks), I'm talking no access to drinking water or food for 3 days.... There is quite and inventory required for such trips and John's garage has the lot.... and more!

With Monday afternoon and evening lost to packing we rolled in to Tuesday with a big early breakfast and a myriad of 'Did you pack the....', 'Did you remember the....'.  I assured John everything laid out on the garage floor by his own fair hands had indeed been packed.  He reminded me that he liked to make physical contact with every item for the final checks.  I understood this, but also wanted to help as much as I could.  The pangs of forgetful anxiety eventually diminished as the road miles increased from Fairbanks.

Mount Mckinlay in Denali Park
From Denali Park Website.

Two hours later I was sat in front of the park ranger's mini DVD player watching the compulsory 'Safety in the Park' documentary.... It informed how to camp with bears in vicinity.  What to do if you encounter a Grizzly or Black Bear at close quarters etc etc.  It stated that there had been no bear related fatalities in the park since it was classed as protected park land almost 100 years ago.
Afterwards the park ranger coyly told us that all the information wasn't completely up to date.  A tourist was mauled to death by a Grizzly during 2012.  I was so excited at the possibility of encountering such a huge mammal in the wild.

We drove 26 miles in to the preserve unloaded our kit, loaded up the panniers, clipped everything on to our bikes and proceeded to cycle the 20 miles to Polychrome, John's wilderness camping spot.  On the cycle in John told me I could ride on ahead.  I did.  When I stopped and John caught up he told me about a bear and cub he'd watched at distance for a few minutes.... Damn.... Missed out.

On the way in to the park

On arrival we set up our tent then set up our cooking spot over 100 metres away from the camp.  If a bear comes to investigate the fine camp food aromas he won't rip the tent apart searching for tasty morsels... those tasty morsels could also include me or John.  There's a little more meat on John.  It's also well aged.... though that may mean it's tougher!  Ha ha!  Sorry John.

Our Camp...

After John prepared delightful food, I took the bear container (a small black hard plastic barrel with screw lock top) 100 metres from the camp and our

10 Days in Alaska....

John, Kathy and Sam have been wonderful.

Amanda and I were so lucky to bump in to them on our travels through Laos. The only thing that would have made this visit to Alaska even better would have been Amanda's presence.

Kathy relaxing on a freshly reclaimed rocking chair.

The Peace Sign....

The Back Garden

John & Kathy's Home....

John and Kathy's spacious and beautiful Alaskan home has been my home for the past 10 days and having a base has been wonderful. The 'Peace' sign which hangs on the side of the house during the Summer was made by John.  During the Winter it is fully illuminated and hangs out over and above the road.  People are always asking John do you

How to get to Fairbanks Alaska?

I needed to find a way of getting from Vancouver Canada to Fairbanks Alaska without breaking the bank. I'd considered hitch hiking. This can be a hit and miss (and some would suggest risky) method, especially with the quietness of the northern roads plus the cold temperatures I may have to encounter.... A ferry would cost over $300 and a flight was out of the question. I looked in to Drive-away deals where vehicle logistic companies and car hire firms allow you to drive their cars cross country to deliver them in to different states, but none were going my way. Jenn mentioned 'Craig s List'. Craig s list is a website used predominantly on the west coast of Canada and the US. It has everything from classified listings to car pools, ride shares, dating and lots more. I checked out the ride share category and found a few folks heading North.   I fired out a few email enquiries then got on with my day.

Couchsurfing at Jenn's was great. She had two lovely boys, Dylan a real character who was almost 5 and Liam who was 8ish and autistic. On day two Jenn's child minder called in sick. Jenn was going to have to take the day off work. I offered up my services. I baby sat for Dylan from 11.30am, then picked Liam up from school at 3pm. Jenn was home for 5pm. The boys were well behaved and pretty much amused themselves for the time they were with me. I was content with being able to offer something back in return for Jenn's kindness and generosity. She'd even given up her bedroom for me, and was sleeping with the boys, babysitting was the least I could do. To help out as much as I could I also cooked on two of the evenings I stayed. I do love a home environment, and being back in a kitchen was a real treat for me.

Day three Jenn suggested I add a 'Ride Request' on Craig s List stating that I was looking for a ride from Vancouver to Fairbanks. This journey is over 2,100 miles.... It's a long way.... If you drove without stopping it would be 43 hours of solid driving. It's the equivalent of driving from John O'Groats at the tip of Scotland to Land's End in Penzance and back again, then heading back down south 500 miles to Leeds!!!

I posted my request, stating that I would be more than happy to share the driving duties and then took one of Jenn's old bicycles down in to Vancouver and headed off to explore Stanley Park.

The weather was stunning. The cherry blossoms flashed pink in the corners of my eyes as the old undersized mountain bike crunched and clanked down hill from 12^th Avenue towards down town Vancouver. I stopped on Cambie Bridge to drink in the views of Vancouver city. I woman walking by smiled and said, 'Beautiful isn't it?' Simple things like this made me feel content. The bright blue sky reflected off the water, whilst the tall