Day 8. Alaska Ride 2017: Squanga Lake Campground in South Central Yukon, Canada
I wake and notice that the bike cover has no morning due, a first on this trip. I stop at a gas station that has two bikes at the gas pump. Two older guys greet me, and as always we exchange were we have been and where we are going. The bigger of the two guys says they were in Dawson City. He says they normally go the first week of July, but decided to go “late in the season”. He says that “Dawson City is like a rally for dual sport bikes”. I tell him that I heard Dawson City was not so good to go to, and he says quite the contrary. He says “If this get bad on the road, you can always get out”. Not sure exactly what that means, but I assume it means there are always dirt roads out of the area. I tell him I got stopped by snow on the Dalton highway and he says “it happens, as it is pretty late in the season”. You bet, the season is basically the month of July, from what I can figure out based upon my limited experience in Alaska. I finish up with the gas, after a super long wait in the store due to a massive influx of people, and then I start toward the big bridge over the river. I get about 10 feet away from the bridge and I see that it is a steel mesh floor. Sensing another
Yukon challenge, I freak and start to wonder if I should cross it, is it slippery, should I stand on my pegs, what should I do? This all goes through my head in about 2 seconds, just as I hit the bridge. Yes, the bridge is slippery, and it is not even raining. I just have never run a bike across a long steel mesh bridge before, but somehow, I get to the other side, even when a car is coming across at the same time: of course, I am in the middle of the bridge and going for a head-on collision. I decide to go South toward Banff on the 37, which is somewhat of a gamble since the Alcan is the big highway, and everything else is unknown, but as I come to find out, the 37 is actually a better conditioned road. I stop for gas at the start of the 37. There appears to be one active gas station, and several that have gone out of business. I really have no option but to get gas at this station, so I go in and tell the guy I want to get gas and he says "go ahead, and I will charge you afterwards", which is totally different that everywhere else. I gas up and then ask him about the 37, says "will i run into snow?". He says "no, and once you get to the bottom it will be absolutely balmy", as they have had temperatures at 2 below already. I take off and find that the road has no construction and it looks like the road was repaved within the last couple of years. I am really digging this road. I plow on and things go pretty good, until once again I run into another steel mesh bridge. This time I recognize the bridge from far off and prepare. Just focus, relax and take it easy. The weather is still cold at about 45 degrees. Sometimes it rains and sometimes it is sunny. I keep the heating jacket on and adjust as needed. I camp at the Kinaskan Lake Provincial campground. This is a really nice campground. Probably the best groomed campground I have ever been to. A ranger comes around and takes your $20 Canadian. The ranger is a very nice German lady. We talk a bit, and then she continues on with other customers. Later on, I am sitting eating a few noodles and she walks up and hands me her left over pizza. I cannot
stop thanking her. The pizza looks good, but I am forced to remove the salami as I am a vegetarian. I roll the salami up in the left over saran wrap she used to cover the pizza. As I am cleaning up, I go to the trash can and pop the salami in the can. As I am doing so I noticed that the can is actually a recycle can. I try to get the salami out, but the can is locked so people cannot take recyclables. Great, I take the rangers salami and put it in the recycle can, which she probably checks. I can just see her finding her salami and thinking “What, my salami is not good enough for him?”. I just hope I am long gone before she checks the recycle can. I am thinking about staying in Port Rupert tomorrow night. Port Rupert is a little bit out of the way, but it looks interesting and I believe I am ahead of schedule.
Yukon challenge, I freak and start to wonder if I should cross it, is it slippery, should I stand on my pegs, what should I do? This all goes through my head in about 2 seconds, just as I hit the bridge. Yes, the bridge is slippery, and it is not even raining. I just have never run a bike across a long steel mesh bridge before, but somehow, I get to the other side, even when a car is coming across at the same time: of course, I am in the middle of the bridge and going for a head-on collision. I decide to go South toward Banff on the 37, which is somewhat of a gamble since the Alcan is the big highway, and everything else is unknown, but as I come to find out, the 37 is actually a better conditioned road. I stop for gas at the start of the 37. There appears to be one active gas station, and several that have gone out of business. I really have no option but to get gas at this station, so I go in and tell the guy I want to get gas and he says "go ahead, and I will charge you afterwards", which is totally different that everywhere else. I gas up and then ask him about the 37, says "will i run into snow?". He says "no, and once you get to the bottom it will be absolutely balmy", as they have had temperatures at 2 below already. I take off and find that the road has no construction and it looks like the road was repaved within the last couple of years. I am really digging this road. I plow on and things go pretty good, until once again I run into another steel mesh bridge. This time I recognize the bridge from far off and prepare. Just focus, relax and take it easy. The weather is still cold at about 45 degrees. Sometimes it rains and sometimes it is sunny. I keep the heating jacket on and adjust as needed. I camp at the Kinaskan Lake Provincial campground. This is a really nice campground. Probably the best groomed campground I have ever been to. A ranger comes around and takes your $20 Canadian. The ranger is a very nice German lady. We talk a bit, and then she continues on with other customers. Later on, I am sitting eating a few noodles and she walks up and hands me her left over pizza. I cannot
stop thanking her. The pizza looks good, but I am forced to remove the salami as I am a vegetarian. I roll the salami up in the left over saran wrap she used to cover the pizza. As I am cleaning up, I go to the trash can and pop the salami in the can. As I am doing so I noticed that the can is actually a recycle can. I try to get the salami out, but the can is locked so people cannot take recyclables. Great, I take the rangers salami and put it in the recycle can, which she probably checks. I can just see her finding her salami and thinking “What, my salami is not good enough for him?”. I just hope I am long gone before she checks the recycle can. I am thinking about staying in Port Rupert tomorrow night. Port Rupert is a little bit out of the way, but it looks interesting and I believe I am ahead of schedule. 
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