Panamericana

08.09.08

121km, about 8h

Million Dollar Falls to Mosquito Lake

At 9:40 am I left the campground and my day started with a long climb. After a while I saw something moving in front of me. When I got closer I realised that it was another cyclist. His name is Wolfgang, he grew up in Germany but left when he was twenty-something. Now he lives in Vermont. I think he started his biketrip in Maine in may and road all the way across Canada to Alaska. He‘ s going to Mexico – that means I‘ ll meet him once in a while. After 60 km I reached the Chilkat Pass. There‘ s nothing new to say about the scenery – just take a look at the pictures once they are online. Snowpeaked mountains, everything is really wide, cycling above the tree line the clouds hang pretty low.

After cycling up and down for a while there was a very nice 18km long downhill ride to the US Border. The officer asked me a few questions and then he said: “Welcome back to the US.”. 12 km later I was very surprised when I saw a little roadhouse. I stopped there, ate a Hamburger with fries and drank a coke. Many locales were eating dinner there. Felt like I was getting closer to civilisation again! The woman who worked there told me it were about 5 km to the Mosquito Lake CG. Actually it were 15 km, but since I already had dinner I didn‘ t really care. The campground was great, in the woods right by the lake. There was only an outhouse but there was no fee. (Best things in life are free!)

At the campground I met Wolfgang again. We are on Alaska Time now which means there‘ s a 10 hour time difference to Germany again.

07.09.08

Rest Day: Million Dollar Falls

After getting up I didn‘ t feel like cycling and stayed at the campground. There‘ s free firewood and I built my first own campfire, cooked noodles on it and boiled some water from the river so I could drink it. I played some guitar, toasted marshmallows and read. Once in a while it rained, the wind blew strong, it was kind of cold. There was only one other couple at the campground.

06.09.08

68km, 4:43h, Ø 14,4 km/h

total: 1167 km

While I was having breakfast Tim and Carol came over and asked me some questions about my trip. They live in Juneau and made some backcountry-trips. They even gave me some bread and their phone-number. In case I go to Juneau I can stay with them. At 11:15am I left the campground. Though there was a tough climb in the beginning the first 40km were a nice ride. Then the headwind blew stronger and the climbs became longer. Two cyclists without luggage passed me, father and son who were on their way from Haines to Haines Junction, the mom/wife was driving along in the car and gave me some water. Scenery was beautiful again, trees are changing colors – it‘ s worth the effort. After a 180m downhill ride I reached the Million Dollar Falls Campground. While eating noodles for dinner a german couple stopped by and we chatted quite a while. Later I walked to the falls but there‘ s not much to say about ‚em. Nothing special. I have a broken spoke and hope the tire lasts until I cqan get it fixed somewhere.

There‘ s hardly any traffic on Haines Road, it‘ s very quiet out there.

05.09.08

32,3 km, 2:42h, Ø11,9km

sunny, cold headwind, 15 °C (felt like 5°C)

Haines Junction to Kathleen Lake CG

When I got up at 9am the thermometer showed 5°C but it seemed to be a lot colder. At 10:15am I asked for some information at the Visitor Center, filled my water-bottles and had a nice conversation with a ranger. He said it would be a nice ride through Alberta and British Columbia and it would be a lot warmer there – at least for a few weeks. But I already made a decision, I‘ ll take a ferry from Haines to Bellingham.

I stopped at the grocery store, stocked up on some food and ate a few chicken wings. It was pretty expensive there but I won‘ t have a chance to buy anything at the until I reach Haines. The library didn‘ t open until 1 pm and I didn‘ t want to wait another 45 min.

My legs felt very heavy after the long ride yesterday. That‘ s why I only rode to Kathleen Lake CG. A few 100m before the Campground I stopped at a café to have some coffee and apple pie with ice-cream. There they told me that they see grizzly bears almost everyday next to their café. They even showed me some pictures.

Only a few minutes after I pitches my tent a guy in a camper stopped to tell me that there‘ s a grizzly bear at the campground. I was glad there were bear-safe food lockers at the campground and stored all my food, toothpaste and everything else that smells in there. I didn‘ t get to see the bear and was pretty glad about it!

04.09.08

Destruction Bay to Haines Junction

107,2 km, 6:49h, Ø15,7

sunny

What a day!

My alarm clock rang at 7 am, I got up at 9 am, had a good breakfast (Bacon & Eggs) and had a very late start at 11:30am. Despite the headwind I had a pretty good start. After 38km I reached the construction area near sheep Mountain and had to take a 7 km long ride in the pilot car. The driver told me that there are cyclist coming through everyday – though I don‘ t believe it.

After 42 km I stopped and celebrated the first 1000km of my trip with with a coke and the leftover peanutbutter-jelly sandwiches from breakfast. A few km later I reached the second highest point of the Alcan – only 1m lower than the highest point. The scenery was beautiful again. Since I rode through an area with a high population of bears I was looking out for them the whole day but didn‘ t see any.

At 6:30pm I caught myself thinking: “Only 40 km left, that‘ s great – I‘ m almost there!”. It‘ s amazing how you get a very different view of distances here. The road was going up and down and when I started to work my way up to the highest summit (1004 m) of the Alcan my legs felt pretty tired. But there was nothing I could do except of slowly pedaling up there in a low gear.

100 m before I reached the summit I saw an RV in a pull-out and heard a man shouting:” I‘ m german. Why don‘ t you stop!?!” So I did and met 4 german guys who were travelling around for 4 weeks. They invited me to have dinner with them. Salmon, potatoes and brussel sprouts. It was a great dinner and we talked about my trip a lot. At 8pm I kept on moving – I wanted to get to Haines Junction before dark. And I couldn‘ t really believe it but there was a great 11 km long downhill ride!!! That was awesome, a little cold but very enjoyable;-).

I arrived at the Kluane RV Park and pitched my tent with the last daylight. The showers were kind of dirty, so I didn‘ t have one. Since I didn‘ t sleep well last night I fell asleep pretty soon.

03.09.08

After gettin‘ up and eating breakfast I still didn‘ t feel well. I decided to stay another night at the motel. Around 2pm I had lunch with a cyclist who started in Seattle – he wants to go to Fairbanks and there he’ll decide where to go. He has time to ride untill january. The last few days he was enjoying a great tailwind and making good progress.

Since 4pm I was kind of restless. All my bags are packed, I‘ m ready to go… I wasn‘ t tired, didn‘ t want to read, I just wanted to be out there again.

02.09.08

18 km, 1:39 h, av. sp. 11,2 km/h

sunny, windy, 11 degrees C (felt 2 degrees C)

Burwash Landing – Destruction Bay

I slept good though I had to get up two times because my stomach was bothering me. Since Hendrik didn‘ t have any problems it probably not because of the water or food I had the last days. Nevertheless I ate a Bacon and Egg Breakfast to get some energy.

At 11:10 am we were on the road and again I didn‘ t care much about the scenery. There was a strong and cold headwind, we moved slowly again and even had to pedal going downhill.  I was glad when I reached Destruction Bay after only 18 km, drank a hot cup of coffee and decided to take a room here. They didn‘ t recommend camping because of the bears out there. Hendrik called the Kluane BB, 55 km away, to make sure they are open and moved on at 2 pm.

My room is great, I have a beautiful view at the Lake. I didn‘ t do anything except doing my laundry and updating my blog. Now it‘ s already 8 pm, I‘ ll write a few e-mails (keep writing guys, I‘ m always glad when I get some e-mail or guest-book-entries), watch some TV and go to sleep. I‘ m hoping that I‘ ll feel better tomorrow – then I‘ ll try to reach Haines Junction (about 110km). There I have to decide if I‘ m going to ride on through Canada or if I‘ ll take the ferry from Haines or Skagway to  Prince Rupert or even to Bellingham. It‘ s just getting too cold up here and many Campgrounds and other accomodations in this area already closed for the season.

I‘ ll tell you about my decision in a few days!

Take care,

Anja

01.09.08

97,2 km, 7:12 h, av. sp. 13,5 km/h

Creek Lake CG – Burwash Landing

It was a very hard day. I got up at 8:15 am and left the CG by 10:15 am. I didn’t feel well, had some problems with my stomach.  There was a light headwind and the road was going uphill a little bit pretty much all the time. Around noon it warmed up from 10 to 18 degrees C. I rested more often than usually and after 4 hours in the saddle I only made 50km. I was going quite slow.

After 69 km I stopped at a rest area a drank the can of Mountain Dew which I saved the whole day since I knew there were no places to buy anything along the way. Those rest areas are nice places to stop because you can meet many interesting people there. I met a mexican-italian couple from Mexico-City who are traveling around in their car. They gave me their e-mail adress and invited me to stay with them incase I‘ ll go there on my way through Mexico. Moreover I talked to a young couple from New York. They drove from New York to Alaska and are now on their way to LA. They were just cooking their dinner on a camping stove.

After a while Hendrik arrived, he was taking it easy as well. The scenery was overwhelming again but I didn‘ t care much about it today. Even Grönemeyer and Die Ärzte couldn‘ t really push me forward.  The best part of the day were the last 10 km which were pretty much downhill to Burwash Landing at Kluane Lake. I asked for a room but they were booked out. I could camp there for free, showers cost 4 $. When Hendrik arrived he asked for a room and there was a free one. Häh?!? Well, doesn‘ t really matter and I saved a lot of money.

Since I didn‘ t eat much all day I had the dinner special: meat loaf with gravy, grilled onions, fries nad peas. It was really good. After taking a hot shower (the highlight of the day) I talked with Hendrik for a while and crawled into my tent.

P.s. Today was the first school-day! I didn‘ t forget it! It feels kind of weired being here now while summer-break is over. I‘ m thinking of you and I miss you!

Anja