Transiting The Trans Labrador Highway & Canadian Atlantic Provinces (Part 1)
As native New England adventure riders, we were looking for a ride that would be a bit more off the beaten track but doable within the 2 weeks we had off. Something that was not your garden style ride, but something more. We wondered where we could ride that would take us off the pavement and into the wilderness a bit, but still put us in touch with some different local flavors. Something that we were not used to and would be new, interesting and exciting. After thinking about it for a while, we thought we had come up with the only conclusion possible for us. The Trans Labrador Highway (aka the TLH)! At the time, a little traveled gravel road known for its changing conditions, pea sized gravel, significant distances between towns and nice people in them. Then we thought, while we were at it, we may as well visit Newfoundland and Nova Scotia!
Done! The deal had been struck, we would leave in the middle of June and head generally northeast up through Quebec, into Labrador, to Goose Bay, where the TLH ended, hop a ferry to Cartwright, get back on the TLH and ride to Blanc Sablon (actually in Quebec) hop another ferry to Newfoundland, ride south down the west coast of Newfoundland and once again jump on another ferry to Nova Scotia, ride the length of Nova Scotia and then board one last ferry to Maine and ride back to New Hampshire. What a great trip!
The machines for this trip were a KTM 950 Adventure for me and a BMW F650GS for Kim. Although we planned to stay in hotels or B&Bs each night, we loaded them up with some extra supplies and gear in case of breakdown along the TLH. We had emergency food, water and shelter and fuel just in case, and we were still loaded within reason.
So off we went on a bright and sunny afternoon headed towards Magog, Quebec. Once reaching the Canadian border, signs in both English and French reminded us that we were indeed in the French speaking province of Quebec. Ahh… a different culture flavor to enjoy. As the day wore on, the skies turned a bit more ominous, but luckily for us, we made it to our first stop completely dry and were able to enjoy a nice French Canadian dinner. Yum! We hit the rack fairly early in hopes of getting an early start the following morning. We hoped that the good weather we had encountered all day would continue into the next. However, we were not so lucky this time and the skies decided to open, shedding their grey and misty burden upon the surrounding green landscape. On went our rain gear and we made our way north. All morning we encountered rain and wind, but by the time we had made it to La Malbaie, the rain had stopped and the sun occasionally peeked out between thick layers of heavy grey clouds.
We continued on in increasing sun and drying roads. By the time we had made it to Baie Comeau it was downright sunny. A few miles later and we were ready to board our first ferry of the trip, a very short jaunt across a river but the only way across it. There was a short backup of cars and trucks and everyone was patiently waiting their turn. While waiting, we chatted with several people who wanted to know about the bikes and where we were headed. When we told them we were about to traverse the Trans Labrador Highway, many were impressed, some wished they were coming along and all were very friendly.
In the increasing sun, we passed our first of several large dams that would mark our progress along the TLH. All of these dams are named with the precursor name “Manic” short for the Manicouagan reservoir that feeds the dams managed by Quebec Hydro. These dams are very important powering large portions of eastern Canada as well as the Eastern United States. We did a bit of the tourist thing and stopped for a few pictures at Manic 2 and Manic 5. All of the Manic dams are impressive structures, the most impressive being Manic 5 where the gravel of the TLH begins. We had hoped to take a tour of the inner workings of the Manic 5 (more formally known as the Daniel – Johnson dam), but we were two days early for the start of the tour season, so we missed out.
By the time we reached Manic 5 and the Energy Hotel where we would stay for the night, we were pretty tired so we unloaded our gear and piled it into our converted mobile home room. We walked past several other converted mobile home units and into the small cafeteria for some dinner. We noted that all of this was created not for the tourist trade, but to put up traveling workers who service Manic 5. As we sat and ate our cafeteria food, we looked around and noticed that we were the aliens, the outsiders. The real inhabitants of this place were the workers who kept the beast which was Manic 5 alive, fed and healthy. We were merely outsiders, observers, not doers involved in keeping this mammoth beast alive which in turn made so many other people’s lives easier and literally, full of light. It made me feel small. However, in little over an hour, we had finished our meal and we walked back to our room in gathering darkness and mounting drizzle.
As morning came, it was raining and raining hard. But the TLH called and we were anxious to be under way and start the beginning fo the gravel portion of our adventure. We loaded up our bikes and made our way over the last short portion of pavement. Prior to arriving on the gravel, you weave your way past several corners as Manic 5 looms in front of you. Several giant arches equally spaced with a single giant arch in the middle face you looking like tressels to a giant bridge. As you get closer, the immensity of the structure strikes you, this beast is large and it is powerful. Its size and power become more evident as you ride the road that climbs beside its concrete face.
Suddenly the road turns to gravel and it is steep. You make your way up the road and as you make it to the top on this new to you gravel surface, you can look down and see that you have climbed over 700 feet from whence you started. This dam is indeed spectacular. We stopped for a few pictures and began our TLH adventure in earnest. We’ll tell you more about our journey in Part 2.
Alaska – Gravel, Grandeur & Goofy Grins (Part 6)
We enjoyed being in Dawson City so much that time was vanquished much more quickly than the setting of the sun in Dawson’s 21 hours of daylight. Suddenly it was time to leave this wonderful place. With quite a bit of disappointment, we the loaded the bikes and headed for the ferry and back up the mountain to the US border via the Top of the World Highway.
The trip to the border was fairly easy going with great scenery, good gravel and bright sun. We did unfortunately encounter some people in motorhomes who were driving recklessly. Very slow up the steep grades they would not let you pass and when you finally did pass, they would come down the steep grades very fast at the risk of burning out their brakes and tailgate until the next upward grade. Other than the motorhome issue, you couldn’t ask for a much nicer trip to the border. Once there, we were greeted by the residents of the town of Poker Creek Alaska, population 2. The residents? The two border guards that live at the house on the border while the highway is open. They were very friendly and even assisted us with the motorhomes we had encountered on the highway. The let us through very quickly and determined that the motorhomes merited a much more significant inspection. Ahhh… payback. Thank you guys!
Past the border we headed back toward Chicken and made a stop at the Chicken Creek Cafe for lunch again. We met a few travelers while there and discussed off road riding and our journey so far. Many expressed a desire to ride with us or make the journey on two wheels instead of four, so they too could enjoy the adventure as we had been doing. They all said… “Someday.” We were so glad that we had made “someday” arrive for us.
One of the travellers asked us which of the bikes was better and I remarked that they were both good bikes He said he thought the KTM was probably the better bike because it had glasses. I wasn’t sure what he meant until I turned around and looked at the headlights of my KTM and then I saw what he meant. The lens covers on the KTM did indeed look like glasses! (see pictures). Very dirty glasses, but glasses nonetheless.
On the way out of Chicken, we stopped to see Chicken’s own dredge, the Pedro dredge. It was being restored and was smaller in size than dredge #4 in Dawson, but you could get much closer to the Pedro dredge. We walked around and took a few pictures and once again we were reminded of the toiling that took place over a hundred years ago in search of gold.
After the pictures, it was time to get moving again so we could get to our hotel for the night at Tok. As we had related earlier, for us Tok did not represent anything special so it merely became a waypoint and a disembarkation point for our next stop at McCarthy, Alaska. McCarthy had special allure to us for numerous reasons. First, while we were researching this trip, we found the Kennicott Glacier Lodge which is located directly beside the Root Glacier that we intended to walk and which was only a short hike from the old McCarthy Copper Mine which we also intended to tour.
Having found the Kennicott Glacier Lodge with all the surrounding areas of interest, we excitedly called to make reservations. We told them we would be arriving on motorcycles and the assistant suddenly became very concerned. Did we know that they were located at the end of a 60 mile gravel road? Why yes, yes we did, and that was precisely one of the reasons we had decided to come and visit them. With a bit of hesitation, the attendant booked us and were all set to go to McCarthy. We couldn’t wait to get there.
After a few hours sleep in Tok, we tried to get an early start but we ran into two separate mechanical problems. First, one of the pannier bolts had broken on the KTM and the bolt was broken off inside the mount. Damn! There was no way for me to get the broken bolt out of the mount myself. The first thing to do was to totally unpack the bike. Then find a shop where I could get an extractor to remove the bolt. Ultimately I found an ATV shop where I spent several hours disassembling the pannier mounts so we could get at the mount to extract the broken bolt. Once we had extracted the bolt, I reassembled the pannier mounts and headed back to the hotel. By this time it had started raining. Nice. It was a short ride to the hotel where Kim was patiently waiting. We rushed through loading the bikes quickly as time was wasting.
I fired up and jumped on my bike and immediately knew something was wrong. The bike felt all mushy and it felt like I was riding on iron rollers. It was immediately clear what the problem was. I had a rear tire flat. Damn! Again! But the tire still had enough air to get back to the ATV shop without ruining the tire. Once there, we checked the tube and found no punctures. Now what? Believe it or not, it was just that the valve core was loose. Double damn! But it was an easy fix and another short ride later I was back at the hotel and packed for the ride to McCarthy.
As we made our way to McCarthy first on paved roads to the Kennicott mine with its rich history as the biggest copper deposit ever discovered, our anticipation and excitement grew as did the sight of the Wrangell – St. Elias mountain range and the glaciers it held. There were beautiful vistas filled with mountains and trees and nothing else. They continued to grow and grow as we approached, but forward motion did not seem to exist. We knew we were traveling at around 50 mph, but the size of the Great Land and the distance to the mountain ranges nullified any feeling of forward progress. We felt suspended in time and space. Although we were moving, the landscape and the surroundings really didn’t change other than to witness the increasing size of the mountains in front of us gradually got closer. Mountains changed from smallish bumps to taller peaks and finally to towering monoliths directly in front of our eyes.
By 5:30 PM we arrived at the turnoff of the pavement to the beginning of the gravel to get to Kennicott. We’ll take you there in Part 7.
Alaska – Gravel, Grandeur & Goofy Grins (Part 2)
As we said earlier, we stopped at the McKinley View Lodge where we were in for a special treat. After a brief lunch we learned a bit about the history of the lodge and its progenitor, Mary Carey. Mary was one of the first female pilots to fly an aircraft over Mt. McKinley and she also built the lodge with some of the tools and heavy equipment you see in the slideshow. Google Mary for she was a very interesting woman.
But we were in for a more interesting treat when as we were leaving, we struck up a conversation with a couple who noticed our NH plates on our bikes. After telling them about our journey and where we were headed, they asked if we would mind if they shared our email address with one of their friends who also motorcycled around the area. Of course we agreed and we were on our way.
We continued our way towards Cantwell in a dreary overcast, hoping that the cloud cover would lift a bit so we could see Mt. McKinley in all its glory, but persistent rain showers pestered us as we moved north. Although at times the clouds did appear to break a bit, they never fully opened and we did not get to see McKinley. But as the day progressed, it did brighten and we were treated to some breathtaking scenery.
When we rolled into Cantwell, it had pretty much cleared. It had been a long day of riding and we were pretty tired. We checked in to a small off the road hotel and asked them for a place to eat. It turned out that the closest place was called “The Perch” and was about 15 miles away. So we jumped back on the bikes for another ride which turned out to be quite beautiful and to top it off, the dinner was quite awesome as well.
After a long and sumptuous dinner, we lazily headed back to the hotel for a night’s rest before we headed out across the Denali Highway in the morning. I must say that I was concerned that it would a potholed, RV clogged, gravel disaster, but as we started out westerly on the Denali the following morning, it became quite clear that I needn’t have worried.
The “highway” was indeed gravel for all but 24 of its 135 miles, but it was nearly free of any traffic. As we rode along, we really could have used clamps to keep our hanging jaws shut as we were awed by one after another beautiful view or scene. Mountains rose from vast plains covered in spruce. The air was so clear you could see that the trees went on miles and miles until they reached the soaring mountains covered in snow.
Glaciers slid down the sides of several mountains leaving ice falls which glinted in the bright and sometimes almost harsh sunlight. The whites of the snow and ice at times became silver and almost clear as the refractory fire of the light bounced and reflected off the many facets of the mountains’ faces. Each time we thought we could not be more awed, we were indeed even more floored at the visual treats we encountered. It is difficult to explain the beauty of it all. In fact, we were stopping so much, we were in danger of having to stop and camp on the side of the highway if we didn’t get moving.
So with great difficulty, we soldiered on without stopping. After about 5 hours of stopping and starting on the road, we came upon the only place on the highway that serves food. We had seen only two or three vehicles the entire time we were on the highway, but as we pulled into the parking lot of the Gracious House and the Home Style Cooking Cafe we found where they all were. The dirt parking lot was packed and there was not a single seat in the house. Not one. We waited about 20 minutes and not a single seat opened. We then broke the code and decided that our lunch would consist of almonds, cashews, power bars and water, served on a bluff overlooking mountains and glaciers.
Boy did we make the right decision. It was a stellar 20 minutes of relaxation and communing. Few words were said between us while we munched on our meager lunch and soaked in all the surrounding elements would give us. It was 20 minutes or so that neither of us will ever forget. Soon it was time to get back on the road if we were going to get to our destination for the evening, the Tangle River Inn in Paxson.
We loaded up our gear and got back on the road, the scenery birthing a tranquility that I’d not previously known. We had been riding about an hour on a section of the highway that had been built up about four feet off the tundra. Steep embankments rolled off each side of the road into a thick green underbrush. I was just motoring along at about 45 miles per hour when suddenly from my right, a gigantic blackish blur darted out from the underbrush and ran up the embankment from in front of me. It was very large and it was moving fast, but then suddenly a second smaller brownish blur followed immediately behind the big black blur.
The only thing I could do was nail the brakes and try to avoid hitting the blurs. Then it dawned on me. As we were packing our gear, the agents that we used to ship Kim’s bike warned us that it was moose calving season and the moose were plentiful and wherever you might see a moose, there might be a calf with it. Well surer than heck, I’d just found my first two moose in Alaska. I managed to get my heavily loaded bike stopped about 10 feet short of and behind the adult female moose and the calf which was running with her. They both continued running across the road and down the opposite embankment.
It just so happened that we were approaching a small river at the time. I reached into the sleeve of my Stich to grab my point and shoot camera, but by the time I got it out of my sleeve, they had already dived into the river and gotten to the other side. By the time I could focus, they were in the brush and gone. I was so happy and sad at the same time. I had missed hitting the moose and avoided injury, but I had missed an awesome camera shot.
Moose avoided we only had about 40 miles to go to get to our destination. When we arrived, we found that the accommodations were less than stellar. But once again, in keeping with the Alaskan tradition, the food was home cooked and amazing and there was plenty of it. For dessert, there was spectacular scenery from our room with lake and mountain views. Well satiated after dinner, we took a few pictures outside battling our first real difficult encounter with Alaskan mosquitos, but it was well worth it. Tomorrow morning, we would head back onto the pavement towards Tok and ultimately the Canadian Yukon as you’ll see in Part 3.
When Opportunity Knocks…. Slam The Door?
Let me start off by saying I love KTM motorcycles. The little Austrian brand that builds high quality, very sporty, enduro motorcycles capable of covering all matter of terrain. Actually, you might even say I am a KTM fanatic. But sometimes, even if you are a fanatic, you have to call out your “hero” and tell them like it is. Well, I’ve had something on my chest for the last seven years and it’s time I got it off. So here goes…
If you saw the motorcycle adventure movie “The Long Way Round” with Ewan McGregor and Charlie Boorman, you have to ask yourself, “What was KTM thinking when they refused to give two actors three motorcycles in return for the world wide movie promotion of their motorcycle brand as they ride their way around the world on a charity mission? Could a better opportunity presented itself to KTM on a platter?
So let’s boil this all down shall we? Two actors, one of whom is literally known throughout the world as the planet hopping, Jedi master Obi Wan Kenobi, along with a lesser known actor who provides comic relief, want to go on an around the world trip using your less than well known brand of motorcycle. They will also be making stops along the way, helping children while using your bike. In addition, to help them along during their journey, they will have some help. Not one or two people, but an entire support team. The support team will have a 4 wheel drive vehicle, a doctor, satellite communications and several other people with the ability to make border crossings happen via influential people. Hmmm…. does that sound like an opportunity for failure to you? KTM apparently thought so.
Oh, and don’t forget… The whole journey is going to be made into a movie! The kind of movie where the reality can be changed “a little”. In movies, through the magic of film making, things happen that might not happen in real life. Can an actor play a “Jedi Master” who reports to a two foot green creature who is even a more powerful “Jedi Master”? In movies they can. Can an alien land in a spaceship that looks like a Christmas tree, befriend a little boy and make his bicycle fly? In movies they can. Can an ogre make friends with a talking donkey and marry a princess? In movies they can. Can a KTM make an around the world trip with two actors and an entire support crew? According to KTM management at the time, apparently not; not even in a MOVIE! Jeesh!
By the time the Long Way Round movie was in production, KTM had already won 4 straight Dakar rallies, one of the most gruelling tests of man and machine on the planet. Thereafter, KTM would continue its winning streak with an additional 7 Dakar wins in a row, a true testament to the KTM marque and the ability of its machines (as well as the men who rode them of course). So why would KTM balk at giving up 3 bikes which would more than likely have been the far better choice for the trip as Charlie Boorman had suggested? Could it be that they took the word of a single “consultant” and just outright refused on one person’s viewpoint? How shortsighted and terrible.
After the Long Way Round movie and its successor Long Way Down screened, sales of BMW adventure motorcycles skyrocketed. Even though the big GS’s were oversized and heavy, had breakdowns and were difficult to handle when the conditions got rough, many people just want to be like Ewan and Charlie and latched on to the BMW adventure bandwagon. BMW must send Ewan and Charlie flowers every time the sales of the GS’s climb and I for one wouldn’t blame them. They’ve created a marketing phenomenon with adventure motorcyclists. Just mention the Long Way Round or The Long Way Down and people think BMW. Congratulations BMW.
As for you KTM well, I hope you’ve learned your lesson. You make excellent machines that win gruelling races and competitions. But in North America, almost no-one knows about you. You’ve got to come up with a way to get people to know you and let them find out how excellent your machines are. Maybe you ought to call Charlie and tell him you’re very sorry for the error. You have new KTM 990s just waiting for him at his garage with panniers etc. ready to go. Call Ewan and tell him that anyone can do the long way round easterly, it’s time to do it westerly and no highways allowed. Period. And while you’re at it, show off some of those sexy KTM accessories and even some of those non-KTM accessories so people know they are out there too. They’ll only make people want your machines more.
KTM, I’ll always love your machines but the group of us here in the US can’t keep the flame alive by ourselves. You have to help. When opportunity knocks, don’t slam the door. Please. Charlie and Ewan already have too many flowers from BMW.
Ride2ADV 