Summer Trip - 2012

Earlier this week, I was asked when I was planning on leaving Fairbanks on my road trip. I had a general idea of my route but have never committed it to paper so while sitting in my office in Barrow, it seemed like an opportune time. Please excuse the mess but I just had to switch offices last week.

For those wondering about the lack of dark, I took this photo at 1 in the morning last night looking out over the Arctic Ocean. As you can see, there is some melting near the shore. And the sun was just about as high above the horizon as it was at noon. In case you are wondering what I was doing wandering around at 1 in the morning, it just seemed like a normal thing to do since I had just finished dinner after working until 10pm.

Anyway, back to the task at hand. I have made up a rough schedule for my road trip this summer though I haven't finalized many of the details. The plan is to leave Fairbanks, AK, on July 3^rd and arrive in Santa Cruz, CA, on July 14^th. Then leave Santa Cruz on the 18^th and arrive in Baker City, OR, on the 20^th for the IMBC 2012. I'm still not sure of who will actually be there besides Troubadour, Trobairitz and Bobskoot. I wasn't originally planning to take the Cassiar Highway but based on Chris of Everyday Riding's report, I added it to my route on my way down. The daily mileage is generally around 300+ miles. This seems like a fairly modest goal. In other road trips through Canada over the years, I usually averaged closer to 600 miles per day but this is my first extended motorcycle trip. If it turns out that I can easily cover more miles per day, I will and build up a buffer for some additional rest days.


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The route allows me to avoid Seattle and Portland and I don't really hit the Interstate until Medford, OR on the way down. On the way back, the route leaves the Interstate in Sacramento. The only overlapping part of the trip is from Watson Lake, BC, and Fairbanks, AK. There is an alternate route between Watson Lake and Tok that I drove a couple of years ago but I don't care to ride the same route. Way too much dust, gravel and mud. In case you are interested, from Watson Lake head north on the Campbell Highway, then north on the Klondike Highway through Dawson City the the Top of the World Highway into Alaska and down to Tok. It is almost all dirt and mud (not nice smooth gravel).

According to Google Maps, this trip will be 6,587 miles. I plan to camp most of the way through Canada but have found it much more difficult in the lower 48 states. I was originally planning on mailing down my mesh gear and dropping off my camping gear in Oregon but the IMBC 2012 meeting in eastern Oregon makes that impractical. So I guess I carry two sets of riding gear and my camping gear for the whole trip.

Rough Schedule:

• July 3, 2012 - Fairbanks, AK (A,X) to Beaver Creek, YT (B) - 312 miles
• July 4, 2012 - Beaver Creek, YT (B) to Whitehorse, YT (C) - 277 miles
• July 5, 2012 - Whitehorse, YT (C) to Dease Lake, BC (D) - 372 miles
• July 6, 2012 - Dease Lake, YT (D) to Kitwanga BC (E) - 301 miles
• July 7, 2012 - Kitwanga, BC (E) to Prince George, BC (F) - 302 miles
• July 8, 2012 - Prince George, BC (F) to Kamloops, BC (G) - 327 miles
• July 9, 2012 - Kamloops, BC (G) to Wenatchee, WA (H) - 321 miles
• July 10, 2012 - Wenatchee, WA (H) to Bend, OR (I) - 324 miles
• July 11, 2012 - Bend, OR (I) to Medford, OR (J) - 210 miles
• July 12, 2012 - Rest
• July 13, 2012 - Medford, OR (J) to Stockton, CA (K) - 355 miles
• July 14, 2012 - Stockton, CA (K) to Santa Cruz, CA (L) - 107 miles
• July 15, 2012 - Family Reunion
• July 16, 2012 - Family Reunion
• July 17, 2012 - Family Reunion
• July 18, 2012 - Santa Cruz, CA (L) to Susanville, CA (M) - 336 miles
• July 19, 2012 - Susanville, CA (M) to Burns, OR (N) - 296 miles
• July 20, 2012 - Burns, OR (N) to Baker City, OR (O) - 150 miles
• July 21, 2012 - IMBC 2012, Baker City, OR (O) to Joseph, OR (P) - 114 miles
• July 22, 2012 - IMBC 2012
• July 23, 2012 - Joseph, OR (P) to Creston, BC (Q) - 320 miles
• July 24, 2012 - Creston, BC (Q) to Jasper, AB (R) - 379 miles
• July 25, 2012 - Jasper, AB (R) to Dawson Creek, BC (S) - 324 miles
• July 26, 2012 - Dawson Creek, BC (S) to Fort Nelson, BC (T) - 282 miles
• July 27, 2012 - Fort Nelson, BC (T) to Watson Lake, BC (U) - 319 miles
• July 28, 2012 - Watson Lake, BC (U) to Haines Junction, YT (V) - 367 miles
• July 29, 2012 - Haines Junction, YT (V) to Tok, AK (W) - 290 miles
• July 30, 2012 - Tok, AK (W) to Fairbanks, AK (A,X) - 200 miles

Only a month to get ready!

Monday Afternoon - Just modified the route to include the Icefield Parkway through Banff. And it knocked off 200 miles!