We left Inuvik Wednesday morning with a 700km goal to get near the end of the Dempster before the rain started that evening. We heard that it had rained heavily around Eagle Plains overnight so were not looking forward to that stretch. The calcium chloride coated road becomes soup in the rain – no fun at all on a motorcycle. My bike seemed to be running a bit better after having cleaned out the air filter the night before. The day started out super dusty so it was likely that it would need to be cleaned again somewhere south of Dawson City.
Coming into Eagle Plains was a bit soft and slippery but nothing too crazy. It was obvious that the area had received a lot of rain and the road had been recently graded. We stopped in Eagle Plains to gas up and have lunch and this is where Tim decided to split – I could tell he was the type that didn’t like to take breaks, even for lunch. We ran into some riders heading north despite the forecasted rain – they were hoping to get up to Tuk and back to Inuvik that day which was a pretty crazy goal considering it was already 3pm and they had over 500km to Tuk. We told them the last bit from Inuvik would take at least 3 hours in dry conditions. We assume they continued north and hope they made it safely.
As we left Eagle Plains it was clear the clouds were building up in the south. After about an hour it started to rain. The positive part was that the wet roads cut down the dust – the negative was the roads became slick so we had to slow down a bit. It was now a race to beat the heavy rain. We rode past a recent land slide that had apparently closed the road earlier in the day to clear the debris. The temperature had dropped by 30 degrees so we had to stop to quickly gear up for the cold wet weather. Hard to believe it was 85 degrees just a few hours earlier. We reached the campground but decide to carry on as it was still raining and we didn’t want to ride in the morning in potentially worse conditions and road.
By the time we got back down to Highway 2 at the start of the Dempster it was 10pm and the skies were clear to the south. We rode another hour and a half towards Whitehorse before pulling off to camp after riding for over 15 hours that day. I quickly set up my tent and went to sleep instantly as I was exhausted as well as relieved to be off that road before the weather got too ugly. The rest of the way to Whitehorse is all paved minus the construction sections so Thursday would be an easy day.
I got up Thursday morning and was not really motivated to ride at all. It was just one of those days – probably due to the huge day put in on Wednesday. The riding was easy as promised but I had a hard time staying awake and really couldn’t wait to get to Whitehorse for a layover day. We need to clean the corrosive calcium chloride off the bikes and do some needed maintenance. As soon as we got into town we stopped by the Yamaha dealership to inquire about the needed parts and service. Joe needed a chain and oil change and I needed tires. This shop is known to assist travelers and they told us to come back first thing in the morning and they would try to squeeze us into the schedule. We then went to the spray car wash to clean up the bikes and then back to the hotel to clean ourselves. Found a good meal at a pub down the street and got to sleep at a decent hour.
We got to the shop on Friday morning about 15 minutes before their 8:30am opening and I already had my back wheel off and ready by the time they opened the doors. By 9:30am they had done both tires and I had my wheels back on and ready to go. Joe’s work took a bit longer but by 10:30am we were off and rolling. While they were doing my wheels I had a chance to go over the bike thoroughly and noticed some strange wear on the chain. Upon closer inspection, I discovered the aluminum chain guard was cracked and had been rubbing on the chain. We stopped at Canadian Tire (kind of like a Walmart but better) and I picked up some hardware to do a makeshift repair to the cracked chain guard. I also put the second bolt I had purchased in Fairbanks on the auxiliary light that had backed out the second time. Checked the air filter and it was actually good due to the wet instead of dusty conditions the day before. I also swapped to a 16T on the front sprocket – probably won’t be seeing much dirt for the next week or so.
The rest of the afternoon was spent having a kick ass sandwich at The Deli and touring the Klondike – a 240 foot river paddle wheel boat from the early 1900’s that serviced the mining operations along the Yukon River. It had been restored and was dry docked next to the river. Dinner for the night was Halibut Fish & Chips at Klondike Rib & Salmon – a touristy spot but delicious just the same. Saturday we will push back down towards Watson Lake and most likely cross back into BC. With the day of rest and all the work complete on the bike I’m feeling a bit more motivated to ride again!