Days 1-8…finding a rhythm

After a wonderful send off BBQ we departed Fairbanks, Alaska on the morning of May 20th. Several friends met us along the way making the first day of cycling even more memorable. For the first several days of our trip we made our way along the Tanana River Valley to Tok, Alaska and are beginning to find our rhythm with bicycle travel.

• Day 1 – Fairbanks to Chena Lakes Campground – 30 miles
• Day 2 – Chena Lakes to Harding Lake Campground – 31 miles
• Day 3 – Harding Lake to Big Delta Campground – 48 miles
• Day 4 – Big Delta to Delta Junction – 11 miles
• Day 5 – Delta Junction to Gerstle Bridge Wayside – 29 miles
• Day 6 – Gerstle Bridge Wayside to Jan Lake – 41 miles
• Day 7 – Jan Lake to Tok – 41 miles
• Day 8 – Rest Day – Tok

As we’ve made our way across the interior of Alaska to Tok we’ve enjoyed amazing vistas, fast moving rivers, and interesting wildlife while being challenged with intense/long sunlight hours, construction, water availability, and some mosquitoes. We had five glorious days of sunshine and vast skies along with two days of rain allowing us to make good use of our full raingear including mitts and booties.

Departing Fairbanks we were accompanied by a dear friend along the Chena River (which eventually flows into the Tanana River) along the bicycle path toward downtown Fairbanks.

Between Fairbanks and North Pole there was a significant construction project that was not very accommodating to cyclists. We had called the military post and emailed the DOT engineer in charge of the project for potential detours to no avail so we asked for a ride. Yes, in the future, we’ll have to navigate these on our own but we decided with first day jitters it was better to just ask for a ride. Our friend Don happily obliged and even brought ramps to make loading our heavy touring bikes easier.

Once past the construction we made our way around the town of North Pole to our first night camping spot at Chena Lakes Recreation Area. We lunched along the Chena Slough – a side channel from the main river where we enjoyed some bird watching.

In 1967 the Chena River flooded the town of Fairbanks – there are actually flood informational displays and high water marks throughout the town of Fairbanks to document this event. On the second day we made our way through the Chena River flood control project which was started in 1973 to prevent another flood in Fairbanks. Riding through the flood control project presented navigational challenges because it is closed to all motor vehicles but allowed us to avoid riding on the Richardson Highway for a bit.

Near Salcha we hit a construction zone that required us to ride in the pilot truck – sounds simple but we had to load our *heavy* touring bikes into the back of the truck by removing all of the bags. While we were ferrying our bags over to the pilot truck Katy thought she was being abandoned and knocked over in her carrier and escaped – the pilot car driver quickly grabbed her and had her in her arms before we realized what had happened!

We were disappointed to find the Salchaket Roadhouse was closed for maintenance- this was our intended water stop! Kindly the Salcha Post Office (which is run by the same people as the restaurant?) filled our water bottles and even added ice. Finding drinkable water has posed a challenge for this first week – many of the campgrounds that say they have water either didn’t have their pumps working or the water that came out was “not recommended for drinking”. At Harding Lake Campground we were thankful to find the hand pump operational but disappointed to see the water quality – we filtered it to drinkable :).

On day 3 heading toward Delta Junction we hit another construction zone (actually it was the same people from the previous day’s construction zone – they’d just moved down the highway) and were thankful we were able to ride through it without having to unload and reload the bicycles. It was pretty fun riding behind our personalized pilot car through the construction.

We took a lunch break along the shore of Birch Lake where we reapplied sunscreen and bird watched.

One of the things we want to savor is going slow and enjoying the different places for a few moments. Each day we have come upon a small place to enjoy a few minutes respite from riding. We were treated to some epic views of the Alaska Range on the third day.

Looking at the weather (significant rain) and our potential spots for camping we decided to do a longer day and get us closer to Delta Junction. We cycled on through the intense sun and difficult climbing over Tenderfoot pass (9% grade) and camped at Big Delta State Historic Park.

The next day with sprinkles in the air we cycled the few remaining miles to Delta Junction. While on our way the rain started to pickup and would not relent for the next 12 hours. We resupplied at the local grocery store and cycled in the rain to a covered pavilion for lunch to reassess and decide what to do.

After looking at the weather forecast and feeling water logged we decided to get a hotel in Delta Junction to dry up our gear, shower and clean laundry – what a welcomed respite.

Dried up and refreshed we continued on the next day to the Gerstle Bridge Wayside along the Alaska Highway – the traffic outside of Delta Junction is very light and most drivers and super courteous. A special shout out the the very large ore hauling trucks – from what we’ve experienced, they are the best drivers on the road by always giving us as much room as possible and even encouraging us on with friendly air-horn toots!

With it being Memorial Day weekend we were joined by several campers riding 4-wheelers and shooting off fireworks & firearms – thankfully Katy was so tired she was not even affected by the noise. Everyone camping was quite friendly, jovial and intrigued by our trip.

The next day we made our way to Jan Lake for a remote campsite and enjoyed an evening of watching two swans and other waterfowl over a pristine interior lake. It began to sprinkle just as we’d snugged into the tent for the evening.

The next morning it was spitting rain but we decided to pack up and head out anyway. Once we got back to the Alaska Highway the rain became more significant and we donned our full rain gear including mitts and booties. We cycled most of the day through the rain and occasionally were delighted with a glimpse of the Wrangell-St. Elias mountains.

Coming into Tok the skies cleared up and we were able to strip off our “foulies” and enjoy the sunshine. A decent amount of rain was forecasted for the next day so we decided to take our rest day with the amenities of a modest motel where we once again dried out our gear, showered and found laundry facilities.

We’ll be heading out tomorrow leaving the Tanana River Valley after a couple days and heading into the Tetlin National Wildlife Preserve toward the Canadian border with our next major stop in Haines Junction, Yukon. In all of our planning we failed to see that it is Memorial Day weekend and the Post Office is closed on Monday so we have to wait until 8:30am Tuesday to collect a package we sent ahead containing Katy’s food. We don’t anticipate having WiFi or cell coverage for several days – we’ll plan to update the blog in about 2 weeks.

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