To: "kwilliams" From: soundeng@well.com (Douglas Canfield) Subject: Re: Dalton Road CC: roth@acad5.alaska.edu Keith, You have stumbled onto a work in progress. Mitch has been hassling me to finish it up. Someday in the near future, I'm sure I will. >*** This email is for Douglas Canfield *** > >I came across your page on the web describing your ride up the Dalton Road. > Myself and a companion plan to take the same trip, riding from >Philadelphia to Prudhoe Bay and back in June/July of 1998. I've searched >far and wide for a first hand account from someone who has taken this trip, >but as expected, Dalton Road motorcycle riders are scarce. Anyway, if >you've got a minute, I've got a few questions. > >We are quite interested in the actual condition of the Dalton Road because >we are undecided as to which bikes to take. Since 90% of our trip will be >on paved roads, I'd like to take a BMW K1 or an R1100. If the Dalton is >really rough though, an R100 GS Paris Dakar sounds like a better choice. >What do you think? Will a regular street bike get too beaten up on the >Dalton? > Actually, if you were only talking about the Dalton Highway, the R1100 would be fine. I wouldn't take a K1. Those are somewhat costly to repair if they just fall over in a parking lot. And, I doubt that George sees many of them in Fairbanks. But you are talking about riding to and from Alaska. I have done that twice. The roads in the Yukon Territory can be brutal. Both times I took my Kawasaki KZ1100D Spectre. Both times, it was way to hard on the bike. The Kawasaki is just a little too heavy. A K1 would get pretty beat up. I think something like a K1100LT would also be way too heavy. I bought an R100RT for the next trip. I have seen K75s on those roads (but only 1 hog). Lots of people ride R100GS & GSPD. If I had one, that's what I would take. Then you can take some pretty interesting roads. >How about traffic? Word has it that up to a hundred trucks a day travel >the road, plus bus tours and regular tourists & hikers and such. That >sounds a little crowded, is it? Don't worry about the traffic. You might meet a truck every hour. Worry about the Alaska highway department. They like to cover the road in calcite and hose it down. (They do that in Canada, too.) It makes it slicker than snot and is impossible to clean off your bike, clothes, etc. It is sufficient to say that if you see a car in your mirror more than once or twice in a day, you have had a bad day. > >Can you just pull off the road and camp anywhere? I've read that the high >shoulder and muddy terrain makes pulling off difficult. How are the public >pull-offs and camping areas? You run through a lot of permafrost. That means the ground is frozen just below the surface. Thus, there is a lot of standing water, and a lot of mosquitoes. Camping anywhere really is not practical. But there are good campgrounds at the Arctic Circle and at Coldfoot. There are also motels at the Yukon River and Coldfoot. To prepare you for the mosquitoes, think about the rural areas of northern Michigan or the swamps in Canada. Swarms would be the best description. But no, the mosquito is not the Alaska state bird. > >Keith Williams, >Philadelphia, PA >email: kwilliams@maaco.com > > Keep me posted. If you have any more questions, feel free to ask. I envy you and your trip. Oh, BTW, I hope you are not planning to do it two up. Doug 1991 BMW R100RT Wotan (The Wanderer) 1982 Kawasaki KZ1100D Spectre Ghozer (The Traveler)