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My 2018 Alaska trip

rivrrts429

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That was amazing and would definitely land in my top five on my bucket list items.

I’d like to hear more details if you care to share. How long did it take you, where did you sleep, etc...

Thanks for sharing. I wish that video was hours long.
 

Dan Lorenze

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Hi RR429, It took us about a month. It was a bucket list of mine for a while and we spent about 13 months planning our trip. Originally I wanted to camp but my Dad who is 73 said that was a no go for him and he wanted to stay in motels along the way, it turned out to be a good call because the last thing I wanted to do after riding 8 hours a day is setup a campsite. We left from Custer WA, a border town, a friend of a friend let us park our truck and trailer in his barn. We rode to Nelson BC, Banff, Prince George, Hyder AK, Stewart Canada then up to Whitehorse, Dawson then Fairbanks. From Fairbanks we headed North straight up the Dalton Highway all the way to Deadhorse/Prudhoe Bay. We took a tour of Prudhoe bay and touched the Arctic Ocean. We then headed back down to Fairbanks then Anchorage and rode to Haines Junction into Haines AK, hopped a ferry to Prince Rupert, then to Terrace BC, back to Prince George, to Lilioot back down to Custer WA. From there we drove down the 101 to Russian River Brewing to stock up on beer then home. No crashes, no problems with the bikes. Tons of rain the whole way, about 900 miles of off road. The Motoz gps tires wore like Iron. Gas was expensive in Canada but the dollar is about 30% stronger than the Canadian dollar. Hard to describe the amount of beauty there is out there, Glaciers, Rivers, Bridges, mountains, Bears, Moose, Goats, you name it. I didn't see one freaking Bald Eagle, lol. Getting into Canada the first time the Canadian Border agents were dicks. Told us to put our bikes in an inspection bay, get off of them and get inside while they rummaged though everything, they said our route made no sense to them and didn't believe us. They were looking for guns, in a bad way. Generally speaking Canadian people are wonderful and so nice, but when you start to have a lengthy conversation with them they'll pretty much tell you how much better Canada is than the USA. lol It's all good.. Canada is breathtaking and I can't wait to go back. Next time I go to Alaska I would probably skip the whole run to Prudhoe bay as it takes four days and lodging is very expensive. Going on a trip like this is a lot like going to Lake Powell on a houseboat trip, you really need to make sure you go with the right people that you can deal with for a long time or you'll be miserable. My Dad and I struggled to get a long at times to be honest. He likes to do things his way and I have my on opinions on things. So there were some low moments on the trip that I just had to put behind me. We got though it and was such an incredible experience. Thanks for the compliment on the video, those pics are a dime a dozen out there. So much beauty. Doing this on a bike is a great way to see Canada and Alaska. Another great way is if you had a sweet Class B Diesel Sprinter Van setup for camping, that's the way to go. We saw some retired folks out there with massive 5th wheels and Class A motorhomes, getting big rigs on and off of ferries looked tough and those things are just overkill up there. Being on a motorcycle on the ferry system we were always favored by the crew and were first on and first off, pretty cool. We snuck beers on the ferries, that was a good idea. That's pretty much it, in a nut shell. We probably spend about 7 grand each when it was all said and done, that cut into my boat saving a little bit. Now it's time for me to get back to work and get my savings account up where it once was because spending that much money and not working for a month took its toll lol, but totally worth it.
 

sintax

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wow thats killer man! you guys really did a lot there.

I'm going to have to watch this over again tomorrow. My good buddy and I did the Trans - America trail in 2014 and had a killer time
 

Meaney77

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Dude that looks like an amazing time, so jealous!! Would love to do an adventure like that someday.
 

rivermobster

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That movie is just amazing. I've been to Alaska and it is an absolutely beautiful place.

Trip of a lifetime right there.

Congrats on doing it well.
 

sintax

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Sorry if I missed this somewhere... but how long total was the riding portion of the trip?

where was the majority of that 7k per person spent? Hotels i'm guessing?

Did you do a more involved ride report on ADVrider?
 

Dan Lorenze

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Sorry if I missed this somewhere... but how long total was the riding portion of the trip?

where was the majority of that 7k per person spent? Hotels i'm guessing?

Did you do a more involved ride report on ADVrider?


Sorry, I just saw this post... We rode for about 3 weeks straight, a few hundred miles a day, it went pretty quick tho.. As far as cost goes, it all just kind of adds up. Hotels, food and gas. At least in Canada the US dollar is strong, so every purchase in Canada was about 30% off for us US citizens, which is great. We trailered our bikes up to Bellingham WA, so gas in the Chevy truck was expensive too. We wanted to take a long ferry ride from Haines AK to Prince Rupert BC and that ended up being about $800 each but it also was a nice relaxing time that took us off the bikes and landed us in better area to head home from. BTW, that ferry ride was like being on an Alaskan cruise, in fact we passed many cruise lines along the inside passage, but we weren't stuck on a ship the whole time.

You could totally do this trip cheaper by camping and skip the long ferry ride. But the last thing we wanted to do is to ride all day long and setup a tent and campsite. Plus, we didn't want to carry and ride with all that stuff, the bikes are heavy as it is. To each his own, i guess. But we would pull into a town get into our hotel room, grab a quick shower and find the best brewery/pub we could find. We ate and drank like kings, even got my Dad hooked on craft beer, lol.


A lot of my research was done on ADVrider for sure, but I didn't bother posting up a ride report, I felt the whole Deadhorse ride as beed done a million times and I didn't want to bore people with my trip. Plus, it takes a lot of time to do a ride report. I shot a video instead.
 

sintax

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The video was great and really shows off the beauty of the area. It really got me thinking about trying to do it, and i'm still kind of reseraching it for 2020. I'd want to get a new bike though, I dont feel like hammering out that many miles on my XR650r, it could do it, but it just wont be fun. Plus its a good excuse to buy a new Africa Twin....

I do like the ferry idea, i've read a few guys have done similar and it could be a nice relaxing couple days off while you get to see some stuff and decompress.

I was planning on shipping my bike up to my buddies in WA and starting from there. Fly n' ride, and then ride back home to CA. As far as camping goes, I usually like to camp 2-3 days and then 1 hotel day for laundry / proper shower.
 

Dan Lorenze

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As you know, guys take almost every kind of bike on the trip up to Alaska. I really wanted to ride a big twin on the ride. I had a nicely setup KTM 690 I could've taken but decided against it, and glad I did. If you're gonna put on thousands of miles you really want to be comfortable on the long stretches. And, if you're camping you would have a tough time fitting all your stuff on a XR650, but you can make anything work. Speaking of camping, you'll might get eaten alive by mosquitos up there. lol

We looked into shipping our bikes also, it was really expensive. You could always fly into Anchorage and rent an AT from Motoquest if you're short on time. Lots of options.
 
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