July 6, 2008: 426 miles, from Wonowon, British Columbia, Canada to Jasper, Alberta, Canada
We woke up today to overcast skies, and cooler weather. Had a quick shower each in the grimy bathtub, climbed into our riding gear, packed the bikes and hit the Alaska Highway south. We thought we’d aim for Jasper in the northern Rockies of Canada, and so this would be where we would depart from the same road that we rode up northwards, nine days earlier.
Our route would take us on the Alaska Highway, passed Charlie Lake, Fort St John, Peace River, Taylor, Farmington to Dawson Creek (the end of the Alaska/Alcan Highway), and then onto the Pouce Highway, and on passed Pouce Coupe, Tomslake, Tupper, then we cross the British Columbia-Alberta border and the highway name changes from Hwy-2 to Hwy-43, and on passed Demmitt, Hythe, Beaverlodge, then into Grand Prairie, where we would turn south onto HWY-40, instead of continuing on the 43 towards Edmonton.
After this, we would run passed Grand Cache, and then turning south-east onto the Yellowhead Highway HWY-16 near Hinton, before entering the Rockies proper and the beautiful Jasper National Park.
So, we will basically be heading southwards towards the US border, for our planned return across the continent within the northern USA, and escaping the very expensive Canadian gas prices, while at the same time having finally ridden part of the US-93 highway along the ridge of the Rockies (something I have wanted to do for some years, since reading about US-93 in a book of the best 2-lane highways in the USA.)
The ride down from Wonowon was uneventful, and we were trying to make good time, thus really started to get our heads down and just ride, ride, ride. Very few stops for pics and what-not, which was good for getting home, but not for much else. On trips like this, it’s sometimes good to stop and reflect on what your real aim is. Is it to GET somewhere, or enjoy the road, the sights, the people and events? More often then not, we have places to reach in a determined time, which is when it becomes less the trip itself, and more a need to get to the destination as fast as possible.
With so much time to reflect on the trip, while riding for hours and hours with nothing but the beautiful sights, the sound of the little Kawasaki single cylinder motor buzzing along in its own unique way, and the whine of the dirt tires on the highway, I decided that one day I must return to this part of the world, by bike, and spend enough time to really take in the sights, without any time constraints.
On and on we rode. It wasn’t long that we got to Dawson Creek, and the somewhat sad feeling that we were now at the end (or start) of the Alaska Highway again, after riding it for thousands of miles…
After stopping for gas at a place just passed the nice campground on the north-west side of town, we pulled into a Tim Horton’s for a late breakfast/brunch, and the usual good Ham and Bacon roll, doughnut and coffee. The sun had come out by now, and Dawson Creek was quite busy, with lots of lunch-time traffic. Our bikes attracted the usual attention, for being so heavily laden, and as we were preparing to hop on the bikes to continue our ride, a young lady came up to us and asked us to be careful out there, because a boy friend of hers had just recently had an accident in town, when someone had done a U-turn right in front of him. He had some severe injuries, and it was going to be a long recovery. We immediately recalled that we’d come across an accident in Dawson Creek on our way up, on June 27th. A blue and white Suzuki GSXR sport bike was lying crumpled on one of the main streets, next to a large pickup truck that had clearly turned in front of him, and was damaged on the side of the truck. The police were still processing the scene at that time, and we had to reroute around the accident.
I asked the young lady if her friend had been riding a blue and white Suzuki and if this had happened about 10-11 days ago, and she replied “Yes, how do you know?” We told her that we’d come across the scene on the way up to the Arctic, and so we wished her and her friend well, and said that we’d take care. Small world.
After getting onto the Pouce Highway / Hwy-2, we rode south and then crossed the BC state border into Alberta, and onto Hwy-43 towards Grand Prairie.
In Grand Prairie, we stopped for gas and looked for some motor oil, as we were due for another oil change soon. We were also starting to wonder where we should stop to change the tires back from the dirt tires, which were wearing rapidly on the highway asphalt, to our street tires that we’d used on the way up to Dawson City.
The gas station at Grand Prairie did not have any suitable oil (we prefer to use the tougher diesel oil type than regular car oil, in these bikes, for their added anti-wear and detergent additives, as these motors are known for destroying regular car oils within 1000 – 1500 miles, after which the motor starts to wear rapidly). We decided to continue on, and get oil and do a quick lube service when we change our tires in Montana.
It was on the section of road between Grand Prairie and Grand Cache, that we came across a couple of caribou or elk (I still don’t know the difference, being a South African with neither caribou or elk experience) – one female adult with calf, off on the left-hand side of the road. We stopped, but they quickly disappeared from view, so we took a pic or two.
A little later, we arrived in Grand Cache. We stopped for gas, and somehow, I totally forgot to pay for the gas! We were already riding off, when it suddenly dawned on me that I hadn’t paid for the three bikes gas, so I quickly turned around, and went back to apologize and pay up. I don;t think the lady behind the counter even knew we’d left without paying!
We crossed the road and headed down a side street that looked like it headed into a busier part of town, where we hoped to find a bite to eat. We eventually turned around and rode back to the Subway we’d seen a little earlier. We ordered a decent sandwich and coffee from the disinterested young servers, and grabbed a booth at the window to keep an eye on the bikes, as the place looked a little rough, and we’d seen a very, VERY drunk woman staggering around the parking lot when we stopped.
It was starting to get late already, and as we were now much further south, the days of endless light were over and we did not feel like riding in the dark, so hit the road towards Hinton.
Near Hinton, we turned south-west on the Yellowhead Highway (HWY-16) which leads into Jasper, to the start of the HWY-93, which runs along the Rockies southwards and become US-93, the road I’d be longing to ride for so long.
Once on the 93, we were getting close to the Rockies and entered Jasper National Park and paid the expensive entrance fees. It was VERY clear that this was tourist area, with good roads, lots of signage and a fair amount of traffic. We were back into the mainstream areas, which has its benefits but also very much its negatives for us.
As we rode through the Jasper National Park, my butt started getting really, really painful from the long day of riding. I think this is the worst it’s been for me, and was so painful, that I started to ride almost “side-saddle”, with my butt off to one side on the seat, sitting on my thigh, first one side, then the other, and then trying standing on the pegs, while riding down the road at the speed limit. Pain….lots of pain!
Jasper National Park was beautiful, so we stopped in the late dusk, to take some pics.
Look at Jaryd’s hilarious balaclava, with small holes for each eye and mouth. Looks a bit like Jonesy the clown, but at least it kept him warm!
Do you get the feeling that Jaryd is just a little tired, from the long days in the saddle?
It was getting real misty and dark, very quickly, but Mike stopped to take some more pics.
Nice rainbow….
It was soon after this, that we came upon some traffic stopped on the road, and saw that there was a HUGE black bear about 40 yards off the road, to the right. Some imbeciles placed kids on their shoulders and, armed only with their digital cameras, approached the bear on foot, to within 20 yards or so. Luckily for them, the bear was obviously not interested in them, but I shudder to think what could have so easily transpired here. And with little kids too. Idiots!!!
This reminded me of the funny and internet-famous bear sign posted at the Ford Steele campground near Cranbrook, BC. Read the whole sign, and enjoy the very last sentence!
We arrived in the pretty little town of Jasper, and could see immediately that it was a tourist hot-spot with somewhat of a German mountain village feel to it, but despite this, it was really a pretty little place, with a really nice vibe to it – with lots of people walking around and sitting in outdoor cafes and restaurants. We stopped in town to fill up with gas, and ask directions to any campground, which we received.
We headed out through town, around the bend at the far end of town, and across the intersection and down the hill on the outskirts of town, before hanging a sharp right to the campground near the base of a cablecar line up a mountain.
The attractive young lady (what IS it with the Canadian ladies?) at the drive-through office advised us to take the necessary bear precautions, and use the bear lockers for any food or strong deodorants we may have with us. After having seen so many large bears around, we did not need any prompting to do exactly that…and both Jaryd and I took the precaution of having our large bear pepper-spray cans with us in the tents that night. I was secretly quite pleased that our allotted campsite was more or less centrally located and not right on the edge of the large campground, and that there were quite a few campers all around – for the bears to have some culinary choices other than us, if they were so inclined to munch on a smelly human or two. 
Our campsite in the Jasper park…
After setting-up camp, we hopped on the bikes and headed back into town for a bite to eat, as we were starving!
It was quite late by now, so many of the eating places were closed, but we did find a nice looking pizza place that was still open, so we parked the bikes on the main street outside, and grabbed a booth near the window. We ordered our food and coffee, and after quite a wait, the food arrived. It was good.
After eating, we rode slowly back through town and back to the campground, through the chilly night. I made a note to ensure that we would be prepared for a very cold ride tomorrow, as we were now deep into the rockies, and with so much snow and ice and glacial lakes around, any wind would pick up the cold and make for a very cool ride, especially if we were riding in the shadows of the mountains and out of the sun. I knew that we would really use our electric hand warmers that I’d installed on both bikes before we left. They get really hot – actually too hot on the high setting, even through the insulation of our winter gloves! These hot grips are truly a life-saver on these types of cold rides.
Back at the campsite, we separated our bear attraction stuff (fruit bars and candies and toiletries) and placed them in the large steel bear lockers for the night.
Being quite tired and still butt sore from the long rides on that terribly hard and narrow seat, I was very happy to crash for the night in lots of layers of clothes, inside my really poor quality Walmart sleeping bag.
Joyce, I believe it was called “Whistlers Campground.” It’s just outside of town, on the South side.
Here’s a link with info… http://www.pc.gc.ca/pn-np/ab/jasper/visit/visit2a_e.asp
What a wonderful adventure. We are preparing to travel to Alaska, from Missouri. We will keep in mind the Grizzly leavings with bells and pepper smell. My husband ( now 72, is an x motorcycle rider) and I will be traveling with our 5th wheel RV. I would like to know the name of the campground outside of Jasper, if you have it available. We will be traveling some of the route you were on. You gave us something to look forward to. We leave June 1st. We plan to take 2 months to make the trip.