.May 6, Kalispell, Montana:
The weather is getting better. Aaron had some warm,
sunny days for riding. He had some rain this morning, but
it cleared up before noon. Since he
finally was in the trees, the wind was not too much of an issue. Aaron camped the last 2 nights in the
tent that he made and it's working out quite well. He's staying
tonight with Darrell's sister in Kalispell. Almost to Canada!
(Helena to Kalispell: 193 miles).
May 8, Fort Steele, British Columbia: Aaron crossed the
border into Canada this
morning, and traveled another 60 miles north to
a campground near Fort Steele.
(Kalispell to Fort Steele: 136 miles).
May 12, Jasper, Alberta:
The last several days brought a mixture of rain, snow,
tail winds, head winds, mountain passes, and flat tires. Of
course, it was the back tire causing all the trouble, not the front one
that would have been easier to work on. Aaron finally used his
replacement inner-tube after he could not get a patch to hold on the old
tube.
Aaron's tires were getting pretty worn,
especially the back tire because of the weight of his gear. Since
he wants to keep the replacement tire that he started with as a spare,
he bought a tire in Lake Louise. That one's already showing wear,
and the front tire is not much better.
He's
going to try to find two good tires in Jasper tomorrow.
Aaron is now having better luck finding open
camp-grounds than he was when he first started his trip, but the
campground in Lake Louise was closed to tent campers because of the
bears. He is staying in a campground tonight in Jasper. They
have bear boxes for food storage for the tent campers, but the boxes
don't latch, so Aaron's not sure how much good they will do.
(Fort Steele to Jasper: 303
miles).
May 16, Prince George, British Columbia:
The weather has warmed up into the 70's - "hot" in
Aaron's words. I guess it would seem hot after so much riding in
rain and snow. Aaron's definitely getting into the wilderness
parts of Canada. He
saw a total of 7 black bears between Jasper
and Prince George. They were all busy eating alongside the road
and did not bother Aaron. No grizzly bear sightings yet! But
it was a domestic dog that caused him problems. It bit him on his
leg. Aaron said it's not too bad. He washed the bite out
good and treated it with Neosporin.
Once in Prince George, Aaron bought 2 new
tires for his bike, then boxed up his bike for a bus ride tomorrow from
Prince George to Kitwanga - about 300 miles. Aaron wants to cut
out some miles of riding so he can go at a more leisurely pace and enjoy
his surroundings. He needs to reach Anchorage by June 6 to catch
his flight to the beginning of his trek.
(Jasper to Prince George:
233
miles).
May 20, Iskut, British Columbia:
The farther Aaron goes, the more black bears he sees -
about 4 or 5 every day. If he sees them far enough ahead, he moves
to the other side of the road and talks to the bears as he approaches.
Often the bears will move away when he does this. The scary ones
are those that are hidden in the bushes alongside the road, or the ones
that are right there when Aaron goes around a curve in the road.
Aaron's not sure who is more startled in these situations - him or the
bear. Sometimes the bear runs off, and sometimes it just stares at
Aaron as he rides by.
Aaron has been camping alongside the road
most nights. This morning, he woke up when cars driving by were
honking their horns. When he got up and out of his tent, someone
pulled over and asked Aaron if he was packing up and leaving. They
were relieved when Aaron said yes because there was a grizzly and her
cubs down the road! Aaron broke camp and was on his way as quick
as he could.
Unfortunately, this segment of Aaron's
ride did not start at Kitwanga where he got off the bus, but 28 miles
back down the road. For some unknown reason, his bike only made it
as far as New Hazelton, the previous stop on the bus route. Aaron
hitched a ride back down the road to where his bike was. He lost
about a half day because of this mixup. Not a good situation, but
it could have been worse - his bike could have been back in Prince
George!
(Prince George to Kitwanga on a bus: 300 miles. Kitwanga back
to New Hazelton on his thumb: 28 miles. New Hazelton to Iskut on the
bicycle: 279 miles ).
May 21, Dease Lake, British Columbia:
Aaron called using his satellite phone which is what he
will be using on the trekking portion of the trip. Good to know
that it works.
(Iskut to Dease Lake:
52 miles).
May 23, Alaska Highway, Yukon Territory:
Aaron just met up with the Alaska Highway near Watson
Lake, Yukon Territory. He hopes to ride another 20 or 30 miles
today. He hears that the Alaska Highway is in better condition
than the highways he's been on for the last several days. It
wouldn't take much to be better than the 15 miles of dirt he road over
earlier today.
The days are long up there so he can ride
pretty late to get those miles in. He could read last night
without a light until almost 11 p.m.
There's a lot fewer bears on this stretch so
Aaron's actually able to make better time. He doesn't have to
worry about a bear around every curve in the road. At night, Aaron
puts his food in a Spectra bear bag and ties it to a tree well away from
his tent. There's no way for a bear to get into the bag or pull it
off the tree. Someone on a highway maintenance crew did warn Aaron
about a grizzly bear off the road a ways up that was feeding on a dead
moose, or something. Aaron made sure that he did not stop anywhere
near that spot.
Aaron also saw a huge wolf walking down
the highway! It was skiddish and moved off the road to get away
from Aaron. Once it was well ahead of Aaron, the wolf moved back
down to the road and continued on his way.
(Dease Lake to junction
with Alaska Highway:
146
miles).
May 26, Whitehorse, Yukon Territory:
Aaron met his
goal of reaching Whitehorse by today.
It's nice and hot and the mosquitoes are out! A German couple that
camped near Aaron three nights running invited him over for a
"home-cooked" German meatball dinner - a wonderful treat. Aaron's
almost there. Only 700 miles to go.
(Junction
with Alaska Highway to Whitehorse:
260
miles).
May 31, Tok, Alaska:
Aaron crossed the border into Alaska
yesterday, 5½
weeks after leaving Denver.
This stretch of the ride included a
couple of grizzly bear sightings. One was about 400 feet away. It
seemed to be chasing something - fortunately, not Aaron. The other
one was only about 30 feet from Aaron, digging up roots or something
along the edge of the road. Aaron slowed down and talked to the
grizzly as he road past him, but he also made sure that he had his can
of bear spray in his hand, ready to use if necessary. The grizzly
was a beautiful, blond animal, and not too big. Aaron saw larger
black bears earlier on his trip.
(Whitehorse to Tok:
387
miles).
June 4,
Anchorage, Alaska:
He's done!! Six weeks and 2,964.7
miles on his bike, Aaron has arrived in Anchorage! "I'm ready for
a rest and need to catch up on beer drinking." A well deserved
rest and brew. The last few days of riding included sightings of
reindeer and moose.
In the next few days, Aaron will be
putting his bike in a storage locker and picking up the backpacking
equipment that was shipped to him. On June 10 he will be flying to
Point Hope, Alaska, to start his trek east to Canada, then back down to
Anchorage by mid-October.
(Tok to Anchorage:
318
miles).
He left on his
bicycle on a warn, sunny day from downtown Denver with plans to arrive in Anchorage, Alaska
by June 6!! 
covered 105 miles today, with a pretty good headwind for the last
40 miles or so. The day started with getting up early enough to catch a
2:15 a.m. bus from Laramie, Wyoming. He took the bus to Rock Springs, Wyoming.
After reassembling his bike, he headed north. He was
pretty exhausted by the end of the day.
(Laramie to Rock Springs on a bus: 208 miles. Rock Springs to
Pinedale: 102 miles on the bicycle).