Friday 7/18 - 8 PM

Hello all,

 

Sorry for not providing an update last night – but were a little indisposed at the time.

 

There is a long story that goes along with this – but suffice to say that we witnessed the ferocity of an Arctic Circle weather change first hand – and had to suffer consequences.

 

We left the Eagle Plains Hotel for our 250 mile dirt ride to Inuvik at about 8:30 AM and the skies were sunny and the temps were in the 70 degree range.  Our first stop was the Arctic Circle sign that was about 21 easy miles away and we took some great photos there amid SWARMS of mosquitoes.  From there we road another 100 miles to our first ferry stop which was pretty neat as well.  From there we had about 40 miles to the next ferry and in this section we had 2 flats.  One flat was in the town of Fort McPherson and the local Royal Canadian Mounted Police captain – Steve Black – was nice enough to invite us into his HQ garage and help us plug and fill the tire and give us a tour of their local branch – thanks again Steve!

 

After a couple of flats we caught the second ferry and motored on to Inuvik – we ended up riding about 30 miles where you had to stay in a very narrow groove or risk going into a tank slapper in heavy gravel and dropping the bike.  We all slapped around a little – but in the end got to Inuvik at about 3:00 without a single drop of a bike.  It had starting raining heavily at about 2:00 but we were undeterred and continued to our goal – as you will see soon – bad move on our part!

 

After tanking up our bikes and our bellies – we started heading back and things were going pretty well – despite heavy rain, howling winds and dropping temperatures.  After getting about 100 miles into our return trip – just when we thought the worst was behind us – we hit the dreaded "Black Clay"!  We had heard people make reference to this from time to time – but words really can't describe it.  When dry, it is like asphalt with great traction, etc., when wet – it is just like riding on grease smeared over a sheet of glass.

 

When we hit our first patch of "Black Clay" 4 of our 5 bikes hit the ground within a minute.  Nothing dangerous or serious of course – all at very slow speed on greasy mud.  You could be at a total stop and sitting on the bike and your feet would slide right out from under you and you are all laying on the ground.

 

Anyhow – at 10:30 last night we decided we really could not go forward safely and we were evaluating our options regarding riding on, camping, etc.  and the top option at the time was for 3 of the 5 of us to take turns sleeping the open cab of a contractors water truck that was unlocked on the side of the road.  As we were evaluating this option, our savior stopped.  His name was Trevor and he was one of the people working on the road and he told us going on from here was not an option as the road only got worse.  Furthermore, Trevor informed us that he had seen 3 Grizzly Bears in the area just that day and he said one was the biggest he had seen in years and it walked right in front of his truck and was not scared of people at all.  Trevor offered to put us up for the night in his work camp barracks and it had beds for 20 people and he was the only one there.  Since the temps were at about 39 degrees this AM – not being out in the rain and cold all night was certainly a BIG PLUS – Thanks again Trevor!  Trevor is going to visit us in SoCal later this year and we are all taking him golfing.

 

This AM it was still raining and very cold and since Trevor was not able to work on the road as planned, we were able to rent him and a company truck and trailer to haul us 150 miles  back to our hotel at Eagle Plains.  Keep in mind that we are still 250 miles of dirt road to get out to pavement, but that road is a little better – and we are in comfort now waiting for things to clear up.

 

To add to our enjoyment – there are a number of other motorcyclists who were going or coming on this road are all handing out here as well and we are all swapping our war stories.

 

I have attached a couple of pics showing us at the Arcrtic Circle, one of our bikes in the "Black Clay" and the accommodations Trevor provided which was a palace to us last night.

 

Bottom line to all of you riders – DO NOT ATTEMPT TO RIDE TO INUVIK, PRUDHOE BAY OR THE TOP OF THE WORLD HIGHWAY IN WET WEATHER!

 

On the bright side – we achieved our goal – and have the toughest part of the ride behind us.  Everything else we are tackling is pavement (after we tackle the 250 miles to get out of here when the weather clears) and the sun will hopefully show up again for us.