August 14th, 2014
Facts about Eagle Plains
The views from the Dempster throughout its crossing of Eagle Plains are awe-inspiring. The tundra requires close examination to see the delicate alpine vegetation. In late August and early September the land is ablaze with color as the alpine plants turn into brilliant shades of crimson while the willows and birches along the creeks and the Eagle River turn a vivid yellow. Then, the tundra turns brown, in its wait for winter and the blowing snow to appear.
Friendly Faces
Max & Ursula: This German couple, both recently retired, married 3 years ago. Max shared with Ursula his dream to “overland” from Argentina to Alaska. They reached the Arctic Circle yesterday, and we stopped to chat with them and take pictures. Their words echo ours, “We had a dream and just had to do it”.
Today’s Highlights
Andrew writes: Arriving at the hotel, all we wanted was a hot meal and a cold beer. Instead, we were told by Kate at the front desk that she had a message for us. I was fearing the worst, but it turns out that my Aunt Janet wanted to put us up for the night. It was so welcome after the long, hot, dusty ride. Thank you!
Today’s Lowlights
Andrew writes:Finding out that we didn’t have any food at Eagle Plains. Before we left Vancouver, we boxed up 7 days of food for us to use for the second week of our trip. It looks like it got to Whitehorse, but no further.
What happened…
Andrew writes: Due to an alarm clock mishap, we were awake at 7am, and out of the camp by 9am, fully prepared to take on the day. When I think of “plains” I think of the prairies. Flat. Boring. Featureless. Fast. Yet up here, the word conjures up hill after hill, beautiful vistas, and slowness. It is really pretty, especially when that golden early morning light lasts for hours. There was a chilly wind blowing, so while we were mostly climbing and sweating, we froze on the downhills.
We ended up at the Arctic Circle rest area around lunchtime and tried in vain to swallow some curried chicken and rice we had made for lunch. It was too spicy. We only ate about half. We did have some nice conversations with people who were stopping to take their pictures. The landscape around the Arctic Circle is really awesome. I’ve tried to capture it in a panoramic picture below. Still, I think that it needs to be seen in person.
The afternoon was spent climbing up a 10km long ridge line, riding along the top of it, including where the road also doubled as an airstrip, followed by an incredible 10km descent. Riding these fat pigs of bicycles downhill really calls on all of our attention and bike handling skill. We’re really glad for all of the lessons we received from Darren & Kelli at Endless Biking (www.endlessbiking.com) over the last few years, as we put these skills to the test every day.
The last 10km was straight up. The sun came out and we fried a little bit. We were definitely running on empty when we pulled in to the hotel. This is where the kindness of others really shone. When we arrived we were sad to learn that we couldn’t camp in the campground because they were having problems with a bear. We were overjoyed to learn that Aunty Janet was going to pay for our hotel room and breakfast the next day. We were dismayed to learn that we were pretty much out of food, with 5 or 6 days left to ride, and our food box hadn’t shown up. Yet Ghislain and Ellen had left behind some food in a box, and we grabbed what we could from that. There was also another pair in the lobby who heard of our plight and they brought us a box with lots of food in it. Kate, one of the hotel employees, brought us some goodies from another biker box that was hidden away. It all added up to a lot of stress relief. Thank you!
We ate our $50 meal, drank our $20 beers, and went to bed. Rain in the forecast for the next few days, so hopefully we can complete this leg and get to Dawson.
Today’s Photographs
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