August 6
48 miles/77km
1500ft/457m elevation gain
Since we’re in Canada I think it’s appropriate to include metric data along with the imperial. The high today was 80F/27C so we were feeling the heat. Believe it or not, it hasn’t been this warm since we were in the Arctic.
When we got up this morning we went to the bakery to get pastries to carry out for breakfast the next few days. Then we stopped at a cafe for coffee and breakfast sandwiches for today’s breakfast, and then to the visitor center. We answered the trivia questions from our geocaches, and got stickers and swag. We also chatted about the Dempster Highway, as they offer support to cyclists who ride it. We are not taking the Dempster (maybe next time). The Dempster Highway is Canada’s version of the Dalton, sans the pipeline. It goes north to the Arctic Ocean and the town of Tuktoyaktuk.
As we rode out of town we saw the Ottawans we met back on the Taylor Highway, so we said our farewells and went on our way. As we crossed the Klondike River, there were piles and piles and piles of tailings. It went on for miles. On the bright side, there were a lot of dredge ponds and we saw 2 Spotted Sandpipers, which I think is a new life bird. Soon after we saw a kestrel.
It was a flat morning and we got to a construction section with a pilot car. We wondered if we’d have to ride in the car, but the driver just waved at us to follow, so we did our best to keep up with the pace, which was fortunately slow but a little bit muddy. We watched a motorcyclist try to pass during this section, crossing the muddy berm in the middle of the construction zone. He lost control and wobbled for a moment before going down. As he stood in the mud looking at his bike, he got yelled at for trying to pass in a construction zone, and the pilot car had to stop entirely. The rest of us (just 2 trucks and us) continued through the section for another 2 miles to find a long line of cars wondering what the holdup was. The whole situation was honestly hilarious. Another couple miles later we stopped at a gas station and saw the motorcyclist. At this point we were at the junction to the Dempster, and since we never saw him again I assume he went north. Imagine riding your bike up to ride the Dempster highway and you crash before you even start, and it’s your own fault.
The scenery was very nice today. We’re still in spruce and aspen forest, but the day offered a lot of views, miles along the Klondike River, and gentle climbing grades of less than 5%. The Klondike Highway is paved and certainly busier than the Top of the World or the Taylor Highways, but way less busy than the AlCan, so I quite enjoyed it. There was some parts that felt like a slog in the heat, so we both listened to some podcasts.
We packed out some vegetables, and Paul picked clover flowers today, so we had a nice meal. First, we brewed some clover tea to sip on , then sauteed some zucchini with canned chicken, coconut basmati rice, and old bay seasoning. It was a new meal and we liked it, we’ll probably do it again.
It looks like it might storm tonight, and it’s supposed to be cooler tomorrow.