Arctic 2007

BLM campground- Rest area with no name
Not much to say about that day honestly. We have been overtaken by several absolutely massive oversize trucks which was a wee bit scary and we have been caught in a pretty severe thunderstorm. But except that, dull road and not much motivation. We stopped in the evening at a viewpoint and enjoyed the dinner whereas again, a thunderstorm passes not far from our heads….

Rest area with no name- Tok
The highlight of the day is the meeting with an Israeli cyclist who started from Prudhoe Bay and is cycling all the way down to Patagonia (another one, damn we have the impression to be Sunday riders when meeting these guys!!!). He gives us some interesting tips on the Dalton Highway, the road going from Fairbanks to Prudhoe Bay on the Arctic Ocean. We also stop in Tok for a meal and honestly I do not think I will spend my honeymoon (if there is any) there….. In the evening, we camp at another viewpoint, 20 miles far from Tok. It is a good spot but we do not have much room to pitch the tent, we are knackered so we probably do not enjoy the place as we should.

Tok-Rika’s roadhouse
We wake up in a good mood. This is even increased when Bureau of Land Management staff come to clean the dry toilets which are not far from where we slept. That is brilliant: Each of us goes to completely clean toilet: There is this deodorant odour, we enjoy the moment, it is like being in a palace (small pleasures become passion when travelling!).

Not much to say on the day itself, the road is, once again, pretty dull. It is so dull we cycle fast, very fast actually. We stop at Rika’s roadhouse where, we know it, there is a restaurant. We arrive there to discover the place actually closes at 5pm … rubbish! We find drinkable water, cook a big meal and put sleeping bags and other thermarests outside to dry them. Very clever idea: 1 hour later, it is pouring and the gear are wetter than before. We set up the tent quickly and jump into wet sleeping bags. It is in those situations it is good to be with Nicolas, we can laugh about our fate.

Tomorrow, Fairbanks!!
Rika’s roadhouse-Fairbanks:
We enjoy the morning, chilling out like lazy donkeys. There are some good mountains range in the horizon but there are many cars on the road and the drivers are aggressive. The last 30 miles are on a dual carriage way. We forgot what that was to cycle on roads like that. When passing by a big Air Force base, we see our first caribou, wandering around at the end of the airstrip! Nicolas leads like an absolute rocket and at last, we reach Fairbanks. We are getting closer and closer from our target…. 2 rest days and we will be heading to the Great North!!

Fairbanks-Livengood:
After having popped in in a outdoor shop to buy some white gas (we will need it on the Dalton Highway), we hit the road. Nicolas used the fact there is a scale in the shop to weight his bike. The answer is ….. 130 pounds!!! We are carrying a lot of food indeed as we really do not what conditions to expect on the Dalton Highway. The road is not very interesting. We find a water pump on the side of the road and that is a very good news as the weather is pretty hot and we are absolutely burning. Finding some water in those conditions is always greatly appreciated. I see a lynx crossing the road and we stop on a rest area 2 miles from the Dalton highway crossroad. Tomorrow will be our D-day: we have been waiting for 18 month to ride this piece of gravel road and now, we are a couple of hundred feet far from it!!! We hesitate to play Frisbee but finally we do not. We still do not know at this point we will deeply regret this decision.

Livengood-Hot Spot cafe
When we wake up, the weather is pretty chilly and we feel tired before having touched the bikes. We have a quick chat with a truck driver: we try to have as much information as we can on the state of the highway but we do not get much answers. At last, we start cycling. A few minutes later, we reach the start of the James W Dalton Highway. We both feel the emotion to be there.

A first thing immediately strikes us: like the beginning of our trip, the behaviour of the truckers is just amazing. They slow sown, give us plenty of space when overtaking and wave their hands when passing us: these guys are quite something! The morning is tough, we do not cycle fast but we are happy to be there. After 19 miles, we hit a surreal piece of paved portion on which we can suddenly cycle fast and not being careful about the potholes. We cycle like in a dream for 15 minutes. Further up, we are cycling a very steep part, pretty dusty when we are overtaken by a truck spreading water all over the road to minimise the dust. The consequence is that we are now cycling in the mud! We finally reach the top of the hill but we hope this will not happen too often because I can tell you that is quite frustrating. We stop for lunch and look at the Milepost, our bible which gives mile per mile all what you can find on the road (steep, paved or not, toilets, rest areas, good view…). We discover when reading it that we still have two climbs in the afternoon before crossing the Yukon river which will probably be the end of our day.

Just before reaching the first climb, we have to stop as there is some road work and we are asked once again to put our bikes at the back of a pilot car. I tell you what, when we learn that the pilot car would drop us 10 miles further (and therefore after the two climbs we were expecting), we are pretty happy and do not argue too strongly to cycle this portion. In the pilot car, we talk about the pipeline with the woman driving and we ask her why there are so many trucks with a tank behind whereas the pipeline goes all the way from the Arctic Ocean to Valdez, 800 miles further south. Her answer brings stupefaction on our faces: crude oil goes into the pipeline but refined petrol is needed to feed all the machines working on the oilfield. A there is no refinery on the oilfield, every single gallon of petrol has to be brought by truck: we just can’t believe it!!!! The way to the Yukon river is good fun and before reaching the bridge, another surprise, there is a traffic light! In the middle of nowhere!!!! They use it to manage the traffic but it is still funny and very weird for us. We stop at the Hot spot cafe after 50 miles on the bikes (60 miles in total if you add the way done at the back of the pilot car). Then, the bad discovery comes to us: we lost the Frisbee. We have never used it and we lost it!!! We will not have our Frisbee game in the arctic tundra. Anyway, everyone strongly recommends us the burgers of the hot spot but given how heavy our bikes are, we decide to eat our own food in order to decrease their weight and therefore, to reach more easily the top of Atigun pass, the toughest pass of the whole trip that we should reach in 3 days.

We have a funny chat with a couple from Anchorage. They parked their caravan next to our tent and we meet them at the cafe. They are going to the Arctic Circle so we should see them again tomorrow.

Hot spot Cafe- Arctic Circle
Another bad news comes in the morning, I obviously lost my sunglasses. This is bad news as for several reasons. The first one is the sun has been pretty bright the last few days and it is not good not to have sunglasses in a weather like that. The second one is I am not protected anymore from the dust when we will face trucks. At last, I will cry like a baby when we will go downhill with the wind.

Anyway, we hit the road in a good mood and we are actually pretty fast. The road is hard and there are several climbs. After having stopped for lunch, we reach the top of Finger Mountain. The view is absolutely awesome. We are talking with Nicolas when a guy comes out of the tundra with a massive backpack, just like that! This is a Belgian guy who just hiked 10 days in the area. We chat together and enjoy the situation. He gets a lift from a car when a couple from Oregon we saw in the morning stop their car next to us and gives us some cookies, water and sandwiches. We forget the weight of the bikes for a short while and accept all this delicious food. We see the first pieces of tundra before reaching the Arctic Circle at the end of the day. Nicolas is not much touched by the instant but I clearly am. I have heard about this imaginary line since I am a wee boy and now I am standing right on it. That is a good feeling. The other good thing is we see the couple from Anchorage on the same spot. They offer us plenty of food and drinks. We even enjoy Champagne to celebrate being be on the Arctic Circle. We talk, talk and talk until midnight. When we go to bed, the sky is absolutely awesome. We have been on the Dalton for 2 days, the weather has been incredible and obviously, that will not change in the next few days. We are on the moon!!!

Arctic circle-Coldfoot
After the traditional picture in front of the signpost of the Arctic Circle, we start our day on the road. We meet a funny Brazilian guy going south on a moped. We stop for lunch at the pump station 5. There are several pump stations along the pipeline, their mission being to maintain the pressure and to bring the oil all the way from the Arctic Ocean to Valdez, 800 miles further south. This building would be good in a James Bond movie: a massive factory in the middle of the tundra. Absolutely nothing 50 mile around…

We reach Coldfoot at the end of the afternoon after several climbs not recorded on the Milepost which really annoys me. You expect to have passed all the difficulties of the day and paf, in your face, another hill. Life is life…..

In Coldfoot, we stop at the Arctic Visitor Centre where we get out Arctic Circle crossing certificate. I will not have it in the middle of my living room but it is good to have for an interview for example (’Mr Le Roux, you pretend you went to the Arctic Circle but could you prove it and then boum! I put the certificate on the table and nobody talks…. Would I get the job is another story but anyway).

We then go to the truckers’ restaurant and campsite. We meet there a trucker who is coming back from Prudhoe Bay and saw us 2 days earlier. We have a good chat and obviously, people are quite impressed by what we are doing. It is good to hear. He also tell us that Atigun Pass, the one, is tough tough tough. We already knew it but several persons remind it to us during the evening. That will be for tomorrow!

We enjoy an all you can eat buffet and we go to bed, once again without the flysheet to enjoy the sky and why not, seeing northern lights around 3 a.m

Coldfoot-Foot of Atigun Pass
Good breakfast at the truckers restaurant and hop[ hop hop, we are on the road. Some pretty good hills, a good speed on the bike and we stop for lunch after 45 miles on the shore of a river. We have 15 miles left before reaching the foot of Atigun pass. These 15 miles are so hard: our nervous state probably explains a lot. In the valley, there is no way to know where the road will go so before actually being on the slopes of the pass, we do not know what to expect. The first slope, 1.5 miles at 10% grade, is easy. We then reach a plateau where the view is just amazing. After having crossed this plateau , we reach the second slope and there, it is hell. 2.5 miles with some 12% grades, it is raining and the wind is around. It is also bad gravel and it is cold. We knew we should deserve this highway, it is a good reminder indeed. When we reach the summit, one of us is in tears, the other one screams as loudly as he can. We are nervously exhausted but we did it!!! The road should be easier from now. We camp near a highway maintenance camp at the foot of the pass in an amazing spot. The light is awesome and the mountains around are pretty impressive. It has been a long time since we did not enjoy pastas like this, we are the king of the world and nothing can stop us from now. Tomorrow morning, there will not be any alarm clock set-up and we will sleep!

Foot of Atigun Pass- Plateau in the middle of nowhere
We stay late in bed and enjoy a good breakfast. When we leave, it is around 1:30 pm. After a long downhill, we reach a valley. Whereas we are eating on the side of the road, a guy stops by on his mountain bike and we chat. He works for the pipeline company and pilots an helicopter over the pipeline to ensure everything is okay. When he has spare time, he rides his bike on the highway or hikes around, which means more or less in the middle of nowhere! Pretty good life… The end of the day is hard for the bodies but magical for the eyes, it is pretty hilly but the mountains are awesome, some of them are reddish when the sun sets. We stops on a small hill not far from a lake. There are plenty of hunters around and many of them are obviously jealous of our spot. But that’s life guys and we will not give our spot up. A fox comes around during the evening and we see a small northern light during the night. Life is good, and we are almost there: 2 more days and we should be touching the Arctic Ocean!

Plateau in the middle of nowhere- Pump station 2
We start with a long downhill and we stop at a highway maintenance camp at the foot of it as we need water. These places are weird, there are not many people in it and they are in the middle of nowhere. But the weather is so tough up there that the roads need to be maintained almost all year long because of the frost. In the afternoon, we stop along a big river to grab once again some water when we meet a woman just coming back with some fresh fishes she just caught. She offers us one of them but sadly, we can’t accept it. We will have to prepare and cook it with a camping stove pretty small and we strongly doubt it is a good idea to cook fresh fish in bear country. Later on, we see our first muskoxen, hairy, very slow to move, obviously pretty deaf but so cute.

We stop in the tundra not far from pump station 2. We camp right in the tundra, it is like camping in the middle of the desert but with far more vegetation. There are 44 miles left!!! GGGrrrr, it is getting closer and closer.

Pump station 2- THE ARCTIC OCEAN!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
We wake up at 5:30 and do you know what, it is -6 Celsius degrees! Well, believe me, it is cold. We waste some time looking for (and finding) Nicolas MP3 player (I actually involuntarily put it in his sleeping bag). The MP3 player is very important for us as we recorded our feelings on it for most of the trip.

We start cycling at around 7:30 and we literally fly, we ride at 16 miles/hour. We stop for a quick bite and we see a bull caribou with massive anglers coming out of the tundra. We look at each other and he finally leaves the area. He does not know how lucky he is, there are hundreds of hunters around looking for such a trophy. We jump on the bike again. The last 10 miles are so long, legs are shaking. We arrive in Deadhorse around noon. We put the bikes on the ground and jump in the other arms. WE DID IT!!!!

It s not long before we actually understand what a rubbish place Deadhorse is. People are not particularly nice. We are looking for a tour bringing us on the Arctic Ocean and at first, it is tricky to find one. Then everything becomes better. The boss of one of the only 2 hotels in town offers us dinner once he hears about what we did. He also find seats for us in a tour. At 2 pm, we are sitting in the bus with….. plenty of tourists. The driver is a funny former security guy, “I am the boss here and anyone contesting my authority will have trouble”. It is pretty tough to have to listen all this shit after 2 months with not many people around. When he asks if anyone in the bus intends to swim in the Arctic Ocean, Nicolas raises his arm. Then Superman with funky suit shouts: “Well, forget it as there are 5 polar bears around. If you ever try to jump in the Ocean, there will be big trouble for you, Did I make myself clear?” What can we say to such diplomacy? We stay in the bus. After 1 hour driving across the oil field listening a pretty subjective presentation of the oil industry, we reach the Arctic Ocean, we have 2 minutes to touch it. We do it. We then realise we just did exactly what we told you: cycling from Vancouver to the Arctic Ocean.

A great motorcyclist is with us in the bus and he kindly takes some pictures for us (my camera died from the weather conditions we met on the way…..).

In the afternoon, the boss of the inn tries to find us a ride back to Fairbanks in one of the tourist buses going southbound. Late in the evening, we understand that will not work, all these companies having insurance constraints clearly forbidding any hitchhiker on board. We enjoy the free dinner even if the place is weird. You have either tourists who fly up there or workers from the oil industry (who also fly up there). We camp in what looks like a scrap yard (but we succeed in not paying the $100 required by the 2 hotels in town to get a room!!!) and we know that tomorrow morning, we will have to wake up early to try to get a ride back to Fairbanks.

Hello,

Jean and Nicolas are now at the north of the polar circle. They spend the night from wednesday to thursday just sleeping on it. Today or tomorrow they should go by the Atigun pass (1415 m/4643 ft) and consequently have some nice rises to climb… But they seem to have a beautiful weather and the landscape are much wonderful than they expected. If they keep their rythm they should be in Prudhoe Bay by Sunday or Monday, before coming back to Fairbanks by hitchhiking. And they might not have any access to internet before beeing again at Fairbanks.

Here you can have an idea of their way from Fairbanks to Prudhoe Bay. The Atigun pass is (I suppose) where there is this “little” moutains chain quite white. (you can double click on the map to be “closer”)

To see a bigger map

Besides, once in Fairbanks they had the opportunity to weigh their cycles. So, considering they had all their equipment plus food for twelve days, what was the weight of Nicolas’s one. I have no idea myself and Nicolas has not determined yet what will win the one who’ll have the good answer (or at least will be the closest of the right weight), but do not hesitate to suggest your answer in the comments.

And at Last, because they won’t have internet before many days, I added myself three new drawings.

7/8: Whitehorse- Summer Camp on the Klondike, 65miles

All you can eat breakfast and we leave Whitehorse around noon. We have to cycle the Klondike highway first before reaching Dawson city and the beginning of the Top of the world highway. The Klondike highway is very very dull. We do not have very good legs, the landscapes are boring and there is no paved shoulder so we are overtaken by vehicles very closely. To add to this great menu, the rain joins the party…. we understand the way to Dawson city will be tough and as we say in French, we have the mood in the socks…..

We stop at the end of the day in an empty summer camp: that is brilliant spot and we play looking for an open boothy, welcome back 20 years earlier for imaginative manhunt!!! We are like children, we enjoy a good campfire, eat pasta and hop, we jump in the sleeping bags. Looking forward to cycling tomorrow…

8/8: Summer camp - Tetcha Creek, 65 miles km

Same day than the previous one: it is hilly, it is boring and still no legs… We stop in Carmacks “the dark one” as we call it, we strongly recommend the petrol station for a face to face dinner with the one you love…..

We finally reach the campsite, quick dinner and again, hop we are in our sleeping bags quicker than needed to blink. Ambience, ambience….

– Jean

9/8: Tetcha Creek - Stewart Crossing, 95 miles

We ride the first 50 miles like rockets before stopping for lunch. We think the rest of the day will be easy and… it is not exactly the case. We start with 2 miles uphill on gravel road in the mud: it is hard, very hard. Then, we have a good headwind and more hills, we fly at 7 miles/hour!!! If we keep cycling like that, we will be at the campsite at 11 pm. Nicolas decided then to take the lead and pulls me to the campsite where we arrive at 8 pm. There is a small restaurant: we are absolutely starving. I order a burger and I have 2 desserts and I am still starving!!! Nicolas who does not know how to put a spandex correctly has the bottom absolutely destroyed. Once again, tommorow is expected. — Jean

10/8: Stewart Crossing - Klondike River Lodge (Dempster Highway junction), 85 miles

As previously, it is boring. Wee excitement when we cross the junction of the Dempster highway which is the only alternative to the Arctic ocean compared to the way we will cycle from Fairbanks. Tomorrow, we will be in Dawson City, at last! — Jean

11/8: Klondike River Lodge - Dawson City, 25miles

Surprise when we wake up, it is minus 2 celsius in the middle of August!!! All the stuffs which stayed outside for the night are frozen. Nicolas fell in a very artistical way when trying to reach the toilets on the top of wooden stairs. We enjoy our first shower in a week (you do not know how we miss them when you can’t walk 5 meters from your bedroom anymore before having hot water!!!!) Before leaving, we see a couple from Vancouver Island we already saw on the cassiar Highway: they are just back from the Dempster highway and they tell us there has been a poalr bear sighting several days ago there, exactly what we needed to hear.

But the authorities gave it a lift by helicopter and dropped it back into the ocean.

The 25 miles to Dawson are done very quickly and this town is a revelation: old houses western style, dust street and a great ambience. The spud (good mood) is back!!! We decide we will enjoy this town a little bit and we will only leave tomorrow afternoon. I enjoy a cariboo stew and Nicolas tries the salmon for the first time of this trip (I swallowed my stew so fast that the waiter embarrassed asks me if I want a second main meal. I only take a dessert, but once again, I am starving!!!!) We clean the bikes and go to bed.
– Jean

12/8: Dawson City - Clinton Road, 30miles

Slow motion morning and we leave at 3 pm. We cross the Yukon river on a ferry and we start the Top of the World highway: will it justify all the boring days spent on the Klondike highway? From the start, it is tough: 10 miles uphill on the gravel road, but we then reach the ridge and we enjoy an amazing ride with a great view on the valleys around. While I am reaching the top of a pass, I suddenly stop: there is a grizzly bear walking on the side of the road. Nicolas stops with me and we identify ourselves as humans, following the procedure: waving our arms, speaking not too loud and walking backwards. But the bear keeps walking in our direction looking at us persistently. A motorcyclist comes from nowhere and we ask for his help: he decides to scare the grizzly. As soon as he starts his engine on, the bear stands up and looks at us. Then the motorcyclist rides in its direction and beeps: the bear once again stands up and walks into the bushes, but it is actually to walk around the biker and it keeps walking towards us. We therefore ask the motorcyclist to come back what he does. We decide to ride all together next to the bear. When we do it, the bear stands up a last time still looking at us. We will be more careful now: that was our first encounter with a grizzly bear. We decide to keep cycling to avoid the presence of this bear (not too big to be honnest but still scary). We stop 10 miles later and set up the tent.– Jean

13/8: Clinton Road - first campsite after the border, 55 miles

There is a good shower during the night but no bear around. However, when we wake up, there is fog all around us. Wwe can’t see further than 50 meters away. When we finally start cycling, the fog slowly disappears. But the road is steep and as we approach the border, the wind comes and the rain decides to join all this gang! As we are on the ridge, we are not protected from the wind and we struggle to keep our bikes on the road: that is really tough. At last, we reach the border and we discover customs in a small hut in the middle of nowhere: this is the northest US-Canada border on land. We are so wet we ask to the customs to stay in their hut for lunch, what we do. We even have the right to use their toilets. The stamp they put on our passport is absolutely great: it is a cariboo!!! After a stop on a bar (the only house in town actually) in Bounday, we reach the campsite where our grizzly encounter story has soon reached every ear and hop, we are the heroes of the area, telling our story like old sailors. Anyway, we are in Alaska, we did it, we cycled all the way from Vancouver! There is still some way to cycle but we are already very proud of what we achieved so far.

Jean et Nicolas are now in Alaska since Wednesday (or tuesday, I’m not sure). They plan to be at Fairbanks tomorrow evening. They also saw their first grizzli. The good news is that they seem to be still alive, even if I don’t have the details about this meeting.
To celebrate all this news I added two new drawings.
And if you wish to have a better envisionning of their way from Vancouver to Whitehorse (I don’t have yet the details of their more recent adventures) you can do it here. By clicking on the yardsticks you can read the french version of their journal (sorry, I didn’t have time to do the english one yet) and see some photos related to the place.

We thought that was useful to write a post on the bears to present you the kind of stories we heard and what happened when we met some.
It has been pretty hard for us to have an opinion on the real danger that bear can be. Some people will talk about htem like ferocious beasts able to eat all what they find and some other will explain to you that they are only cute little furry animals… It is also very hard to get any figure about the real number of accidents every year.
We had some very interesting discussion with people knowing waht they were talking about.
The first one, which is mentionned in the blog during hte first week of the trip has been with Trent who hunted bears for more htan 20 years. Basically, he was saying that the main risk is if you are between a mum and a cub and if the cub starts to cry, then you are in big trouble. For all the other situation, tehre is no risk as bears are more afraid of us than we can imagine.
Then, Nicolas had an interesting discussion with a couple from Fairbanks, Alaska we met in Jasper. They explained the only risk is with grizzlies and you are in trouble if you meet a grumpy one with bad teeth. if it is the case, there is nothing you can do except avoiding it as much as you can and if it attacks, you need to hit back.
The German couple we met in Kitwanga told us one of their friends was hiking with his partner when he stopped for lunch (a sandwich in a plastic box). A grizzly came from nowhere, attacked him and badly injured him. Impossible to know if grumpiness and bad teeth were the explanation.

We met 7 black bears so far. There has been 2 types of reactions: -the bear escapes as fast as it can, being obviously very scared to see these two weird animals pedalling on funny machines…
-the bear looks at us and keeps doing what it was achieving. in most cases, he is eating a branch or just having a seat on a hill and looking around.
we did not meet any grizzly so far (we are not particularly in a hurry to see one). people told us it is likely we will see some on the gravel road going to the Arctic ocean. We will see and let you know.

Pictures of weeks 4 and 5 are available in the Photos section. New videos are also available on our Google Video page.

That is it: we are in Whitehorse, Yukon, Canada after 2000 miles done! We are enjoying 3 consecutive rest days before cycling to the Great north. We slightly change our plans and we will probably cycle teh “top of the world highway” to reach Fairbanks. Tougher than initially expected as it is mainly gravel but it is worth it and we are feeling good. I have a meeting with Environment Canada tomorrow afternoon, I am really looking forward to it.

23rd July: Smithers-Kitwanga
After having bought some technical equipment (new rope to hang up food) and having eaten a massive breakfast, we hit the road late morning. After a stop in Smithers airport to admire a massive stuffed grizzly shot down in 2001 (after having eaten 300 cattle heads!), we keep going. People start to tell us that highway 37 (Stewart Cassiar) is full of bears. The day ends in the rain: it is cold and we are in a hurry to arrive in Kitwanga. The boss of the campsite is a little bit weird (”no bearproof bins, just put all your food within your tent as long as it is not fresh fish”). That is the very first time we hear this kind of speech!!! We meet Ingrid and Andre, 2 Germans who own a campsite near Vancouver. Bear stories all evening long (one of their friends has been badly injured by a grizzly bear a couple of years ago), we are not 100% confident when going to bed….

24th July: Kitwanga-Bonus Lake
Late start (10 am) and we are soon back to the topic of the moment: we stop at a crossroad to have a bite and a car stops: the driver tells us that there is a big black bear next to the road a couple of hundred of meters far from the corner. It is not our direction but we finish our snack quickly and jump on the bikes. A couple of hours later, at last, a real bear eating next to the paved shoulder: we cycle carefully using air horns. The bear does not move and keeps eating a small piece of wood…So far, they have not been so bad these little beasts. The afternoon is hard going: it is very hilly and we have a strong headwind. We finally stop at Bonus Lake rest area for the night: it is absolutely gorgeous. We set up the camp, enjoy our dinner on a jetee on the lake, hang up the food and go to bed. We have been told it is a bear infested area. Once again, hard to fall asleep. Hope we will see tomorrow……

25th July: Bonus Lake-Meziadin Junction
Probably because of the bears (actually not a single one came around the tent), we are on the bikes at 6:45 for a great ride. The wind is not so strong and the sceneries are very nice. We stop at Meziadin junction for lunch, set up the camp, have a quick nap, remove the pannniers from the bikes and we then cycle to the Bear glacier. On the way, I follow Nico and whereas we are cycling along a small wall between the road and the forest, I see a bear on one side of the wall and Nico on the other side, none of them having obviously seen the other. Too late to say anything. Both of them absolutely jump of surprise, one cycles fast, the other one runs into the woods as fast as he can and I have one of the best laughs so far. Bear glacier is very nice: it used to reach the other side of the lake until the early 70’s but because of global warming, this does not happen anymore. Back to the camp, people tell us there is some serious roadwork further down our way: it is obviously very bad conditions and they doubt we will be able to make it on the bikes. We are very determined and we are looking forward to see how it looks. We should know in less than 2 days…

26th July: Meziadin Junction- Bell II
We start with 20 kilometers uphill, we are not very motivated this morning. We meet people from Quebec on the way who tell us than at the next campsite, there is a couple of cyclists stuck because one of them broke his rim on the roadwork we are going to face. Good to know, we are more careful than usual to avoid potholes. We use the break to produce our first culinary show:

Nothing really interesting during the afternoon to be honest except another bear. We are used to it now, so we wave our arms and talk to him as loud as we can, still alive so far…..We stop in a posh resort which is a heliskiing base during winter. For the youngest ones, heliskiing is when you are dropped off by an helicopter on the top of a mountain to go downhill on your skis fronm there. When we pay the campsite (not so expensive by the way), we are told we can use all the facilities. Result: We have 2 showers in the same evening, one before and one after the SAUNA. Yes! A sauna, we can’t believe it. We are so happy. Then we go to the restaurant whre, for $20 we can have a all you can eat buffet. Not sure they knew what they were doing when telling us about this. We have been asked many times if we were finished to remove our plates and the answer has been the same every time: NO. We had ribs, soup, cafe, straberries, pizza, salad, vegetables. An absolute heaven. We met at this restaurant two American guys from Portland who are cycling up to Whitehorse. We know we will meet each other on the road again.

27th July: Bell II- Iskut
Early start (6:45 am), great riding conditions, we cycle fast and we are enjoying the sceneries. Another bear on the way (same story again and again, we obviously do not look tasty at all). We cycle next to bizarre places (runaway for planes in the middle of nowhere to bring miners for example). After 70 miles, we stop in a campsite next to a lake wondering if we should try to go as far as we can today to go through the first part of the roadworks. We decide to keep going. My tyre has a slow puncture but I can keep going. We meet a couple of Ontario: they say to us that the road has been closed a couple of hours earlier because of a washout: we should better to give up according to them. Thats is not exactly our state of mind. we arrive at the point where the road is closed ans ask to the road maintenance staff if we can go through with our bikes. They say yes. We cycle on a closed road next to an impressive landslide (the road went directly to the lake!). We are so happy. Once the washout behind us, we start the famous roadwork session. It is pretty hard going but we make it to the campsite after 100 miles. When the campsite staff know what we did during the day, we have free cookies, they are so tasty. People on the campground start to know we made it thought he landslide and ask us lots of question about how it looks: we are the guys to talk to have information on the road conditions. That is a pretty funny situation! We make a fire and cook on it, we are the king of the world even if people tell us the conditions we will meet tomorrow will be tough tough tough.

28th July: Bell II- Dease Lake
We are so tired that we can’t wake up before late morning. We hit the road happy and in a good form. We cycle where the roadworks happen and things are going well. We are asked to stop at the beginning of a section where drivers have to wait to be lead by a pilot cat through a 5 miles portion of the construction. Working staff ask us to put our bikes on the pilot car. We try as strong as we can to cycle among the car as we want to cycle every single mile of the way from Vancouver to the Arctic Ocean but there is no way. We jump on the pilot car and make it through the portion, freezing at the back of the pick-up. Funny enough, we will discover later that the guys from Portland reached that point 30 minutes later and when they accept immediately to put their bikes on the pilot car, the working men say they were cool compared to these 2 French guys who really wanted to cycle through…. I think I know who they are talking about. We have the road for ourselves as the road is cloded to all traffic at the washout point, so the only cars we have are the ones leaving Iskut which means 5 cars every 2 hours…. We have to climb a pass on the gravel road section trying to avoid all the massive construction machines. We have the impression to be spies in a bizarre world. Once we hit the paved section, we go fast and enjoy another great day. Just before arriving to our camp, we are cycling pretty fast when I look forward and see Nicolas stopped in the middle of the road (he will tell me later he saw a deer or a bear on the paved shoulder). I did not know he was stopping (he forgot to say which is one of the basic rules of cycling, little brother…. I hit him at the back and fell on the road. My elbow and my leg are bleeding. This is so stupid!!! If i have to give up such a trip on a situation like that…. A guy stops his car and asks us if I need a lift to the hospital, we say no before wondering where the closest hopsital could be, we are absolutely in the middle of nowhere. We make it to Dease Lake, a 200 people town. I ask by phone to the police where I could get some first aid (my wound is too big for the stuffs of our first aid kit!) and he says to me there is a hospital in town!!! We can’t believe it. We go there and discover a high-tech building where my wound is cleant and fixed in 5 minutes for free, we even get some gaze as a gift. When things go well……. We enjoy the evening. We are just woken up in the middle of the night by ragoons trying to steal our food, unsuccesfully.

29th July: Dease Lake- Boya Lake
We will try to reach Boya Lake tonight, it is quite far (100 miles) but obviously awesome and we intend to have a rest day there. Early afternoon, we meet our American friends again and decide to cycle together. That is amazing how time flies when you talk to nice people when cycling. We cycle through weird places, Jade city in particular which is a base for jade mines around, pretty dark place. Moreover, it starts raining and we still have some miles to do. We arrive late and absolutely exhausted at the campsite on Boya lake shores and it is absolutely pouring. We set up the tent as fast as we can in the rain, ask to a camper if we can eat under the shelter of his caravan, he accepts and we enjoy a meal (our usual pasta and soup) in a dry place. We go to bed quickly and the rain will not stop before tomorrow noon. Before going to bed, Nico pays the campsite to the park operator, Sue. She tells us to be careful with the food as there is a black bear wandering around. She offers to take our food in her house which is very handy for us.

30th July: rest day at Boya Lake
In the morning, we hear a gunshot very loudly. Later on, Sue comes to see us and explains she set up a place with plastic covers on it where we can move our tent to be dry. So nice from her. She also says:” Do not worry about the bear, it is …..(silence) gone. As when you are young and you are wondering where the old dog unable to walk in the last 3 years suddenly disappeared and you are told it went to the countryside for some vacancies, we understand the black bear which used to wander around the campsite is dead. That is what the gunshot was. We ask later on to Sue the exact conditions of the incident. She explains she saw it 3 times and this morning it was walking on the driveway, “that was enough”. I can tell you we have been careful not to walk on the driveway the rest of the day, an incident happens so quickly and Sue obviously knows how to use a rifle, that would be a pity to expalin to family and friend that one of us is………gone!
Next to this, we really enjpoed the rest day, in the sun after the rain. We relax and are happy. Great fire in the evening, we do not have to use our stove and it is funnier to cook directly on the flames. Tonight, life is great.

31st July: Boya Lake- Big creek
This monring is the last one on the Cassiar highway, we can’t believe it. This road is one the most amazing pieces of apshalt I have ever seen and that is almost finished! Nothing special to highlight in the morning except a snack stop where a guy stops his car to indicate us that he just saw a bear “whcih was definitely not black”. Another stop which is shorter than expected but we are still alive. We see the signpsot telling us that we are entering the Yukon territory. We are so happy, we knew from the beginning that this moment would be one of the highlights of our trip and it is! We made it, we reached the Yukon by bicycle. A couple of miles later, we are hit by a very heavy storm just as we emter the Alaska highway, mythic road of North America. We stop in a little cafe where we meet a guy from Alaska who just quit his job as leader of a NGO to protectr native forests from Alaska to cycle from Alaska to south Canada. Already so many amazing human encounters on this trip. We are struggling to find food and we need enough supplies for 2 days but the shops are so small. Except if we intend to eat sweeties every day, it is pretty hard to find anything. Luckily enough, we find a petrol station which sells bread and we leave with four pretty big pieces of bread on the bikes: that should be enough until the next town in 2 days. The conditions on the Alaska highway are much better than expected: few traffic, good tarmac and great sceneries. We stop at Big Creek campsite where once again, we enjoy a fire and a great evening.

1st August: Big Creek-Swan Lake
The morning is very hard going: we experience the strongest headwind so far and it is hard to be motivated. Every single mile is so slow to achieve. The recompense is the fact that when we stop for lunch in a petrol station, we meet Alayna and Beth (the 2 Canadian girtls we met 2 weeks earlier on the Yellowhead highway). We spend 2 great hours chatting again again and we leave much happier than when we stopped. We stop at Swan lake in the evening which is absolutely beautiful: amazing colors, horses at large, again cooking on the fire (we are keeping so much petrol like this, this could be useful once in the Arctic…).

2nd August: Swan Lake- Johnson’s Junction
Pretty good day, we reach the 3000 kilometers from the start, we are so happy, they have been done in exactly a month. We stop in Teslin for a break. When doing some shopping in the grocery store, we see a poster warning local people of the presence of a cougar on the road we will cycle from now. Great!!! That is exactly what was missing, a cougar….. What the hell? We stop in a small internet cafe where we meet the owner, Henry, a guy who left Switzerland a long time ago and now lives here. Good chat and he offers us the internet connexion!
We are pretty sure to see him tomorrow as he has to drive to Whitehorse, so he should not miss us on the road. Before reaching the camp, we are asked to go again on a pilot car to cross a bridge on which there is some roadwork going on. We insist strongly and, yes, thius time we get the authorisation to ride behind the car. Just after the bridge is our campground. Ouf! We should reach Whitehorse tomorrow!

3rd August:Johnson crossing- Whitehorse
The day starts with our first encounter with a moose: a mum and a cub. At last, a moose! we meet as expected Henry again and he brings us some luch, we can’t believe it, 2 pizzas each!!! Eaten in a shorter time than needed to blink…
We stop eating again next to Marsh Lake, a 20-mile long lake which has impressive turquoise colors. We reach Whitehorse late in the day after a hard going evening, I do not have legs anymore…. Small thing to mention, we cross for the first time the Yukon river, there will be many others meetings with this river on our way to the Arctic.

4th to 6th August: rest in Whitehorse….

Hi everyone,
We are in Smithers today after a week when we cycled a lot (85 miles/day on average). We enjoy this small town at the foot of the mountains before starting the Stewart-Cassiar Highway which will lead us almost to the Yukon. Summary of the last week.

16th July: Jasper-Creek River
Pretty efficient for a morning, we are actually on the bikes at 6:15. The highway we cycle on just outside Jasper will have to get used to our faces, we have more than 600 miles to do on it. Pretty good conditions and one very good surprise; we enter into british columbia (we were in Alberta for a week) and therefore, we change the time on our watches: it is like we left at 5:15! We cycle at the foot of Mount Robson, highest point in the Rockies (12 000 feet high). 2 small things to mention: clever as ever, I understand I forgot one of my water bottles in the toilets in the morning (2 pieces of information being one too many for my brain at the moment going to the toilet and filling my bottle was impossible). Not the end of the world but it is so hot that I will really miss it and will have to manage my water resources carefully. Moreover, we stop in a very small petrol station to get some water and an angry dog high as my thumb jumps around and barks as strongly as it can. I do not change my way and result, it bites me. You would need a microscope to see its teeth so that was not bleeding all over the place (far from it) but I will be careful now, bears and moose are not the only threat. After 75 miles we stop on a rest area.

17th July: Creek River-Dome Creek
Mosquitoes all over the tent in the morning, it drives us aboslutely mad: they are everywhere. We jump on the bikes as soon as we can. Typical conditions for a boring stage of Le tour de France: flat, not much to see. Result: the first 2 hours are done at an average of 16 miles per hour. Then things start to get harder, much harder. It is not particularly steep but it is climbing all the time. Several deers next to the road, we are careful when going down, it would be a pity to hit one of them. On the way, we meet Dave from South Africa who is cycling from Prudhoe Bay (Arctic Ocean) to Patagonia. We will meet several people cycling the same route in the following days but it is pretty impressive anyway: 16 months on a bike… After 85 miles, we stop on another rest area with far less mosquitoes this time. 900 grams of pasta carbonara disappeared in our stomachs in a very short period of time that night.

18th July: Dome Creek-Prince George
The deal is clear: 80 miles to do and we will be in Prince George. Not much to highlight really. We cycle in the mist in the morning, the road is still pretty dull: long, very long straight lines and pretty hilly. We can feel the tireness: we stop to talk to another cyclist in the afternoon and I forget to unclip one of my feet (our feet are clipped to the pedals). I fall under my bike and look like a tortoise on its back moving the legs in the air…. And we are doing this trip just for fun! We arrive in Prince George in the rain and go camping after our first visit ever in a Wal-Mart: pretty weird given the way we have been living for 3 weeks. But we buy some extras there and enjoy chocolate, sweets and Pringles in the evening…

19th July: Prince George-Vanderhoof
After a late start, we head in direction of Vanderhoof. This is the worst day so far. Dull, dull and dull again! Heavy headwind, climbing most of the time and no paved shoulders, so lorries are overtaking very closely. We arrive exhausted in Vanderhoof after 60 miles just to discover that the campsite in town is flooded (funny climate…) and there is no way we go any further. Nicolas asks to the police station a spot to pitch the tent in town and we end up with 3 offers to stay. We finally stay with Deirdre and Todd. Deirdre is a biker and she will cycle around Slovenia in a couple of weeks. We have a really good chat with them and with Todd`s children. We fall asleep late but relieved after such a day.

20th July: Vanderhoof- Burns Lake
We start the morning with an amazing breakfast cooked by Todd: pancakes, fruits and jam, heaven!!!! Travelling is great in particular for human encounters. this one was very special and we will not forget it. Thanks again to you 4 for this great moment. We leave Vanderhoof in a great mood. Nothing special on the road. we meet 2 great Canadian girls, Elena and Beth on a rest area (we are like drivers, we stop on rest areas!!!) and Elena gives us a wallet made from recycled fruit juice box: environmental friendly and waterproof! Cheers. We stop in Burns Lake at the municipal campground. Very dodggy place with police arresting 2 guys next to our spot. Tomorrow morning will be welcome.

21th July: Burns Lake- Smithers
We know that, once in Smithers, the rest day will be for us. So 93 miles in the day (longest so far) and hop, job done. The road becomes sceneric again. We cycled a lot in the last wek but we have now finished with the dull part. Tomorrow, we will cycle to Kitwanga where the Stewart Cassiar highway, main road to whitehorse, starts. Pretty remote (no grocery for 250 miles) but obviously fantastic. Now, it is time to chill out. Take care.

Pictures of the third weeks are available here

We finally uploaded the pictures and videos of our trip. This is not as organized as we wanted them to be (yet), but this is a first step. Videos are highly compressed so that everyone can see them. If you wish to have them in better quality, please tell us.

Videos are available here:
Biking in the bushes

Crossing a river

Camping Upper Nicola Lake

Wild camping in Three Valley

Train in Revelstoke

Yoho National Park 2

Yoho National Park

Columbia Icefield

Pictures are available there: http://www.arctic2007.org/photos/weekly/

Hello there, We are now in Jasper (Rockies) where we take our first real rest day. Pretty long day yesterday (90 miles) with a long pass but we have now done 700 miles since Vancouver and we are pretty happy. The legs start to be fit and we really enjoy riding in such amazing sceneries. Tomorrow, we will head north west, direction Whitehorse in Yukon …… 1300 miles away!

Please find below what happened in the last week:

9th July: Three Valley-Revelstoke, 20 miles
We just cycled in the morning before stopping in Revelstoke to have some rest: we ate burgers and steaks like ogres. Nothing special happened (rest day by definition!) except the fact that Nicolas had his first puncture when we were eating (???) in a restaurant.

10th July: Revelstoke-Roger’s pass, 40 miles
a 40 miles climb, in the heat wave, with lorries overtaking us pretty closely, not easy to cycle in these conditions… But we see our first glaciers next to the roads, the sceneries are awesome and we know we are getting closer from the Rockies, so good mood in the evening once camping just below Roger’s Pass.

11th July, Roger’s Pass-Yoho National Park
We reached the summit of the pass first thing in the morning and enjoy the downhill. 4 avalanche sheds and one tunnel on the way, one shed in particular is long, dark and has a bend inside…. a wee bit scary! We enter a new time zone (in the wrong way, it is suddenly one hour later and the consequence is we will stop late tonight again, we are not happy). We stop shopping in Golden (as the name tells, it is a former town developed during the gold rush), it is more than 30 degrees in the shade and we still have a massive climb before stopping, it is hard to find the motivation, but once on the bikes it is getting better especially when we cycle under a massive viaduc currently being built. We stop in Yoho National Park where we meet a family from Ontario. The father used to work in fire control so he is used to deal with bears…. Good chat. Moreover, he offers us some fruit juice and a couple of beers, what more could we ask? we fall asleep as babies, the bodies start to be tired.

12th July, Yoho National Park- Mosquito Creek, 60 miles, average speed 11 miles
Just after the start, new pass (il looks like the tour de France) 6 kilometres with some part with a 9% slope, but we are so motivated that in 40 minutes, we are on the top and we go downhill to Lake Louise. Psychologically speaking, it is an importamt step: Lake Louise is the end of the first stage of the trip, we are in the Rockies and we will now head northwest to Alaska. After a massive lunch (that is the case everytime we meet civilisation), we decide to go to see the Lake Louise without knowing there is a 4 kilometres climb to get there. I am struggling so much, Nicolas is flying… My motivation is low but when I see a black bear next to the road, I suddenly go faster, do not know why…..The lake is awesome and we then start cycling on the Icefield Parkway before stopping in Mosquito Creek (no surprise in the name, mosquitoes are everywhere!).

13th July, Mosquito Creek-Rampart Creek
We stay in bed (well, in sleeping bags, which is a wee bit different) until 10 before hitting the road. There are glaciers, brith blue-green streams everywhere, we are happy and are cycling in a good mood. We meet Ben on the way, he is also cycling to Alaska so we stop together in the evening. We go to bed early, the plan tomorrow is to wake up at 4….

14th July: Rampart Creek-Jasper
I do not know if it is because it is a particular day for French people but we are absolutely flying, 90 miles in the day with a 6000 feet high pass (Sunwapta pass) on the menu. We finally left the camp at 6, saw an eagle and reached the Columbia Icefield. On the way down after the pass, I reached the record speed so far: 45 miles/hour. With all the equipment on the bike, I look like Don Quichotte on a mad donkey at that speed! We reach the 1000 kilometres (620 miles from the start) and are happy.
We admire the sceneries a last time and stop in Jasper where for the first time in a week, we meet a shower. As it is 14th July, we put clean clothes, use a deodorant and use the soap (hard to do when washing ourselves in lakes as it is bad for water resources!).
To be absolutely accurate, our soap is not a lavander perfumed one but a multi-use thing which also cleans dishes and clothes. As Nicolas says, it is closer from an oil for early twenties aeroplanes than from modern soap, but we can’t ask too much.

15th July- REST DAY

Take care,

Nicolas and Jean