A round trip from Houston TX to Alaska
This motorcycle ride project started back sometime during fall 2019. The idea was to spend most of the fall and winter months to prepare the trip and do the actual ride sometime during summer 2020. Well, I guess I’m not the only one to have had to change their riding projects that year …and following year…nevertheless the project was still very much alive and it looks like 2022 is the year to grab the opportunity.
Below are the maps with the planned routes. The departure from Houston is planned for late May and I’m expecting to be in Canada an Alaska between mid-June and mid-July.
US central routes
The northbound route will go through Texas, New Mexico, Arizona, California, Oregon and Washington states. The section from California to Washington state (also known as the Great Pacific Divide) is mostly in the rocky mountains with nice trails and scenic roads. The southbound return route is following the famous Continental Divide trail.
The Canadian section
The plan is to cross the Canadian border at Oroville (Osoyoos on the Canadian side) and follow the northbound itinerary that goes to Prince George, Dawson Creek, Fort Nelson and Watson Lake via the 97. From Watson Lake head toward Dawson City via the Campbell Highway 4. The outbound plan is much simpler and less tiring I guess as I have booked a ferry passage from Haines to Bellingham (blue section on the map). The only riding section is from Tok to Haines (about 440 miles).
The Alaska Section
From Fairbanks there are basically two options, either to explore the northside and ride toward Prudhoe Bay or ride south and explore Denali National Park and Anchorage area.
The plan is to take the northbound option toward Dead Horse / Prudhoe Bay via the famous Dalton Highway. However this is subject to weather condition and a good forecast. This stretch from Fairbanks to Dead Horse is about 400 miles with only one stop mid-way at Coldfoot for gas and lodging. The road is mostly gravel and it could be challenging so I would rather not do it solo.
The outbound plan from Fairbanks is to go through the Denali park and get back to Tok via the Richardson and Tok Cutoff highways.
Looks like a pretty nice ride isn’t it? Sure it’s going to be a long journey but I don’t have any schedule constraint except for the ferry in July which I could probably reschedule if needed. This flexibility is a major advantage as it allows for minor planning adjustment that may be related to weather conditions, fatigue, mechanical issues, etc…
On the next post I will discuss the motorcycle preparation.
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