Yukon Journey

[Dennis]

The next best thing to a week long motorcycle trip in summer, is a week long Jeep trip in winter/spring. 

I left Prince George on March 20th, officially the first day of spring, in steady snow.  I took Hwy 37 to Whitehorse, and due to gas stations closing at sundown, had to sleep in the Jeep two nights on route with minus 20 degree overnight temperatures.  Had a good weekend with my sons and got to visit my ex wife who is now a keen dog musher.  Took a drive out to Haines Junction just to say I did.  I left Whitehorse Monday after lunch with my sons.

Trip back was via Fort Nelson.   I racked up 4011 km.

The Jeep is a great vehicle for an adventure drive.  It is quite small with short wheel base so it is twitchy at any speeds over 80 km/h.  Traction has to monitored constantly due to changing road conditions, so shifting on the fly between 2wd and 4wd was a must.  The Jeep has a straight inline six (3.0 litre) with manual transmission.  It has a sweet spot between 1500 and 2000 rpms.  I was able to spend 95% (estimate) of my time in this rpm range.  I've had it since new and have carefully maintained it.  At 160,000 kms, I have full confidence in it, and the only tools I took were a cell phone and my BCAA card.

This was my second Yukon trip in the Jeep.  I drove to Inuvik a few years ago.

I stopped at what used to be the Harley dealership (now an independent shop) in Whitehorse.  They have lots of motorcycles through there in the summer months.   I'd think twice about riding a motorcycle through the Yukon even in summer.  The distances are huge.  The roads surfaces are mostly rough, and there are many steel bridges which freak me out.   There is very little traffic now, but in summer the roads are crowded with tourists, and even the Alaska Hwy is just a basic two laner with very few passing lanes. 

The scenery (with the exception of Fort Nelson to Fort St. John) is incredible.  The entire trip was basically though mountains. 

Peace & Adventures, Dennis

[MaximX]

Sounds like an adventure alright.  I never think of north as a direction I want to go for a road trip, especially in winter.  I vote that you include a few photos of the trip.

[fast1]

   My wife and I did the same trip 5 years ago in a Dodge dynasty about the same time of year. Took the Alaska highway up and the Stewart-Cassiar back. Great trip. Also went to the Lliard hot springs and a day trip to Skagway. Took a sojourn into Hyder on the way home. Beautiful scenery with lot's of mountains and a few ass puckering moments. Glad you had fun! CHEERS.

[Hans]

I did the circle tour in 1998 in my Scirocco.  Up the Alaska, made it to halfway up Kluane Lake before it was time to turn around.  Annoyed german tourists in the campground in Whitehorse.  Into Skagway for a day (awesome drive through the Tortured Valley).   Down the Cassiar.  Into Dease Lake where we got stared out of the Tanzilla pub.  West down a crazy road to Telegraph Creek.  Further south to the obligatory Hyder trip.  Up the Nass to the precursor of the Nishga'a highway and to Terrace.  Into Prince Rupert for the hell of it.  Then home. 

That old car took me everywhere, across Canada, most of the way down the Baja.  Untold numbers of Vancouver trips.  Was sad to see it go.

[stevecrout]

One of my favourite memories of Whitehorse (used to have a tax office up there) was the first stay in the Gold Rush Hotel. I checked in one day and got up to the "non-smoking" room I had requested and it smelled like a Montreal bar at 11 pm on a Saturday night. 

When I asked about it the nice lady at the front desk said "git lost for an hour and we'll turn it back into a non-smoking room fer ya"

My colleague explained all the rooms were smoking and non-smoking - what ever you request.

Turns out they have some gizmo they plant in the middle of the room and it de-fumes/de-stinks the room and voila - a non smoker's delight!

Also - One trip I watched a guy drive his Panhead down Main Street on January 3 as it was only -4