Yesterday I checked on the status of getting up the Dempster to Eagle Plains, and onto the Arctic Circle. The Dempster was closed at 195km so getting up was not an option. The highway was not only washed out, but apparently flooded. The woman at the information center said her cousin came through (they let you through at your own risk) and the water was up to his doors. I called the motel in Eagle Plains, and the lady said "oh no it is raining here now" in reference to my riding a motorcycle up that way. I did want to go up the Dempster a little ways. I was told of a park called Tombstone, and a place called Two Moose Lake. The scenery is supposed to be unforgettable, and lots of wildlife. One local said there were about 1000 Caribou up there (somewhere I really could not understand him). It was sunny, so I started up the Dempster to explore Tombstone, and possibly Two Moose Lake.



They were grading parts of the Dempster which made the trip in portions a little challenging. The gravel was loose for a period which caused the bike to shimmy a lot. About 25 miles in I feel a funny sensation and hear an unfamiliar noise. I stop to see my rear tire going flat. I have had more then one rider tell me that if you go up the Dempster expect to get a flat. Many adventure riders carry two extra tires. Many also do it with knobbies also. First thing I do, after a few not so bad words, is pull out my bear spray. Then I pull out my plug kit and portable pump. I didn't have to look for the leak, just looking at the back tire a half inch slash was there staring at me. I started to pump up the tire to see if I could preserve the bead, which was intact. I then plugged the slash and it held air. I pumped up the tire and headed back to Dawson 50 miles away. I choose the largest shop as my best bet to get the tire patched. Maybe a mistake. They wanted me to remove the wheel, which really took less then 5 minutes. 2 1/2 hours later, three tries to patch the tire, and several bad scratches to my rim, I leave with a used tire and scratched up $800.00 wheel. The tire was provided by a guy named Dick who owns one of the motels in Dawson. He is a Beemer rider who has several used tires left by other riders who ship them to him and use them on the Dempster. Wish I knew, he could have changed my tire without the butchering done at the shop. They didn't charge me anything, what a deal.



I located Dick and thanked him in person for the tire. With him were an older couple. We got to talking and they said they had just come over the Top of the World Hwy (the day before) and I said I had too. Then the guy says, you were the one beeping at us. BUSTED! They were in the first RV that I was beeping at to get it to move over into a lane. He said they ride there to avoid the pot holes which shake up the RV terrible. No hard feelings, and we wished each other good travels.

I rode back to the beginning of the Dempster where a rider from Idaho named Steve came up to me. He was looking for someone to ride the Dempster with. I advised him of the situation down the road, and he decided he would try it on Saturday. He wanted me to stay over and ride it with him, and I would have loved to see what everybody was talking about, but I decide one flat and a day delay was enough. We parted and I started for Carmacks, YT. Guess what? It started to rain, 9th day out of 10 I found myself riding in the rain. I made it to Carmacks, and the hotel, was, well, a dump. Nothing much in Carmacks as most of these small Yukon towns. No Internet that is why I am posting both tonight.

My ride to Watson Lake was uneventful. It was a little cool, and yes I had more rain, now we are at 10 out of the last 11 days. 14 out of 28 days of this trip I have been in rain. Today was a short 382 mile day to give me a little break. I plan to get to Fort St John tomorrow, that is 555 miles. I have no commitments, so if I feel I need to stop early, I will. I am over 9000 miles on this trip so far. I have video but the Internet connection here is unreliable and keeps kicking me off. I will try to edit with those videos when I get a better location with a good connection. One of the videos shows the smoke from a forest fire about 20 miles from here. It is on the Cassier (sp?) Hwy (RT37) which is now closed due to that fire. That is the route I took up on my way to Alaska. On my way here I went by several areas marked with signs dating the forest fire that destroyed that area. I believe it was 1958, 1968, and 1998 that the signs stated. The 1998 area was still pretty bare. Hope the one raging now is not so bad, that was a pretty route.

The Dempster Hwy, as much as I saw that day.