by pauladkins
A June 1996
travel journal
Last Updated: July 19, 2000
- Journal Usefulness Rating
- 3
- Reviews
- 4
- Photos
A 7 week mountain bike ride that jumped back and forth across the Alaska Range for nearly 800 miles, a journey no one had made before. A two wheeled adventure written about in National Geographic Magazine. The route lead the trio of bikers over boulders & brush, through belly deep bogs, along icy rivers, and across frozen glaciers, all to see the wild Alaska Range. Find out what tools they took, what they ate, how they crossed rivers and what they thought about in the bush.
The highlights would have to be crossing the Gakona River, and riding the Black Rapids Glacier. Oh yea, the pizzas were the topper.
Quick Tips:
Always take less. When planning a trip to the Alaskan Bush, be careful not to take along to much. The weight will cause you to physically suffer when traveling. On the bike we usually carried only 10 pounds of gear plus food plus of course the bikes. Food is an interesting load because you eat it away but it is very heavy until then.
Another Tip: Attitude is everything!!! I cannot over emphasize the importance of a positive attitude in the Alaskan Outback. Weather, navigation, food, bike problems can all get you down, but just realizing that you are in the most beautiful place there is should be enough to keep you grinning from ear to ear.Best Way To Get Around:
Either biking, walking, or floating rivers. These are the only way to get around in the Alaskan bush in the summer.
by pauladkins on July 18, 2000
The riding is different from the local buff trails. Slow, tricky, and rough are key descriptors, but so satisfying to be able to travel across land without trails with something as simple as 25 pound bikes and not only survive but really live. This is what mountain biking is all about to me.
by pauladkins on July 19, 2000
Alaska Range Riding
Canadian Border to Lake Clark National Park Alaska Range, Alaska
To be able to cross 800 miles of Alaska where the roads can't go and the hiking trails won't go, is so wonderfully satisfying that I cannot stay away. To share the wilderness with the Moose the Salmon, the Grizzlies and the Eagles is what Alaska Means to me.
- by pauladkins on July 19, 2000