So I arrived in Alaska around 0100 local time in Fairbanks, which was 0200 for my body. I had to reassemble my bike in the airport baggage claim area which wouldn’t have been too bad except I had a seemingly endless stream of old men coming up to me to tell me about their bike travels back in the 60’s. Normally I would have been all ears, but I was tired, had to put a bike back together, and then bike about 7 kilometers to the place I was staying the next two nights. I stayed at an AirBNB at the suggestion of my aunt, she found me a home of a woman who had purple hair and a panda themed room. I was sold.
I stayed their for two nights so my body could rest up after the late night flight; on Monday I stocked up on food and supplies that I could not fly with. I may have watched a lot of M*A*S*H and Gilmore Girls… Shhhhh don’t judge.
I left Tuesday morning, a bit later than I had planned cause I had an unexpected 0400 phone call from my bestie. Don’t worry I’m not angry! The first twenty kilometers or so were nice, gradual incline with mostly protected bike path which was nice then it got kind of hellish and hilly! I stopped at a place halfway between Fairbanks and Nenana called Skinny Dicks. If you are passing by you have to stop! The shit there is hilarious! The rest of the ride to Nenana was mostly downhill and I eventually made it to Nenana where I camped in the woods by the boat launch cause I would have water and a loo to poo in!
The following day started with about seventy kilometers of very gradual incline which was so amazing! I stopped at a bar about halfway to Denali National Park to have lunch and top off my water. I ate more or less and entire chicken and side of fries. Yum. Upon nearing Healy it got sort of hilly, but nothing like just outside of Fairbanks, then there was the big downhill into the canyon which was so much fun! But on the way down I realized I had to then bike back up it and considered just continuing south to Anchorage to avoid it.
Nevertheless I pulled into the park and got a campsite for two nights so I could rest again before heading deeper into the park. On my rest day I saw two women sitting near their bikes that were rigged for bikepacking; they had just biking in from Wonder Lake, more or less the end of the road in the park. I struck up a conversation and we talked for a long time. We met up later in the campground and it turns out they were Sarah Outen and her fiancé Lucy! I almost lost my cool when I figured out who Sarah was! In all honestly I probably did lose my shit. For those who don’t know Sarah Outen circumnavigated the northern hemisphere by human power. She is definitely a role model for me so meeting her was like a dream come true! What are the odds???
I had tried to stay up all night so I could sleep all day, I thought it would be easier since it doesn’t ever get dark here this time of year, but alas I was out by 0300 and awake by 0900. I had wanted to sleep all day so I could bike at night and avoid the heavy car and bus traffic near the entrance (personal vehicles can only go in about 25 km). I ended up leaving around 1800 or 1830 since all west bound buses had departed by then. It’s rides like this that are the reason I go bike touring! You get views like this:
Which is of the Teklanika River and some mountains in the Alaska Range about 6 kilometers from my campsite at around 2300. I rolled into camp around 2330 and quickly made a meal and put my tent up and went to bed. I climbed a total of 1000 meters in elevation that night, a feat that my legs would be repeating the next two days. Sorry legs!
I slowly tore down camp in the morning, unsure if I wanted to ride during the day or continue doing night rides, I ended up riding during the day. I chatted with some Dutch tourists who were hiking in the park. They were super cool and taught me the word for Squirrel, Eekhoorn! So I am really bad with names and forgot by the time I got to camp later that night so if you are reading this please write to me so I know!
The ride that day was rough, I mean really fucking rough. My body had not yet fully recovered from the previous night’s ride, reminding me again why I don’t ride overnight. Plus I started with a 450m climb into the wind up to Sable Pass. The view was worth it and so was the down hill. I pretty much spent the day slogging up four or five different mountain passes before eventually making it to my backcountry camp. About 5 kilometers before camp I did see a momma grizzly and her two cubs feeding in the mountains just north of the road, they paid me no attention thankfully. I must say the view was worth it, at least it was while peeing since that was the only excuse good enough to get me out in the thick cloud of mozzies.
Eventually the clouds closed in and I was surrounded by fog and in the rain for most of the night which did help to keep the mozzies at bay when I was tearing down camp in the morning. I had a relatively easy day, only two mountain passes and one long downhill to Wonder lake where I would catch the bus back to the front of the park. I got a bit caked in mud on the trip down to Wonder Lake from the previous night’s rain turning the road into mud; which also stopped me from going all out on the downhill, winding road. I was going to camp another night in the wilderness near Wonder Lake if the weather was better cause I would have loved to see Denali from this distance, but the forecast was more rain. I didn’t feel like dealing with the rain, mosquito bites on my ass whilst peeing, and not seeing the mountain so I bused back to the Riley Creek Campground at the front of the park.
In these past six days, five of which were riding days, I’ve biked 365 kilometers and climbed 4,400 meters. Biking in Denali has been one of the best experiences of my life so far. I have met many amazing friends, some of whom I plan to bike with in the near future, and others I may never see again. I got to challenge myself to bike in some of the most beautiful places on earth. And I am only just starting my journey. I am excited to see what life has in store for me next!