Day 4 – A bear of a day

STATS	DAY	MILES	CLIMBING	CALORIES
DAY	4	58.46	2156	3194
TOTALS		221.61	11,158	13,615

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One thing I did not have time to cover in yesterday’s edition was the Alcan Highway. 

The Alcan highway was constructed by the Army Corp of Engineers beginning in March 1942 connecting a rail head in Dawson Creek to the existing Richardson Highway in Delta Junction Alaska.  Such a route was contemplated as early as 1930 and it was the bombing of Pearl Harbor that deemed it a necessity.  The US struck and agreement with Canada that the US would pay for construction and turn the Canadian portion over to Canada after the war and Canada would provide the right of way and the materials.  By June, over 10,000 American troops had moved into the region.  The route tried to leverage as much of the existing pack and fur trading trails that existed.  The survey crews were in groups of three.  One would position himself and the other two  would move to the next spot and raise a flag above the trees to be located.  There were marshes and bogs, rivers, deep snow, and large boulders to contend with.  Once the flag was located, the first man would set and record his bearings while the third man would move to the next post.  The first one would arrive at the flag and the process would continue.  On a good day, 8-10 miles could be surveyed.  Life was hard for the workers.  Summer meant black flies and mosquitos, winter meant below zero temps and there were no communication lines in place.  News, messages, and orders could take months to travel to their destination during construction.  Workers worked 16 hour days with small food rations.  When the Japanese invaded the Attu and Kiska Islands in the Aleutians, work was ordered to speed up.  The 1422 mile stretch was completed in just 8 months and 12 days.  (Source:  Milepost Magazine 2011 edition).

They have been in the process of straightening the highway for several years in order increase speed and facilitate commerce and the highway today is about 35 miles shorter.  There are many areas where you can see the old road historic milage markers still exist in some places..

We took the short cut

Sleeping conditions were better last night.  I was camped by the river and could hear the water flowing. Truck traffic was all but non-existent.  One interesting side effect of  darkness only reaching twilight is that the birds sing 24 hours. 

Today’s weather was another glorious sunny and warm for the ride of 58 miles to Prophet River Provintial Park.

I have not said much about my buddy Mike.  As I said before, Mike is a dichotomy: He is 5-star resort kind of guy and if you see his profile picture on Facebook, that is him climbing Alpe Duez on his bike.  Mike is many things, but he is not a camper (yet anyway).  I caught him this morning after he broke camp and was bringing his gear to the van:

Hey my tent looks just like a rustic cabin (in the center).

Yes, after camping the first night in Dawson Creek, Mike has opted for the attached bed if one is available.  I have been ribbing him about it, but truth be told, the bathrooms are little nicer in the rooms than they are for the campers and I need to keep that option open (in the quest of keeping me open…..)  Tonight we are in a primitive campground with only a pit toilet, should be fun (for him).

As for today’s ride, it started with a big climb that began at the parking lot of the campground.  At around 15 miles we passed our first, and only commercial stop.  The remainder of the ride was generally flat, absolute wilderness, and gorgeous.

There were many places out across the forest that looked like there was smoke rising, then it would dissipate.  It is not smoke, it is pine pollen.  Check out the picture I caught of the phenomenon close to the road.

Pine Pollen

The road surface has been pretty good, some loose gravel in places.  We have been hearing about the “chip seal” that they regularly do.  This is done around NJ, and while it is a pain right after it is done, it results in decent roads for the most part.  In these parts, however, they don’t use chips, they use rocks which make for a bit of a rough ride.

Be sure and expand this one to see what I am talking about.

About 5 miles from our destination, we come over our last climb which exposed another great vista.  I thought I would stop and take a picture, however, doing so would mean I would get dropped by Mike and Joe.  Suddenly, Mike slows to a stop and think “how does he know I want to stop?”

Road side distraction  (I have been trying for several hours to upload a video I shot that was pretty good however after several, several hour attempts, it is not completing so I just went with the still photo.  If I get it uploaded, I will share it later.

This bear would not move and at one point just laid down as if to take a nap.  A truck came along and slowed way down and blew his horn which drove the bear towards to woods.  This was Mikes first bear he has ever seen in the wild.  He said that he hopes it is the only.  The effect on him was evident:

(Caption censored by the Blog Police)

Profit River Park campground has been closed and is not maintained.  We are camped a few hundred yards from the highway and there are a few other trailer campers on the other side.  Dinner tonight was spinach and cheese ravioli, mixed vegetables, and salad.  The more miles I ride the hungrier I get.

The Great Pumpkin is stoked for another night.

It's not everyday that you see a pumpkin in a leather hat and sunglasses

Tomorrow – Day 5 and our first motel night!  We’re going out on the town!

Tale of the tape