North to Alaska!


A very rough google-map rendering of our route

We’re still working out the details, but what we’re planning is to ride from the California Bay Area north to the Alaskan Arctic Circle – and we’ll be trying to make the trip entirely on dirt trails.

Instead of taking our usual motorcycles, we’re going to load up our dirt bikes (a ’93 Suzuki DR350 for me and a ’98 Yamaha XT225 for Anjel) with a tent, sleeping bags, cookstove and the usual collection of tools and travel gear and roughly* follow the Pacific Crest Trail as we head through California, Oregon and Washington. (*yes, roughly. We won’t be riding the PCT as it’s not for motorized vehicles, but there are a number of legal, public dirt trails through that land that one can follow.)

Crossing into Canada we’ll travel through British Columbia up into the Yukon before finally re-entering the States and continuing north past the town of Coldfoot, Alaska on our way to 66˚ 33′ 44″ and the Arctic Circle.

Unlike the last trip, we’ll be organizing some outside activities to coincide with this trip. We’re working on partnering with TreadLightly (“a nonprofit organization with a mission to promote responsible outdoor recreation through ethics education and stewardship”), in fact we’ll be attending their Master Tread Trainer course this weekend.

We’ll also be cleaning up the trails as we travel (weighing how much left behind garbage we pick up each day before properly disposing of it), and hopefully meeting up with some local land-use groups as we go.

We’ve already got a couple sponsors lined up to help us out, and are in the process of looking for more.

We’ll be posting a lot more information in the coming weeks – in the meantime we’re expecting a new carburetor to arrive tomorrow so that I can actually get my bike to run.

Ah, adventures.

Connal + Anjel

 

{ 1 comment… read it below or add one }

1 Turbo Bob July 27, 2011 at 9:24 am

Enjoyed meeting you in Adin, CA. Have to admit I envy your travel plans. Thanks for posting the picture and comment. I am sure that CHP will be looking for me! Ha! Ha! Keep me posted when possible with your progress. Good luck and safe biking!

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