Just made it up to Inuvik and thought I'd pop this on Horizons.

General: The road is pretty good really. I'm on a KLR650 with a bald rear Trailwing 22 and new front Dunlop D604 - both 80/20 street/dirt tyres and I made it in a day - a long one though - didnt arrive until 1.30am but the sun was still shining. However - there are some bad sections of loose gravel an inch to 2 inchs deep. You need to drive down tracks made by passing cars/trucks. The worst thing is the sections of black mud. This is really slippery and you want to take extreme caution when you come across this stuff. The operator of one of the ferries was telling me how he took a crashed motorcyclist to hospital last year. Even the 4WD have problems with this black mud. I'm planning to avoid travelling the McPherson - Eagle Plains section if it looks like its gonna rain as I have doubts about being able to do it in wet weather.

Dawson - Eagle Plains: Generally very good road. Some loose gravel. Some black mud. At Eagle Plains the guy was gonna let me camp for free as I had a tent and not an RV. Also the Eagle hamburger for Cdn$9.50 will fill anyone!

Eagle Plains - Fort McPherson: This is the section with longest stretches of black slippery stuff. It is also the section with the most spectacular scenery.

Fort McPherson - Inuvik: About as boring as a road can be. Great library with free internet access in Inuvik. Dont camp in the campground in town as its where the young locals do their partying. Good road - hard compacted gravel but graders were laying some new loose stuff as I went past.

Gas: At the corner of ALCAN and Dempster. Next gas stop 230 miles at Eagle Plains. Next one at Fort McPherson 115 miles away. The gas station in Fort McPherson closes at 8pm and there is no chance of getting gas after that time if you're making a long haul of it.

Caution: Passing vehicles kick up a huge dust storm when its dry and you are blinded for a while. My policy is to stop dead when something approaches.

Motorcycle & snowmobile shop: Follow signs to Happy Camp campground in town. When exiting campground turn right and follow road til you see a big Yamaha sign. There arent any other signs. Think the place is called Westwind. They dont have much but might be able to help with some problems.

Hope this might prove useful.

Trip report: Yourman on the road!

[This message has been edited by gmarch (edited 06 June 2002).]

[This message has been edited by gmarch (edited 07 June 2002).]

[This message has been edited by gmarch (edited 10 November 2002).]

__________________
Grant March
"Live as if your life depended on it!"