 part 3...... 482km/ 300 miles cycling, 240km/ 150 miles paddling in 16 days. The expedition was simple: Ride as much iconic single track as we could find, paddle some big ass rivers to complete one big loop covering as much of cold & wet, yet beautiful, Alaska as possible. AK is no joke, it’s wild, remote and incredibly difficult to access in the event of an emergency, hence the reason to spend so much time preparing for the Expedition and to plan exactly what we were after. So, the theme was set; RAIN........ Day 9 - 48km/30 Miles McCarthy - Flight For our final ride leg were welcomed with blue skies and a fresh morning but with a hill to start we warmed up quickly. Its hard to describe the beauty of this ride so I will let the pictures do the talking again. We took a moment to relax and reflect on the past 8 days beside the river before we made the final crossing into McCarthy, where we were to begin stage 2. Keen to begin the River stage and because it was early and the sun was shining we thought it would be a good idea to see if we could fly into Jakes Bar a day early. Chatting with Wrangell Mountain Air we looked at the weather that was due to come in that night and the following morning and they agreed to fly us out a day early. We had some time to kill so headed back to the cafe for a couple of beers and a burger before riding down to the airstrip and collecting our boxes of rations and our rafts. We loaded up the 1949 Beaver plane and jumped in. I was truly beside myself with excitement. This was one of my must do things in AK; a bush flight to a remote place, it doesn’t get any better than this.  The coolest plane ever.....  Squeezed in with all the gear....  The flight was only 20 minutes but it was amazing, our pilot talked us all through the area we were flying over. Unfortunatly we learned that day they discovered the backpack of a missing hiker in the river we were about to float. It was a stark reminder of what we were up against in the wilds of Alaska. The plane landed with a bump and rolled to the end of the short landing strip where we unloaded the boxes and bikes and watched him take off again. I have never felt so alone as when the plane took off. It was perfect. The sun was still shinning and we made our way to the cabin; we were set. I wandered around and checked out the beach where we would launch from in the morning., it was incredibly serene. I was ecstatic to finally be on the river and in the true wilds of AK. Another early night but no surprises, we were woken by the heavy rain that came in sometime around midnight. It wasn’t going to let up!  Just about to start.....  READY...... Day 10 64km/40 Miles on the Chitina River Yet again we were lugging all of our gear in the rain, but with our dry suits on and a gentle push we were off. Time to put these Kokopelli packrafts to the test. Where does everything go you ask!? We had secured our bikes to the bow of the boats using a series of Tribe One Outdoor bungee cords (Tribe One do some amazing attatchment systems), and our packs were stuffed between our legs. The water was freezing and appeared to have risen over night which was no surprise given the deluge of rain. After about 30 minutes we needed to stop to re-temper the boats (this is when the air temperature in the boat tubes is more than the water temperature and your raft begins to deflate, requiring you to need to re-inflate a little). The water was moving fast and according to the Garmin we were cruising in some places at almost 12km/hr. We zig -zagged our way down the river enjoying the free ride whilst taking in the sight, the bald eagles and the occasional jumping fish! Negotiating our way around sand banks along with the different currents & water depths. It was at times hard to choose what side of the sand banks to go towards, being I couldn’t see over my bike on the bow, giving a limited view of what was right in front, resulting in me often ping ponging off the sandbank wall :) It was an amazing feeling to soak in the vast open spaces and the absolute wilderness we were in. There were some short rapids to negotiate but nothing to serious and with the constant rain we were glad to have pre-made lunch so we could just eat in the rafts and continue to make ground. The rafts were so capable it was impressive, all I had to do was point it in the right direction and go; through the more difficult and turbulent stretches all it took was a few extra paddle strokes to keep going. The regular floating driftwood was something we needed to keep an eye out for and avoid at all costs. We watched the rain and storm roll in behind us, floating backward at regular intervals to keep an eye on the impending squall and its distance from us. After 6 more hours in the water it was time to look for a campsite. This was the first time either of us had camped or even tried to find a camp on a float trip.  We settled on a very large sand bar which appeared to be sitting high out of the water. I hit the beach first and dragged my raft far up out of the water before returning to help Liz drag her boat up. It had been a long day on the water, 7 hours in total and the storm had now reached us, with the wind ripping through the giant valley surrounding us and not a tree in sight to tie down to, it was time to improvise. I got the tent set up and Liz jumped in to hold it down and get out of her dry suit while I wandered up and down the beach collecting as much oversized driftwood as I could to create a makeshift wind break to protect the tent. Next I collected big river rocks to stack around the vestibules of the tent to prevent the wind and sand from being blown under (and in) the tent. Most importantly, I dragged the boats further out of the water to make sure they were safe, we couldn’t have our transport drifting off in the night! Thanks to my dry suit on I wasn’t freezing to death and feeling satisfied with our setup for the evening it was time to rest. This did not stop us from having to have all her our wet weather gear ready to go just in case a squall rips the tent to shreds in the night. Normally we would never eat in the tent but given the circumstances it was either; eat in the tent and risk a bear attack or die of hypothermia. We chose bear attack and ate our wraps in the tent! The wind continued to pelt through and the rain never stopped but we were dry and warm in our little cocoon so we were happy. Day 1 was a success :)   Day 11 48km/30 Miles Chitina camp We were woken with the sound of water to the left which was interesting, considering the river was on our right? A quick scan out the tent door showed the water had risen 3 feet and there was a moat between us and our boats. We were on mini island! I jumped up pretty quickly and drag the boats further up the bank…. The stern was already in the water! Close call! It was another chilly start to the day but finally rain had stopped and looking like a nice morning to be out on the river. After our oats we readied our things, re-inflated the rafts, made sure everything was secure and launched off for day 2 on the river. We were cold but some swift paddling to get the blood pumping took care of that. Today’s goal was to make it to the confluence of the Chitina and Copper Rivers. We soaked in the views of the fireweed over the rolling hills which surrounded us, it was breathtaking. The different coloured sands in the cliff faces, the landslides and constant bubbling water made for a remarkable experience. The surroundings felt like they were constantly changing this stretch of the valley was almost desert like. For this part of the river the key was to stay away from the walls of the cliffs and out of the faster moving waters, while keeping an eye out for driftwood and any other debris. A little more on the Packraft: The T-zips within the rafts were amazing, you could store everything you wanted to keep dry in them. I pretty much had everything in there except lunch and a warm piece of clothing. My T-zip held : Tent, Tent Poles, Tent Pegs, Fuel for the stove, all other clothing, Wooly socks, spare food and an emergency fire kit. I kept the sattelite phone tucked into my dry suit and another emergency fire starting kit with it. The tough thing with the T-zip is once it’s zipped up you can’t undo it without part deflating the raft, sure makes you think when you do your packing!  The food for the raft section. I was re packaged and then stored in dry bags in the T-zip We wound our way down the river every now and then hitting a small stretch of turbulent water and always staying close to each other so we could call out if need be. It was a time consuming task trying to pick our way through some shallow waters and the braids, a few times we found ourselves out of water and dragging the boat back into a deeper channel to get moving again. We had been well advised to reach the confluence early before the wind kicked up. The strong winds occur because where the two rivers merge in a large delta is about 8-10km across so the winds just come up the valley and gain strength through here. Of course, we arrived close to the confluence late in the day and were instantly blown backwards. Even with the strong current on our side it was impossible to fight the winds. Admitting defeat, we paddled across the river and into a small protected bay which was surrounded by , time to scout a camp spot. There were no animal signs or bear prints around and just enough room to drag the boats out of the water and set the tent up. In other words, this spot was perfect. I quickly set up the tent on the flattest a part of the “beach“… we were going to be on a fair old slant tonight but beggars can’t be choosers. I managed to get a fire going so we could dry our things. I learnt to appreciate the small things, the simple act of being able to get a fire going and dry everything is an amazing feeling . That`s the thing with these expeditions, they get rid of all the bullshit we fill our lives with, strip it down to just the bare essentials of survival - Food, Water & Shelter. It`s what we live for. Simplicity…..  Drying shoes by the fire...... Dinner was cooked over the fire and we even had a hot cup of tea, but there was a problem, the river water was rising. Over the last few hours we had been watching it rise and strip our beach away. Minute by minute it took over our little beach. We thought it a good idea to put sticks in the sand to mark the rising water level and we had one stick that indicated “time to move the tent“. We went to bed hoping to make it through the night without having to move the tent. Day 12 48km/30 Miles Camp Tiekel ( Wood Canyon ) Thankfully the river only rose about another 2feet so the tent was safe overnight. We had a restful sleep but were up early and keen to make it through the confluence before the wind picked up. Paddling the final few kilometers we came into the vast river delta where it seemed to so easy to get lost. The delta was enormous around 10km wide with mountains and ridgelines running in every direction. What another incredible start to the day. Surprisingly rain hadn’t started so we were in for a real treat. The biggest obstacle of the entire float lay just a few km downstream from us. Wood Canyon, it’s an enormous canyon only a few km long but with a bad reputation for flipping and swallowing large rafts (up to 14ft we heard). We were nervous to say the least. Thanks to fighting a head wind we arrived at the mouth of the canyon with arms were a little weary, neither of us have ever paddled 100+ km in 2 days before. The entrance to the canyon loomed in front of us. Pretty impressive really to see these cliff tops leering down, telling us to enter if we dare. The instructions were simple: Stay to the Middle. All the boils and eddies were on the side walls so if we kept to the center we would be fine. The boils would rise a foot or 2 right in front of you out of nowhere and then just disappear. If you happened to hit one there was a risk of being sucked down with it and popping up somewhere further down the river. Sounded straightforward right, stick to the middle… The minute we were drawn in, it was FAST. The water channels fed in from an incredibly wide mouth into this one small canyon. It was time to work. I paddled my heart out to stay off the walls and at every turn I would start paddling away from the opposite corner as soon as I could see it. Really, we were being dragged around more than paddling around. We got about half way down the canyon and the rapids were beginning to take their toll. We managed to beach, thanks to the help of an eddy, onto the single piece of accessible terrain through the entire canyon.  Pushing off... We rested a little got some sugary snacks into our systems and decided to tie together to get through the last stretch of water. Thankfully we had passed through the fast-moving rapids and now it was just about staying in the center and off the walls. We floated through and celebrated as we exited the canyon. This was definitely the scariest part of the entire journey so far. Shortly after exiting we untied and drifted with the current down to a small sand bank where we landed for lunch. Back on the river after lunch we thought we heard a plane…. Yep sure enough a small Cessna buzzed around the corner and flew so low over our heads we could see the people waving at us. We think it was our pilot from the other day as he told us he had a white Cessna. He also mentioned he would check up on us, so I guess this was it :) After another 8 hours on the water we washed up to our next campsite, this one even had a river flowing through it. It had been marked on a map from the other raft companies for us. It was a reasonably large beach area that had some protection from the elements by the trees growing on the banks. We unloaded and set up the tent in the most secluded spot so we could be out of the wind and rain that had yet again begun to fall again. I gathered fire wood again and spent the next 2 hours trying to get a driftwood fire going. I was finally successful and we dried out our things again. I was again overwhelmed by the immense pleasure of having a fire (and maybe the long effort to get it going!). After taking so long to get the wet drift wood fire going it was hard to leave it but it had been a hard day on the river and we were knackered.  Exhausted at the end of another long day.....  Surrounded by mountains. GET AFTER IT..............
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 Alaska Expedition: PART TWO.... 482km/ 300 miles cycling, 240km/ 150 miles paddling in 16 days. The expedition was simple: Ride as much iconic single track as we could find, paddle some big ass rivers to complete one big loop covering as much of cold & wet, yet beautiful, Alaska as possible. AK is no joke, it’s wild, remote and incredibly difficult to access in the event of an emergency, hence the reason to spend so much time preparing for the Expedition and to plan exactly what we were after. So, the theme was set; RAIN........  Resurrection Pass Trail. Day 5 Hope - Whittier 53km/33 miles After a relatively good sleep it was up and at ‘em. We had the standard breakfast washed down with coffee. Yet again it was pouring with rain and incredibly windy so there is only one thing to do, get riding..... It was going to be another day of almost all road. We knew there was a short 16km trail at the end to get us to the tunnel. We had to climb Turnagain Pass, but that was no big deal. Heads down and hoods on and started riding into the elements, hopeful the miserable weather would die down as the day wore on. There really is not much you can do in this weather, so singing songs to myself was the best option. Occasionally the rain would let up enough so we could ride side by side and actually have a conversation. We hit the summit of Turnagain Pass and had a brief toilet break before heading down the other side. It was pretty damn cold so we just pushed on trying to snag a handful of nutmix now and again. Unfortunately, as we hit the descent and the wind changed. Our nice easy roll had turned into an all-out, pedal as hard as you can descent. If you stopped pedaling you would literally stop rolling within 10 meters! The rain had now turned into a deluge, you could barely make out the road for rain. It was slow going. Finally we made the turn off that meant only 16km to the tunnel and the visitor center at Portage Glacier. We got on the little single-track side trail that provided some protection from the wind. As we exited the trail at the other end into the visitor center we had to give it our all pedaling into the gusty winds. We got inside and as we stripped a few layers off the employee at the center told us that the winds were gusting at 104km/hr 65mph! Woah!  Primrose campground. It was freeeeezing but we were informed of a lodge that was about 300 meters away where we could get a hot drink and sit by the fire so back out into it we went to find the lodge. We got in and hung a bunch of clothes out infront of their fire to dry while we sipped on coffee and ate amazing cookies. We deliberated on whether we should keep going or head back to Anchorage. The weather forecast was looking terrible for the next 10 days. After a couple of hours warming up and consideration we decided to stick to the plan and get to Whittier. So we rolled out the remaining 2 km to get to the tunnel which we needed hitch hike through because they don`t allow bicycles through. We knew we had to hitchhike, but what we didn`t know was the tunnel was only 1 way, so they had certain hours the cars would go from either direction. We had arrived only a couple of minutes after the last car went from our direction, meaning we had an hour wait until it was our turn again. To make this even better, it would be the last time the tunnel would open heading our way before closing for the night. We messed that up. So we sat in the shelter of outhouse trying to keep warm hoping a car would come. After a 45 minute wait 1 truck showed up and offered us a ride. We quickly threw our things in the back of the truck before the tunnel opened again and we drove through. It just so happened the truck driver was doing a delivery to the one other hotel in town and the hotel owner happened to be in the truck as well. The driver insisted that he would get us a cheap room, mind you the hotel owner was not so willing. We arrived in the tiny fishing town of Whittier where the weather was even worse, not an uncommon thing in Whittier. The saying "It`s always shittier in Whittier" makes sense to me now! We went to the restaurant, also owned by the hotel owner, for some coffee and dinner. Eventually he folded and gave us a room for $50 normally $140, score! Finally in our room and after boiling hot showers we contemplated our next move. We debated for a number of hours but eventually decided, it`s Alaska, so who knows what tomorrow will bring, lets push on.  Whittier Boat Harbor.  Ferry Map- Whittier to Valdez. Day 6 Ferry to Valdez 7hours Making the most of the hot shower and eating the usual oats we departed our hotel room. The ferry left at 1 so we had time to dawdle around the small fishing town. It was still pouring rain and and all round miserable day, but when the clouds would lift it gave a small glimpse into the beautiful mountains that surround the town. The only way in and out was through the tunnel which actually passes under a glacier covered mountain. We settled in to some pretty comfy seats at the bow of the ship & prepared for the 7 hour journey. Time slipped by relatively quick on the ferry with calm waters small islands and plenty of birds to watch. Arriving in Valdez at 7 pm we went over to the burger shop, filled our faces with amazing burgers and headed to another newly made friends place. We had been given Sarah`s number in case we were looking for somewhere to crash. Sarah was great. It was like meeting up with an old friend. We had a few beers and shared a few tales before heading to bed sometime around midnight.  Headed into Valdez. Day 7- 127km/79 Miles Liz had some more errands to do this morning so it was a later start in the end. As we set off guess what happened, it started to rain :) This was going to be our biggest climb of the entire trip. Up and over Thompson Pass. The grade over the climb was pretty low so it was just a consistent grind up the 16km to the pass. Unfortunately, the cloud didn’t lift so we didn`t get the view of Valdez we had heard so much about, but the views we did get did not disappoint. There were glaciers everywhere and beautiful mountains surrounding the entire area. Valdez is a very beautiful place. Thankfully the descent was longer than the climb and there were no brutal headwinds to slow us down. We cruised our way through another picturesque valley on our way to mile 69. The rain came and went as we meandered along the roadside, stopping to look at the fall colours and take in the beautiful mountains along the wayWe stopped off at a stream to fill our water and rolled the last few km into the nights camp, which was actually the deck of a friend of Liz`s. They had winterised the cabin but there was a fire pit and a sweet deck for us to camp on. I got a fire going and we dried our gear out while admiring our peaceful surroundings.  Taking in the views to mile 69.  The sweet sweet downhill.  Prime real estate. Day 8 - 120km/75 miles Another day of road riding but these are the things that you have to do if you want to travel Alaska. A nice morning with some beautiful blue sky, surprisingly no rain and I even got the fire going again. The riding was really enjoyable through this area, the road shoulder was wide, there was little traffic and the road snaked it’s way through big valleys on the route back toward Anchorage. If we were to stay on this road it would take us all the way back, mind you, it would be over 300 miles of riding. We made the turnoff to Edgerton highway in good time, this was the turnoff that signaled only 94 miles until we start rafting. It was a wonderful feeling to make the turnoff with the rain still holding off, it gave us a spectacular view of a volcano off in the distance. As we cruised along the road we came across a herd of Yak`s. There was a Yak farm in Alaska! This was fast becoming the highlight of the day. Of course, there was a stop involved here and plenty of pictures taken. Shortly after we got our first look at the Copper River, the river we would be merging into in 5 days. It was wide, silty and braided. It was a wonderful sight and such a great feeling that we were nearly at the paddle leg of the journey. A quick stop in the ranger station in Chitina to make our salami wraps before pushing on toward the nights camp. Finally it was back onto the dirt road. The road to McCarthy is an old railway so it`s pretty flat but man is it bumpy. " BEAR.......... " I shouted as Liz almost rode her bike right into a very large black bear. Luckily, the bear went one way, faster than I had even imagined they could move and Liz spun the other way without even seeing the bear! The unexpecting bear had been foraging happily on the berries on the side of the road as we rounded the bend while Liz was looking at the colourful trees on the other side of the road. I am sure they missed each other by maybe 2 meters, if it had of run the other direction it would have run right over the top of Liz. This was to be our one and only bear sighting. After collecting our thoughts and my nerves, we continued on at a much noisier but slower pace. The afternoon drew on and of course, brought some rain with it. After consulting the map and an online mapping resource called iOverlander (an app I used throughout my Central/ South American bike tour) we found a small hut and decided to call it a day. We had some van dwellers come and camp in the same place which was brilliant because they came with wine and made some extra toast for us. After the bear encounter we made sure to store our food in the bathroom of the nearby outhouse, as far away from the tent as we could get it. We went to bed with the all to familiar sound of rain on the tent. Such a relaxing sound.  Cooking in an outhouse. Living the dream???? KEEP CHASING THE DREAM............. Part 3 coming soon
 What a wild ride. From the mundane to the insane. Alaska has it all. Alaska Expedition: PART ONE.... 482km/ 300 miles cycling, 240km/ 150 miles paddling in 16 days. The expedition was simple: Ride as much iconic single track as we could find, paddle some big ass rivers to complete one big loop covering as much of cold & wet, yet beautiful, Alaska as possible. AK is no joke, it’s wild, remote and incredibly difficult to access in the event of an emergency, hence the reason to spend so much time preparing for the Expedition and to plan exactly what we were after. So, the theme was set; RAIN........ Day 1- 35km/22 miles Resurrection Pass Day 1 started like most others had for this "summer" in Alaska, with rain. We were camped 5mi/8km out of Hope at the start of the Resurrection trail. After breakfast in the shelter of an outhouse awning we packed up between showers of rain and after the months of planning and preparation it was finally time to set off starting with a 20mile climb to the pass. It was a slow start with fully loaded bikes but we were in no real hurry. This wasn’t a race after all, just a long-sustained effort. We climbed and climbed in the pouring rain, feeling the cold on my face is one sensation that I love. We passed a couple of cyclists on fat bikes and some hikers on their way down. We reached a cabin and decided it was time for lunch, may as well take the opportunity to get out of the rain and dry off a little while we eat. We spent 40 minutes eating in Fox cabin, embracing the dry and peering out the window hoping to see some blue sky, but it was not to be :) After lunch it was onward and upward. We continued to ride through deep mud puddles and overgrowth. Lucky for us it seemed the cow parsnip, a photo synthetic poisonous plant, had started to wilt, thankfully losing its poison.   We reached the pass (how high) by midafternoon & reveled in a brief respite from the rain. It was now a beautiful undulating single track that would lead us over devil’s pass. We reached the final part of the pass right as Liz`s pedal fell off her bike, she had changed them the day before but something had gone wrong. We stopped and tried to put it back on but the thread was stripped. Being on the summit fully exposed, in the freezing cold and pouring rain was not the place to try repair the bike. We knew it was less than 2 km to Devils Pass cabin so Liz rolled down the trail with 1 pedal to the hut. It was around 5pm when we arrived and there was nobody occupying it so we hung all our things out to dry, Liz made coffee, while I set to work with a small flat head screw driver to clean out and create a new thread in the crank arm. After almost 2 hours of work the pedal was back on. We decided to make dinner and stay in the cabin. We finished dishes and settled into our sleeping bags. It had not stopped raining and the temperature was dropping fast. Lights out by 9:30, happy with our progress even though we had stopped short of the plan. 12:30pm "YOU GUYS NEED TO LEAVE" We were woken up after midnight with a loud bang on the door and a headlamp in our eyes. A lady was yelling "you have to leave, we have a reservation”. In a state of confusion, we were up and staring at this lady, who had 4 or 5 small children between the ages of 8-10 in tow. Frozen, dripping wet, shivering and hungry. Unbeknownst to us, you need to reserve many of the cabins throughout AK. In all our research and question asking we had not heard this from anybody. We packed our stuff as quickly as we could. The lady bundled the kids inside and got their bikes up on the deck. Liz and I were in total disbelief, it was still pouring with rain and we had no idea where to go. The lady just continued to tell us "You have to leave"; with no offer to just sleep in the corner of the cabin or anything. So, we loaded our bikes and put on our little headlamps and headed toward the next cabin where there was also dispersed camping. It was 4.5mi/7km and we arrived at 2:30am. This cabin displayed a large sign saying " Sleeping in the cabin without a reservation was illegal you can face a $5,000 fine and 6 months in jail”. I tried scouting the camping area, but couldn’t even find it in the pouring rain and fog. Liz was adamant, we would be staying in the cabin. We got in got changed got a fire going and went to sleep around 3am. What a start to the expedition.   Day 2- 106km/66miles Seward After a slow start, thanks to the night before’s events, we finally set off at 10:40am. We rolled down some fairly technical single track with Liz having a lot of trouble with her rear shock, in the end she had to lock it out. The sun was trying hard to come out and there was light drizzle, a much better day in general, mind you, thanks to our midnight relocation, we had ended up on a trail that was not where we had planned, thus adding an extra 20mi/32km+ onto the leg. The trail continued to improve and soon we were coasting along varying terrain and around picturesque lakes.  Hitting the road in the early afternoon it was almost a time trial into Seward. Again, it was freezing cold and raining but the views were stunning. As we entered Seward we were greeted with some blue skies and BIG MOUNTAINS.... My legs were feeling the effort of a fast pace for some 35mi/56km. All day we had been discussing the previous night, it was unbelievable this lady had managed to drag 4/5 kids through the dark, cold and rainy weather until midnight. The question we asked the most was "why didn't she stop earlier at any of the other cabins on the route”. We will never know. We arrived in Seward around 7pm, fortunate enough that Liz had some friends that lived there. We were welcomed in true Alaskan fashion. Beer, Salmon, hot shower and a place to sleep inside. We hosed off our bikes and literally ourselves after all the mud we had ridden through before venturing into the house. Our hosts, Mick & Mark, were amazing, so generous, full of support and local knowledge. They gave us plenty of advice on the next day’s trail and places to camp.   Day 3- 35km/22 miles Primrose campsite It was another late start after we tried to fix Liz`s rear shock and she ran some errands. We stopped in at the supermarket to get some supplies on the way out of town and then it was onto one of the trails we were most looking forward to - Lost Lake Trail. A steady climb of 7 miles to a beautiful summit that rolled on for a few kilometers and then descended Primrose trail. As you near the summit the views of Seward and the surrounding glaciers and mountains are spectacular. There were blueberry shrubs everywhere, so of course we ate a few, it was amazing. As we got up higher it was almost jacket worthy, this is when I realised I had left my nice warm jacket back in the house, hanging up to dry. I was so annoyed with myself, I never forget things and here we are almost at a point where I am going to need it and I don`t have it. Lucky for me Liz called Mark and he drove it to the bottom of the trail on the other side so I could collect it. Thank god for that. I’ll let the pictures do the talking for this section of trail- no words needed :) After a steeper and more technical descent we reached the campground right on dusk. I grabbed my jacket out of the bear box and Mark, the LEGEND, had stuffed 2 beers in the pockets, what a great gift! Mark, you’ll always have beer waiting for you at my place :) We set up the tent and were treated to a beautiful sunset on Primrose lake. Day 4- Primrose to Hope bridge 64km/40 miles We left camp after a nice breakfast of oats with mixed nuts and choc chips (of course!). Today was a day of road riding. We set off into the light drizzle and along the Seward highway. The mountains that surrounded us along the highway were just remarkable, enough to keep you from getting bored riding the highway. We crossed over Moose Pass completing the small loop we had done to get into Seward. The road was undulating, without many big hills to climb, following the valley nicely. The trees had already turned beautiful fall colours, it was spectacular to see the bright yellows and oranges but also a little ominous knowing that summer is now behind us. It continued to rain on and off all day at some points becoming pretty cold but nothing too serious. We eventually rolled in to the car park off the side of the highway that leads into Hope, thus completing the first leg of our expedition. We sat under the shelter of the toilet block and ate some cookies before gathering our things and settling under the overpass to camp. It was still raining very heavily and this would ensure a dry camp, protected from the wind. After going to collect and filter water it was time for dinner. We cleaned everything up and stored it well away from the tent in a place we hoped was protected from the bears, something that we had to keep in mind always.   |
Shane HuttonI am an ultra runner, Mountain biker, Packrafter, Climber, Ironman, Endurance Athlete Archives
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