North to Alaska!

By Jim Hendrickson

This book takes you on a 3,200-mile bicycle expedition from Missoula, Montana to Anchorage, Alaska. You'll read about my 73-day bicycle tour that was filled with adventures including a grueling ascent to Logan Pass in Glacier National Park, a scary standoff with a black bear in the Yukon, a daring dash through a forest fire, and a harrowing ride over the Top-of-the-World Highway.

• Language: English
• Publisher: Jim Hendrickson
• Release date: Feb 9, 2023
• ISBN: 9781524217709

Jim Hendrickson

Jim Hendrickson is a retired Professor of Spanish and English as a Second Language. He speaks English, Spanish, French, German, Italian and Portuguese. He has taught elementary school, high school, adult education, community college, college, and university in seven states. He worked as a Teaching Fellow at Harvard University, a Senior Fulbright Lecturer in Bolivia and Chile, and a Language Consultant for the United States Peace Corps in Belize.  Jim has received many teaching and publishing awards including the Distinguished Faculty Award at Lansing Community College in Michigan, the Stephen A. Freeman Award for authoring the best article on teaching techniques to have appeared in a professional journal in 1980, and an award for writing the best article published in The Modern Language Journal in 1978. Jim has traveled in over 150 countries and is an avid long-distance tour bicyclist. He has cycled extensively in the United States, as well as in Europe, Africa, Australia, and on various islands in Oceania. He has presented over 500 travelogues in many schools, churches, libraries, museums, senior and community centers, city auditoriums, as well as on radio and television shows, and has been featured in numerous American and international newspapers. Jim has published more than 60 foreign language textbooks including The Spice of Life (Harcourt), Our Global Village (Harcourt), Poco a poco (Heinle & Heinle), Intercambios (Heinle & Heinle), Nuevas dimensiones (Heinle & Heinle), and Nuevas alturas (Heinle & Heinle). One of his best-selling books, Poco a poco, has been reconfigured into a best-selling book, Plazas: Lugar de Encuentros (Heinle & Heinle). He is also the author of another best seller: Spanish Grammar Flipper (Christopher Lee). Jim has also published articles on psycholinguistics in Foreign Language Annals, TESOL Quarterly, The Modern Language Journal, The Canadian Modern Language Review, and Hispania. Jim has published the following thirteen travel ebooks about his adventures and misadventures: Like a Leaf on a River, North to Alaska!, Vagabond on a Bicycle, Travel is my Passion, Shalom, Israel!, RVing to the Land of the Midnight Sun, Heaven on Earth, Around the World in Thin Slices, South Pacific Odyssey, My Endless Pursuit of Travel, Baja Adventure!, Strange Tales of Jefferson County, and Footloose in Southern South America.

Book preview

E-books by Jim Hendrickson

LIKE A LEAF ON A RIVER (Travels of a Young Man)

THE RESTLESS GLOBETROTTER (Germany, Greece, India, Thailand, Malaysia, Singapore, Australia, New Zealand, Fiji, the Cook Islands, and the Marquesas Islands)

NORTH TO ALASKA! (Montana to Alaska by Bicycle)

SHALOM, ISRAEL! (Washington State to Israel by Bicycle)

VAGABOND ON A BICYCLE (100,000 Miles and 100 Cultures on a Bike)

TRAVEL IS MY PASSION (Memoirs of a World Traveler)

RVing TO THE LAND OF THE MIDNIGHT SUN (Washington State to Alaska)

AROUND THE WORLD IN THIN SLICES (From Asia Through the Northwest Passage)

SOUTH PACIFIC ODYSSEY (the Marquesas Islands, the Mariana Islands, South Australia, American Samoa, Samoa, and Indonesia)

HEAVEN ON EARTH (Travels of a Restless Soul)

MY ENDLESS PURSUIT OF TRAVEL (Western, Northern, Central Canada, Minnesota, Colorado, Germany, Switzerland, Portugal, Slovenia, Croatia, Montenegro, Bosnia and Herzegovina, Serbia, Macedonia, and Kosovo)

BAJA ADVENTURE! (San Diego to San Lucas)

STRANGE TALES OF JEFFERSON COUNTY (Stories from a World Traveler at Home)

FOOTLOOSE IN SOUTHERN SOUTH AMERICA (Argentina, Chile, Paraguay, and the Falkland Islands / las Islas Malvinas)

WANDERLUST IS IN MY BLOOD (Sardinia, Corsica, Malta, Sicily, Germany, Ukraine, the Republic of Georgia, and Armenia)

COWBOYS, INDIANS, AND ME (Montana, Minnesota, South Dakota, Wyoming, and North Dakota)

ISLAND-HOPPING IN THE SOUTH PACIFIC (Fiji, New Caledonia, Vanuatu, the Solomon Islands, Papua New Guinea, Kiribati, and Samoa)

WORLDWIDE ADVENTURES BY BOAT & SHIP (Europe, Arctic, North America, Oceania, Australia, and Antarctica)

RVing AROUND FABULOUS FLORIDA (From Tip to Toe)

TABLE OF CONTENTS

E-books by Jim Hendrickson

Acknowledgments

Getting Ready

At the Starting Point

Missoula to Waterton Lakes

Waterton Lakes to Lake Louise

Lake Louise to Jasper

Jasper to Prince George

Prince George to Stewart

Stewart to Watson Lake

Watson Lake to Dawson City

Dawson City to Fairbanks

Fairbanks to Anchorage

Epilogue

Equipment List

About the author

ACKNOWLEDGMENTS

I am grateful to the following friends who proofread the manuscript of this book for errors such as typos, misspellings, and punctuation, and who gave me countless suggestions on ways to improve it: Judy Davis, Greg May, and Bill Weir. Thank you very much for your hard work, perseverance, and patience! I also thank Rita Toews who designed the beautiful cover of the book.

1

Getting Ready

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I took my first long-distance bicycle trip in Holland. I rented an old no-gear bike from a train station in Eindhoven for only US $18, pedaled around the Netherlands for two weeks, and stayed in hostels.

My second bicycle trip dubbed the North Star Expedition from Montana to Alaska, differed dramatically from my short bike trek in Holland. This journey would last 2.5 months－from early June to mid-August－and included camping out every day, cycling with a small group and a tour leader, preparing meals in camp, and following a carefully planned route. The Adventure Cycling Association, headquartered in Missoula, Montana, offered this exciting expedition.

This second bicycle trip was much more expensive than my first one. Apart from the $2,600 registration fee for the North Star Expedition, I spent $3,000 on what I needed for that journey: a Bridgestone M-2 mountain bike, Ortlieb waterproof panniers, an assortment of bicycle tools and spare parts, a two-person Sierra Designs free-standing tent, a 32° sleeping bag, a self-inflatable air mattress, a complete wardrobe of cycling clothes, a Minolta autofocus 35mm camera, and ten rolls of film. My mountain bike with all my gear weighed 85 pounds.

One month before the North Star Expedition began, I spent several days packing, unpacking, and repacking my four panniers. I attached them to my bike and secured the camping equipment to the rear rack with bungee cords. When I mounted my loaded two-wheeler, I lost my balance and nearly fell off. Over the next few weeks, I took several shakedown rides around my hometown and soon rode my pack mule with some skill and self-confidence.

As my departure day drew nearer, I had a few doubts about the expedition. I wondered, Am I in sufficient physical condition for this journey? Will I make it over the Canadian Rockies? What will I do if I have an accident? Will bears attack me? Will I survive this bicycle tour? I followed a practical philosophy that addressed all these questions and calmed my nerves: Take your chances, Jim, and go with the flow.

In the first week of June, I loaded my bike, my traveling gear, and myself aboard a Greyhound bus that transported us from my home in Bellingham, Washington, to the North Star Expedition starting point in Missoula, Montana. I was headed north to Alaska by bicycle!

2

At the Starting Point

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After an overnight ride from Bellingham with several rest breaks, my bus arrived at the Greyhound station in Missoula at ten o'clock in the morning. I claimed my boxed mountain bike, panniers, and camping equipment, and carried them to the back of the bus station, where I reassembled my steel horse. I loaded my gear onto the front and rear bike racks and pedaled several miles to a KOA Kampground, the meeting place for the North Star Expedition. The warmth from the sun and the sweet smell of the fresh mountain air made that short ride pleasant.

At the campground, I met four fellows who formed part of our 12-rider group. Jan, a 33-year-old man, hailed from a small town in Belgium where he delivered mail on his bicycle. He complained of intense pain in his knees due to overexerting himself on a bike trip he had just completed in the southwestern United States. Jan decided to remain at the campground for one week to allow his injured knees more time to heal, but he planned to catch up with our group in British Columbia. Roy, a 56-year-old retiree, had spent a month riding his mountain bike and pulling a small trailer containing his gear from his home in Tulsa, Oklahoma, to Missoula. Also, he had done quite a bit of bicycle touring in the United States. David, a 60-year-old Israeli, was the oldest member of the group. Over six feet tall, a lean, muscular, and strong rider, he had already cycled 2,300 miles from Washington, D.C. to Missoula on his Trek touring bicycle to join the North Star Expedition!

When I met our group leader, a fun-loving, middle-aged man whom I call Little Chuck in this book, I wondered how he could lead a bicycle trip from Montana to Alaska because he weighed at least 75 pounds too many for his height of 5 feet, 8 inches. But when he told me he had ridden that distance the past four summers, my doubts vanished immediately. Little Chuck's knowledge of the route, his experience in bicycle touring and camping, and his excellent leadership skills would quickly earn him considerable respect from everyone in our group.

The day after I arrived in Missoula, my group gathered at the Birchwood Hostel, where we stayed for two nights. Apart from Roy, David, and myself (age 50), the oldest riders were two retirees in their mid-50s: Maurice from Indiana and Big Chuck from California. The youngest members were in their 30s: Jan from Belgium, Warren from Wisconsin, Pete from Massachusetts, Jeff from North Carolina, and Kelly from Arizona. Only two women booked the North Star Expedition: Kelly and Little Chuck's wife, Rindy, who would join us later in British Columbia. All of my fellow group members had considerable experience in bicycle touring, bicycle camping, and bicycle maintenance－except me. But I intended to learn a great deal as our journey progressed.

Little Chuck organized a 28-mile shakedown ride to help us determine whether we carried too much weight on our bicycles. If so, we could lighten the load by mailing home extraneous items. On most of that ride, it rained, so I tested the effectiveness of my rain gear: a Gore-Tex rain jacket, a Gore-Tex helmet cover, a pair of Gore-Tex gloves, waterproof socks, and rubberized shoe covers. The test revealed some interesting results. My socks were not waterproof, but they did keep my feet warm. The shoe covers hindered the easy insertion of my bike shoes into my pedals. The gloves were too warm, and my hands quickly became clammy. The rain jacket and the helmet cover scored as my most effective clothing for inclement weather.

With the shakedown ride behind us, we cycled to the Adventure Cycling Association headquarters, where we met Greg Siple, co-founder of the organization. In 1975, Greg and his wife June completed the Hemistour, a bicycle trek of 18,000 miles from Alaska to the southern tip of Argentina. En route, they conceived the idea of developing an official bicycle tour across the United States to celebrate the nation's bicentennial in 1976. Later, they founded Bikecentennial－now called the Adventure Cycling Association.

In the evening, Little Chuck and David prepared supper in the hostel kitchen: chop suey, salad, cookies, and apple juice. Big Chuck and I washed the dishes. During our bicycle expedition, our leader assigned cooking partners to each group member on a rotating basis so that every person would eventually cook with a different rider. The two cooks who prepared supper one night served as the clean-up crew the following night. During the trip, each cyclist in our group had to carry at least one item for preparing or serving food. I chose to take the pancake turner and all the knives. For that reason, our leader dubbed me the Hero of the Revolution.

In the hostel, my group members and I made last-minute preparations for our upcoming expedition. Some riders made minor adjustments to their bicycles, and others sent home bicycle gear that they considered nonessential for the journey. I bought one last item: a tire pressure gauge to help me maintain 80 pounds of air in my tires. Several group members put spare parts and tires in a group box that Little Chuck mailed to the post office in Hyder, Alaska, where we would arrive in about a month. I would carry everything I needed aboard my two-wheeler, so I contributed nothing to the box. Everyone looked forward to the next day when we would officially begin our bicycle expedition to Alaska－come rain or shine.

3

Missoula to Waterton Lakes 

I got up at six in the morning, peered out of my hostel dormitory window, and saw the sun slowly rising above the Rocky Mountains. I looked