07/30 Tacked on 78 miles in the heat and the haze which should get me into Beaver Creek tomorrow and Alaska on Saturday. Had a bit of a headwind but only for the 2nd half of the ride. There are lot’s of forest fires burning north of here so there’s a thin blanket of smoke that makes it very hard to see anything far away with any detail. I haven’t seen the pictures from today but I’m sure a lot of them are not going to be worth keeping. At one point I would have had a view of Mount Logan which is Canada’s highest peak. 
Staying in a weird spot tonight. At mile 65 for the day I started looking for a place to crash and more importantly, a place with water because I was almost out. Spot #1 had a perfect creek with a road leading down next to it but I could see someone parked there in a car-camper already. Spot #2 about 5 miles later had a creek but when I looked over the guard rail there was another touring rider camped next to it already. I said hi and we talked for a bit but I didn’t feel right asking to stay there so I left. 5 miles I found this place. A gravel road leads off the highway into the trees and then his a ‘T’. Both ends of it stop after a few hundred feet. At one end was a fishing camp that looked recently used. At the other was someone else in car-camper! Well I was done riding so I ended up going over to see if he would mind if I camped down the road a bit. Wasn’t a problem. Ziv even gave me some much needed water. He’s on an epic post-layoff car tour around the US and Canada.
Other than the fun I had trying to find a place to stay tonight and worrying about water it was a pretty decent day. Stopped in Destruction Bay and bought some food. Lunch ended up being at the lodge in Burwash Landing and it was great. Chatted with some road crew guys having lunch and they said the fires shouldn’t be a problem. I ended up seeing them a couple hours later down the road working on a bridge.
At Destruction Bay I saw another rider heading South but he was coming into the store just as I was leaving. Well down the road a few miles I ran into another rider who knew the guy from camping the night before. The 2nd guy, Barry, is from Ireland and he was sitting in the shade taking a break from the heat.
Something started clicking every so often on my bike and I’m really, really hoping its not the bearings in one of the hubs again. That would suck a lot. I’ll try to pin it down tomorrow. Could just be something knocking around which is possible since the roads were very rough for a good part of the day.
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Hi Scott, beautiful pictures from the Yukon and Kluane Lake. Reminds me of my own passing there on my way South. Between Burwash Landing and Destruction Bay I saw my only Grizzly bear cross the road in all of Alaska and Canada. And it was hot, dusty and at times smoky from forest fires as well. Sadly, many of the RV parks and lodges are closed and abandoned, so less places to get refreshments and water. BTW: I don’t think you could have seen Mt. Logan, though. I was told it is so remote that you can’t see it from any road or inhabited place. For our Logan expedition in May we flew 125km across mountain ranges and icefields to get to the basecamp… talk about a remote place!
Enjoy the ride North and be safe!
Thomas.