Trip Planning
Planning for this trip began in early May. I have read all the information I can find about riding the Alaskan Highway by motorcycle. It's a little confusing, and surprisingly sparce; most relatively older than I thought it would be, and most the bikes reported are crotch-rockets, not Cruisers, as I ride. I saw one good blog from a Harley Sportster rider, but that's about it. Unfortunately, the Sportster rider also related a story about a German guy who was knocked off his bike by a bear. This, as one might surmise, sparked some research.
A unabashed coward of the first order, "bare" is okay with me. Bare facts, bare truth, bare naked ladies...you get the point. These are good things. Bear? As in, "I can't bear anymore," "Load bearing wall," "Bear market," and "Bear knocked him off his bike," for Christ's sake! These are negatives. I don't care what you say, you can't put a good face on 'em.
The good news is the statistics are great. It seems, given the millions of tourists treking through Canada and Alaska each year, bear attacks are rare; deaths, fortunately, even more so. As a regular poker player I'm into probability theory. It appears they, the bears, only eat one or two people every four or five years. Since our Canadian friends aren't as enamored with guns as we wild west Americans, you can't carry a gun. I'm trying to figure out how big a stick I can afford to lug along. The first thing one discovers when comtemplating such a trip is that weight matters.
I saw a posting that it was important to know with what type of bear one might be dealing. The three main types are Polar, Kodiak (or Brown), and Grizzly. The Polar Bear is much further north than I comtemplate going. Kodiak or Grizzlies don't like people anymore than people like them, so hikers and fishermen are told to wear little "tinkling" bells, the theory being the bears will hear them and stay out of the way.
Knowing the kind of bear you may be dealing with is important so you are told to pay attention to the piles of bear "poop" in order to determine what kind of bear may be in your vicinity. If it's filled with berrys and leaves, it's a Brown bear. If it's full of little bells and hand-tied fishing flies, it's probably Grizzly. Think about leaving the area.
A unabashed coward of the first order, "bare" is okay with me. Bare facts, bare truth, bare naked ladies...you get the point. These are good things. Bear? As in, "I can't bear anymore," "Load bearing wall," "Bear market," and "Bear knocked him off his bike," for Christ's sake! These are negatives. I don't care what you say, you can't put a good face on 'em.
The good news is the statistics are great. It seems, given the millions of tourists treking through Canada and Alaska each year, bear attacks are rare; deaths, fortunately, even more so. As a regular poker player I'm into probability theory. It appears they, the bears, only eat one or two people every four or five years. Since our Canadian friends aren't as enamored with guns as we wild west Americans, you can't carry a gun. I'm trying to figure out how big a stick I can afford to lug along. The first thing one discovers when comtemplating such a trip is that weight matters.
I saw a posting that it was important to know with what type of bear one might be dealing. The three main types are Polar, Kodiak (or Brown), and Grizzly. The Polar Bear is much further north than I comtemplate going. Kodiak or Grizzlies don't like people anymore than people like them, so hikers and fishermen are told to wear little "tinkling" bells, the theory being the bears will hear them and stay out of the way.
Knowing the kind of bear you may be dealing with is important so you are told to pay attention to the piles of bear "poop" in order to determine what kind of bear may be in your vicinity. If it's filled with berrys and leaves, it's a Brown bear. If it's full of little bells and hand-tied fishing flies, it's probably Grizzly. Think about leaving the area.
posted by Minuend | 1:15 PM
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