July 31, 2006 – Day 21 – 241 Miles Denali NP – Palmer, AK

Denali NP – Palmer, AK

Procrastination worked…to a point. Slept pretty well; it didn’t get too cold during the night. While it drizzled almost all night, I awoke to overcast skies, but no rain. Another biker told me that yesterday morning started out the same way there, but then it rained all day. Taking him at his word I resolved to get out of Dodge. Unfortunately, this decision means no real sights of Denali. It was so overcast, foggy and miserable yesterday that almost no one had any pictures or animal sightings of any interest. I went to the visitor center and took some pictures of their topo map of the park and a couple of other “man-made” displays. None are worth boring you with. I did have someone snap a picture of me eating ice-cream. Just thought it would confirm my lapse into insanity. It’s cold, it’s rainy, it’s miserable, and I’m eating ice cream. Klinger could have gotten out of the Army with this approach.

Packing up a wet camp is not the most pleasant of activities. I didn’t get on the road until 10:00 am toward Anchorage. It was still cold (about 41 deg. F.) but, at least, not wet.

This is a pretty ride almost virtually surrounded by mountains of varying sizes, and covered with both snow and forest. Pretty uneventful ride. My gloves were still wet, and it was too cold for my “summer” pair, so I bought some handwarmers and placed them in the palms. I’ll not be without these beauties in the future. They worked quite well.

I'm still concerned about a moose, bear, or something else coming out of the thicket in front of me. You can see from this photo how close to the road the thickets are. Anything could come out of there, and I can think of nothing good which would.

Stopped at a pretty gorge called the Hurricane Gorge to take some pictures. There were several people with the same idea including a couple of young girls (late-teens?). The edge of the precipice was slate and, wanting her picture taken very close to the edge, one kept moving out toward the edge while running off at the mouth with the other. Damn near gave me a heart attack. I finally told her I wasn’t interested in scraping her little ass off the bottom of the gorge and explained that slate is very slippery stuff. Fortunately she seemed to come to her senses and moved back toward more safe footing. Remember when you were bullet-proof? I’m amazed any of us lived past twenty.









Hurricane Gorge










Pulled near Anchorage about 4:00 pm and I really need to get the oil and oil filter changed in my bike. I found a Kawasaki dealer at Eagle River (just outside Anchorage) and, my luck with Kawasaki dealers continues. He couldn’t get to me today, but if I wanted to bring it back tomorrow. Given where I’m staying now, I suppose I could have, but I’m just sick and tired of unresponsive Kawasaki dealers incapable of understanding the concept of incremental revenue. So I bought an oil filter and, down the road, I'm sure I’ll find a Yamaha or Honda dealer who does.

I was going to try to visit a Kawasaki rider on the Kawasaki Forum but it was, by now, after 5:00 and I was tired and in a hurry to get on the east side on Hwy 1.

Stopped for the evening in the little town of Palmer. How do you know a good restaurant? It’s Monday and the parking lot is full and the vast majority of the tags are local (Alaska). That’s what I found with The Noisy Goose Café here in Palmer. The food is great and the place is cool. There are various plaques with different humorous saying on them everywhere. My favorite was The Hunter:

"Behold the hunter. He riseth early in the morning and disturbeth the whole household. Mighty are his preparations.
He goeth forth full of hope and, when the day is spent, returneth smelling of strong liquor and the truth is not in him."


On my way now back through Tok and into Haines Junction. From there my intent is to go down to Haines.