Photo Albums

 

Click here to see our pictures  # 1

Pictures Google Album # 2

 Eric and Matthew here... We read all of our dad's blog and it's extremely accurate. Dad recorded all of the phone conversations in our exact words. We're glad that he kept this going throughout the summer for all to see. It will be fun to look back on this blog years from now and remember all the details of our great adventure. This could be a valuable resource in the future for anyone else planning such a trip. As a supplement to our dad's awesome slideshows, we painstakingly cut down our 1500 pictures to about 200, and posted them on the MIT Outing Club gallery page. We also created an elevation profile of all 3000 miles...

 

Click here to see our pictures 

Sunset On an Epic Journey

Matthew called Friday night from Jackson Hole, Wyoming.As we talked, he watched the beautiful setting sun and remarked that "the sun was setting on their epic journey." He was also drying off from a quick refreshing dip in the Snake River. Eric and Darren were just coming down from some cliff climbing.
This epic journey started from Prudhoe Bay Alaska on July 6th and continued for six weeks and 3000 miles to Great Falls, Montana. But that wasn't the end. From there, Darren joined them and they proceeded to climb the highest mountains in both Montana and Wyoming. More details later. I will be going to the Louisville airport on Saturday evening to pick them up. Around noon, I made the the mistake of telling "Snickers the Wonder Dog", that I was going to pick up Eric and Matthew at 7:30PM . He thought about it for a second and then quickly bounded up to the window. He then proceeded to go into his anticipation wimper. From there he laid down by the front door to begin his vigil. I had to tell him it would not be until it got dark. Of course he understood and went back to his usual activities; chewing paper and getting much deserved rest.

Road Signs Canada

Camping, cooking, cleaning and Mosquitoes

Canada Wildlife

New Photos from Whitehorse to Great Falls, Montana

We just got a drive with 300 great photos.

I will be busy getting them ready to post so check back.

http://picasaweb.google.com/keithalc08/CanadaCampgroundsCookingAndKeepingClean?authkey=5jvSZ36JEio

We heard from the hikers as they were food shopping and studying the best way to climb Wyoming's highest mountain peak. They bagged Granite peak in Montana and i will post a report about that soon.

Granite Peak, Montana

http://www.summitpost.org/mountain/rock/150239/granite-peak.html

Cousin Hayley and Great Falls, Montana

Three thousand miles from Prudhoe Bay Alaska to Great Falls, Montana and Hayley was waiting for them out on her porch. Matthew told her she was the first person they knew in 3000 miles. The bikers arrived in Great Falls on Tuesday afternoon and spent the afternoon floating on tubes in the Missouri River with Hayley and her friends. They spent the night in the home of Hayley's nice friends. As a "hospitality divedend", Matthew and Eric were busy helping with some home improvements for their generous hosts.. They were also shopping for food and planning ascents of Montana's high point, Granite Peak and the high point in Wyoming, Gannet Peak. They were spending another night in Great Falls. The bike riding may be almost over as they will be picked up by MIT friend Darren who lives in Havre, Montana. He will load up his Suburban and take them to the trailhead near Roscoe, Montana. Darren graduated with Eric and Matthew and was looking for some good climbing buddies. He will join in them in the adventures of climbing mountains in Montana and Wyoming. Early plans call for the adventurers to fly home out of Jackson Hole, Wyoming. Stay tuned.

Babb and Bynum, Montana

The stop for Monday night was in Babb, Montana and Tuesday they camped in the yard of a paleontologist in Bynum, Montana. Eric says some Jurassic Park scenes were filmed near Bynum. Otherwise no one had heard of it.

USA

We got a text message late Saturday night.

It read: "Staying in Granum, Alberta, tough headwind. Will be sleeping in USA tmmrow night." .That would be Sunday night. We are waiting for more news today. Monday. The had about 68 more miles to ride to the Montana border.

Nearing the USA,... Montana

By the time I am witing this the bikers should be about 100 miles from the USA border in Montana. Matthew called from Okotoks, Alberta where they camped in the woods last night after another frustrating day trying to track down the elusive packages. They came up empty again as they did not make it to the Calgary post office in time. It was not from lack of trying. To hurry the journey they put their bikes in the back of a cowboy's pickup and rode a few miles closer to Calgary. Their last ten mile dash to the Calgary post office came up short as they arrived just after closing. Do not expect the bikers to plan any endorsements for Canada Post. Rather than stay in a big motel in Calgary they tried to find a campground near Okotoks but were told it was full. Needing only a little spot for a tent they found some woods by the campground and had a good night even though the night was filled with a heavy thunderstorm. They slept well and kept snug and dry in the little tent. The highway has not been as flat as needed for a quick ride and today they have been faced with a headwind. Such are the challenges of riding a bike from Alaska to Montana. The fishing has slacked off as they have been riding fast in search of mail and the terain is mostly farm land. They will be close to mountains as they near Glacier National Park probably late Sunday afternoon. The first town in Montana looks to be Babb.

USA in sight..

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4200 Clicks to Sylvan Lake, Alberta

In Alberta they call Kilometers "Clicks". By precise calculations on the GPS the clicks pedaled since Prudhoe Bay add up to 4200. In my terms this is 2520 miles. When they arrived in Sylvan Lake they reset their "cleanliness clocks" by taking a nice refreshing bath/swim in the lake. It had a nice sandy beach and was very clean The campsites along the way have not offered hot showers. The temps in Alberta unlike those in the Yukon have been pretty hot. Matthew says the road has been hilly but they had about a 15 mile stretch of flat road that went past beautiful yellow fields. he told Eric they must be in the mustard basket of the world. People who stop and talk have been very nice and "amazed at all the biking they have done so far. It sounds like the bikers have met interesting folks who have left phone numbers to call if they need help and addresses to send postcards. Connections in Canada. The next challenge is to see if they catch up with the elusive packages in Calgary. It sounds like another adventure with phone calls and transfers involved. Three simple packages in the Canada Post system have not been able to keep up with the bike riders. Stay tuned.
Upcoming events. they plan to see cousin Hayley in Great Falls, Montana and maybe connect with MIT friend, Darren who lives in Havre, Montana He is a noted mountain climber and fellow MITOC adventurer.

Camping near Whitecourt

We got a text message on Tuesday night that said "we are camping five miles east of Whitecourt and doing good but it has been hot."

Mayerthorpe, Alberta to Calgary, alberta 244 Miles

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Bezanson, Alberta

We got a text message today. Matthew and Eric said " Eating lunch in the baseball dugout in Bezanson, Alberta."

http://www.discoverthepeacecountry.com/htmlpages/bezanson.html

BEZANSON
Located just 20 km east of Grande Prairie, Alberta, is the Hamlet of Bezanson with a population only 85 but provides services to the rural community of about 1200.

Dawson Creek, BC : A short rest on the Journey

We got phone calls from both of the bikers, Eric on Saturday night and Matthew on Sunday as they were getting ready to get back on the road. As he spoke he would say "Cool there is a bunch of jets like the Blue Angels" And then he spotted some war planes. I put this picture up here especially for Grandpa Gilbertson.

http://www.dawsoncreek.ca/multimedia/photogallery/airshow/index.asp Last night they decided to stay at the Voyager Inn "a normal motel" rather than a cheaper hostel. That way they could "stay anonymous" not have to wait in line for a shower and be around a bunch of people. This gave them a chance to do laundry and find a good Chinese place for food. Matthew did not get a chance to practice speaking Chinese. He probably needed to go in to the kitchen.

We were glad to hear the sleeping bags went into the washer. Eric said the bags had a lot of mosquito repellant that needed to be washed out. The three bottles of repellant that they got as gifts in Prudhoe Bay have served them well amongst hordes of mosquitoes.

One package arrived from Amanda and it was some great tasting fudge made by Grandma Wright. They had to pick it up at a drug store because the post office was closed.

The last camp was by Fort St John near a gas station and up a trail near the road. Adventures! Also an old abandoned cabin by the road came in handy for a shelter during a 30 minute downpour. They seem to make the best of sometimes trying situations and come out with a story to tell.

With few miles today they should cross into Alberta either today or tommorow morning. They will go east for another 200 + miles and then start heading south towards Montana.

Dawson Creek
Dawson Creek, British ColumbiaWelcome to Mile Zero! Dawson Creek is the point of origin of the Historic Alaska Highway, which stretches 2,400 km north to Fairbanks in Alaska.

Dawson Creek, BC to Whitecourt, Alberta, 255 Miles

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Weather for Dawson Creek, BC, Canada

August 2 to August 5, 2008

64°F
Current:Mostly CloudyWind: NW at 16 mphHumidity: 45%
Sat66°F 53°F
Sun73°F 57°F
Mon78°F 53°F
Tue82°F 57°F

Pink Mountain, British Columbia

We got a couple of messages on the answering machine as the bikers were trying to track down packages sent a couple of weeks ago. We now know Canada Post is not very efficent. I was told by the Watson Lake Postmaster that he sent "2 or three Packages to Dawson Creek" on Tuesday. As of Friday afternoon one was there but the post office will be closed on Sat, Sun and Monday. It appears the bikers will attempt to ride 144 miles fom Pink Mountain to pick up the package someplace before 5:00 PM on Saturday.They may not get all the stuff until Calgary. Scroll on for stories from the road.

Stories from the Road

The weather doesn't always cooperate with pleasant sunshine and the bikers are not getting up to date reports from Garrett the MIT weather guy so they are taking their chances. A couple of nights ago they decided to find a nice camp site about 7/10 mile off the road,down a nice "gravel road" and near a pretty lake. It was a great place until there was a "torrential downpour during the night." Well when the time came to rejoin the highway, the gravel road had turned to mud "slicker than ice." There was no way to ride the bike to the road so the choice was to hook a log through the bike trailers and carry them to the road. This was followed by about five trips carrying the bikes and then all the gear. It was the "worst mud ever" said Matthew.Of course the mosquitoes were "Horrific and voracious" Just another story to put on the list of adventures in camping.

The more pleasant stories are about fishing. It seems the dragon flies were working very well in the Laird River. On Matthew's first cast "boom a grayling latched on." With primitive fishing gear Matthew flung the fish on land and casted out for more. In a little while they had three fish ready to filet. As Matthew was cleaning the fish with his Leatherman Knife he wished that Grandpa Gilbertson was there with his trusty filet knife. It took "about a half hour amidst hot humid weather and hordes of mosquitoes, but it was worth it as they were British Columbia Grayling and tasted great."



The wildlife reports grow as the bikers have spotted a herd of buffalo and also a herd of Mountain Goats. They stopped to watch the baby goats climb up the mountain sides as they followed their moms up the steep climbs. A little further down the road they came upon a Caribou. It wasn't afraid of them and it started walking along the road. They followed it slowly for about ten minutes until it reached the hilltop and they passed it. Matthew wondered what the Caribou was thinking.
The road has not been as flat as I thought as they climbed about 5,000 feet in the last hundred miles. It looks like it will be flatter on the road the next few days as they near Dawson Creek.