Denali NP, Teklanika and Sanctuary Rivers

Well, you old dog, you've done it again! Each of your reports as you go along seems to increase the "Wow" factor for me. You'll have a hard time topping this one in my opinion. Maybe this coming summer you can get @Artemus to help you to get your motorcycle ready for escape velocity and you can do a lunar expedition or you could hike rim to rim at Valles Marineris on Mars. :) Of course, I love the shots and footage of the bears! Great stuff and thanks again for taking the time to share your Denali experience with us. I'm hoping to make it up that way when I retire.
 
I have been in total awe of all of the trip reports you've been posting from this adventure and this is no exception. I don't even know what to say. Keep 'em coming, Ben. More than awesome.
 
scatman said:
Well, you old dog, you've done it again! Each of your reports as you go along seems to increase the "Wow" factor for me. You'll have a hard time topping this one in my opinion. Maybe this coming summer you can get @Artemus to help you to get your motorcycle ready for escape velocity and you can do a lunar expedition or you could hike rim to rim at Valles Marineris on Mars. :) Of course, I love the shots and footage of the bears! Great stuff and thanks again for taking the time to share your Denali experience with us. I'm hoping to make it up that way when I retire.
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Watching Ben walk is so much more entertaining and "real-life" reality TV than watching Survivorman. :moses:

There is no helicopter hovering on the radio waiting to deploy and no one to come in and clean up his mess. He needs neither.
 
scatman said:
....Maybe this coming summer you can get @Artemus to help you to get your motorcycle ready for escape velocity and you can do a lunar expedition or you could hike rim to rim at Valles Marineris on Mars.
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I have route designs already in process and a list of mods for the KLR linked up. Of course we have to do something about that rear sprocket and chain life problem he seemed to be having on this "down-to-earth" simple trip.... There is a picture somewhere around here regarding that situation.
 
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Ben, great photo tour of your trek. Very well done. Makes the wait for summer a little more painful.

From the photo it looks like you were likely looking at merlin (a type of falcon) chicks. They are plentiful up here but not so much in other parts of the west.
It also appears that you were in the midst of a male griz (the dark one) and a couple of ladies. The breeding season would have been winding down at the time you were there but a male like this one may have been roaming around looking for any potential mates. Awesome sighting regardless.

Great job and what a blast it must have been.
 
Wow. I'm sitting here looking at your photos, saying "Dude!" "Sweet!" over and over.

Thank you for posting so many photos (and maps!) in your trip reports. That is so valuable for those of us who (a) plan routes of our own, (b) then have to prioritize our wish lists of our planned routes because we won't get to all of tem before we die, and (c) enjoy them vicariously if we don't ever make it to those places in person. Ah, Nature-Porn....
 
Well, I have to resurrect this one. Was looking for the "sprocket" debacle to share with @Rockskipper where you ... Didn't you ever post that? I can't find that picture and that urgent text or email I sent you not to drive one mile farther! :)

But seriously, what a great adventure. I love this guy.

Favorite quote: "There are a lot of pictures in this post, especially for a short three day trip, but frankly, this is probably the most beautiful place i've ever been."
 
to avoid even greater embarrassment, this only showed up on facebook.
10409176_945819165440460_7255869426272442258_n.jpg
 
Ben said:
to avoid even greater embarrassment, this only showed up on facebook.
10409176_945819165440460_7255869426272442258_n.jpg
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Embarrassment !?! This is a red badge of courage, my friend. To be 30 miles outside of Whitehorse, Yukon and heading even farther into the thick of it and have the wherewithal to FB your old buddy Art to ask if this looks OK to me not knowing that you are supposed to oil a roller chain every day shows huevos! I was fit to be tied or something like that.

I recognize that it might cause a little discomfort revealing all this now but it makes a great story. I might have the facts a little skewed but I think about this frequently and still shake my head that you rode that little bike to Prudhoe bay to go for a swim. Well done mister! And then the state trooper story, and the packraft story and the... !!!

BTW as you probably know, now, this sprocket tooth condition indicates imminent failure and you could have stuck your sorry butt two hours from the closest gas station above the Arctic circle. I think this event and your rescue deserves another mini-TR or addendum to your other big report. Thanks for risking the disclosure!
 
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Artemus said:
I recognize that it might cause a little discomfort revealing all this now but it makes a great story. I might have the facts a little skewed but I think about this frequently and still shake my head that you rode that little bike to Prudhoe bay to go for a swim. Well done mister! And then the state trooper story, and the packraft story and the... !!!
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@Ben you have to share your adventures, as it might save someone's life. I mean, I was looking at bikes on CL and was thinking of riding to Tuk and I didn't know a thing about sprockets - nor state troopers or packrafts...
 
Ben said:
do it
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I have to learn to ride a bike on dirt and pebbles and in mud, but I guess I could learn along the way, eh? Last time I was on a bike, I laid it down. It was a huge Yamaha 250. I sold it after that experience, cause I couldn't get it back upright w/o help from complete strangers and the horrors, they were MTBers.
 
The chain first started slipping off on Vancouver Island. It took until i was past Skagway to fully understand the problem. I had had the chain and sprocket replaced before leaving Boise, and so initially assumed that was the root of the problem. Some fault at the shop when it had been worked on. I figured out, by looking at the bike, how to tighten the chain, and kept doing that until the sprocket looked some thing like this, which as clearly a problem. Caused by too loose a chain. Fortunately i was close to Whitehorse, where they stock KLR parts, because many people ride those bikes on the AlCan. They were two weeks out on service though, so i changed the chain and sprocket in a parking lot. An interesting experience. I also bought a can of chain lube and used it every day i rode after that.
 
Rockskipper said:
I have to learn to ride a bike on dirt and pebbles and in mud, but I guess I could learn along the way, eh? Last time I was on a bike, I laid it down. It was a huge Yamaha 250. I sold it after that experience, cause I couldn't get it back upright w/o help from complete stranges and the horrors, they were MTBers.
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I would highly recommend taking a STARS course. That's what i did. Learned to ride in a day or two. If you can ride a bike it's not that hard to learn, but it's good to have a professional teach you like that. After that i bought a bike, rode around for about a year, and then i rode it up to Alaska.
 
Rockskipper said:
I sold it after that experience, cause I couldn't get it back upright w/o help from complete strangers and the horrors, they were MTBers.
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Reminds me of when my big bike fell on me and I couldn't get out from under it to even try and pick it up. I was in a cow field with no animals with thumbs to help me pick it up. The cows were laughing at me.

Plan on what you will do when that happens, @Rockskipper. You will have to break out the SPOT and call us in for help!
 
Ben said:
If you can ride a bike it's not that hard to learn, but it's good to have a professional teach you like that. After that i bought a bike, rode around for about a year, and then i rode it up to Alaska.
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I am pretty sure the Rock is teasing... No way she is riding a motorcycle to Tuk with three dogs and 10 pounds of coffee on the back without air conditioning. No way. No how!
 
Artemus said:
Reminds me of when my big bike fell on me and I couldn't get out from under it to even try and pick it up. I was in a cow field with no animals with thumbs to help me pick it up. The cows were laughing at me.

Plan on what you will do when that happens, @Rockskipper. You will have to break out the SPOT and call us in for help!
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what did you do.
 
I actually did have a Yamaha 250 and used to ride it around the old mining roads in Moab country. I'd get run over if I tried that now.
 
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