[Bigfoot]

What's in the Yukon? Bears!!! Lots of bears.
I lost count of the black bears and saw 6 grizzly bear in the Yukon area.
The Grizzly Bears

While riding along the Alaska Highway, in the Yukon, I had seen black bears but this was my first grizzly bear sighting.
One large grizzly and two cubs were eating along the side of the road. I wasn't sure if I would see any more so I wanted to get a picture.

I rode past the bears and did a U-turn, rode past the bears again and did another U-turn and stopped and got my camera ready.
I pulled up by the bears and kept the engine running. I took a few pictures and quickly left.
The bears did not seem to care that I was there. They never even lifted their heads to look at me. They just kept walking and eating.
There would be more grizzly bears but none this close.

I've watched several videos of motorcyclists getting WAY TOO CLOSE to bears.

You never want to get within a bear's fight/flight distance.
For me, 300 feet would be a good distance to take a picture from.
Before taking that picture, I would position my motorcycle so that I could make an emergency exit in ether direction.

Bears can easily run 35 MPH and can get there real quick from a dead start.
They can run equally fast uphill as downhill or on flat land.

A Momma bear with her cubs is something I have nearly run into while riding SCREAM (like within 10 feet) and I never want to be that close to a Momma bear again.

Personally, I'm more afraid of Black Bears than Brown Bears (Kodiaks and Grizzlies)

I've seen many people stop their motorcycle way to close to a bear on the side of the road.
What would they do if the bear decided to attack?
Being chased by a big dog is not to be compared with being chased by a bear.

I've had the privilege of working with Black, Brown and Polar Bears and I've developed a huge respect for their speed and agility.
A Grizzly Bear has claws at least as long as your fingers.

 

[Rollin]

Rollin,
did you purchase the "Milepost" magazine?

http://www.milepost.com/

I looked at one but I didn't buy it. Iwouldn't have had enough space to bring it with.
I did most of my research on line.

 

[Rollin]

Some of the black bearsalong the Alaska Highway -

 

[Rollin]

Photo Op -
On the corner of hwy 16 and 37 in B.C.
The goodthing is there is a gas station here, the bad thing is that it was closed. Good thing I carried spare gas.

 

[Rollin]

I've watched several videos of motorcyclists getting WAY TOO CLOSE to bears.

You never want to get within a bear's fight/flight distance.
For me, 300 feet would be a good distance to take a picture from.
Before taking that picture, I would position my motorcycle so that I could make an emergency exit in ether direction.

Bears can easily run 35 MPH and can get there real quick from a dead start.
They can run equally fast uphill as downhill or on flat land.

A Momma bear with her cubs is something I have nearly run into while riding SCREAM (like within 10 feet) and I never want to be that close to a Momma bear again.

Personally, I'm more afraid of Black Bears than Brown Bears (Kodiaks and Grizzlies)

I've seen many people stop their motorcycle way to close to a bear on the side of the road.
What would they do if the bear decided to attack?
Being chased by a big dog is not to be compared with being chased by a bear.

I've had the privilege of working with Black, Brown and Polar Bears and I've developed a huge respect for their speed and agility.
A Grizzly Bear has claws at least as long as your fingers.

I have learned that there is a very fine line between adventurous and stupid.
The difference iswhether or not you were still aliveafter you did it.

 

[Rollin]

Spot Tracker -
On the Dalton I wore the Spot Tracker on my arm so if I was thrown off the bike I would still be able to use the 911 button and get help.

 

[Rollin]

Destination photo ops -
Hyder, AK -

Prudhoe Bay, AK -

 

[Rollin]

Wooden bridge on the way to Hyder, AK -

 

[Rollin]

Early morning in Hyder, AK on the 4th of July -

 

[Rollin]

My gas stop plan to get to Hyder -

 

[jellybean764]

There is a thing on the Moto Guzzi site about 3 coolguys going up to Alaska from California.Not bad.It is at http://bit.ly/1chKRD7

 

[Rollin]

One of my favorite pictures on the Dalton Highway. I had stopped to take a picture (both feet down

) and also was deciding the best way to do this down hill ride on loose gravel. This was near the beginning of the Dalton Highway.
What I didn't know was that someone behind me was taking a picture. She posted her pictures on the internet and I found them while doing a search on the Dalton Highway. I contacted her and she sent me the full size files. Cool!!!

 

[Rollin]

Another one of Susan's pictures-

 

[Bigfoot]

Photo Op -
On the corner of hwy 16 and 37 in B.C.
The goodthing is there is a gas station here, the bad thing is that it was closed. Good thing I carried spare gas.

I ran into that problem last year while riding I-10 from Phoenix to Galveston.
The GPS promised gas twice and when I got off of the freeway, closed. (I had updated the Garmin just before leaving home)
I put 5.93 gallons in SCREAM when i finally got to an open station.
I certainly want to avoid a similar problem in BC or Alaska.
That's why I bit on purchasing the "Milepost" as it's supposed to list all the gas stations and their times of operation.
I doubt that I would take the entire magazine on the trip, but a few pages cut out could easily travel with me.

Nice pics, and even though I saw most of them at the AVR it's still nice to look at them again.

 

[Bigfoot]

I have learned that there is a very fine line between adventurous and stupid.
The difference iswhether or not you were still aliveafter you did it.

Agreed.
Sometimes you just have no control over the situation.

I've been watching way too many videos of Alaskan motorcycle riders where they get way to close to wild animals.
I wouldn't trust a Moose or an Elk any more than a bear.

Even a freaking sheep can be dangerous to a motorcyclist.

Benny Hill background music made this hillarious to me.

Imagine having this problem on a 900 pound Vision?

Buffalo attacking a motorcycle at the 2minute and 30 second mark.

What would you do in this situation?

There's a few more videos of wild animals attacking cars.

 

[Bigfoot]

Spot Tracker -
On the Dalton I wore the Spot Tracker on my arm so if I was thrown off the bike I would still be able to use the 911 button and get help.

Or at least they'd be able to find the bear that ate you.

I will have to look into the "spot tracker".
Did you purchase it or rent it?

 

[Rollin]

They think they own the road!!!

 

[Rollin]

I will have to look into the "spot tracker".
Did you purchase it or rent it?

I bought it. It was cheap to buy but kind of expensive to own.
I paid $49 at Best Buy (on sale) but the full service is $150 a year but it's worth it for the piece of mind and the map of your trip.
The route can be transfered to Google Earth - Priceless

 

[Rollin]

There were times that it felt like I was being watched!

 

[Rollin]

Some nice lodges along the Alaska Highway. Everything is expensive!