Anchorage, Alaska....final countdown

Posted by Fin on 16 June 2009

Three days of prep in Anchorage before our last flight to the Arctic Ocean in the morning - the oil industrial complex of Deadhorse, Prudhoe Bay to start the first phase of the cycle - following the Dalton Highway and the Alaskan pipeline down the length of Alaska to first stop Fairbanks....this is by far the toughest part of the journey, it will be cold, it will take ten days,  there will be bears and the road is over 500 miles long, mainly gravel with only one small settlement Coldfoot on the way to Fairbanks...

Anchorage

Is it possible to land on your feet any more? Anna established contact with Ron in Anchorage a few weeks ago using warmshowers.org, a website dedicated to accommodating cycle tourers around the World. Within a few hours of meeting us at Anchorage airport, Ron took us up in his Cessna Float Plane amongst the Chugach Mountains and glaciers surrounding Anchorage. An awesome experience for both Anna and I. Back at the family home, we met Barb his wife and we were treated to a fantastic spread of Alaskan King Salmon grilled on the BBQ. By far the best salmon I have ever tasted...not sure how I will ever eat another farmed British salmon again. Ron and Barb are keen cyclists, so it was great to swap stories and get insight about what was ahead of us. Until now, I have purposely tried not to think about the enormity of the task ahead; my naivety of the challenge perhaps enabling me to to jump straight in. Its going to be tough, but i don't think at this stage I have any idea how tough. The first thing we did the following morning was go out and buy a bear canister - we have 10 days straight without any food shops or towns - if a bear takes our food we are in trouble, so we need to protect it. We also bought a whole load of food, from oats to couscous...in the supermarket I passed the rifle and shotgun section.....a weapon did cross my mind.

We divided up all our food into separate portions....currently I am going to be carrying a minimum of 45 kg on my bike for ten days, so we needed to get the food portions and weights counted out properly. After, we went to the US Postal service and mailed 5 days worth of food to Ron's contacts at Coyote Air near Coldfoot. Just as well as the bear canister only holds enough food for us both for 5 days and we will be on our own for 10 days from the Arctic Ocean to Fairbanks.

That evening Ron and Barb took us both over to Doug and Nancy's house, also keen cyclists where we were treated to more great hospitality and fanastic Alaskan halibut. I was kind of getting used to this lifestyle and worrying how I will survive on couscous and quinoa for the next few months !

In the morning we leave Anchorage and head to the starting point. Ron and Barb made our 3 days here very memorable and also extremely smooth from a logistical point of view - my head has been a whirlwind of emotions recently so it has been such a comfort to have such generous and accomodating people to help us plan our trip in the last few day - from lending us their 4x4 so we were free to shop for provisions, to incredible meals, and excellent local cycle and wild camping advice and a flight up in the float plane! - we really couldn't have had it better...We leave for Deadhorse in the morning - I am nervous but can't wait to get started.

27 comments. Tags: fin. Location: Anchorage, USA