I was very concerned about my rear tire at this point but had no choice but to try to make it back to Dawson where a new tire was waiting for me. If it rained even a slow speed I could easily find myself dropping the bike, perhaps being stuck under it in a pool of mud sliding down a steep hill. Then again there are only three weather patterns to deal with and surely all three will be clear- right?

The ride to the first ferry was uneventful. I was passed my the Harley dude and then a pair of side car units which were people I wanted to talk to because I knew they were friends of my friend in Montana. I did catch up with all of them on the ferry where I discovered that my jerry can had flipped back over the exhaust and now had a hole in it. Fortunately it was empty, otherwise ….

I talked with Kelly who was an old friend of the guy who let me stay at his house in Montana. They were intensely preoccupied with their bikes, however.




I had the ferry take me to Tsiigehtchic where I needed to get one stamp for my Dempster passport. This turned out to be an one big detour. I had to cross the river to Fort McPherson first, then go down river to Tsiigehtchic then on the way back to the northern side there was a medical emergency and had to go right back to Tsiigehtchic and then when we got back to the northern bank the second time the sewer pump truck came on to pump up all the waste and only then did we cross to Fort Macpherson. One good thing was that at this point some guys I met from Inuvik were on the ferry.


Maybe a brown isn’t a bad color for a motorcycle…

A view of one of these maniac trucks coming down the road.

The graders were out again, also.

My last day on the Dempster was a beautiful ride, with clear skies and dry roads. I even caught up with my side car friends who were flying down the Dempster at high speeds. We ended up getting tire changes at the same place and camping together in Dawson.