Superfunkomatic – Observations of the Socially Inept

Settler’s Road and the Forestry Trunk Road into Kananaskis

Kilometres: approx 930
Temps: vary from 14 at night to 30 celcius during riding days
Time Two Days Riding – One Night Camping

Day 1

Things have been so busy this summer this is the first chance to squeeze in a multi-day ride. Thought I’d try some new areas that I haven’t ventured to but nothing too far from home.

Lovely weather during the days. The ride out to the Kootenays was largely uneventful. Although, it is a bit harrowing being loaded up on the KLR and pushing along at 100 kph and dealing with the meatheads on the highway. The aggressive driving and poor decision-making not surprisingly leads to a lot of highway deaths.

Settler’s Road is an escape from the insanity of the returning, and leaving, weekend traffic. To be honest, it’s not a particularly great ride. There’s nothing to see and no real reason to stop. It does get you from A to B without dealing with traffic but it’s not a ride I would do again. It takes you from Macleod Meadows in the Kootenays over behind the mountain ranges and plops you out right at a gas station in Canal Flats. Not a soul around on the entire journey – traffic and people free which was nice.

A quick fill up in Canal Flats and I bombed up the White River Road that leads to Whiteswan Lake and Lussier Hot Springs. Didn’t stop at the hot springs (nowhere to take off all my riding gear and store it) but it was quite busy. The road is well-maintained offers some nice views and the lake is stunningly beautiful. The irony is that the lake and recreation areas are a byproduct of the logging industry – read: logging came first and camping and such second. Such a shame to see the logging clear cut in such a pristine lake ecosystem. Some great camping spots and I snagged one in a little quiet area past the lake (the others were full – even on Sunday).

The weather remained nice until late in the evening then a biblical rainstorm tracked through in the night. This was coupled with logging trucks that run 24 hours per day. Shame it really ruins what is a nice recreation area. Next time I’ll try and snag one of the sites nearer the lake and away from the noise of the road.

Still it was a nice getaway for a day and it’s fun to be out in nature and away from the city.

Day 2

The weather reports suggested a severe weather warning later in the day and riding on some of these roads would be a bit dicey if the weather were to get soggy. So I returned home through the Kootenays and Crowsnest Pass to Fernie. There is lots of waterfowl around Whiteswan Lake and I even snuck on a black bear heading out on the road – they are always too quick for a photo.

The KLR doesn’t like to ride highway speeds and burns a bit of oil so I stopped along the way for a quart to top things up to be safe. Had a good chat with a fella from Calgary who just happens to know some people that were involved in an outdoor program here at the university – small world.

Went up and over the forestry road from Coleman into the Highwood and Kananaskis Valley. The KLR really does not inspire confidence in 2-3 inch gravel. It wanders and searches for purchase of grip on the ground and is kind of like the motorcycle equivalent of snake wrangling – making sure that you have a hold on things and that it doesn’t turn and bite you. The new TKC 80 tires are indeed a great tire for both gravel and street riding. The KLR suspension is nothing short of brutal – soft, spongy and ineffective. Over the winter I may try installing a better rear shock to help with the wallowing and excessive tire wear. It’s a good cheap dually bike but that is what you get from the riding experience – exactly what you have paid for. The weather deteriorated and the Forestry Road can be a mess when wet. Thrice I was able to narrowly sneak under the brunt of the nastiness and avoid the rain showers.

Zipped through the Highwood Pass at over 8000 feet (never gets old) and booked it for home.

Gravel road and dual-sport riding is certainly a different way of touring. It requires a much heightened level of attention to what you are doing, more preparation for routes and conditions, and is hit or miss on scenery. A few high points and a generally enjoyable riding weekend. I’d like to continue to do this type of riding but need a ‘mate’ to go with for anything more challenging or risky to have some backup.

Kootenay River, BC - From Settler's Road

Whiteswan Lake - White River, BC

Forestry Trunk Road - Highwood House, Alberta

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This year has been so busy with work and with renovations that I haven’t really had enough time to ride hardly at all. I’ve been for a couple short rides to Bragg Creek and commuting but today was my first real ride. The weather also hasn’t been cooperating and honestly the first really nice weather has only been in the end of June and early July. Oh and with a baby on the way at any minute I really don’t want to be too far from home.

Decided to take some gravel roads and explore a bit today. Pretty good outing and excellent weather. It was really nice to go out and get the lead out today.

There were quite a few offroaders and ATVers out today enjoying the weather. Not a lot of traffic otherwise.

I had one ‘get off’ trying to climb a hill that I’ve been up before. Last time I had knobby tires, this time, not…. Needless to say that lifting a fully fuelled 500+ pound motorcycle in warm weather is a good workout. It was steep enough that the bike slid down the hill three times below me (while I gracefully dismounted). Another note to self – don’t use your shin bone to try and stop a motorcycle from sliding down a hill backwards. I have to remember the KLR is not a dirt bike – note to self – buy a dirt bike, too!

Not sure there’ll be much riding this summer although I may try and sneak out for a weekend or two during the rest of the summer break.

Weather: Sunny 28 Celcius
Distance: 495 kilometres
Riding Time: 9:30-4:00pm

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Distance: 340 kilometers
Time: 11:30am – 5:45 pm
Temp.: 28 celcius (It’s like frickin’ summer out there)

Took advantage of the great weather and went on a blast north on the forestry trunk road. Surprisingly with such great weather there wasn’t a sole around. I pretty much had the road to myself the whole afternoon.

We’ve had very little rain the past few months so everything is popcorn dry. The road was a dust bowl and the new gravel areas that they have put down since our torrential spring rain is like riding on marbles – fun, challenging and occasionally butt-clinchingly scary!

I had intended to ride the route up highway 40/940 all the way to Nordegg but instead turned off at the junction with about 130 kilometres of gravel road left to go. If I had pushed on I would have had to come back through Rocky Mountain house and the prairies at dusk and dark – too many creatures are stirring at that time of day.

There are a few really scenic spots – the Waiparous area lookout, coming down from the first junction to Sundre and looking towards the mountains, and a few kilometres before the turn-off to 584 (last one) to Sundre. Lots of good mountain panoramas. They were also conducting a prescribed burn on the other side of the range towards the Icefields Parkway – smoke can be seen coming in a huge plume over the mountains and a cloud that stretches for hundreds of kilometres.

Overall a great day. It’s getting towards the end of the riding season and won’t be much longer before it starts snowing at higher elevations – sad face –

Waiparous Lookout

Red Deer River - Looking Towards Yaha-Tinda Ranch

Nordegg Junction to Sundre - Check out the fantastic fall colours

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Tags: forestry trunk road, KLR 650, Nordegg, smokin' fall weather, Sundre

Distance: 414 Kilometers
Time: 11:00am – 6:00pm

Lovely weather today for fall in Calgary. Perfect weather for a ride. I’ve recently picked up the southern Alberta copies of the Backroads Mapbooks and decided to go out exploring on some of the less traveled side roads.

Today I headed out through Bragg Creek to Longview. Over Highway 532 by Indian Graves campground and to the junction of the forestry trunk road (940/40) heading down towards Coleman.

I had planned to take the Old Man River Road up through the Cataract Creek snowmobiling area and reconnect with the forestry trunk road at Highwood House and head home.

The road starts off as gravel, then gravel and mud/dirt, then mostly dirt then the last section is really abandoned road right back to the Forestry Trunk road. There are no signs that I could see and the road conditions become almost like a walking path. The road has obviously been abandoned for a considerable time since the one sign I did see just before a broken old wooden bridge was still in miles per hour.

It was fun to get out there and see another part of the Kananaskis that I’d never been to before. Luckily the weather was fantastic. If there had been any chance of rain or recent rain activity that road would be a complete disaster and virtually impassable.

I got all the way around to the junction to turn back towards Highwood House and discovered with the last few metres that the road was closed. Luckily it had a wide walking path around it so I could skirt around the gate. Seems odd that the road was fully open and accessible from the South but not at all from the North.

I didn’t see a vehicle or any signs of life for several hours. A great riding adventure.

Cataract Creek Area - Kananaskis - The road is abandoned from this point North.

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Tags: Cataract Creek Road, forestry trunk road, highway 940/40, Old Man River Road

Details of the trip:

Distance Traveled: 9347 Kilometres (5808 miles)
Approximate Cost of Fuel: $450-500 dollars (fuel is very expensive up North)
Lodging Costs (Camping and Hotels): approx. $1,100-1,300
Number of Days on the Road: 17 (15 on the bike)

Lowest Temperature: 0 Celcius (Destruction Bay, YT – sleet and snow-like conditions)
Warmest Temperature: 24 Celcius (Carmacks, YT and Liard River, YT)
Repairs/Maintenance: New Tires in Fairbanks, AK – $350 USD
Least Expensive Accommodation: Tie – Sealaska Inn (Hyder, AK) $65.00/night – What a deal! and Tara Vista Motel (Hinton, AB)
Most Expensive Accommodation: Best Western (Homer, AK) – really, not worth more than most of the 65-85 hotels
Worst Accommodation: Downtown Hotel (Prince George, BC) – honestly, Prince George’s downtown is one of the scariest places I’ve been next to East LA

Best Road: The Dempster Highway – hands down the most challenging, beautiful and interesting ride of the trip
Worst Road: The ALCAN/Alaska Highway in Yukon Territory – the Alaska side is beautiful, the Canadian side looks like it has been in constant decay since it was made during WWII – parts of this highway are worse than the infamous Dempster Highway.
Honorable Mention for Best Road: Tok, AK to Valdez, AK on the Tok Connector Highway – high passes, mountain ranges, wildlife and beautifully paved

Impressions of the Trip:

The North is absolutely outstanding in every way. It’s remote, isolated, stunningly beautiful and a challenge to travel through. These are all the attributes of a great adventure. The weather can be abysmally bad and quite the opposite really quite mild. There is no shortage of scenery and wildlife on this trip. I’d hazard a guess that anyone traveling this area will see more wildlife in a few weeks than they’ve seen in their entire lives (unless they work at a zoo).

I’m quite happy with how things unfolded during this trip. I’ve only had some off road experience for day trips into gravel and forestry roads. I think as I got more comfortable riding in this terrain I’d be more likely to venture off on to more gravel, dirt and abandon roads.

This is a type of trip you could be a lot more adventurous if you had a riding partner or two. Being out on the Dempster Highway 400 kilometres from help is a bit unnerving when you’re riding solo. Having a serious accident could literally be life or death – having help would certainly make the trip less risky. Although, it’s been very hard for me to find anyone that will take on these types of challenges or that has enough vacation time.

The North is definitely a place you could visit again and again and still only scratch the surface of what there is to see. I think I can safely say that at some point I’ll return by motorcycle to the North. If you’re looking for an adventure and place that not many will see – this is it! Go and see for yourself – it’s amazing!

Equipment:

• SW Motech Crash Bars – essential for a dual purpose bike – these prevented hundreds, if not thousands of dollars of damage in my get-off
• Barkbusters Hand Guards – on the cold days they helped keep the wind and rain off, also prevented major damage to my bike during aforementioned get-off
• Tires – The Pirelli Scorpion Trail did very well on the highway (4500 kilometres and still going) and fine on the Dempster (in the dry – they’d be scary in the wet); Heidenau K60 Scouts – I’d definitely use these tires again – they were excellent highway tires and superb off-road
• More Tires – In spite of what people say – bring a second set. Road tires for the trip up, knobbies or good 50/50 for the Dempster or trips off road
• Oxford Heated Grips/Jett Hawaii Heated Vest – I would have been miserable and cold without these. The Jett Vest is unreal – on low it will keep you warm for the entire day, and, it’s got no wires tethering you to your bike
• Good rain gear – You may not need it, but if you do, you’ll be glad you brought it
• Trax Panniers and SW Motech Racks – Hard luggage is the best investment you can make in any bike – they kept everything dry, there’s tons of storage, and they are excellent crash guards
• Camping Gear – really helped on the days where it was nice to get in touch with nature, also the days where I arrived late and didn’t feel like seeking out expensive accommodation (you can save a bundle of cash traveling with camping gear) – on average 15-18/night.

The Bike:

The KLR did the job it was asked to do. After traveling up and down the west coast so many times on my VFR this pales in comparison. It was passable as a highway bike, moderately capable as a dual-purpose bike, and required nothing to keep it going for the trip except gas and 1/2 litre of oil. It gets superb gas mileage (45-50 mpg on the highway /53+ on the low speed stuff like the Dempster Highway)

I must have tried to switch up into sixth gear about 45,000 times during the trip. Really, Kawasaki, would it be that hard to add another gear for cruising on the highway. It drove me nuts after thousands of kilometres vibrating along at 5,000 RPM. I’ll consider a larger front sprocket to lower the revs if I was to do another long trip on the bike.

To me this seems like a bike that would lead me to purchase a larger adventure bike – BMW GS Adventure. It seems like a perfect bike for trips like this. The KLR has been a bargain bike to equip for the trip and I easily could have bought two completely kitted out for the price of one GSA.

Hotels:

I can’t believe there are still ‘smoking’ rooms in hotels. Most municipalities in North America don’t allow smoking in public places, why in hotels? Also, non-smoking seems to mean that there is no one currently smoking in the room with you. Many of the hotels stunk of smoke even in their ‘non-smoking’ rooms.

If you can hit the major towns or trap towns mid-week you’ll save a bundle. Most will gouge you if they can on weekend rates.

Tags: accessories, end of Prairies to Permafrost, end of trip, raging success, safe advice, summary

Distance: 493 kilometers
Time on bike: 8:30-3:30 pm
Temp: High teens / Near freezing at Athabasca Glacier in Icefields Parkway

The last day is one of the best because you get to go home but it’s always bittersweet since it’s the end of another good long ride.

I slept in again since it wasn’t a very long day and I knew I could make it back home by the middle of the afternoon. The final pack took only a few minutes. I noticed something that I missed after my ‘get off’ the other day – the supporting racks for the right side luggage was bent a bit. A quick firm pull and it bent right into shape.

I love riding the Icefields Parkway highway. Even after all that I’ve seen on this trip, and others, it is still one of the most beautiful highways I’ve ridden. I was very fortunate to be able to duck and weave through the various storm fronts that were moving through the mountains and only had about ten minutes of rain the entire day.

The first thing I notice every time I come back to Alberta is how terrible the drivers are. I rarely crowd the middle of the highway or the left side of my lane for this very reason. People are tired or inattentive and on several occasions drivers crossed the centre line – yikes!

There was also some sort of Cannonball Run type race going on; the “Bull Run” I think. I’m all for enjoying a day in a nice car in the mountains but these yahoos were passing on double lines, in speeding through pedestrian areas, and driving about 50-60 km/h over the limit. Pretty dangerous considering it is a scenic drive and not a race track.

I took a few pics along the way. Stopped to look at the scenery and generally took my time winding me way back home on this final day. A successful and enjoyable trip. Wrap up report to come….

Since my 'get-off' these damn mirrors won't stay put - three joints in opposite directions

Back through the Icefields Parkway - Cold!

Welcome back to the prairies and Alberta.

Tags: Cannonball Run, end of Prairies to Permafrost, final day, Icefields Parkway

Distance: 459 kilometers
Time on bike: 8:30-4:00pm
Temps: Very nice mid-20s all day (sunny)

Today has probably been the least eventful day of the trip. Which I guess is a good thing since everything went according to plan.

No rush today as it’s a short riding day at least in comparison with the past couple of days. Didn’t leave the hotel until 8:30 this morning.

When I say not eventful – no animals, no weather events and really nothing to see on the way. Contrary to Alberta Tourism’s recommendation of highway 40 between Grande Cache and Hinton, AB being a scenic byway – well, it isn’t. It’s better than taking the superfreakinghighway number 2 south through Edmonton. But really, there are no vistas, no scenery, not much of anything to catch your attention. It does gain significant altitude up to 1300 metros at some points but other than that it is a tree-lined highway to avoid bigger highways.

After several longish days my arse is getting sore. The KLR seat is very narrow and causes extreme discomfort when ridden for long days for several days in a row. So when I arrived in Hinton today I was glad to get off the bike to give my tuckus a break.

Hinton is kinda like the Teutels (American Chopper) meets extreme sports meets ultimate fighting challenge. Yikes! I didn’t bring my requisite 4×4 with 40″ wheels and a dirt bike in the back. Guess I’m really going to have to buy one of those TapOut shirts after all – just to fit in! Welcome back to Alberta, Mike! Haha.

Midweek hotels are easy to come by and cheap ($65) – the Tara Vista Motel. So I’ve relaxed and had some grub. Tomorrow is the last day of the trip. I’m looking forward to being home in my own ‘crib’ and bed. I’m always a bit sad to see the trip each year come to an end. Before it’s over though I’m fortunate enough to zip back through Jasper, Lake Louise and Banff before getting back home to Calgary. Should be a few more pics from this ride.

Tags: big 4x4s, Dawson Creek, Hinton, Penultimate Riding Day, UFC