On the way back to Eagle River to Stay a second time with Tracy and Mary Lee we stopped for the night in Soldotna.
Lack of imagination saw us heading to an Arby’s chain sandwich shop but it was closed. I’m ashamed to allay that we ate at a McDonalds. The motel was not up to much so it was good when morning arrived and we headed off in a leisurely fashion for the 160 mile ride. A few longer stops, some photos and we were at our destination.
Troy turned up too and pizza was the order of the day for an informal dinner chat kind of thing.....Troy headed off early to get another paragliding flight in as the weather was so favourable. Before he headed off a time was set for the mornings ride. A fifth bike ridden by Tracy’s brother Chuck, great name, would also be joining us.
We were told that the days route would be a treat. That we really shouldn’t miss it. They were right. A great day out in some stunning landscapes.
Three of us left Tracy’s house a few minutes later than planned but it was only a short ride to meet up with Troy and Chuck. Two 1200GS’s, a Ducati Desert Sled and our two 800GS’s made up the group.
Tracy led as it was his idea and he knew some good stops along the way.
I must say that Sarah and I did start to worry as we rode past the second or third fuel station....we certainly didn’t have enough petrol to get us over the pass that we were heading for.....Tracy hadn’t forgotten though and he led us to the last full up opportunity before Hatcher’s Pass and Independence Mine.
We were a bit relieved but happy as the fuel was the cheapest we’d bought for a couple of weeks.
Independence Mine is an abandoned gold mine, I think gold was found somewhere around 1890 and mining carried on up until 1942 when the US government decided that it was an unnecessary activity and all efforts should be directed to winning WW2.
It as an interesting place and we had a wander around under blue skies. We could have spent more time there but the pass was calling, and walking about in the heat with our bike gear on is never our favourite thing.
Hatchers Pass is about 10 miles of gravel road up and over the mountain. The chaps were definitely right to encourage us to join them. There was no pressure from anyone, just a nice friendly no BS ride. We had a couple of stops on the way, the gravel road gave way to tarmac, at Willow we turned south towards Anchorage and stopped off for a late lunch. Burger anyone? Yes please and very nice it was too!
Now Hatchers Pass has a fair few trails heading off from it the look interesting and the other three reckoned that there’s a lot of fun to be had out there. Although Chuck reckoned at least one of his trip out there wasn’t so good as it resulted in a broken leg. The story certainly puts a bit more caution in to your riding when you think of the remoteness of some of the roads out here.
Enough of that, great riding, great roads, great company, great burgers, great bikes and 160 miles in about 10 hours finished off by a trip to the top of the hill above Tracy’s house to take in the views over Eagle River to Anchorage beyond and watch a few of Troy’s mates Paragliding. It looks nice but stories of falling out of the sky make it an activity for other people!
Five happy people, five happy bikes.
(Obviously that includes us and ours).
Last edited by OnHellas on Tue Aug 13, 2019 2:24 am, edited 1 time in total.