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Deane, Norm, and Kay's Motorcycle / RV Trip to Northern Canada and Alaska | |
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August 22, "In the Boonies, NWT" to Fort Liard, NWT 245 Miles |
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When we got up in the morning, out in the "Boonies" which had open clear skies, the temperature was 36o F! so we took our time getting on the road with the motorcycles, and left at a chilly 38o F. For about 100 miles, the temperature only hit a high of 40o F. We were well-layered in clothes and riding suits and rain gear to keep down the chill, but it was still cold.
We first continued riding the "Mackenzie Highway", until reaching the "Liard Trail". The word "highway " attached to Mackenzie, versus the word "Trail" attached to Liard might give a hint of the change in quality of road. The Liard "Trail" was terrible compared to the "super highway" of gravel roads, the Mackenzie Highway. The Liard Trail had a lot of "loose gravel" for about 100 miles, and that loose gravel was on a hard bed so it felt like riding on marbles. Sometimes there had been enough car and truck traffic to beat down a track, but much of the time there were several parallel ridges of gravel to cause real steering trouble with the bikes. I got into a "tank slapper", (a term motorcycle racers use to denote the handlebars swinging back and forth out of control, with increasing speed until the handlebars "slap" the gas tank, and the bike and rider go down), but I barely managed to save it. As we reached Fort Liard and were almost to turn into an RV campground in the woods, we saw a Black Bear go from near the road into the forest very near the campground. Deane went around to the other campers to tell them about the bear, and not to leave any food out where the bear could get it. So, we didn't see the bear in the evening, but thought he might come around during the night. So ended a really tough riding day, with Norm and Deane putting Deane's Suzuki "V-Strom" back into the trailer, and taking out Deane's gold Wing again. We had information that the rest of the Liard Trail was paved, and the Gold Wing is best there. Deane had ridden the V-Strom 700 miles, mostly on gravel roads. (That's what we brought it in the trailer for.) Oh yes, we saw more Wood Bison today, and interestingly enough the small herd and the solitary bulls here were about 250 miles from the main herds in the bison Preserve on the shores of The Great Slave Lake, where they are protected. Apparently bison are doing well in Northwest Territories. |
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