Yellowknife Trip

A view of the N.W.T., overlooking a limestone cliff

After several years riding smaller Japanese bikes, Gladys finally got her first Harley this spring - a '05 XL 1200C Sportster - and was eager to put some serious miles on it. If you don't automatically think 'Sportster' when it comes to long-distance riding, you might want to think again. With forward controls, a rubber-mounted engine (introduced in 2004) and a 4.5 gallon gas tank, the bike has potential.

Gladys and her 2005 XL 1200C Sporty

Straight-away, we put an HD Sundowner touring saddle on her new ride, saddlebags, sissy bar, luggage rack, windshield and engine guards. Set up like that, it began to seem comfortable for the long haul, yet still relatively light and nimble for around town. This trip would prove whether or not we got it right.

Check out those pipes!

Myself, I knew what to expect with my bike, a '98 Road Glide. After over 95,000 miles (155K kms), it had proven itself in terms of comfort, capacity and reliability - although I've been giving it more attention as it ages. In the past, Gladys and I used to ride two-up on the Road Glide because her bikes weren't up to long road trips.

That used to mean packing the duffel bag of camping gear on top of the tour pak, making the bike a bit top-heavy. With her riding her own bike, I could now strap the duffel bag on the passenger seat instead, lowering the center of gravity and providing a good backrest as well (although she wasn't half-bad in terms of the latter, come to think of it).

Road Glide - the best bike Harley makes

Prior to our trip, we tossed around some possible destinations and came up with the idea of riding to Yellowknife, in the North West Territories. Historically, the road to get there was known for being bad. But, with each passing year, more and more of it had recieved paving. This spring marked the completion of the last, unpaved stretch; an occurance that begs us to be among the first riders to take advantage of it.

Gladys - brought up in Assumption, which is on the route to the N.W.T. - wished to visit family anyway, so this provided an additional reason to head north. Assumption is a small Indian reservation between Rainbow Lake and High Level, in the northwest corner of Alberta. Oddly, in spite of having lived so close to the border, she had never been in the Northwest Territories yet.

Saturday morning arrives, we hop on the bikes and, after picking up tax-free smokes and gas at the nearby reserve, we're on the highway and heading north. The plan is to make it to High Level the first day (about 750 kms, or 450 miles) and Yellowknife by the next (about the same distance again).

We usually wear full leather gear when riding but, today, the weather is blistering hot, so we make an exception. As I'm riding, observing Gladys ahead in her sleeveless top, I'm thinking, "Man, that little gal's got some muscles!"

The ride on the way to Peace River was nice and we stopped to stretch now and then. When riding, it's easy to dehydrate without realizing it because you don't feel sweaty, so we gulped down some water at each stop.

Peace River and the hill entering its valley is always a bit breath-taking. Four or five hours into the ride now, we couldn't resist stopping at the Dairy Queen alongside the road to have a cool treat.

The Peace River bridge

After we pass through Peace River on our way to High Level, I start to realize something. Gladys does not seem to need a break riding that motorcycle. "Sore ass yet?", I ask her. "No, I'm pefectly comfortable.", she always replies.

That touring saddle seems to be suiting her butt fine - more so than sitting for long periods on the back of my bike ever did. I'd better get used to my new, duffle-bag backrest, because it looks like we're separating for good now...


The stretch to High Level is straight and, well, level

Once in High Level, we got a motel room and Gladys went straight to work, getting bugs off her bike (ah, that new bike phase). The next day we began the final leg of our trip to Yellowknife. Getting to the Northwest Territories border, we fueled up at a place called Indian Cabins and then checked out the Visitor Center, a few miles further down the road.

The guy at the Visitor Center gave us lots of background on the regions we'd be travelling through. Among the information given was a warning to watch out for the bison, as some of the old bulls are aggressive. I can tell that's got Gladys worrying.

What's got me worrying is the fact that my rear tire tread is wearing down so quickly. That chip-seal road surface really eats up rubber - something I should have anticipated, as we've ridden up to Alaska before. Should have changed that tire before leaving Edmonton...


The insects started getting real thick, once in the Northwest Territories

Continuing the ride north was pleasant and interesting; noticing how the trees became shorter as the hours passed. Once at the McKenzie River, we had to board a ferry to make it to Fort Providence, on the other side. That river is huge. Wide as a lake. Getting the bikes through patches of deep, unpacked gravel leading to the Ferry's loading ramp made things interesting too.


Crossing the McKenzie River

Once we pass Fort Providence we are into bison country. Bison seem to be everywhere alongside the road.

As Gladys approached a bunch of them, the whole herd began to stampede down the ditch, running parallel to her. Following behind, I had a suspicion they might cut accross the road, so I backed off a bit. Sure enough, one turned and then the whole herd cut between me and her - leaving me stopped to wait for the procession to pass. Kinda had to be on guard while in those situations so, sorry, no photos of bison but, on our way back from Whitehorse 2 years later, I did manage to get a photo of a similar situation. That picture is shown below.

A similar situation we encountered on the way back from Whitehorse, 2 years later.

Although we missed taking pictures of the bison, we did manage a few pictures of the road leading to Yellowknife. The landscape and geology is very different from what we are used to. Trees are short in height and we have now entered a region known as the Canadian Shield. Bare rock outcroppings are everywhere.




The road nearing Yellowknife

Fueling up in a small Indian Reserve along the way, I notice Gladys listening intently as the locals converse. She then joins in, speaking in her language. Turns out they're all part of the Dene people here too. She asks them about the bison. "You don't have to worry about them", one guy says. "They just want to look at you." That makes her feel a little more at ease.

Fueling up in the Dene village of Etzo

Once we arrived there, the city of Yellowknife was a bit of a surprise to me. I didn't expect to see so many high-rise buildings. But, then again, it's become a fairly prosperous area in recent years, with the successful Diavuk Diamond Mine operations nearby.

We stop someone and ask him where the cheapest accommodations are located. This is when we discover how expensive it is to live here. Apparently, it is hard to get a room for less than $160 per night but, following his suggestion, we get directed to the second-cheapest place in the city, which is $110.

Arrived in the city of Yellowknife

Now that the task of finding a motel has been accomplished, my mind returns to the problem that has been nagging me the whole trip so far: The rapidly-disappearing tread on my rear tire. Taking another look convinces me that, now, something has to be done.

Gladys, of course, is busy again cleaning bugs off her bike...

Cleaning off bugs again

There's simply no way that I'll make it back to Alberta on that small amount of rubber. There's also no way I want to have a flat while crossing some of the sparsely-populated regions we just travelled through.

So I get on the phone and start calling the few shops in town that might have a tire for my bike. There's nothing that matches in town so, next, I'm on the phone with one of the Harley dealers in Edmonton: "I'm up in Yellowknife and I need a tire, like right now. Can you do anything for me?"

"We'll have one to you by 10:00 o'clock, tomorrow morning", the guy at the dealer says. Wow, that was easy. There's a flight to Yellowknife from Edmonton every day and the cost of shipping seems reasonable enough at $53.00.

Now the only thing left to figure out is getting the wheel off the bike, getting the new tire on the rim and putting the wheel back on, so I call the local dealers again to see what they can do. Apparently, this is not a common task for any of them, because they're quoting 4 or 5 hours labour (at $85/hr). "What? I can do that myself in an hour an a half.", I say. "Well, if you can, we'd like to hire you", one guy responds.

I'm getting the feeling that skilled workers are in short supply in Yellowknife. If pulling the wheel on a Harley is going to be a learning experience for the person given the job, there's no telling if the job will be done properly either. I've got to do this one myself.

Fortunately, I have all the tools with me to do the job. Well, almost all the tools. It would sure be nice to have the use of a bike lift, so I inquire around about that. At one shop I called the guy mentioned he rides a Wide Glide, so I ask if he can bend the rules a bit for a brother. "You come on by after the shop's closed and I'll have one for you", he replies. Perfect!


Replacing wheel in motel parking lot with borrowed bike lift

So I hire a taxi, pick up the bike lift and bring it back to the motel. Next morning, right on cue, my tire has arrived, I hop on Gladys' Sportster and pick it up from the airport. Now lift the bike, pull the wheel off, take it to a shop to get the new tire put on, return and pop the wheel back in and then return the bike lift. No problem at all.

It's times like this when you realize how important it is that you do your own work on a regular basis because, now that I really need to, it's no big deal at all. To do a proper job, I decided to buy a cheap torque wrench and get that axle nut tension just right, for the sake of the bearings. No messing around with grease either (or the tire-replacement guy fouling things with a pressure-washer, prior to doing his work) because, a year ago, I replaced the standard bearings with a set of after-market, sealed ones. Glad I did that.


Heading back south from Yellowknife

One good thing about the tire problem is that it forced us to stay in Yellowknife an extra day, enjoying the night life (boy, did we enjoy the night life) and the 24 hour-a-day sunlight you get when that far north. But leave we must, so it's on the bikes again and we head south. It's a much nicer feeling, my bike rolling on a new rear tire now.

We ride back through Fort Providence, cross the McKenzie river again and find a nice campsite near the town of Hay River, right on the shore of Great Slave Lake. Let me tell ya, that's a big lake. It's like looking out over an ocean.



On the shore of Great Slave Lake

Near Hay River there are 2 sets of waterfalls worth viewing. We stopped at Louise Falls (below) first. If you are ever travelling by there, the view is well worth stopping for.

Next, we hiked down to the Alexander Falls. Kinda neat. There's a set of spiral stairs you descend and then you follow several long flights of stairs carved into the hillside to get to the prime viewing spot.


Alexander Falls, near Hay River

From Hay River, we continued south to High Level, where we stayed the night. Then, the next day, we made a long ride to Dawson Creek in British Columbia, passing through Manning and Fairview. Dawson Creek - "Mile Zero" of the Alaska Highway - is an interesting town with lots of history.

Some shut-eye at Fairview

Dawson Creek - Mile Zero of the Alaska Highway

The morning we left Dawson Creek was the second-last day of our vacation, so we decided to ride through to Hinton next. The weather had changed for the worse now - most of Alberta socked-in with heavy rain. And rain it did. By the time we hit Grande Cache, the run-off in the streets was near a foot deep.

After Grande Cache we encountered a section of road where some very heavy hail had fallen just prior to our arrival. With the hail piled up on the road like an inch of fresh, slushy snow, that required a bit of careful navigation through the tracks left by vehicles ahead of us.

It was good to arrive at Hinton and get a motel room. We changed clothes and then headed out for an evening of entertainment at the Hinton Hotel.

Fueling up in Grande Cache	On road, after Grande Cache
Dirty bike by Hinton	Dried off and ready to party

The last day of our trip, the rain was still coming down. In fact, it was raining harder. And it rained harder and harder as we neared Edmonton. That was quite a ride and we were drenched to the bone by the time it was done.

Below, Gladys is attempting to show how that rain got past her pair of chaps, but I think it looks more like someone who just woke up, after a bit too much drinking.

Soaked, but back home

The next day, I show Gladys how to change the oil on her Sportster. She intends to do that herself from now on.

4,000 kms for the trip... it's now oil change time

Well, that's about it for the trip. The verdict on the Sportster? Passes with flying colors, according to Gladys. She says she never got a sore butt the entire trip. Her carpel tunnel syndrome (pain in the wrists) didn't flair up either, thanks to the rubber-mounted engine design. A very nice bike and just the right size for her, I'd say.

Anyone else thinking of taking a ride to Yellowknife? I'm sure you'll find it a memorable one if you do. But remember... start off with good tires!