No "Top of the World" for you!

Well, it looks like The Top of the World Highway will be closed for the next several days.  We don't have time to wait for it to re-open, so we've turned around and headed south from Dawson City.  Our first alternative was to ride a highly recommended scenic loop between Haines Junction YT, Haines AK, and Skagway AK.  It would be tight on time, but at least we'd get some riding done in Alaska and see some wonderful mountain views.  Unfortunately, we discovered the ferry schedule between Haines and Skagway wasn't going to work for us at all, so that side trip is out.

We stopped in Whitehorse to nab some wifi

The Beard Shame continues

Having cut out the Haines/Skagway route we should now have time to ride out to Telegraph Creek BC off the Stewart Cassiar Highway, that is, if the Stewart Cassiar isn't closed due to forest fires.  That latest news is that they're piloting groups through the fire area, so we'll show up in the morning and see what we see.  We've ridden as far south as we can today, and we're still a couple hours north of the start of the Stewart Cassiar.

Tonight we've just setup camp down a trail on the side of the Alaska Highway.  The first trail we tried  tonight started with a climb up a rough hill with some large rocks.  I bounced up the trial OK, but Dad hit one of the rocks dead on, and when the back end came up I think he accidentally twisted the throttle.  The back tire landed and immediately whipped out counterclockwise a full 180 degrees, leaving the bike on the ground pointing downhill.  I didn't see it happen, but the bike is fine and Dad swears he's OK.  We rode a bit further down the road and found a gentler trail to camp along.  We're not far from the highway so the trucks are still pretty loud, but I'm sure we'll have no problem sleeping.