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SPRING 2017 ISSUE 01 / VOL. 02
The Denali Highway is an epic ride. If you look closely, you’ ll see a rider off in the distance on the short paved section of road, giving scale to the enormity of Alaska.
“ burp” them before tying down.) As for cameras, GPS units, tracking devices and all the rest, get them well before the trip and test them on your overnight camping trips. I had a few new gadgets I never used since I couldn’ t be bothered to figure them out once I got on the road.
If you’ re planning to camp and cook, the bike won’ t have as much capacity left over for non-necessities. I ended up shipping 25 pounds of DSLR photo gear home on my third day, for example, keeping only the compact camera that I had gotten for the trip, because the heavy bike was just too challenging on gravel. If you plan on spending every night in a hotel, you can take more stuff.
Hotels or camping? For some riders, particularly those traveling with a significant other as a passenger, hotels are often the way to go. This requires careful planning and making reservations during prime summer travel times. Camping and cooking meals, on the other hand, keeps costs down and virtually eliminates the need to plan where you’ ll spend the night. As a single rider, I could always find a campsite, although I looked for a motel when the rain was coming down. Another advantage to camping is that if you like an area and want to stay another day or two, you won’ t have a problem.
I came across a very wide variety of motorcycles on my trip, everything from a’ 46 Harley to a trove of BMW GS bikes, to 350 enduros to Gold Wings pulling trailers. I even saw one traveler on a sportbike. Naturally, the bigger bikes stayed on the pavement, or more