From Homer Alaska I biked to the other southernmost point in mainland Alaska, to Valdez (pronounced val DEEZ).
From there I returned to the ALCAN highway and into the Northwest and Yukon Territories down to Watson Lake. Then headed south to Stewart BC.
From Steward, the road goes east to the place where one can catch the main road south toward Seattle. However the severe fires of western BC caused that and many roads closed, necessitating my heading further east, and ultimately to take the beautiful ride in Alberta down Jasper National Park to Banff to Lake Louise, and then into Idaho and then west across all of Washington state to reach Blaine.
So this was one very long leg, with many places quite remote in terms of services including telephone service.
Valdez Alaska to Steward British Columbia (CANADA)
The cabin here in Beaver Creek Northwest Territory looks small, but it had all the essentials.
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My neighbors to one side were outfitted with matching Honda Goldwing motorbikes and trailers. That is an expensive assemblage of beautiful machines. These are 1800 cc bikes (Nicodemus is ‘just’ 1200), 6-cylinder (vs. 3), fully equipped bikes.
Ironically, my neighbors on the other side were riding bike-bikes: two guys from Montreal who were PEDAL biking the ALCAN highway including the arduous, unpaved road up to Dawson City (not to be confused with Dawson Creek, the BC town that starts the ALCAN highway). They had shipped their bikes to northwest Canada as they only had two weeks for their adventure. They are amazingly fit individuals and capable of long-suffering.
But their long-suffering was with a great spirit of joy. What an encouragement they were. It took them a long time to get off in the morning as all their possession had to fit just so in their various bags including tenting equipment as the cabin was one of the few places they could reach in daily biking as ‘towns’ of any kind are 100s of miles apart. And, it should be noted, 20 seconds after you stopped, the mosquitos descended on you like they haven’t eaten in a year.
One of the clues about the significance of winter is the necessary level of preparation.
Whitehourse is the capital of Yukon Territory. The memorial below has all the elements of the Canadian pioneer beginning with his trusty dog, and includes both a rifle and a shovel (for prospecting). The Yukon flag is only country flag with a dog on it (so they say). And dogs carry their own load.
Another fellow traveler was this young man, also traveling alone, on his trusty BMW. He has been to more than 40 states, and done both coasts of the Mexican Baja peninsula. Next year he plans to go south down through Central America and traverse the entire length of South America to its tip, Patagonia.
Below is my cabin in Watson Lake, which was the priciest place I stayed (but for the eclipse in Paducah KY). But it was an exhausting ride from Whitehorse and I grabbed what I could find, and gave thanks.
From just west of Watson Lake, I took the primitive road south, a cut off from the ALCAN highway, to go to Stewart BC. One of the unexpected highlights was the discovery of Tatogga Lodge. It is a beautiful place on a lake with motel-like (and rustic) cabins, and great food. 
There I met more very interesting fellow travelers: four young guys from Chicago on a one-way trip to Fairbanks each on a motorbike that cost less than $500.
The cabins are on a lake with sea plane and boat service, surrounded by spectacular Douglas Fir trees, and plenty of bears.
The docks below are designed for both boats and seaplanes.
RV campers had spots too. The most-common RVs in north west Canada and Alaska were pickup truck caps and what is known as Class C RVs. The big Class A ‘buses’ really don’t fare well under the rustic conditions fitting into the more rugged facilities available.
And speaking of rugged. The Tatogga Lodge had poster board stories of famed settlers and travelers of the past, including these two ladies below.
I recommend a web search on “Lillian Alling.” This was one amazing, and mysterious, traveler. Lillian: where were you going, really, and why? And did you get there?
The road to Stewart has a similar feel to the one to Valdez with peaks and glaciers, though not as extensive as the Valdez area. It was on the way to Stewart that I picked up a nail in my rear tire, and fought a leak until I could reach civilization and a tire repair. Fortunately, I wisely bought a can of tire patch spray just in case, to ease the mind, and aired up at every opportunity (and gassed up too), until I found a very helpful Harley dealer who helped me patch the tire until I could get to place that had a replacement in my size.
Stewart British Columbia to Jasper Alberta (CANADA)
Downtown Jasper (a high end, bigger version of Estes Park, Colorado)
Windows in Jasper shops
So truth here:
It’s cool to park in the motorbike areas and see who else and from where else has had the same idea.
Waiting in line for customs inspection entering Idaho.
The trip down Idaho and across Washington state was pretty tough. I reached Idaho late in the day on Friday and could not find any lodging. One a summer weekend in Idaho, everyone heads out and books a motel, apparently. So I had to leg it out to Spokane and even then I found just about the last room in town (and glad to get it).
Then the next day, it was likewise impossible to find lodging before the Seattle area because apparently the concert of a lifetime was taking place in the canyon, or the cave, or whatever they call that desolate outdoor amphitheater in the middle of the desert of eastern Washington, and every available motel room was booked. And it was 100 F.
So, no pictures worth posting of that part. But once you cross the Cascade Mountain range, it is lush and beautiful, though jammed with traffic on and around I-5 as there just isn’t a lot of space to build highways to accommodate all the millions who want to live out there and work for Amazon, Microsoft, and their ecostructures.
Corner 6: Blaine Washington is north of Seattle right against the northern border of the US and southern border of British Columbia Canada.
Leg 7 to Corner 7, San Ysidro California is here.
Return to 8 Corners Start Page here: