These extended 24 hour daylight hours and getting nearly no sleep were putting a serious dent on my trip progress so I regretfully said good bye to Robert who remained by the river to enjoy the Klondike campsite at a leisurely pace for another day. One day when I’ll afford to retire I might go back to spend more time in those pristine lands.
Taylor highway or Top of the World highway as it’s aptly named, starts off in Canada as a nicely graded gravel road with some paved sections, riding the top of the mountains to one of the most scenic US Border crossings I have seen so far. And although if recall correctly the altitude on GPS was never over 6000 ft (~2000 m) it definitely has the feel and views worthy of it’s name.
In the US side, road turned in packed clay. The area seems to still have active gold panning going on. The river water color gives away it’s mineral rich content.
The clay turns to slippery mud when mixed with rain, not deep but enough to keep things interesting on street Tourances inflated at 43 PSI on my loaded GS.
Here I met a rider from California on a R1200 R who had the misfortune of testing the road’s condition by pushing harder than I did. He was OK with just a bent handlebar and unfortunately a seriously bruised hand. The truth is that he was tired and same was true also for myself. It took me serious effort to stay upright for the remaining miles until Chicken due to fatigue accumulated from being on the road for the past two weeks of 5 – 6 hundred mile days and lately without much sleep. We both camped in Chicken for the night.
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