Destruction Bay - one more time

We decided that a 600 mile day that included the northern part of the Alaska Highway was too far, but in the end it was a 500 mile day due to our early stop the night before.

We had lunch in Tok, AK at the "Grumpy Grizz Cafe" and tried one last time to verify that the Top of the World Highway might have been re-opened in the past few hours, but no luck so we'd be heading back the way we came.

The border was super easy to pass through (no wait, and 30 seconds to show our passports) and the road seemed very familiar. We managed to pass through without damage, but did see a few trailers parked at the side with damage and a film crew taping footage of a burned out frame of an RV that didn't make it...

The road damage through this part of the highway is hard to describe. Part of the problem is that you are driving on a road that looks like they paved over ocean swells, and you bounce up and down like you're in a boat. The road was once flat though, it's the ground that's sank and heaved. The other damage you see is long cracks that have opened up in the road. They run for hundreds of feet, and the worst ones are nearly a foot across and a foot deep. They run along the road in places, then change direction, so as you are trying to avoid them they move into your desired path. Sometimes you can find a spot to cross them that's been filled in, and other times you just have to hang on and try to cross them at a good angle where they are narrow enough not to grab your tires. Most of the bad spots are marked with flags, but not all of them, so you don't want to rely on the flagging system too much.

It's certainly the part that people have driven the highway before are talking about when they say you need a really good suspension on whatever you're driving, but if you are slow and careful it is not a problem...

Most of the parts that were "bad places" along the highway were gravel areas that were very dusty, and difficult to operate a motorcycle on, but actually relatively smooth.

We saw very few police while in Canada - Destruction Bay apparently decided to take matters into their own hands with speeders on the highway and put up a plywood police car to slow everyone down as they came into town over the hill. It worked with me the first time I saw it from far away!