Two months later, you can still smell it. The 2014 forest fire season consisted of 385 fires and burned over 33,000 square kilometers of the Northwest Territories (8.3 million acres), and this Fall's KLR trip started with a tour through the aftermath. In two different places, the ditch was still smoldering! As I rode through, ultimately destined for the Southwestern USA, the name for the trip was born: "To Phoenix from the Ashes." |
There were no other bikes to be seen. In fact, the roads were very quiet (especially for a Sunday), with equal company from commercial traffic and roadside hunting trucks. I found myself comparing-and-contrasting in my helmet the autumn hunting trip versus the autumn motorcycling trip... specialized camouflage to be invisible vs. specialized anti-camouflage to be supervisible; going into the woods hoping to drag something out vs. going into the woods hoping to not have to drag something out; and sitting completely still for hours on end vs. sitting completely in motion for hours on end.
Tomorrow, some new tracks, including my first free ferry ride of the trip.
Day total: 740 km, 8h50m Trip total: 740 km | Start: Yellowknife, NT. End: High Level, AB. Soundtrack: CanRock (Watchmen, Rush, Sam Roberts) |