The Top of the World Highway

 

Post by Corrine

As I slowly pedaled up another hill on the Top of the World Highway, the bright sun shone down on me, but in my head it was dark.

“What had I been thinking? Two back-to-back 90-mile days with over 8000 feet of elevation gain each day. Why did I think this would be a fun way to spend a weekend?”

The cold headwind didn’t help. Having to start the day with a long, 3000-foot climb didn’t help either. Neither did starting the day with not enough water. Usually, I love long bike rides, but this wasn’t any fun.

These thoughts filled my head as I pedaled on the second day of my two-day roundtrip bike outing between Chicken and Dawson. 

A New-to-Me Road with Needed Hills and Miles

If you heard me say earlier that I was done with bikepack racing after finishing the Bike Nonstop US a few weeks ago, you heard right. After biking more than 3600 miles in just under 30 days, I thought I had had enough. But then I heard about the East Idaho Epic Race, a 430-mile mixed surface bikepack race starting September 20. It starts in Idaho Falls, makes a loop in the mountains to the south, and then comes back to town. Several friends had done it and said it was awesome.

East Idaho Epic Route

The justification was surprisingly easy. I had been biking a lot this summer already. I didn’t need a lot of big training, just some “tuning up.” I have done bikepacking races in Idaho, including part of the Bike Nonstop, but I hadn’t seen this particular area of Idaho. But I also have to admit that I was feeling a bit of FOMO. I signed up. 

But the course is very hilly, and with my goal of finishing in four to five days, I would need to climb over 7000 feet every day. So, I needed to do some hilly riding with a fully loaded bike to see if I could still do it. I pondered where I could get in a good hilly ride. I thought of several possibilities including the Top of the World Highway, a remote summer-only road that connects the Taylor Highway to Dawson City, Yukon, 80 miles away. We had driven to Dawson years ago with the kids but I had never biked it.

East Idaho Epic stats and elevation profile

Lael Wilcox, Anchorage born-and-raised and one of the best endurance bike racers in the world, was doing an FKT (Fastest Known Time) from Chicken all the way up the Dempster Highway in Canada to Tuktoyaktuk, Northwest Territories, on the Arctic Ocean. The first part of her route was on the Top of the World Highway. Photos of her trip on social media looked awesome. 

The weather forecast for Chicken and Dawson called for only a 20% chance of showers. Much better than the rainy forecast here in Fairbanks. And that section of road was one of the few highways in Interior Alaska I hadn’t biked. My decision was made. I would bike from about Chicken to Dawson City and back in two days. Lots of miles (about 180), lots of hills, and a new-to-me biking road. 

A Long Weekend

With travel time factored in, I would be gone from Thursday through Sunday. Now that I’m retired, that’s not a problem. However, since most of my long-distance biking buddies still work, nobody was able to join me, but I was okay with that. There would be some traffic on the road in case I got into any trouble. I decided to start from Walker Fork Campground, 15 miles past Chicken, where I could camp and leave my vehicle.

Google Maps route of my planned bike

After a long drive – seven hours with all the construction delays – I made it to the campground and set up camp. With our new pop-up camper, it was super easy. Park the truck, pop up the camper, and, voila, camp was ready. I even had time to go for a little bike ride to stretch my legs before going to bed.

A Fun Ride to Dawson City

The ride the next morning started with a long 14-mile climb on the Taylor Highway to its junction with the Top of the World Highway. My legs felt good, and the gravel road was in decent shape as I made my way uphill following Wade Creek. The sun was shining, too. 

After reaching the junction, I turned right and had 13 miles of paved road with a final three-mile steep uphill before getting to the border with Canada, where the road changes back to a gravel road. After the border crossing, I had another mile of uphill before reaching Davis Dome, the high point on the Top of the World Highway. People who were parked there cheered me on as I made the summit. After that there was a nice long downhill followed by endless ups and downs on the ridge. 

I made it to the Yukon!  You can see the top of Davis Dome behind the sign.

While stopped at a rest stop for lunch, three jeeps pulled up. Out of one stepped Brian and Audra Accola, Fairbanks friends! How fun! They were returning from a week-long trip up the Dempster Highway. Audra gave me some extra chocolate (I had not brought enough and was having to ration) before we went our separate ways. 

I had more uphills and downhills, but the views were spectacular, and the fall colors were gorgeous. I could see clouds building behind me, though, and soon the rain was upon me. I kept riding with an awesome tailwind that pushed me along. The rain soon stopped, and I dried out just as another line of showers hit me. Oh well, I got to see some beautiful rainbows with the showers coming and going. And I stayed warm enough.

The rain stopped after about two hours, and I had time to dry out before the 10-mile, 3000-foot descent to the Yukon River and Dawson City. I pulled into the campground about 9 PM (I lost an hour with the time change in the Yukon), so I quickly set up my small one-person tent. Then I caught the free ferry across the river to get dinner in Dawson City. By the time I finished with my burger and fries and caught the ferry back, it was around 11 p.m. and dark, so I went to bed. 

Downtown Dawson City

Waiting for the ferry after dinner

While lying in my sleeping bag, thinking about the 3000-foot climb I would have first thing in the morning, I suddenly remembered that I needed water. I had filled my water bottle at dinner and had about two liters in my Camelbak, but I knew I needed more. But where was the water pump in the campground? I hadn’t remembered seeing one. I got out my iPhone and found the campground map online, but it showed no pump or water. I was camped right along the Yukon River, but it was too silty to use without sitting for several hours. Yikes, I guess no hot breakfast with tea in the morning for me. Maybe I could find a place to filter water along the way. (Spoiler alert: I found no place to filter water until crossing the border and by then I was almost back to my campsite.)

Campsite on the Yukon River

Dark Times During a Sunny Return Trip

The next morning the temperature was right at 32 F when I started the long climb back up to the ridge. There was a headwind, too. In fact, even though it was sunny all day, I never took off any layers due to that cold head wind. 

From the beginning I was on the struggle bus. I was able to climb but only in my lowest gear, and I was so slow. My legs felt dead compared to the previous day. That cold headwind did not help. I was not having any fun. And my SI joints (sacroiliac – where the spine meets the hip) were bothering me. I just wanted to get back to my truck in Walker Fork Campground, but that required a long, long day on the bike with close to 9000 feet of climbing. So, I just put my head down and kept pedaling. 

Another never-ending hill

When I got to the top of the long climb I finally put in my earbuds and turned on music, opting to listen to ‘70s Hit Essentials that I had previously downloaded from Apple Music. Usually, these songs put me in a good mood. They are the songs of my youth and so many are just so dorky. But even that didn’t put me in a better mood. Nothing to do but soldier on. At one point I had to wait about five minutes for a black bear to leave the road, but even that wildlife sighting didn’t cheer me up. This was turning into a long slog.

I did ask tourists twice if they had any water to spare so at least I didn’t run out of water. I kept hoping that they would ask if I needed anything else, like a ride, but nobody did. I swear, if anybody had offered me a ride, I would have taken it. Really.

Even though it was a beautiful day, I really didn’t enjoy it. I took almost no pictures. I had more fun the previous day when I was getting rained on. What was wrong with me? And what if my legs just gave out and quit working? Would I need to lay down in the middle of the road so somebody would help me? I told myself to quit catastrophizing, which is something I never do. 

Just keep pedaling.  You can do it!

I tried to coach myself through these doldrums: “You can pedal your bike, and you are fine, you are just slow and tired. So what? Keep pedaling.” And it was true. Maybe I just didn’t have it in me to do long back-to-back days. Maybe the Idaho race was beyond me. But right now all I could do was keep pedaling and try not to take too many breaks so I could be back at my campsite before it got dark. 

I got off my bike and walked up the last steep mile back up to Davis Dome. My legs were just so tired. When I was just a quarter mile from the high point, a driver coming the other direction asked if I needed help getting to the top. I only had a couple of more minutes of pushing, so I said thanks but no. After that, I knew I only had one more sustained uphill and then it would be 14 glorious miles downhill back to my campsite.

It's all downhill from here!

I made it back just before dark. It took me 11 hours to bike to Dawson City and 13 hours to bike back. And those final 14 miles were cold. It was 39F when I finished my ride, so I immediately jumped into the truck cab, started it, and turned up the heat. As the truck warmed, I ate a bunch of snacks. When I was warm enough, I popped up the camper and climbed into bed to sleep.

A New Morning, A Better Outlook, But Still…

By morning, I felt much better overall. I was glad that nobody had asked about a ride. I would have been disappointed if I hadn’t done the full back-to-back big days. But I was more tired than I expected to be after just two days. This didn’t bode well for doing four big days in a row for the East Idaho Epic. But I shoved that out of my mind. For now, I just needed to drive to Tok to get breakfast at Fast Eddy’s before heading home to Fairbanks. 

The Top of the World Highway is worth biking but doing it all in one day makes for a long, tough day. Or at least it does if you are slower, like me. But it was perfect training. I’m still not sure it was the best decision I’ve ever made, but it did get me out of town and back on my bike. 

Still, even now, a week later, I’m still not sure what I’m going to do about the East Idaho Epic. I did a bigger ride today and felt pretty good, but I didn’t have a fully loaded bike either. Fortunately, I don’t have to decide about that for another two weeks. 

For now, I’m glad that I did another long bike ride on a beautiful highway that was new to me. Experiences like that make me want to keep bikepacking for as long as I can.