[Bike]
The Bike Touring Pages of
Chris X. Edwards

Chris X Edwards & April S. Darenkamp
Whitehorse, Yukon Territory, Canada to
San Simeon, California, USA
Summer 1997

--------------------------

Losing Latitude, Gaining Credibility -

Our trip north was difficult - very difficult. But not necessarily in the ways that we imagined it would be. And the good things took us by surprise too. Basically, we just weren't very well mentally prepared to ride around in the mosquito and bear infested north. We didn't really have a strict plan that we were required to adhere to and we had all but completed the nominal goal of riding bicycles to Alaska. We were ready for something different. Every mile north had seemed to be an invitation to greater frustration and difficulty - always in unexpected and irritating ways. By the time we got to Whitehorse, the answer was clear - south. This was especially true since we were also losing our Swiss friends and bike trekking mentors, Susan and Hanspeter, to their Yukon River canoe trip. For us, they really were the highlight of travel in the North.

This section of my bike touring web site documents our retreat from the crazy latitudes. We got off to a good head start with a magnificent ferry ride through Alaska's inside passage. We nervously (still those damn bears) enjoyed Vancouver and Canada's west coast before beginning the standard bike touring route of the U.S. Pacific coast. Because I had done this route at least one time before, I was interested in increasing the difficulty level a bit. This was accomplished nicely with forays into remote and difficult-to-access areas in northern California. Those experiences in the King Coastal Mountains and the coastal trails really seemed to crystalize our status as serious bike tourers. We felt that we had somehow made the transition to some more advanced level. The traditional cycling routes on the coast seemed a bit easy to us by this point.

After some resting at my uncle's house, we had another mission to complete that is documented in this collection. From very early on in our trip planning process, my friend, Dennis, and his wife expressed an interest in joining us for some part of the ride. In theory, this plan had good intentions, but it turned out to be a bit complicated by the fact that April and I had just developed superhuman ability and even the self-confidence to use it, while Dennis and Nancy were abject beginners. In any case, we did manage to get everyone through that week successfully and overall, it was quite an enjoyable diversion.

You might notice that the week Dennis and Nancy traveled with us is represented with quite a few more pictures than normal. These are Dennis' photos (marked with an [R]).



Pacific coast map
Day 1997 daily
miles
total
miles
daily
km
total
km
1 11 July 28.1 28.1 45 45
2 12 July 37.4 65.5 60 105
3 13 July 52.9 118.4 85 190
---- FERRY ----
9 19 July 28.9 158.5 46 255
10 20 July 53.5 212.0 86 341
11 21 July 47.0 259.0 75 416
12 22 July 46.9 305.9 75 492
13 23 July 28.2 334.1 45 537
14 24 July 46.8 380.9 75 612
15 25 July 46.7 427.6 75 688
---- BREAK ----
17 27 July 35.8 467.9 57 753
18 28 July 33.7 501.6 54 807
19 29 July 34.7 536.3 55 863
20 30 July 52.9 589.2 85 948
21 31 July 47.1 636.3 75 1024
22 1 August 44.9 681.2 72 1096
23 2 August 57.8 739.0 93 1189
24 3 August 71.7 810.7 115 1304
25 4 August 52.6 863.3 84 1389
---- BREAK ----
27 6 August 75.9 941.3 122 1514
28 7 August 60.8 1002.1 97 1612
29 8 August 31.4 1033.5 50 1663
30 9 August 74.6 1108.1 120 1783
31 10 August 51.1 1159.2 82 1865
32 11 August 40.9 1200.1 65 1931
33 12 August 29.4 1229.5 47 1978
34 13 August 25.0 1254.5 40 2018
---- BREAK ----
36 15 August 69.6 1324.1 112 2130
37 16 August 17.2 1341.3 27 2158
38 17 August 30.7 1372.0 49 2208
39 18 August 24.9 1396.9 40 2248
40 19 August 38.3 1435.2 61 2309
---- BREAK ----
42 21 August 45.6 1484.9 73 2389
43 22 August 55.6 1540.5 89 2479
---- BREAK ----
50 29 August 93.0 1705.0 149 2743
---- BREAK ----
53 1 September 31.5 1743.6 50 2806
54 2 September 31.3 1774.9 50 2856
55 3 September 45 1819.9 72 2928
---- BREAK ----
57 5 September 44.2 1864.1 71 2999
58 6 September 36.5 1900.6 58 3058
59 7 September 28.5 1929.1 45 3104
60 8 September 43.6 1972.7 70 3174
61 9 September 12.0 1984.7 19 3194



The photos are organized onto index pages for easy reference. You can use one of the photo index pages to find a specific photo or you can start at the beginning and work your way through all of the photos in chronological order. Also, the dates on the preceeding table are links to pages from that day's journal entry.

Photo Index One - 11 July 1997 to 13 July 1997
Photo Index Two - 13 July 1997 to 17 July 1997
Photo Index Three - 18 July 1997 to 23 July 1997
Photo Index Four - 23 July 1997 to 30 July 1997
Photo Index Five - 31 July 1997 to 3 August 1997
Photo Index Six - 4 August 1997 to 9 August 1997
Photo Index Seven - 10 August 1997 to 12 August 1997
Photo Index Eight - 12 August 1997 to 15 August 1997
Photo Index Nine - 15 August 1997 to 17 August 1997
Photo Index Ten - 17 August 1997 to 18 August 1997
Photo Index Eleven - 18 August 1997 to 22 August 1997
Photo Index Twelve - 22 August 1997 to 29 August 1997
Photo Index Thirteen - 29 August 1997 to 1 September 1997
Photo Index Fourteen - 1 September 1997 to 3 September 1997
Photo Index Fifteen - 3 September 1997 to 5 September 1997
Photo Index Sixteen - 6 September 1997 to 6 September 1997
Photo Index Seventeen - 6 September 1997 to 8 September 1997
Photo Index Eighteen - 8 September 1997 to 9 September 1997
Photo Index Nineteen - 9 September 1997

--------------------------
Xed
This page was created with only free, open-source, publicly licensed software.
This page was designed to be viewed with any browser on any system.
Chris X. Edwards ~ August 2000