West of Anchorage

[windsong]

Wasn't sure whether Canadian or American cyclists would be in the best position to answer, so I apologize for posting in both

I am planning to cycle ALL the way across North America and would love to go as far West as possible; ideally all the way to the Bering Strait. The road network appears to run out between Anchorage/Fairbanks & Nome, but I'm guessing there must be tracks/trails that would take you from Fairbanks all the way West to the coast.

Are my assumptions naive? Does anyone have any clues on how I would get a hold of mapping of the area in order to 'fill in the blanks'? Any help would be appreciated.

 

[Van de Wille]

Far as I know, there is no road system much west of the Anchorage/Fairbanks meridian, except for the road that curves south and west from Fairbanks to Denali. Noone uses that road anyway, frankly - everyone flies out to Denali. There are a few roads that lead of of Nome, further west, but no road into Nome from anywhere.

I wouldn't bet on tracks or trails much west of Anchorage - there would certainly be something, but I wouldn't bet on who/what made it nor the condition.

Bear in mind distances, too (and "bear" is the operative word): the people I know who live there get around by plane or by Argo, and they don't go far from what passes for civilization. I would frankly not bet on your survival if you tried to cycle from Anchorage to Nome via trails.

Cool map resource is the USGS National Map project, http://nationalmap.gov/, which gets you satellite imagery from anywhere in the US with roads, structures, etc. superimposed.

Wasn't sure whether Canadian or American cyclists would be in the best position to answer, so I apologize for posting in both

I am planning to cycle ALL the way across North America and would love to go as far West as possible; ideally all the way to the Bering Strait. The road network appears to run out between Anchorage/Fairbanks & Nome, but I'm guessing there must be tracks/trails that would take you from Fairbanks all the way West to the coast.

Are my assumptions naive? Does anyone have any clues on how I would get a hold of mapping of the area in order to 'fill in the blanks'? Any help would be appreciated.

 

[Van de Wille]

Hey, just had a thought - you could use the Iditarod route, that way you'd only have to survive village to village. You can get an Iditarod map at their site, http://www.iditarod.com/images/trailmap.jpg. Lot of hunting operations working out of Kaltag, Galena, etc. along the route.

 

[Eddie Arzouian]

So, Patrick, are you slumming over here?

Good job on that vibrant Pedal Magazine Forum! Give my compliments to Benjy the Sloppy Editor.

You know for years medieval alchemist looked for ways to turn tin to gold. Looks like Benjy found a way to turn gold to tin, close but no cigar! I saw that coming, didn't I.

Patrick, it sounds like you are expert, so tell me, do bears **** in the woods....?

Shouldn't you be covering GP de Beauce from your basemen in Napierville, IL today?

To Windsong, if you are in Gakona, AK stop by the general store/hotel my brother's godfather runs it, his name is Jerry Strang. Tell him I said hello.

 

[Van de Wille]

You can't leave a thread alone, can you? It's all about you, isn't it?

What do you mean, "good job"? Not my forum.

Ben runs a solid business in cycling for, what, 15 years, while you get drummed out of the sport, and you judge him?

I'm not slumming, whatever that means, I'm just offering my bit of advice on backwoods Alaska. The question is, what are you doing in this thread? Same ol' chimp-in-a-zoo-cage self-abuse bit?

So, Patrick, are you slumming over here?

Good job on that vibrant Pedal Magazine Forum! Give my compliments to Benjy the Sloppy Editor.

You know for years medieval alchemist looked for ways to turn tin to gold. Looks like Benjy found a way to turn gold to tin, close but no cigar! I saw that coming, didn't I.

Patrick, it sounds like you are expert, so tell me, do bears **** in the woods....?

Shouldn't you be covering GP de Beauce from your basemen in Napierville, IL today?

To Windsong, if you are in Gakona, AK stop by the general store/hotel my brother's godfather runs it, his name is Jerry Strang. Tell him I said hello.

 

[Eddie Arzouian]

What I did was provide a solid contact in Alaska, a guy who has been there for years who runs a general store/hotel/ restaurant.


See ya, Paddy...

 

[sub55]

If someone was wanting to go north of Fairbanks why in the world would they head down towards Valdez to say "Hi, Ed sent me" to someone? Get a map

 

[Eddie Arzouian]

Seems to me he said he wanted to head west along the coast, why don't you take a look at a map, Gakona takes you in the way....

 

[sub55]

Gakona, Alaska, sits at the confluence of the Copper and Gakona rivers, at Mile 2 on the Tok Cutoff to the Glenn Highway, 15 miles northeast of Glennallen.

If you're going to Glenallen - the only place to go from thee is either Valdez or Anchorage - both are Not in the direction of Fairbanks and are not "west".

 

[Eddie Arzouian]

Ahhh, but what if you are in Fairbanks and head south and the follow the coast west???

 

[BillyBlass]

Windsong,

Not that I am "agreeing" with Eddie or anyone else for that matter, I recommend you go to Anchorage anyways. A good friend of mine tells me the glaciers there are phenomenal. You can hear them snap and break up as you stand there. You do not experience that everyday. This loop that Eddie suggests will add only a small percentage to your trip (Using the Tok cut-off). Going to Gakona will give you valuable local info.