Riding the Cassiar Highway – Part 2 (rain, more rain)

June 19^th, 2026

Whitehorse, Yukon Territory, Canada

Woke up about 30 minutes early today, alarm was set for 6:30, but was up at 6.  Sat in chair and sort of dozed until I was more awake.  Then packed up till alarm went off and then took a shower and got dressed.

It is raining quite nicely outside, so going to have to load the bike in the rain!!

Pulled off the wet cover, and shook it out best I could, then stuffed it in the bag.

I then loaded the bike slowly as I could not pile it all on the ground, so just one bag at a time carried out and attached.

While I was loading, the room next door let a cat outside, who promptly went in to explore my room.  Think the lady works on the property and lives in that room, not one they rent out.

Kitty finally came over for a few pets, but then went inside, too cold and rainy, I guess.

I finished loading the bike, then put all my gear on, including all the rain stuff.

Rode over to the main building to check out and then got on the road just before 9 am.

A short way up the road I pulled over to use the toilet at the rest area and also had forgot to put the Garmin on the bike. 

I run most of my navigation with the phone using Google Maps (offline in this case) as they tend to be bit more updated and much easier to put a destination in, but like to have the Garmin on as it sits higher on the bike and is easier to read the map.  It also gives me altitude data and if I have the routing active it will even show me upcoming elevation changes.

I usually take it out of the tank bag, then out of its case, lay the GPS down and put case back in the tank bag.  However, when sitting on the bike, no where to lay it, so I laid it on the tank bag the other day and about dropped it when I opened bag to put case in.

Today I thought I will avoid that mistake, laid the case on the tank bag and installed the Garmin to the bike.  Then forgot about the case and rode off, never even zipped up the tank bag.

1.5 hours later I noticed this while at my first fuel stop, and only then realized I had lost the case and the USB cable.  Now cable is not a big deal, nothing special, I have others like it and rarely use it anyway.  Case was nice though to protect it when not in use, so will have to buy another one, probably 30-40 dollars.  Still a bit irked though.

After that rest area I made my way to the first fuel stop which I had plenty of fuel to reach, so no worries, but was raining fairly steady most of the way there.  Also was very cold.  Was running about 8 – 10 degrees C (46-50 F),

Roads were very wet and a bit slick in spots as well.  So was slow going.  At one point they had covered the road with loose gravel on a very steep hill and curve section, I am guessing to assist with traction for the larger trucks?  Either way it was not fun riding down that for about 1 km (0.6 miles).

I did not stop many times other than to use restrooms at rest areas or to buy fuel.  So not many photos taken, but did take a few at one rest area right next to a large lake.

The fuel stop was quick fill up at the pump, then parked the bike to go in and use restroom.  However, I guy came up to me that had been fueling on other side and started talking.  Was a rider himself, but was on a work-related trip going from Idaho to Alaska.  While we were talking, another rider that had pulled up as I pulled away from the pump came over as well.

He had ridden up to Alaska from Texas (but had his wife following in the pickup, so did not have to carry all the luggage on the bike).

Probably spent 20-25 minutes chatting before my bladder told me to go inside.

Once done, I decided to skip the food they also sold, would take too long and got back on the bike.

Long ride to the end of the Cassiar, about 4 hours from the motel to the end.  Most of the post fuel stop was dry, and even warmed up for a bit, but near the end it cooled off and rained really good for about 5 minutes.

I then reached the Alaska Highway and turned westward on it for about 1 km to reach the next fuel stop.  Pulled up to the pumps, only 1 pump with 2 hoses for regular fuel, another pump was diesel.  Both sides where taken, and a Uhaul was waiting on the one side, so I pulled in behind the camper on the other.

Guy finishes up and then goes inside.  Finally comes back out and moves truck and I pulled up.  I see sign to go inside to pay first.  Went inside and they tell me that the pumps are broken, so I need to leave the payment (card or cash) with them and then go pump the fuel after they turn on the pump, then I have to take a photo of the amount of fuel dispensed and take that back in do they can compute what I owe!

Did all that, paid the $22 Canadian dollars for 4 gallons of fuel and then went out and moved my bike so others could fuel up.

Decide again to skip the food, would take too long at café, and I was already running behind on a long day of riding, but also had not eaten any food yet.

Got going and was trying to keep my speed adjusted to make the fuel last till I reached my targeted fuel stop, but eventually realized I was not going to make it, so would either need to stop at an earlier stop or use the fuel in the spare bag.

While the rains have mostly stopped and temps were back up, I decided to just stop at the other station so I could try and get food as well.

Stopped and fueled, oddly this place you pumped your gas and then went inside to pay.  But after paying for the fuel I was going to inquire about some of the snacks behind the counter, but phone rang and guy started working on a motel reservation.  I decided to just leave, was only 1.5 hours from my destination now.

Interestingly I bumped into the same guy from Idaho at this station (we were on same route).  We talked again for few minutes, then he left, but guy at pump in front of me was from Ohio and heading to Alaska and also talked a bit about bikes.

The route from here I was able to ride a bit quicker, now had more than enough fuel to reach my end point for the day.

Not long into the ride and cars in front of me started to slow down, and another was on shoulder.  As I got closer, I noticed a very large dog was on the opposite shoulder of the parked car and was likely why others were slowing down.  As I passed by the dog was still trying to cross, but each car made it jump back. 

On looking closer, I wonder if this was not a young wolf, looked similar, and was a black with gray coloring.  Did not seem comfortable with the cars either, so not a pet I would think, but could still by a half dog/wolf or a actual wolf.  I got it on video, will have to check it out when I get around to editing this day’s footage.

Not too far down the road I came around a bend and there was a reddish-brown bear trying to cross the road.  Likely a grizzly, but young one, was smaller and skinny.  He jumped back to the shoulder as I came up and seemed annoyed, raising one paw and looked like he might have growled at me? (I was going about 62 mph (100 km) at the time, so hard to know.)

Later, while on a long straight I saw a dark shape come onto the road ahead and slowly move across.  As I approached it was a medium sized black bear taking its time crossing the road.  Not a huge animal, so might have also been a younger one.  He just stopped and watched me as I passed.  Got that one on video as well.

Finally pulled into my stop for the night.  After 10 hours and 450 miles on the bike.

I am “camping” tonight.  As I have rented a fixed tent (wall tent) at the Yukon Motorcycle Park.  Like an RV park, this one caters only to bikes (3 wheels or less on the sign).  The tents are wood frames with heavy tent cloth and locking doors with 2 beds and a shelf inside. 

The facility has 25 of these, along with 30 some spots for tents if you want to pitch your own.  About 3 times more to rent the fixed tent, but I wanted something I could lock up as I will stay here 3 nights to have 1 day off and do another day trip as well.

Got checked in, rode bike over to tent which has sort of carport in front where I can park the bike.  Won’t keep it out of the rain if coming down hard, but helps in a light rain.

Unloaded the bike, took and the wet cover and laid it over picnic table nearby to dry.  It had soaked the stuff bag which had then caused my shop towels in that bag to get damp.

Then I walked over to the shower/bathrooms and took a shower and changed into regular clothes.

I next walked back over to the main building which is really just a restaurant.  There I had a large dinner as I was starving.

After dinner I came back to room to put away some stuff, then walked over to use the restroom.

On my walk back, bumped into a guy sitting near the unlit firepit and we spent about 90 minutes talking about bike trips and some of the roads that I will be riding.  Got some good info on some camp sites and roads I was not aware of.

Then suddenly realized it was midnight (yet sun is still up).  So came back to room, assembled my camp chair to have a place to sit and typed up this blog.

Now I think I will go to bed.

Catch ya down the road.