Inuvik/Prudoe bay

[Surfdad]

Have any of you ridden the Dempster to Inuvik? I got the ok from the wife to make the trip. I am looking for advice or words of wisdom. I am just starting to outfit my new Super Tenere for the trip. Also, do any of you have any recommendations for some lengthy gravel/dirt roads to improve my offroad skills?

Thanks in advance,

Dave

[ajayhawkfan]

......... Also, do any of you have any recommendations for some lengthy gravel/dirt roads to improve my offroad skills?

Thanks in advance,

Dave

Get on the first dirt road you find in KS and go west when you hit Colorado turn around. By the time you get back your skill will improve.

When are you going? I'm envious.

[Savage]

Agreed. Go ride gravel, dirt, rock roads and play with your air pressures. Makes a big difference.

[Stu]

When are you going?

[safiri]

Send a PM to RF user Hayden.

He did the Alaska loop several years ago on his F650.

IIRC, the Dempster turned to a slick as snot skating rink for his ride south, due to rain, with the road built up relative to the surroundings so he was at risk of sliding down an embankment if he lost it.

With that description in my mind, download some KS county maps (https://www.ksdot.org/burtransplan/maps ... unties.asp), find the unimproved roads (not the gravel ones), and wait for a rain. On a loaded bike.

Have a great trip.

[Hayden]

Thanks for the email Mike. Holy Cow, Its been a while since Ive logged in here. Hey all!!

Inuvik is a very interesting ride and some say much prettier that Prudo. It can be some of the best and worst riding for ya in the same day. Just depends on conditions. Expect rain for sure and even snow as you do go over a small mountain range North of Eagles Nest. There is a rest stop, Gas and food right at the beginning of the dirt road. Its 500 miles to Inuvik from here and its one way in and one way out. I knew to expect any kind of weather when I did the trip so I changed my tires at this rest stop to full knobbies. SOOO glad I did!!. The thing about the Dempster is this. The way they make the road is to mine shale out of the local mountains. They pound it up and lay it on the road as small rock. They wet it down as shale is very dusty. Then big trucks and traffic pound the small rock in to dust. They water it down again and this inturn makes a road bed that is about as hard as concrete ( when its dry). When it gets big rains on it though, it turns into something else. Its a wet, muddy, slick as snot, beast of its own. On my trip in Aug of 08, I had great dry weather all the way to Inuvik. My nightmare.....or should I say Adventure started on the way back. I got about a 100 miles from Inuvik when it started raining. It wasnt bad at first and was planning to make it to Eagles Nest to camp for the night. Eagles Nest is the half way point and is more or less a truck stop. Well, the next 150 miles took me something like 10 hrs to do. The road was just a mess. The closest thing I came compare it to is like riding in very wet concrete. Its not like black dirt mud that sticks to your tires( river road comes to mind) yet its slick like riding on red clay almost. This shale is very powdery so when it gets wet, well..........go down to Home Depo, grab ya a bag of concrete mix. The kind that you would use to lay brick. Mix it up and use about twice as much water as you should. Now stand infront of your new Teneri and grab hand fulls of it and start throwing. Thats what your bikes gonna look like when the Dempster is done with you. And Im not kidding.....thats exactly what this stuff is like. Thats why they use it for a road. But after saying all that, I do remember that its only the top 3 or 4 inches thats messy. There is then a solid base under the mudddyness.

My biggest problem in the 10 hrs of dealing with this was my radiator kept getting plugged up with this mix of shale and the bike would over heat. I had to stop about every 5 miles, get a cup ( beer can I cut the top off of ) and run down in the ditch, pond, creek, what ever and wash this crap out of my hot radiator. Washing concrete out of your radiator with a can of water....hummmmm. I remember just praying to God no one drove by. Its raining cats and dogs out in the middle of BFE and this nut job is running down in the ditch to throw more water on his bike. Huuu???? THE COOL THING....its light for 24 hrs a day up North so I didnt have to do any of this in the dark.

I rolled into Eagles Nest right before the Hotel closed at midnight. I ended up sleeping in the laundry room under a table as the camping area had a foot of water in it. Still poooring down rain and I was wiped out. It wasnt anybetter at noon the next day either weather wise. More adventures after that as well. LOL. Matter of fact I rode in solid rain for the next week.

Anyway, dont let that scare ya, the Dempster is fun and I would not have changed a thing about the ride. I knew it could be like that and was prepared. I saw guys on bikes that had street tires and they were much worse off than me on knobbies. I carried 2 sets of tires with me on this trip. I dumpped them off at the beginning of the Dempster as I was comming back the same way. Didnt need the extra weight. After leaving the Depster 4 days after I started, I left the knobbies on till Anchorage. I went on to do Chicken Alaska and Denalli which is all dirt so I would need them.

If you really want to learn the ins and outs of the Dempster, Adventure Rider is your home. I read ride reports for a year about Alaska, Yukon, North West Teritories, etc. Glad I did.

Trace.

[Hayden]

Oh yea!!!!! And when you get done with the Depster, wash your bike as soon as possible. That shale is very acidic and its rusts things very quickly. You dont want that crap on your bike any longer than you have to. I think I remember a wash station at the rest stop at the beginning of the Dempster.

Trace.

[Surfdad]

That is fantastic advice and information! You guys rock.