Stuck on the Highway

[AKforza]

Good Friday was a beautiful day breaking into the upper 40 degree range so the mid afternoon called a buddy and I to a ride up Eagle River and on to Eklutna Lake. We suffered road construction all last season back up the valley so we ran up valley to check out the new pavement. After a turnaround and a quick run on the highway we headed up Eklutna Lake but took it easy as they haven't gotten around to sweeping all the loose gravel off the pavement yet .

Ian rides a 2014 Triumph Explorer he got new last fall after 78000 miles on his old 995 tiger. We had fun checking out bike bling we have installed.

Eklutna is the watershed for the Anchorage area and the area is shared by ATV and Non motorized by defined days of the week. Good camping in the area too with lots of Sheep and Mt Goat in the valley.

We headed back down to the highway and ran into traffic backing up the south bound lanes due to an accident near the bridge crossing the creek. For yet to be determined reasons a guy traveling northbound fell asleep or other factors and crossed the medium strip at high speed. He crashed into southbound traffic leaving two dead and one survivor flown to the hospital. Word went out after all the emergency service folks got in to do thier job that the investigation would take four hours or more. Alaska does not have a lot of side roads to work around traffic situations so in some cases if they shut down the road your stuck as its the only access.

Ran into some other folks out on a tiger (fancy that) and we turned against the traffic jam and headed back to the overpass to the northbound lanes to Palmer and something to eat and wait it out. Got word at about a quarter to 11:00 that night that one lane was opening to pass traffic going south. With all the folks trying to get back it was a long slug of stop and go in the 28 degree evening. Made it back home at midnight.

Not exactly a nice end to the day but then again I was better off than some others that day. Its spring so keep your eyes open, leave yourself an out and watch out for the cagers.

[tbln930]

Interesting story and nice photos. I don't remember too many real warm days when we were in the Denali area during late July. I am noticing a mixture of street and maybe 50/50 tires on the adventure bikes. Which are best for up there?

I did about 100 miles yesterday of no traffic Ozark cruising. Just about to head to the river again for some fishing on the Forza. I have a nice collapsible CF rod and a mini Plano tackle box. 69 F on the gauge.

[AKforza]

I run a set of Heids K60 Scouts, they are a 50/50 tire and are a little noisy but grip well and wear great. I have never had a problem in the wet and they are a good tire in the dirt and ok in the mud. 70/30s don't do well IMHO if your going to off road.