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Dempster Highway


B.E. Coyote

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Anybody do it on a Gen 2?

Are you talking about the Dempster Hwy. from Dawson City to Inuvik in Canada’s North. If so, I wouldn’t recommend it on a Venture unless you have an abundance of time, money and ‘nads, not necessarily in that order! It’s about 500 miles of gravel and if you’re lucky enough not to have rain, it’s one long dusty road. If it rains, or has been raining and/or there’s construction going on, you’re pretty much hooped. There’s one gas/food stop (Eagle Plains) on the route but carrying extra gas would be a must. Vehicle traffic is not in abundance and although I can’t confirm this, cell coverage would be non-existent. Having said that, if you do make the trip, you’d be rewarded with the ride of a lifetime, scenery that you never thought existed and bragging rights that even Puc couldn’t match. Doug

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Yep, that road.

 

Did the Dalton on a GS with street tires. Poured the entire way up and back slippery as crap, cold as ****. When I got up there I was feeling pretty manly and then found out a guy on a hayabusa had been there the day before. :)

 

In good weather, any bike could get up there. In bad weather it is pretty tough. Was hoping to do the Dempster on the same trip but ran out of time. It is still on my list.

 

Just curious as to what adverse kind of trips the Ventures's have done.

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Great ride report! Not as tough as the Dempster and on a Gen 1 though. I think having the pegs under you and being able to stand on the pegs easily would make things better than on the Gen 2

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Great ride report! Not as tough as the Dempster and on a Gen 1 though. I think having the pegs under you and being able to stand on the pegs easily would make things better than on the Gen 2

 

 

Maybe. But as big and heavy as these beasties are, standing on the pegs feels ridiculous to me when I'm on my 1st Gen. Seriously. But I have to admit that is something I've always enjoyed doing...running through the dirt and woods, on the pegs, sideswiping trees! (in my youth on a much smaller scoot)

 

Longest ride I've done on the 2nd Gen was from Payson Arizona, east across the state on rts 60/260 to rt 191, south on 191, The Devils Highway" (formerly RT666)...hundreds of curves in 100 miles....then back on I-10 to Tucson and south to Green Valley. Took 14 hours. Quite the ride. I was still in good shape but my buddy on his Ultra was hurting. This was before I lowered the front end to make steering a bit easier. I was 68 years young at the time.

 

Longest ride I've ever done was from Portsmouth, NH to Phoenix on my Yamaha YDS-6C back in 1969. Great time!

 

http://azride.com/devils-highway-run/2557977

Edited by videoarizona
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I have read and talked to people who said the Dempster is much tougher than the Dalton. The Trans Labrador is even worse. I am doing the Dalton this summer but on either a KLR or smaller BMW GS. I'd like to do the other two but at 69 I may be running out of birthdays. Money is in short supply also.

 

I noticed your map. You may need to make a run up to Yellowknife so you can fill it in a little more. It is a long haul but really a nice visit. I may try to go again.

YellowknifefromBushpiolotpoint.jpg

Edited by leroy
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I did the Trans-Lab to Goose Bay before it was paved and before there was a road to Cartwright. Took the ferry to Cartwright, rode to Red Bay and then took the ferry to Newfoundland. It was pretty tough. Lots of deep gravel. You had to get cruising to stay above it and then every so often there would be a berm across the road where the grader driver pulled over to take a leak. Very dusty so it was hard to see the berms. Came across one rider who had a bad spill because of it. The last 10 miles was deep soft powdery sand which was the worst. Felt more like being in the desert.

 

Much more remote feeling than the Dalton. I actually saw the Northern lights There was truck traffic fairly often on the Dalton. Not so much on the Trans Lab.

 

When I did the Dalton to Deadhorse it had been raining for days and rained most of the way up. It was slippery as hell. I don't think the type of tires on the bike mattered at all.

 

I went back to Alaska a 2nd time and took my 11 year old son on the back. We did the Dalton just up to the arctic circle.

 

This time it was dry as a bone and a sunny day. No issue at all. I would have ridden a Goldwing up there. In fact, we saw a few.

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So is the Trans Labrador paved now? I know they were paving some of it. That will sure take the challenge out of it.

 

Summer of 2016 I was supposed to ride from my home in Dallas area to Red Bay via NS and Newfoundland. I had ferry reservations and some lodging reservations along with a lot of the fuel stops. I planned to do a lot of camping once I was in NS. However, I broke my leg when stopping at a scenic overlook on the Cabot Trail after riding up to Meat Cove for one last picture. I did not see the pothole. My VTX fell over when I hit it. I was almost stopped. Oh well, S... happens.

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