After some nights in the cinema, a bit of sightseeing and shopping for a new jacked I left Anchorage for my last destination up in the North – Dawson City. The weather was great and the fall colors beautiful – many persons told me that this is the nicest time to see Alaska. I had wonderful days cycling along the Glenn-Highway towards Glennallen and on to Tok. First I was afraid that the road would be packed with RV’s, heading for the warmer south but they had already left a week ago.

Getting closer to Glennallen, I looked much forward to an other warm cinnamon-bun with melted butter on top – I already had one when I passed through Glennallen on my way to Valdez – I sure would have one …. hummm … or maybe two. Unfortunately the restaurant was closed for the day, so no cinnamon-bun for lunch but only the normal bread.

It was not raining and I did not feel like the comfort of a shower so I could have pitched my tent somewhere along the road like I always did but – I don’t know why – some how I ended up staying on this campground for the night – I was the only person. I had a chat with the lady that runs the place and she offered me a coffee what was really nice. I had something to eat and went then into my sleeping bag.

At 5:00 AM I had to get to the bathroom, so peeled myself out of the sleeping bag and crossed the campground for the toilets. On the way I noticed this band on the sky that was a bit brighter then the rest of the sky and thought that it was a kind of reflection of the almost rising sun. On the way back to the tent I looked on the reflection a bit closer and I could see small movement off it and then I realized what it was – not a reflection of the raising sun but an aurora borealis or also called Northern Lights.

I always wanted to see the Northern Lights but hadn’t succeeded so far. Now I toke my sleeping bag out of the tent to watch this spectacle in the sky. Although it was “just” a green aurora borealis – the most conmen one – it was amazing to see the moving lights coming from one side of the sky and going to the other. I sat for about 10 minutes in front of my tent, engulfed in my sleeping bag, till the last traces of light were gone – it was great!!

After an additional two days I reached Tok – no Northern Lights anymore – and I re-supplied with food and went on the last stretch to Dawson City – over the northern hills. It was a continues up and down and the going was not as fast anymore. Was I really lucky with the weather since leaving Anchorage, in the first night out of Tok it rained and sometime snowed and continued to do so for the next day. Since I was not really eager to cycle in the rain-snow, I stayed in the tent and hoped that the weather the following day would be better again. The sun came back but the temperatures stayed low and went even lower – winter had finally arrived. Were the day temperatures before a pleasant 10 to 15 degrees Celsius there were now around chilly 2 to 5 degrees Celsius and the night temperatures went down to around -12 to -15 degrees Celsius.

It is not that it is impossible to cycle and camp in those temperatures but it is just not as pleasant anymore. You also have to sleep with your water bottle in the sleeping bag in order to have something the drink in the morning and not just ice to like on. It also takes more time in the morning to get out of the sleeping bag and start to cycle. After cycling for a few days in those conditions, I somehow had enough and I hitched a ride for the last 70 km to Dawson City – my cycling adventure up in the north was over.