The Rise Up Ride: Day 120, Cyclists Dream of Electric Grizzlies
Date: 20 August 2021
Start Location: Destruction Bay, Yukon
End Location: Congdon Creek, Yukon Government Campground
Distance: 19 km
Time: 1:36
Total elapsed: 1:55
Elevation: 115 m
The weather forecast predicted southerly headwinds and incoming rain today with the prospect of dry, cold and blustery tailwinds tomorrow for my final dash to Haines Junction. This was a no-brainer: enjoy the luxury of a cheap motel (data, food, indoor heating and plumbing, electricity and potable water) for as long as I could and ride into the headwinds just far enough to shorten tomorrow's ride down along the shore of Lake Kluane, and early enough to pitch my tent before the mid-afternoon arrival of the storm. Riding in harmony with the changing weather and taking advantage of strong tailwinds tomorrow, sailing to Haines Junction, is my plan. The shorter distance that I rode today will certainly be forgotten in the 40 km/hr tailwinds forecast for tomorrow. Then again, it's the Yukon and it could snow in August.
My esteem for the Yukon Campgrounds has risen again. After only about an hour and a half with my head down into the wind, I arrived at the Congdon Creek Campground to be greeted by this sign, "Bears may be active in this campground and campers must take precautions. Tenting is allowed only in the Tenting Enclosure which is protected by an electric bear fence." After weeks of sleeping outdoors with the real possibility of a Grizzly snorting and pawing on the other side of ultralight double ripstop non-bear resistant polyester nylon, being inside an 8000 volt wire was strangely comforting.
The fence, no matter what esthetical concerns you might have about this much shiny technology out in the wilderness, it seems to be working perfectly. The carefully insulated gate was a challenge as I muscled my rig through it without 8000 volt wires touching the Titanium rack and frame. I'd never pondered the conductive properties of Titanium until that moment.
Just as the first splashes (not drops) of rain hit the tent, I had finished double-staking the corners of the fly carefully just outside the "bathtub" lower impermeable corners of the tent body. I was planning for hours of hard rain and high winds, which is a real-life stress test of both the tent construction, and how and where it's staked down. The outer fly has to be secured down to handle the buffeting but also repel the rain down and off itself and onto the well-drained soil around the footprint. The objective is for the inner downy dry nest to dodge wind and water all night and for that water to disappear in the soft thick permeable ground, leaving me and gear warm and dry in the morning. We'll see at dawn (and hopefully not during the night) just how well several months of camping in the rain have prepared me for a storm at this latitude. But, between a well-pitched tent and the bear-jolting electric cocoon, I think that I'm ready for a wild but safe and dry night.
