June 23, 2025
Day 2: Colorado Creek Trailhead to Five Mile Campground
Between the midnight sun and construction workers using the trailhead parking lot until at least midnight, our night’s rest was barely better than my red eye the night before. But we were in the tent for 10 hours and Jude said it was his best rest in a couple weeks. We woke at 5am and got on our bikes, sans packs, and headed back up the road 2.5 miles to where we had gotten in the pilot car the day before. Mission accomplished. We filtered water, cold soaked skillet breakfasts and were out of camp just before 6am and right as the flaggers were returning to their duties. We ate breakfast past the construction zone while we swatted mosquitoes and headed down the road. 15 miles in we hit the Dalton Highway and pavement ended.
Jude broke the day down into 6 major climbs. After the first climb, I started to wonder if I would make it through the day. Jude was waiting for me and I decided to ask him to don a backpack and take our lunch food for the week. Only 8 pounds or so lighter, the placebo effect helped tremendously and I was able to grind out the next three climbs feeling much better. Jude also slowed his pace and we stayed in sight or direct contact all day. A brief stop at a culvert to filter water helped break up the climbs, but on the fourth climb of the day I started feeling shaky and realized I needed fuel. A gel and a bar revived me and I made it to our lunch stop. Jude had used the woods at the top of a climb and had gotten clobbered by mosquitoes, so we decided our lunch stop needed to be on one of the ridges or saddles, the very few places where there was enough breeze to deter mosquitoes. We found the perfect spot and I felt very tired, so we both laid down in the grass and had an extended break.
Spirits revived again, we grinded out the two biggest climbs of the day plus a bunch of rollers before hitting the wooden planked bridge over the expansive Yukon River. Still 1,000 miles from its eventual end in western Alaska, this is the last bridge over the 2,000 mile long river. It begins in the glaciers of southern Alaska and British Columbia that Jude had ridden by last week and the salmon that migrate up it to spawn in its tributaries and streams travel one of the longest migrations routes on earth.
Journeys always amaze and inspire me: the planning and preparation, the discipline and dedication, the endurance and perseverance, the agony and the suspense, the goal, the purpose, the hope, the destination and the stories are all unique and fascinating. And these stories also remind me of mine and others’ stories of faith: how God sought me, called me and forgave me - all ways God shows us His divine sovereignty. And my story is also how I responded in faith, repented of my sins and attempt to pursue a sanctified life by His grace - all ways God shows us us that we are also responsible for the way we live. The two go hand in hand.
On one of our last climbs we passed Andrew from Fairbanks heading south from Prudhoe Bay with a couple friends and also met Vojtek from the Czech Republic and Berta from Poland who were hoping to make it all the way to Vancouver. At Five Mile Camp (five miles past the Yukon Crossing), we pitched our tent at 3pm after 80 miles in 9:47 but with a solid 7,000+ feet of climbing. This is a short day for Jude, but tomorrow will be longer. No cell service of course, but we texted Elizabeth over the InReach. Bed was early, but we’ll get up early tomorrow.
Lamentations 3:23: “The steadfast love of the Lord never ceases. His mercies never come to an end. They are new every morning, great is your faithfulness!”
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Today's ride: 80 miles (129 km)
Total: 150 miles (241 km)
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