Wild Salmon Cycle

Cycling the Dempster Highway, NWT — Up the Mountains onto the Tundra.

Stage 1 of The Wild Salmon Cycle

Camping on the tundra of the Dempster Highway in Northwest Territories, Canada. Author’s photo

The Wild Salmon Cycle: Riding 10,000 km through the historic range of Pacific Salmon in North America.

This is part of a series of stories I am sharing based on my journals from a 10,000 km bicycle trip I undertook a few years back. Each story is linked to the previous one in the series.

The previous ones are at the bottom of this one.

Day 2

No animals managed to reach my food bag. I tried to hang my food on a rope between two spindly muskeg swamp spruce trees. Both little trees actually sagged closer together and my food bag is only about two feet from the ground. I cook oatmeal for breakfast, get everything packed up again and loaded on to the bike.

I start riding on a road a bit muddier from some rain overnight.

By noon I reach the Mackenzie River ferry crossing. I knew the river was big — but not this big! It’s one thing to see it from the air flying in and a totally different experience to ride up beside it.