I dont know what this flower was but it was everywhere and all along the highways. The wild flowers were amzaing. Just so many and it seemed that every couple days a different one was in bloom so the colors would change from yellow to purple to white.

Alex, Manuel and I had riden our bikes down this trail hoping to get close to the Kennicott glacier so that we could walk out onto it. We got about a half mile down this 3 foot wide, rock and gravel path to the point where i realized that going any further would be next to impossible with this heavy bike, not to mention there was no way to turn around and head back. Imagine three guys balancing this bike on it's kick stand, which was balanced on a rock, and then carefully pivoting it around 180 degrees. btw- this incline to my right is much steeper than it appears and to my left is the same incline heading uphill full of brush and trees. I credit Manuel with coming up with that idea...thanks dude!

Amazing cloud formations happen all day long and just about any place in Alasaka, that we visited. This is near Kennecott glacier.

I was riding by at about 40mph on a dirt road to Kennicott when i saw this moose through the woods wading through this large pond of water. Pulled over and grabbed my camera and was able to get a few good shots with my telephoto lens.

This picture was digitally enhanced to darken the scene. it was actually in the middle of the day and was pretty bright but i thought this was a cool effect.

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The white icey area just above and to the right of the motorcycle is the Kennicott glacier as is what's under the dirt area just to the left of it.

This was in the Anchorage airport and you can get a sense of the size of a Grizzly bear. This was once a real bear and the sign said it had only been about 5 years old.

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Kennecott Mine house which was shut down in 1938 and has been abandoned ever since. it is now owned by the Parks Dept.

Directly behind me was the Kennecott mine house and when i first saw this i thought these dirt piles were the result of the mining they had done and then had deposited waste here. It turned out that under this sand\dirt is actually glacial ice which is making up the majority of the size of these mounds. The Kennecott glacier is about 3/4 of a mile to my right and is flowing all the way down to this area and it's massive. interesting.

This was a rock by the Kennicott copper mine and i took this picture because it appears to contain some mineral deposit such as either copper or iron. The Kennicott mine pulled out over 100 million dollars worth of copper over a 27 year period ending in 1938 and in today's dollars that would be over a billon. it was, and still is, one of the largest copper deposits ever found in the US.

the Copper Center Roadhouse where we stayed our last night before heading back to Anchorage and then home. This dog is one of the lodge's residents. When i was packing up my bags in my room i had the door open and i turned around and he was standing there sniffing around.

Me as we returned our bikes to Alaska Rider Tours out of Anchorage. We had a few problems with the bikes along the way but luckily never stranded. The staff did a great job of getting things remedied for us quickly though. Big thanks guys!

This was the final reading on the trip odometer when we pulled into the rental place to return our bikes. 2275.9 miles over 9 days. over 300 miles of that was on dirt gravely road which is the equivilant of riding from Queens NY to the boarder of Canada on dirt.

Kennecott Mine

Port of Valdez - This is the area near where the tanker, Exxon Valdez, ran aground on a reef in Prince Edward Sound and leaked out nearly 11 millons gallons of North Slope crude oil. 20 years later the environment is supposedly somewhat back to "normal" but it may be closer to 30 years.

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Waterfall along Thompson Pass heading south to Valdez

Marina at Valdez Alaska

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The lovely roadhouse we got to stay in the night before heading to Valdez. I had to leave the door open for 20 minutes and let all the mosquitoes in just to air the place out. the stink was worse then being bitten all night.

an old bush plane

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Worthington Glacier along Thompson Pass

Worthington Glacier along the Thompson Pass which leads to Valdez

60 mile dirt road to McCarthy and Kennecott. this used to be the railway for hauling out all the ore from the Kennecott Copper mine. The mine was closed down in 1938 after all the copper was depleted within a 27 year period. "http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kennecott,_Alaska"

the Root Glacier just outside Kennecott, Alaska

Root Glacier runoff

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Men fishing for salmon in the Copper River

Copper River where a significant amount of salmon fishing was taking place.

I'm afraid of heights so taking this picture was a bit difficult however that's my foot. I think this was about 500 feet up. damn.

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Santa DOES actually live in North Pole Alaska, i now have proof!

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the pipleline crossing a river.

You could stand in the middle of many of the Alaskan highways for a good 10 minutes before a vehicle came by.

some of the many types of wild flowers which line the highways. As you can see here they run along the entire length like a curb.

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This pipline runs for 800 miles. That's like going from NYC to South Carolina. When you see the terrain this thing crosses it's just unimaginable to think it was completed in just 3 years. The metal fins on top of each post dissipate the heat of the 140 degree oil so that the heat doesnt tranfer to the post, which is essentially resting on perma frost (frozen ground), and cause the post to melt the frost and sink.

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Alyeska is the native indian name for Alaska.

The pipeline running under the highway and then sprouting up again shortly after.