As they trekked through the Alaskan wilderness of the late 1800s, John Burroughs, a companion of naturalist John Muir wrote, “Things are on a new scale.” It was a moment of supreme understatement. Alaska could fit 19 of the lower states within its borders and its shores account for 50 per cent of the entire U.S. coastline. As residents like to point out: if you cut Alaska in half, Texas would be the third-largest state. After thousands of kilometres and one unsurpassed experience after another, I could only imagine how Alaska might continue besting itself.
Riding south out of Fairbanks on Suzi Blue, my trusty 2022 Suzuki V-Strom DL650XA, I found the highway was an uneventful corridor of trees until just north of Healy where, along the boundary of Denali National Park, I was thrust into the Alaska Mountains. Steep ravines fell away on either side, and sharp, towering peaks rose into the clouds gathering overhead. The weather was turning. Since my partner, Steph, was flying into Anchorage to join me in a few days, and since Denali was on our itinerary, I rode by the gate. I hoped the view of North America’s highest
