Sebastiaan de With and Stuart Philkill complete a road trip to the end of the Earth
TWO mates have completed the ride of their lives, travelling 17,000 kilometres on one of the most dangerous roads on the planet, until it literally ran out. Not everyone make it back alive from here.
TWO mates have completed the ride of their lives, literally travelling to the end of the Earth.
Sebastiaan de With, 26, and Stuart Philkill, 30, spent 10 weeks and 17,700 kilometres following the road from San Francisco to Anchorage, Alaska, until it ran out.
Along the way they had a white-knuckled ride on one of America’s most dangerous highways, strewn with the wreckage of vehicles and memorials to lives lost. But they also discovered a beauty they could never had imagined along some roads less travelled.
Sebastiaan talked to news.com.au about the life-changing journey.
What did your trip involve?
When we set off on our trip from San Francisco, we had a loose plan; our destination would be Alaska. We thought we’d try and make it to Anchorage, maybe Denali National Park. As we went on our trip and looked at maps as we got closer to our destination, a different, more challenging route presented itself and we chose to take it.
We literally rode our motorcycles north until the road ended, over one of the most dangerous roads in the United States: the Dalton Highway. Made famous due to it being featured in Ice Road Truckers, it runs from Fairbanks, Alaska all the way to the Arctic Ocean. It’s as close to the North Pole you can get by any road in the US, and the end of the road system up north, period.
What was your inspiration?
We were inspired mainly by the setbacks in our lives: from both of us losing our jobs to generally believing we might find good perspective on our lives on such an extreme journey.
Over 10 weeks, we rode up and down on our motorcycles. We had to ride back separately, but did the majority of our journey together. I arrived back in San Francisco on September 1st (having departed June 20th), with about 11,000 miles (17 702 kilometres) on my trip odometer.
What were the highlights?
There were so many it’s hard to count. We seemed to have amazing luck on the trip, from good weather to ridiculously lucky situations.
I remember the day we were on the way from Chicken, Alaska, a minute town with barely any population whatsoever to Tok, over the half-paved highway. We were happy to finally reach Tok and its nice pavement and grabbed a meal at the local hotspot, Fast Eddy’s. Being only recently out of Yukon, Canada, and now freshly in territory with a mobile phone signal, I checked my emails. One of them was from a girl named Natalie; she’d sent me a Facebook message to tell me they’d found my wallet in Chicken (Alaska)!
I rode the 160 miles (257km) back and picked up the wallet — extremely grateful, of course. A motorcycle rider had brought it in, she said. My wallet is dark brown and had been found on a dark brown dirt road in the middle of absolutely nowhere. Impressive.
I rode back to Tok again, and the next day we proceeded to Fairbanks (Alaska) in the rain. Here riders often stay in the local university dorms, which are cheap. We saw a few bikes out front, and I excitedly walked towards a group standing nearby when one of them shouted out: “Hey! I’m the guy that found your wallet!”. Small world! I still can’t believe my luck.
Thanks to our spontaneous travel schedule and loose plan, we found places we normally wouldn’t have visited. For instance, when we reached Whitehorse, the largest city in the desolate Yukon, we decided to ride South to Skagway. I had confused Skagway with another town in Alaska called Kennicott, which is an abandoned mining town. Believing we’d find an abandoned town, we rode into what is actually a historic port for the Gold Rush where many cruise ships arrive daily full of tourists!
The ride there, over the legendary White Pass that used to be traversed by those looking to pan for gold in Yukon was one of the most stunning, but we also made some great lasting friendships in the town since many people our age go there to work for the summer.
What were the challenges?
There were a great many. We had to manage water and food and find a safe place to sleep every night, sometimes in the absolute wilderness with not a person around and no chance of ever finding a phone. We had to prepare for and expect wildlife, from bears, lynx, aggressive and massive Alaskan moose ... and more.
Tell us more about what it was like riding the Dalton Highway.
It was pretty scary.
First, we had to ensure we had enough gas; the 666km stretch of rough “road” — which is mostly gravel and mud — has only one fuel stop. Every minute on the bikes, we had to be extremely aware of our surroundings and the condition of the road. We evaded potholes that could easily break a car.
I had an intense near death experience: I was riding downhill on the Dalton Highway to the Alaskan Arctic. I was going a good 60 miles per hour (96km/h) downhill in loose, dusty gravel, when suddenly a caribou (reindeer) jumped out and right over my front wheel. It must’ve been a foot (30 centimetres) shy of making contact.
The whole thing happened in slow motion — I vividly remember the colour of its coat, the slow motion moment of seeing the gleam in its eye as it flew across. I was so close to having a deadly crash there. I was a bit ahead of my buddy Stuart there, so I got off the bike when I was down the hill and was shaking.
But we were lucky enough to have decent weather; the muddy and dusty road is conditioned with calcium sulfite to make it easier for trucks to drive on, but it makes the surface very slippery when wet. There were stretches of rocks, deep gravel, and more dangerously a huge amount of over-size loaded trucks that drive up and down it every day at high speeds.
It was the most beautiful place on Earth I have ever seen, but it was definitely a road that reminded you to respect it. Many parts of the road have claimed lives, and despite continuing efforts to tow off wrecks, we still rode past a car or two on the side of the road that had spun out and lost control.
We really did ride until the end of the road. The road system terminates at Prudhoe Bay, the oilfield on the Arctic Ocean. You first cross Atigun Pass, a high pass that serves as the continental divide between the watershed of the Pacific and the Arctic, and then ride down the North Slope, an Arctic tundra that is devoid of trees and has very little vegetation.
Once we made it to Prudhoe Bay, we quite literally rode until the road would run adjacent to the water, west or east. There was nowhere further north to ride: the road had simply run out.
Was this your most memorable travel experience ever?
Easily. There were so many experiences that were memorable, from meeting incredible people on the road, seeing the sights on the roof of the world, escaping harm or death in near-accidents, being taken by incredible natural beauty … I think it’ll be very hard for us to top.
Any plans for a new adventure?
Stuart and I would both love to ride further South to Terra del Fuego (until, you guessed it, the road runs out!) and I would personally love to explore all of the states in the US.
After that, I have my eyes set on Australia, New Zealand, and Mongolia. My photography has had such an incredible reception that I hope I can make it more than a hobby of mine to go on trips and share the experience. Who knows!
We plan to produce a photo book that is as beautiful as a coffee-table book but also shares some of the facts and history of the extremes we visited and the difficulties we encountered.
Any words of advice?
If I could give advice to anyone in a situation similar to ours, I’d say that there is always great inspiration and insight to be found in taking yourself far away from your comfort zone and the places you know. I wouldn’t advocate a trip like this to everyone, as it can be very risky and at times anxiety-inducing, but even a trip to the mountains can do much more for a person than he can imagine.
When life gets tough, try to undertake an adventure, whether it be small or large.
You can register for Sebastiaan and Stuart’s book via ridenorth.net, to be notified when the book, or prints, are ready to order.
Kim Jong-un builds hotel on old missile site
After a last push, Kim Jong-un’s pet project, a mammoth resort built on a former missle site, is set to open early next year.
Island you can only visit one day a year
An island that was abandoned after a disease outbreak in the 19th century is only available for visits one day of the year.
Hostie lifts lid on big flight question
A flight attendant has lifted the lid on what it takes to get to the pointy end of the plane — with millions tuning in for the cheeky travel hack.