Northern Canada & Alaska: Quit Your Job and Ride a Motorcycle

My story, like so many others, started with me submitting my two weeks’ notice.. Then, I embarked on a motorcycle adventure from Atlanta, GA, to the Arctic Ocean and back. 

My trip spanned 69 days and 16,614 miles, over which I traveled across the U.S., Canada, and its territories. I had no firm plans aside from a “destination,” and I had no set schedule aside from my allotted time. 

I was experiencing a cliché “quarter-life crisis” with the typical signs: I had ended a relationship, I was working a job I wasn’t happy with, and just had an overall sense of uncertainty. It’s funny, since I’ve often found that the cure for feeling lost is to actually get lost. 

In other words, you have to run away. And that’s exactly what I did.

This story begins 26 days and 6,302 miles into my trip to the Arctic. I crossed into Canada through Washington state, and my sights were set on the Arctic Ocean via the Dempster Highway, all the way to Tuktoyaktuk, Northwest Territories. 

By this point, my helmet time was unavoidable. I started thinking about the inspiration for this trip. 

What brought me here? Was I looking for anything? Not really—I was just happy to be riding a motorcycle. 

Beautiful, Wet British Columbia

To traverse British Columbia to the far north, you have two options for roads. There’s the Alaska Highway and the Stewart-Cassiar Highway. 

Since this was a roundtrip, I’d have a chance to experience both, as they are indeed quite different. It’s said that the Stewart-Cassiar Highway is the more scenic of the two. Unfortunately, I wouldn’t know that, as my entire ride up was filled with inclement weather. Cloudy skies, rolling fog, low visibility, and cold downpours followed me for nearly five days from Vancouver, BC, to Dawson City, YT.