Final Pictures

Jan 21st 2014 — Biking,Yucatan, Belize and Guatemala — 5:49 pm

The day we were riding into one of the largest Mayan sites in Middle America, Tikal, my camera that I had bought right before this trip quit working. Several hours were spent trying to fix this to no avail.

The rest of the trip consisted of

  • camping in Tikal
  • walking around Tikal the next day
  • spending 2.5 days on the gringo-filled island town of Flores for some of the coldest weather of the trip
  • spending a day taking a series of buses from Flores back north to Valladoid, Mexico and camping on the roof of a random abandoned house there
  • biking from Valledoid west to Chichen-Itza, visiting the ruins, and then biking back east to Chemax and camping outside of a random abandoned house
  • biking to Coba and visiting the ruins there
  • biking back to Akumal
  • spending half a day in Akumal
  • taking a series of buses and a cab to the Cancun airport
  • sleeping in Terminal 3 of the Cancun airport
  • Catching a flight back to Greenville the next day
  • The end.

    IMG_0848 IMG_0852 IMG_0856

    Xunantunich

    Jan 19th 2014 — Biking,Yucatan, Belize and Guatemala — 10:31 am

    On New Years Eve we stopped at the Mayan site Xunantunich, near the Belize/Guatemala border.

    From Wikipedia:

    Xunantunich’s name means “Stone Woman” in the Maya language (Mopan and Yucatec combination name), and, like many names given to Maya archaeological sites, is a modern name; the ancient name is currently unknown.

    Walking In Sign Front Steps Us Clouds View Side Steps Rainy Walking Out Boat Bridge

    West From Belmopan

    Jan 17th 2014 — Biking,Yucatan, Belize and Guatemala — 11:02 am

    If you ever go to Hopkins I would advise against staying at the Kismet Inn, despite their abundant and enticing homemade signs.

    Groceries were actually a bit expensive in Belize and we were happy to be sold some ‘well-baked’ meat pies for 50 cents out of a 5-gallon bucket from a local as we were leaving.

    We road about 20 miles to Dangriga and took a bus back to Belmopan, stayed the night there, and then headed for the border of Guatemala the next day.

    IMG_0734 IMG_0740 IMG_0757 IMG_0759 IMG_0763 IMG_0764

    Biking in Belize: To Belmopan and Hopkins

    Jan 16th 2014 — Biking,Yucatan, Belize and Guatemala — 12:26 pm

    We rode from Belize City to the capital, Belmopan. The roads in Belize were way more rugged that what were were on in Mexico. The scenery reminded me of western North Carolina, with palms replacing the deciduous trees.

    After a night in Belmopan we went back east on the Hummingbird Highway, probably the most picturesque riding of the trip. Relatively hilly at first, then you are in a valley passing numerous small villages. Lots of locals were hanging out near the highway. We probably hollered at a few hundred people. At the advice of a local we rode to Hopkins, a small town on the beach.

    belizebus Stop Walking Cave Jungle View Blue Hole Biking River Mountains

    San Pedro Again

    Jan 15th 2014 — Biking,Yucatan, Belize and Guatemala — 10:53 am

    We woke up beside the ocean. We snorkeled. It rained. We slept in a hotel. We left for Belize City on a boat the next day.

    IMG_0644 IMG_0649 IMG_0650 IMG_0654 IMG_0661 IMG_0672

    San Pedro

    Jan 12th 2014 — Biking,Yucatan, Belize and Guatemala — 4:27 pm

    Our first day in San Pedro.

    Morning Breakfast Spot Basketball House Beach Biking Chillin Rave Sports Board Swimmers

    Into Belize

    Jan 11th 2014 — Biking,Mexico,Yucatan, Belize and Guatemala — 10:00 am

    3 days of biking south in Mexico and we ended up in Chetumal. Most of Christmas Day was spent catching a boat to the island of San Pedro, Belize.

    Biking Pedro Antonia Santon Laguna Bacalar CLOUDZ Chetumal Chetumal Waterfront Chetumal Waterfront 2 Customs San Pedro

    Mexico: Akumal and Tulum

    Jan 10th 2014 — Biking,Mexico,Yucatan, Belize and Guatemala — 11:58 am

    For the holiday season Jeff and I went where it is warm. These pictures are from 2 days at the condo of his awesome aunt Carol in Akumal, and one day of biking south where we stopped at the Mayan ruins in Tulum.

    Akumal Boat Half Moon Bay Getting Ready Tulum Again IMG_0499 Tulum Busy Jungle Hut

    Juneau

    Sep 12th 2013 — Alaska,Anchorage to Homer to Skagway,Biking — 6:32 pm

    We got off the ferry and were a bit caught off-guard by the blackness of the night. The midnight sun was no more.

    We had a few days to spend in Juneau, aka “The San Francisco of Alaska”.

    Carrying a bike box while you are riding a bike is not easy. (Thanks to Cycle Alaska for the boxes).

    _JMS0840 _JMS0850 _JMS0851 _JMS0854 _JMS0860 _JMS0864 _JMS0867 _JMS0872 _JMS0874 _JMS0879 _JMS0886 _JMS0897 _JMS0912 _JMS0916 _JMS0922

    A Ferry Ride: Skagway to Juneau

    Aug 28th 2013 — Alaska,Anchorage to Homer to Skagway,Biking — 10:52 pm

    We were flying out of Juneau, but there aren’t any roads that go there. Gotta take a boat. The ride was 5 hours or so, but I wish it had been longer. One of the few times in my life I didn’t want to arrive at my destination so quickly.

    The Alaska Marine Highway System is awesome. The ferry goes as far south as Bellingham, Washington. You should go check it out sometime if you haven’t. I will be back.

    River Hiking Pass Main Street Klondike Dudes Ferry Terminal Outside Boat Haines Docking Glacier View 1 View 2 Tanker _JMS0806 Sunset 2 Low Clouds Busy

    Biking Alaska – Pine Lake, Whitehorse, Carcross, to Skagway

    Aug 27th 2013 — Alaska,Anchorage to Homer to Skagway,Biking — 12:40 pm

    These pictures cover our last 3 days of biking.

    Thank you Benny for your kindness to a couple of random white kids on bicycles. Take care of yourself and your sister.
    Big ups to Dave at www.vaguedirection.com for being such a baller. Nothing like riding into town and being greeted with pizza.

    Thank you Joe, Trish, and Tucker for your amazing hospitality, and to Joe and Lisa, and Barry for crucial rides.

    Thank you to every driver who moved over to be completely in the other lane when passing when it was possible, and for the ones that would have if they could. Thank you Canada for building those awesome shelters.

    Thank you to every mosquito that didn’t bite me. Thank you to every raindrop that avoided us. Thank you sun for every ray you shown on us. Thank you wind for every time you were behind us. Thank you bike for not breaking.

    Thank you Biz for being my friend.

    Davy I wish you could have stayed with us. Love you brother.

    Leaving Pine Lake Storm Dave Busy Biking Hiding From Rain Storm Lake Road, Lake, Bike Yukon Sign Break Lake Road Creek 1 Creek 2 Pointy Mountains Creek Busy Hiding View

    Biking Alaska – Snag Junction to Pine Lake

    Aug 22nd 2013 — Alaska,Anchorage to Homer to Skagway,Biking — 11:17 pm

    Our time in the Yukon was most memorable due to the large amounts of rain we encountered. The warm weather we encountered near Fairbanks seemed like the distant past.

    Fortunately, many campgrounds in the Yukon have shelters with giant wood stoves in them, with precut wood in covered bins nearby. Thank you Canada. These saved our butts. No matter how wet and cold we got during the day we knew exactly how many miles we had to cover until we had the chance of being warm and dry again.

    Another challenging aspect of this time were a couple of 15K stretches of roadwork where the pavement was replaced with loose gravel. You were forced to bike on the narrow section than had been compacted by car tires and cars speeding by in the other direction would shoot rocks towards you on occasion.

    During one such stretch of construction when it started pouring down rain and we were forced to run unto the woods for cover for the first time. A decent-sized spruce tree provides surprisingly good shelter, and we were to use this technique several more times during the tour.

    _JMS0472 _JMS0475 _JMS0481 _JMS0482 _JMS0483 _JMS0487 Morning Shelter Kluane Lake Runoff BLue Fireweed Huge Downhill Haines Junction Pine Lake 1 Pine Lake 2

    Biking Alaska – Fairbanks to the Yukon.

    Aug 19th 2013 — Alaska,Anchorage to Homer to Skagway,Biking — 8:21 pm

    I believe these pictures cover 5 days of riding.

    After Fairbanks we did two of our most mellow days, both consisted of 50 miles of flat riding in the sunshine. We were hot. We ate ice cream. It was grand.

    We camped right in Delta Junction and from there it was 95 miles to Moon Lake, right outside of Tok. A consistent tailwind went a long way to make that distance seem to go by rather reasonably.

    The stretch of road between Delta and Tok was extremely desolate, we had a car pass us about once every 15 minutes. The highway started to feel like a giant bicycle path.

    After Tok it took us two days to cross the border into Canada.

    Nice Grassy Area DA PIPELINE Braided River Bridge Yo Another Bridge Moon Lake Moon Lake Again Mountains Another Lake Random Name Visitor's Center

    Biking Alaska- Denali to Fairbanks

    Aug 11th 2013 — Alaska,Anchorage to Homer to Skagway,Biking — 11:19 pm

    Morning at the mosquito onslaught at Sanctuary River meant a quick exit. After packing and being turned down for a ride by a full bus, we biked the 10 miles out of Denali from Sanctuary River (repeat scenery… ) to catch the free shuttle at the Savage River.

    Once we were back on the Parks Highway it was about 60 miles north to Nenana, home of the world famous Nenana Ice Classic, where you can win hundreds of thousands of dollars by guessing the exact data and time (to the second) that a weight will break through the ice every spring.

    Nenana to Fairbanks was only 50 miles or so, but hilly, somewhat hot (WHAAA??!!), and exhausting. I recall spending a decent amount of time in Fairbanks lying on the grass napping. Once sufficiently rested, we ditched our stuff in the campground downtown and spent the evening biking around the city, checking out the University, and watching the sunset from the banks of the Chena River that flows through the center of town. For a weekend night in July things seemed relatively quiet.

    Nenana River Nenana River 2 Big Drop 49th State Brewery Garden Midnight Fairbanks Fairbanks Fairbanks 3

    Biking Alaska – Riding Denali Park Road

    Aug 5th 2013 — Alaska,Anchorage to Homer to Skagway,Biking,Denali — 11:01 pm

    We woke up and packed as a trio one last time on the nicest day we had seen in the last 2 weeks. Davy got on a train for Anchorage. His new plan was to fly back to the Bay Area and start a road trip.

    Jeff and I put our bikes on the free shuttle that takes you to the end of paved section of the road that goes into the park. We biked 10 miles and dropped our stuff off and Sanctuary River campground. Ironically named, as it turned out to have the most-dense population of mosquitos we encountered in Alaska. Almost unbearable.

    We fled the campground and spent the rest of the day biking 40-some miles into the park to Tolkat River. The bus system allowed us to throw our bikes on for free and get a ride back to where we had started.

    _JMS0102 _JMS0108 _JMS0142 _JMS0178 _JMS0184 _JMS0198 _JMS0200 _JMS0202 _JMS0218 _JMS0221 _JMS0224 _JMS0229 _JMS0246 _JMS0262 _JMS0263

    « Previous PageNext Page »
    This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-Noncommercial-Share Alike 3.0 Unported License.
    (c) 2025 michaelsulock.com