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Letters from a Small Bear (Chapter 1)

Tolly
Tolly & James

How does a small bear from South Wales, come to be sitting on a rucksack on the Klondike gold fields, well I will tell you.

My name is Tolly, I was at home with all of my bruin brothers at Christie Bears, when I was asked if I would like to go on a little adventure and raise some money for WSPA. Particularly the Moon Bears. Before I knew it my rucksack had been packed, my map, glasses, a groundsheet and some honey sandwiches and I was ready to go.

My travelling companion is James Brooman, who is 24 years old and has already had adventures in the Himalayas, Asia and South America. He is also a keen runner, mountaineer, skydiver, and fortunately a cyclist as that is how we intend travelling. We are going to cycle from the North of Alaska, on the shores of the Arctic Ocean, to Cape Horn on the southern-most tip of South America. A journey of 25,000miles alone and unsupported.

We started out in a charmingly named place called Deadhorse, on the shores of the Arctic Ocean. The scenery is flat, bleak and cold. The sun shines for six months a year continuously and is a strange other-worldly place. Even the bears that live here feel the cold. James and I went on a tour to the Arctic Ocean, where he went swimming! I thought discretion was the better part of valour and stayed on the bicycle and watched.

Can you see Tolly?
Tolly's on Top of the World

The first 8 days were very hard for James and he got very low, I kept reminding him that the Moon Bears need us and he valiantly pressed on. The country is bleak and mountainous as you pass through the Brooks Range alongside the Trans-Alaskan pipeline. We met some people cycling in the opposite direction they told us about a great place that sells muffins; trouble being it was a six day ride away. As a result, we dreamed of chocolate muffins as we toiled over steep mountain passes and through the rain and mosquitoes. One night we stopped at the Arctic Circle and camped there. It is known for 2 things- 24 hour sunshine at the summer solstice, and the 10 billion mosquitoes per square inch that live there.

After 8 days, 540 miles and 6 muffins from the fabled shop, we arrived in Fairbanks in the centre of Alaska. Although I am more used to the company of Bruins, James had never been happier to see civilisation. He spent 2 days eating non-stop and showing me off to everyone. I became a minor celebrity and as a result James is now known as the Boy with the Bear. (Cue for a song) Who would think a boy and bear, could be well accepted anywhere its just amazing how fair people can be, de de de de da

From Fairbanks we rode to Dawson City in Canada. The town is distinguished by 2 things. Firstly, it is the site of the famous Klondike gold rush in 1897, the biggest the world has ever seen. Secondly, it is at the end of a gruelling road called the, “Top of the world Highway”, which passes over the peaks of the mountain range to get there from Alaska. On the road, which is spectacular, we went through a fantastic town called Chicken. It is so named as the miners who founded it couldn’t spell the word Ptarmigan, which is the Alaskan equivalent of a chicken. At Chicken (where James naturally had chicken soup for lunch) we met 2 German cyclists. They were great fun, but what made them stand out was that they were cycling whilst towing their dog! They had a kennel in the trailer and the dog sat in the trailer as they towed him.

The way Tolly is travelling (bike)
The way Tolly is travelling (bike)

On to Dawson city which has not changed much. The buildings are all still wooden, and some are even the originals where the floor isn’t flat and the walls aren’t straight. It has a lot of character and was a good place to relax. The main bar in town even has the original saloon swing doors. It was like the Wild West, I was glad that James did not lose me in a game of poker!

From Dawson we went to the very place where gold was discovered in the Klondike, sparking the rush. It is strange how the water glitters as you stir up the mud. Oh well, we were only 105 years late. After this we made the 6 day ride alongside the Yukon to Whitehorse, the state’s capital. Two more days travel took us to Skagway, which was the departure point for the Stampeders to the Klondike gold fields. We had followed in their footsteps along the Chilkoot Trail, which is a three day hike. It was a sobering experience. The hard trail was littered with debris from the stampede, boots, metal wheels, poles, tin cans and the occasional boiler. So this brings me back to the beginning, here I am sitting on a rucksack, on the Klondike goldfields.

I hope to be bringing you more of my adventures over the next year or so, and I am sure there will be lots of them as we travel further south to Tierra del Fuego.

Til the next time

Tolly and James

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