I received this question a year ago from Walter, the leader of the Sibirsky Extreme motorcycle expedition. Remember, I wrote to him an answer (check the post Khandyga – Yakutsk – Mirny – Lensk) and something like “Yes, it is possible to ride it through in summer.” Right at the moment two UK bikers of the project are travelling across Yakutia. Btw, spend last three days with them in Yakutsk. Now Walter has its own answer. Very sufficient. He made the ride from Mirny to Yakutsk successfully.
Here is his description: “So what of the Vilyuisky Trakt? – you certainly don’t need to be a hero to ride it. Bearing in mind there is a sandy stretch for 40 km or so to the west of Vilyuisk, the rest is, in good weather, just a regular garden variety dirt road. Any bike will do this road, including the larger GSs and Africa Twins. Some sand and gravel experience would help, but as Tony showed, is certainly not necessary.”
“Fuel is no problem, tho some of the stations occasionally run out of fuel and others have only 80 or 76 octane. From west to east 92 octane is available at Mirny, Suntar, Nyurba, VerkhneVilyuisk, Vilyuisk, Khampa, Orto-Surt, Berdigestyakh, Magaras and Yakutsk. The only lonely stretch with some distance between settlements is about 110 km from Novy (near Almazny) to Krestyakh. Thats the same stretch with the two water crossings, that should be served by ferry trucks.”
“I can recommend the Buryat run cafe opposite the petrol station at the eastern end of Nyurba, the cafe next to the petrol station in Khampa and for the best ‘Sosisky v Toste’ (Sausage in batter) in Siberia, Asima is your spot.”
“All in all, I think its a great alternative route for anyone heading up to Yakutsk and Magadan and offers a much more thorough view of Yakutia. The villages from Suntar to Yakutsk are pretty much 100% Yakutian, and the few people who have met foreigners have not met them here.”
“You can either branch off the normal Trans Siberian highway at Taishet and take the BAM road thru Bratsk to Ust Kut and the barge to Lensk from there or do what we did and cut up to Ust Kut from Irkutsk, via Zhigalovo.”
“Certainly the Vilyuisky Trakt is a more interesting route to the standard, as the long stretch from Ulan Ude to Yakutsk via Chita, Skovorodino and Tynda is known for being mind numbingly boring and heavily trafficked with lots of heavy Russian trucks.”
More reports at SibirskyExtreme.com.
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