Here is the very long story of Ross and my two-week cycling trip in British Columbia. We estimated we covered about 600 miles in 10 days of cycling (1 day was just driving and another day was just on the ferry).
Sorry, but I didn't take the time to add the photos to the text below, but you are welcome to view the shots at my Picasa album or just look at the slide show below.Day 1: Sunday, 9 August, 2009. From Corvallis to Vancouver
People ask me why Ross has so many great stories. Take a long trip with him and you’ll quickly discover why.
After a long drive from Corvallis, we finally found ourselves in Vancouver. I navigated us through to the west end of the street our hotel was on and told Ross to go east a few blocks. We had picked this hotel because it was only about 1 mile from the Greyhound Station and they had given us a great deal on long term parking. The hotel’s website mentioned that there were a number of services for the homeless and drug addicted in the area, but that the hotel and lot were very safe. A bit odd of a non-warning, but I tend to be overly cautious, so I agreed to go for it. As the street we were driving on switched from “West Hastings” to “East Hastings”, we discovered why there was a need for such a statement. For several blocks, the sidewalks were crammed with the homeless, mentally ill, and drug-addicted; hookers and pushers were out in broad daylight. We later found out that this area is rather notorious. Vancouver has the highest concentration of people in North America, and so consequently also has the highest area of the destitute in North America.
Our hotel, the Patricia Inn, was nice enough in the lobby. We lugged out two bike boxes, the box and bag for my BOB trailer, and Ross’s bags into the rickety elevator (a few trips), down the hallways that reeked of smoke (despite no-smoking signs posted every few feet), and finally found our room at the end. The door seemed to be composed of a thin sheet of plywood. We managed to squeeze our stuff in next to the bed, but it was all a very tight fit. After a few minutes of wondering where the bathroom was, I realized that it was actually what I had at first thought was the closet. hrm. Well, we were only staying one night here, and we only needed to sleep in the room, so we headed downtown to explore and find some dinner.
Downtown Vancouver was great. So metropolitan, so international. We had some great sushi and sake at Tsunami Sushi, some gelato a bit down the street, then just wandered around.
Day 2: Monday, August 11: Greyhound to Williams Lake
We woke early, loaded everything we were biking with in the car, and put everything else from the car in secure storage in the hotel. Ross dropped me off at the Greyhound station, then headed back to the hotel so he could park the car, then run back to the station. I negotiated my way into the Greyhound line with a cart piled high and wide with bikes and gear. We had picked up our tickets the night before, and the attendant recommended that we use the BOB box and BOB bag as our checked luggage, then stuff all of our extra stuff into the two bike boxes that we were paying for as over-sized. When I went to get the tickets for the bike boxes, the woman told me that the bike boxes had to be under 50 pounds. I told her that no-one had mentioned that to us. She then told me that the BOB box did not count as luggage. I told her that one of our co-workers had told us the opposite the night before. I spent at least 10 minutes trying to talk to reason with her, explaining that in addition to talking to someone in person at the station the night before, we read the website numerous times and both called at least three times. No one had mentioned the rules she was now insisting were so clear. She finally relented and let me have the tickets, but gave me the warning that the bus driver probably wouldn’t load the boxes and I’d have to come back to the ticket off, pay more money, and put the boxes through as freight. Freight is shipped through as space is available and generally takes at least 2 days.
By now, my nerves are fried. Ross finally arrives, assures me that everything will be okay, but I couldn’t believe it until the bikes were on the bus and we were safely on our way. I made sure we were first in line for the bus, we put our boxes in the area they indicated, and next thing I knew, they were loaded on the bus, no comments from the driver.
Our 8 hour bus ride to Williams Lake took us through an amazing diversity of habitats, from the forests around Vancouver, to the shrub-scrub similar to eastern Oregon, to the open dry forests around Williams Lake. Although a lot of it was similar to what we have in Oregon, there were differences that the ever-curious biologist in me continues to want to explore more of.
We re-assembled our bikes in the Greyhound parking lot, then were off to find our lodging. This was the maiden voyage of my bike with the loaded BOB. I have said many times that my road bike rides like she was built for me; at times, it has almost felt like it was just an extension of me. Now I felt like I’d never ridden a bike before; everything about my bike handled differently. Maybe I should have done a short trial trip before our 2 week adventure?
A short, but awkward ride found us at Blackbird Bay Bed and Breakfast. What a great place. Blackbird Bay is on the edge of a wildlife refuge, the room was large and comfortable, and the host was super nice. The breakfast was only self-serve cereal, toast, and fruit – but the lack of a full bed and breakfast style breakfast is my only complaint of the place.
One final note about the day – on the bus, we found out that there were several large fires burning in the forests bordering Canadian Highway 20 – the highway that we were planning on riding on to get to Bella Coola. One of the fires was apparently burning right on the highway at the hill, and because of the extent of the fire and the already somewhat dangerous nature of the road, it had been closed for over 2 weeks. When we got to our Bed and Breakfast, we scoured the internet for information, and found out that they were now allowing cars to go through twice a day, at 8 AM and 6 PM. The cars were led by a pace car, and you had to get to the line-up about 2 hours ahead of time. While this would definitely be a challenge to our plans, at least the road was open. We were also really worried about the smoke, but figured that we should keep on with our plans and see what happened.
Day 3: Tuesday, August 11. Williams Lake to Chilcotin Lodge (~20 miles)
Unfortunately, when Ross put his bike together the day before, he discovered that the bike shop in Corvallis had done a poor job on some of the work they'd done before we left. Luckily, the friendly people at Red Shred's Bike & Board Shop in Williams Lake let him use their tools for free. So after a delay for bike repair and grocery shopping, we finally hit the road. What a start. We had two large passes to go over. The ride was pretty, though, and there wasn't much traffic. There was a checkpoint just outside of Williams Lake warning us the road near the hill was still only open twice a day due to the fires. However, that was still a few day's ride, so we figured we just see what happened once we got there. We ended up stopping for the night at the Chilcotin Lodge. We had a nice campsite all to ourselves and a great sunset thanks to the smoke from the fires.
One of the difficulties of this route that became pretty clear this first night was that although there were services (grocery stores, campgrounds, and motels) along the way, they were fairly spread out. Finding a decent place to stay the night (preferably with a shower) ended up being the biggest determinant in how far we'd ride each day.
Day 4: Wednesday, August 12. Chilcotin Lodge to Chezacut Ranch, Redstone (~80 miles)
We pushed hard today, trying to make up some of our lost time yesterday. After a a piece of pie at Lee's corner in Hanceville, we got to Alexis Creek just before a massive thunder shower started. We waited out the storm sitting on the covered porch in front of the store only to be met with pouring rain, hail, and high winds a few miles down the road. Bull Canyon seemed spectacular, but I didn't want to stop and notice how wet I was. As we were heading up the pass before Redstone, we saw a bear just on the other side of the road from us. He was quite curious about us, getting up on his hind legs and watching us ride. Thanks to the hill, he got a great long look since we were going pretty slow. I would have taken a photo, but considering how close we were, decided stopping to take a picture wasn't the best idea. We were trying to get to Puntzi Lake, but at 5:40 PM, still had about 20 miles to go; and we weren't even sure what we'd find when we got there. A sign at Redstone (really just a name on the map) pointed up a side road and said there was lodging 7km up the road. After a scenic, but rough road (I had to walk a hill), we came to the driveway for the lodge. Both Ross and I had to walk the several kilometers to the lodge. By then, my blood sugar had crashed, we still weren't even sure if they had room for us, and I was exhausted.
It all ended up being worth it, though. We found ourselves on a sprawling organic ranch. Although we were welcome to pitch our tent or stay in a teepee, we stayed in a wonderful room in the bunkhouse. We had dinner with the ranch workers and owners at the main house -- all the veggies and meat grown on the ranch. The ranch is owned by a Swiss family who is currently building an slaughterhause, restaurant, and feed store down on the main highly. One of the sisters owns a restaurant, Ethical Kitchen, in Vanouver where they sell their meat. Everything about the ranch was so amazing -- I loved the ethics the guided their ranch, the land was gorgeous, the accommodations were comfortable and peaceful, and the people were incredibly friendly. I'd love to come back some time.
Day 5: Thursday, August 13. Chezacut Ranch to Tatla Lake (~50 miles)
I woke up in the morning with a hard, speeding pulse (normally a sign of over-training) and my whole body hurt. After some tea and granola, we got a ride with Dominic (The daughter who leads the ranch adventures) down to the highway, saving us several frustrating miles. Before we started riding, we had a tour through the slaughterhouse that was almost finished. They've designed it with a more humane intake area designed to minimize stress to the animals. The building is actually very pretty. They've insulated it with 10 inch styrofoam to increase energy efficiency and they put in a ton of windows so it'd be a pleasant place to work. The whole operation seemed like a good model.
We only rode about 50 miles. Some hills, but not too bad. However, I was spent physically, couldn't get into a good rhythm, and realized that I probably wasn't eating enough when I bonked hard at about 40 miles.
We ended our day at the Graham Inn on Tatla Lake. First, hamburgers, salad (with fresh veggies from a local greenhouse), a beer, and rhubarb crumble with ice cream. We then sat on the bed of our room with the cabin door open and watched as the rain streamed down. Yet, the sun was still shining and there were mixed blue skies and white and grey clouds over the mountains. The lake was a bit of blue peaking through the trees whose leaves were starting to be all in shadow. So pretty.
Day 6: Friday, August 14. Tatla Lake to Nimpo Lake (60-70 miles)
Woke up feeling a lot better today. We climbed a bit out of Tatla Lake and eventually hit the Cariboo Flats. "Flats" is a bit of a misnomer - should be Cariboo false-flats. We kept our pace at 10 - 14 mph most of the day though. Since it became pretty clear to me yesterday that I wasn't eating enough when I let hunger be my guide, I made a point of eating something every 10 miles whether I thought I needed it or not -- definitely helped with the energy level throughout the day.
We had a great creekside lunch stop and pulled into the
Vagabond Campground on Nimpo Lake about 4:30 PM. Although we had originally planned to ride to Anahim Lake today, we decided to stop at Nimpo when we found out the campground at Anahim was 5 miles up a gravel road. In contrast, the campground at Nimpo was only about 1/2 mile down a paved road. We had a pretty little spot for our tent, right next to the lake. We had a great dinner at the
Dean on Nimpo Lake and watched the sun set as the loons called out into the night.
The landscape on the Cariboo Flats was so different from that of the day before. More forested, with aspen along the streams and road cuts. Instead of dry grasslands, there were numerous marshes and scattered Lake. The closest thing to this is Oregon in the Cascade Lakes Highway near Bend.
Day 7: Saturday, August 15. Nimpo Lake to the Tweedsmuir Park Lodge (60 miles, including "the hill")
I'd been nervous about this stretch of the trip since way before we started the ride. We'd heard
so many stories of the horrible gravel road, the hill that had an 18% grade for several miles, the fires. Luckily, the day before we were told that they were now letting cars through from 8 AM to 6 PM, so that removed one stress of the segment. The first 12 miles from Nimpo Lake to the turn-off for Anahim Lake were paved. Then, 2 miles after the turn-off, the pavement ended. However, for all the stories, the 28 mile climb up Heckman Pass actually wasn't too bad. More packed dirt than gravel. The Hill had been "flattened" and the grades ranged from 11 - 15% for 6 miles. Ross was a bit disappointed, but I though that 15% was exciting enough. The muscles in my hands and forarms hurt from braking for so long.
The fires were
actively burning. Piles were smoldering next to the road. At the bottom of the hill, 2 helicopters were dipping into the creek to attack some spot fires on the mountainside.
We got lucky with camping tonight. All the public campgrounds were closed due to the fires. We stopped by the
Tweedsmuir Lodge (famous for its heli-skiing in the winter). They had two rooms available, but they were super-expensive. The lodge manager was hesitant to let us camp, due both to the fires and the fact that she was already hosting 20 firefighters in her main camping area. However, she ended up letting us put up our tent. We had wine on the back deck, overlooking the mountains as first hummingbirds and dragonflies the size of hummingbirds danced through the air, followed by bats hungrily eating up all the mosquitos. Amazing night.
Day 8: Sunday, August 16. Tweedsmuir Park Lodge to Bella Coola (~45 miles)
The riding today was relatively easy. Mostly downhill and good pavement.Lush forests with hug trees, big rivers, tall mountains. Gorgeous.
Hagensborg turned out to be just a loose scattering of homes and business. We found a roadside self-service veggie stand and bought some carrots and green beans, which dramatically improved our lunch of salami and cheese. A stop by an "The herb farm" brought us plums and organic snacks.
Just before getting to Bella Coola, we went to go see some Petroglyphs. Although the carvings pre-date the First Nations peoples who live in the area now and are located on public land, the First Nations people in the area prevent people from visiting the area unless led by a guide. Our guide turned out to be a teenaged boy -- it was the second time he'd done this. His family had a lot of history in the area and he knew quite a bit about the carvings. Unfortunately, this positive aspect of having him guide us was outweighed by the negatives of spending an hour with a young man who either had ADHD or FAS. He was constantly telling us about he could talk to the trees, hear better, walk quieter, run faster, karate-chop better than anyone. He also hates white people. He'd kill them if he could. For this, we "tipped" $40 CAN.
Bella Coola was a quiet fishing town. Unfortunately, almost everything in town is closed on Sunday. I'm sure this place would be great if you were fishing or hiking, but for us, the journey was definitely the highlight, not the destination. I would recommend
not staying in hotels in Bella Coola. Due to our early ferry, we decided not to camp, and instead had an overpriced room that was infested with some kind of small flying, biting insect. Ross and I had to douse ourselves head to toe with DEET in order to get any sleep.
Day 11: Wednesay , August 19. Fisherboy Park, 6 miles from Sayward
Yesterday (Tuesday, August 18)
, we pushed hard -- about 65 miles and pulled into Woss at about 4 PM. Unfortunately, the motel was full. However, there was a campground on the lake "2 miles away" according to a local. As usual, the estimated distance turned out to be off. The distance was 2 miles on paved road, then another 2 on really bad gravel. The campground would have been nice if there hadn't been a group of 30 kids there who were only loosely supervised by adults, bugs, and trahs and poo (yep, human poo) in random places -- including a few feet from the lake.
We got up early and rode the 45 miles to Fisherboy Park. There weren't any facilities for another 60 miles and the day was getting hot, so we decided to call it a day. We had a great camping spot and the peopel were really friendly. We never made it into Sayward. After showering the salt and grime off, we headed to a cafe for cold beers and flipping through picture books of the history of the area. For dinner, we went to the
Cable Cookhouse, which was entirely covered with logging cable. The food was really good. Everything was home-made, including the whole grain buns that came with our seafood sandwhiches. They also made some of the best blackberry pie I've ever had. After dinner, we sat at our campsite and sipped wine out of plastic goblets the owner of Fisherboy gave us when we bought the bottle.
The terrain on north Vancouver Island wasn't too bad. Probably over-all downhill, but some decent climbs every 10 miles or so. Tuesday we had a great shoulder for about 10 miles, then nothing. I actually had a stupid low-speed crash trying to get closer t the edge of the lane, then overshooting and getting sucked into the gravel. Wednesday, we had a great shoulder for all but the last 5 miles or so.
Day 12 Thursday, August 20. We hitched a ride from Sayward to Campbell River -- rode 60 miles in the back of an old pick-up truck. We had great views, but I'm really glad we didn't ride it. The road only had a good shoulder for about 10 miles and there were several large clear-cuts down to the road's edge. The ride would have taken us all day by bike. Instead, it only took us an hour.
From Campbell River, we first stopped in Courtenay. Courtenay was bustling with a lot of shops in its downtown area. From there we went to Comox, a sleepy town similar to Bandon, Oregon. The riding was nice. A lot of it was within site of the Georgia Strait, we had good shoulders, and the hills were mild. We had a bit of an issue getting to our campground -- Bates Beach, but once there, it was nice enough. Fewer bugs than the previous several nights.
Day 13: Friday, August 21. Egmont
After taking a ferry from Campbell River (Vancouver Island) to Powell River (on the mainland), we rode down the Sunshine coast to Egmont (which required a second ferry ride). This was an interesting spot; much less of a village than I had expected. We camped at
Backeddy Resort and Marina. Not recommended. The camping area was crowded, gravely, and didn't have a picnic table. However, there was a nice restaurant with good beer, so we stayed there most of the night. I would love to come back to this area. There are a town of protected inlets and lakes that would be great for flat-water kayaking.
Day 14: Saturday, August 22. Roberts Creek (45 miles)
We had originally planned to camp in Roberts Creek, but since this was our last night in BC and we had to get up early to ride down to the ferry, we decided to find a room for the night. Luckily, we stopped at a native art gallery in a town on the way and the woman working there recommended that we make reservations before getting there; that not only would the town be full because it was a weekend (and Roberts Creek is close to Vancouver, so is an easy getway), but it was "Up the Creek Days" and a lot of people would be there for the festivities. After I called a few places and was told they were all rented out, she recommended a Bed and Breakfast that wasn't listed in the guides. Lucky for us, she had a room left.
What a find. The B&B is owned by an older South African couple. They plan on only staying in business for another year or so because the woman had a bad back injury and couldn't help out much. However, she still was a wonderful host. We had a great room, comfortable and quiet. They served high tea complete with home-made meringues, walnut cookes, quick breads, berries, and whipped cream. After tea, we rode our bikes into town, had dinner at The Gumboot (really good gourment hippie food), then checked out the remainders of Up the Creek Days -- in particular, the huge Mandala that was painted near the jetty. We had read that a lot of Americans came up here during the Vietnam War, and there was definitely a strong undercurrent of old hippie. However, there were also huge expensive mansions surrounding the bay. Interesting combo. We watched the sun set, then rode back for a peaceful sleep at the B&B.
Day 15, Vancouver!A bit of an adventure getting back. We took the ferry over to about 10 miles outside of Vancouver, then Ross left me at a coffee shop while he rode into town to get the car. We figured that with as difficult and slow as it sometimes was for me to ride with the BOB trailer (especially in high traffic areas), it'd be faster for him to go alone. Luckily the car was okay (though it had what looked like puke in the roof). We stopped for a very late lunch at a Romanian Restaurant (really good Romanian food! -- I even had a chance to dust off some of my rusty Romanian talking to the owner of the restaurant), then headed for home. We didn't get home until about 2 AM Monday morning -- then we both got up and went to work.
Over-all -- a good vacation. Adventurous and a bit fast-paced, but we got to see a lot of cool places, many of which I'd like to go back to.
uite, but close enough that my goal was still within reach, if only I could at least jog the remaining 5 miles.
