5th July
I wake to bright sunshine – well that’s got to be good! I load the bike and, after an execrable breakfast (half a stale blueberry muffin – I inflicted the other half on a stray cat in the car park), I’m on the road for 0930, heading west. It’s my intention to head towards Vancouver by a circuitous route, then stop wherever I feel tired. Who knows, that may be Vancouver…
Kamloops lake is looking fine this morning…
…and the Adv is looking a good deal cleaner than it will later…
This is the world’s largest producer of Ginseng – an unusual crop to find here…
This quarry provides gravel for construction…
…and is operated by Graymont for the local Indian tribe – care to try and pronounce the name of the site?
It’s quite warm – I ride through Marble Canyon – wouldn’t mind having that little fishing lodge on the island…
I start following the Fraser River Gorge towards Lillooet…
…and notice a road on the far side of the gorge, cut into the hillside…
…you can see it zig-zagging up the side of the hill. The voices start talking to me – I want to ride it and see where it goes…
I stop for lunch at the Totem restaurant, which turns out to be a very acceptable Chinese. I look at my map and decide I can find the road – it’ll mean doing 100miles or so off the beaten track, but, hell, I’m an Adventure Rider aren’t I? I fill up with fuel and get some spare water as a precaution, then set off…
The first signs are not encouraging. These signs appear at a junction of two possible routes, both taking me to the same place. The right fork – the road less travelled – is the one that sports these warnings… I proceed with caution (and without a 2 way radio). Almost immediately I encounter Steve and Lyn, a local middle aged couple eating their lunch in their pick up truck. I ask them about the road.
Steve ‘Don’t think it’s open yet, Mike’
Me ‘But I know it says ‘closed during winter’ on the map – it’s July’
Steve ‘You haven’t travelled in BC much, have you Mike?’
Apparently Steve would only attempt this road with a couple of mates, a couple of 4x4s, both equipped with winches, and a chainsaw (for deadfalls).
‘Besides,’ he says, ‘if you took a fall and broke a leg, it’d be days before anyone found you’. I’m just digesting this, and deciding that the road more travelled was looking more & more attractive, when he adds ‘But I wouldn’t worry about that, if I were you’. ‘No?’ I ask, hopefully… ‘No, you’d be bear crap by then’
So I turn back and take the other logging road…
…which is far from mundane…
…and is almost all gravel – some of it quite rough – something to do with the traffic that uses it, I’d guess…
…there’s a sign just out of shot ‘Give Way to Oncoming Traffic’ – completely superfluous – these guys stop for nothing.
Further down the lakeside, I see my first Bald Eagle…
…and manage to get just one pic before the scattergun effect of a logging truck passing causes it to flap effortlessly away.
I eventually reach Gold Bridge, where I stop & re-hydrate…
…before starting over the most punishing section of the day…
…climbing over Mount Truax pass, over some very corrugated gravel…
…past some pretty scenery…
…and down the far side, towards Pemberton…
…where the whole valley is laid out before me…
Quite suddenly, after over 110 miles, I’m back on tarmac .
I feel I've acheved something - in fact I feel as rugged & windswept as a warthog's scrotum.
I'm soon heading for Whistler. Whistler is a skiing town, a bit like Jackson Hole & I’m able to find a room at an out of season ski-lodge for $60 Canadian. I visit the local internet café – run by the local entrepreneur. It’s a Laundromat…
…and a Skateboard Store…
…and an Internet point…
…all in one. Whilst typing up my journal, I’m approached by the lovely Molly…
…who, along with her dog Sophia…
…no – I AM being serious, is visiting from Seattle, riding her R100R airhead…
(Sophia rides in the tank bag). She’s had a bolt fall out of the left hand cylinder barrel…
I put a thread on ADVRider and get several suggestions – two of which I can share with her. The favourite solution seems to be to find a sump plug at a car accessory place in the morning – we arrange to meet at 0900…
Right – time for bed, as Zebedee used to say… What a great day
I wake to bright sunshine – well that’s got to be good! I load the bike and, after an execrable breakfast (half a stale blueberry muffin – I inflicted the other half on a stray cat in the car park), I’m on the road for 0930, heading west. It’s my intention to head towards Vancouver by a circuitous route, then stop wherever I feel tired. Who knows, that may be Vancouver…
Kamloops lake is looking fine this morning…
…and the Adv is looking a good deal cleaner than it will later…
This is the world’s largest producer of Ginseng – an unusual crop to find here…
This quarry provides gravel for construction…
…and is operated by Graymont for the local Indian tribe – care to try and pronounce the name of the site?
It’s quite warm – I ride through Marble Canyon – wouldn’t mind having that little fishing lodge on the island…
I start following the Fraser River Gorge towards Lillooet…
…and notice a road on the far side of the gorge, cut into the hillside…
…you can see it zig-zagging up the side of the hill. The voices start talking to me
– I want to ride it and see where it goes…
I stop for lunch at the Totem restaurant, which turns out to be a very acceptable Chinese. I look at my map and decide I can find the road – it’ll mean doing 100miles or so off the beaten track, but, hell, I’m an Adventure Rider aren’t I?
I fill up with fuel and get some spare water as a precaution, then set off…
The first signs are not encouraging. These signs appear at a junction of two possible routes, both taking me to the same place. The right fork – the road less travelled – is the one that sports these warnings… I proceed with caution (and without a 2 way radio). Almost immediately I encounter Steve and Lyn, a local middle aged couple eating their lunch in their pick up truck. I ask them about the road.
Steve ‘Don’t think it’s open yet, Mike’
Me ‘But I know it says ‘closed during winter’ on the map – it’s July’
Steve ‘You haven’t travelled in BC much, have you Mike?’
Apparently Steve would only attempt this road with a couple of mates, a couple of 4x4s, both equipped with winches, and a chainsaw (for deadfalls).
‘Besides,’ he says, ‘if you took a fall and broke a leg, it’d be days before anyone found you’. I’m just digesting this, and deciding that the road more travelled was looking more & more attractive, when he adds ‘But I wouldn’t worry about that, if I were you’. ‘No?’ I ask, hopefully… ‘No, you’d be bear crap by then’
So I turn back and take the other logging road…
…which is far from mundane…
…and is almost all gravel – some of it quite rough – something to do with the traffic that uses it, I’d guess…
…there’s a sign just out of shot ‘Give Way to Oncoming Traffic’ – completely superfluous – these guys stop for nothing.
Further down the lakeside, I see my first Bald Eagle…
…and manage to get just one pic before the scattergun effect of a logging truck passing causes it to flap effortlessly away.
I eventually reach Gold Bridge, where I stop & re-hydrate…
…before starting over the most punishing section of the day…
…climbing over Mount Truax pass, over some very corrugated gravel…
…past some pretty scenery
…
…and down the far side, towards Pemberton…
…where the whole valley is laid out before me…
Quite suddenly, after over 110 miles, I’m back on tarmac .
I feel I've acheved something - in fact I feel as rugged & windswept as a warthog's scrotum.
I'm soon heading for Whistler. Whistler is a skiing town, a bit like Jackson Hole & I’m able to find a room at an out of season ski-lodge for $60 Canadian. I visit the local internet café – run by the local entrepreneur. It’s a Laundromat…
…and a Skateboard Store…
…and an Internet point…
…all in one
. Whilst typing up my journal, I’m approached by the lovely Molly…
…who, along with her dog Sophia…
…no – I AM being serious
, is visiting from Seattle, riding her R100R airhead…
(Sophia rides in the tank bag). She’s had a bolt fall out of the left hand cylinder barrel…
I put a thread on ADVRider and get several suggestions – two of which I can share with her.
The favourite solution seems to be to find a sump plug at a car accessory place in the morning – we arrange to meet at 0900…Right – time for bed, as Zebedee used to say… What a great day
