This was a trip I had thought about for years, before I had ever seen
Skyler's route, but then I did and my plan just kept getting bigger and bigger.
I have heard it before, well I guess it is true, my problem is I am a dreamer. However my strength is I am a dreamer. I dream big, consequently sometimes I fall big, no matter, for me it is simply about getting off the sofa, the sofa is just an open coffin.
A sharp pain greeted me as I made my first pedal stroke to set out on this trip, "hmm my knee shouldn't hurt" I thought "must have banged it mtn biking", and I pedaled on.
I cannot describe the experience of this trip, I am still not sure it happened, often the memories of a trip are cloudy for me and could very easily have been an imagination. All I know is I did ride my bike from Campbell River to Port Hardy, took a ferry to Bella Coola, rode my bike, carried my bike, pushed my bike all the way to Pemberton, on road surfaces of all description, trail, mud, cow/horse shit/mud and so much jagged scree slope. At night, I slept, occasionally, I shivered a lot and I thought enough about the sounds the wind makes, enough to make anyone insane. During the day I rode my bike and looked at so much of this worlds beauty, I almost cried, more than once. These remote wild places of big sky and majesty have a way of making you feel, small, fragile and unimportant, vulnerable. You can't have an ego out here, it could get you killed. Out here respect is what you need, respect everything, everyone, everything and you will be just fine. But my knee was not fine, it had progressively become much more painful and swollen. I was consuming more ibuprofen, aspirin and Aleve per day than you should in a week, and the decision was made to shorten our route when we reached Tyax Lodge, for me no trip is worth potentially permanent damage to my body.
Every day Dave and I would come to some point where we would be stopped by the vastness before us, off in the distance as far as we could see some jagged snow covered mountains, and Dave would say "Hey, we should go ride around those mountains today" it looked to far, impossible, and yet we would, then we would do it again that day and the next day and so on.
Ten days riding 950 km
(one rest day on ferry from Port Hardy to Bella Coola, for 11 days total Campbell River to Pemberton)
13650 m of climbing/elevation gain
36130 calories burnt while riding/hike a biking.
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| Day one lunch in Sayward BC |
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Night One camp, this is the first time I used this tent, a Big Agnes Bitter Creek 2.
I used just the footprint and fly, it worked very well and was super roomy.
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| Woss BC |
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| Camp night two, Port Hardy BC |
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| The views off the ferries were mostly rain and fog, but when visible mountains rose out of the water |
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| The ride out of Bella Coola was paved until the base of Heckman pass which climbs from near sea level to 5000 ft |
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| I thought the Moose was small until I saw this photo. |
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Camp night four (night three was on ferry) Dave joined me in Port Hardy
this is his first day of riding and first camp of the trip |
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Day two had been rain, day three on the ferry was rain, the ride
out of Bella Coola it rained a bit, day five and things are beginning to clear up |
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| Lunch stop Anahim Lake |
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| We rode the edge ot a storm all day |
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| Already looking rough on day five |
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| Old cabins were a common sight |
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Night five camp started with clear skies, just after retiring the storm came in,
it rained a blew something fierce, then cleared up and froze everything! |
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| Random beautiful mountain view, of which there were so many |
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We stopped in at this lodge which is literally at the end of the road,
thank you Zoie for the coffee and homemade cookies! |
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| Lunch break on the mud hike a bike up to the Potato Range |
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| Top of the Potato Range, we could ride anywhere |
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| View down to Chilko Lake from the top ot the Poatto |
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Night six we rolled into this lodge on Chilko River at dusk asking for info on a campground,
hoping for some sort of shelter to dry things out. The staff insisted we stay in staff accommodationsand they fed us! They said there were far to many bears to be outside. |
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| If you look close there are two Grizzlies in the river |
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| See those mountains way in the back there, ya we rode around them and then some that day! |
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| Nemaiah Valley |
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| Night seven camp, on the Taseko River |
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| Morning on the Taseko River |
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| Up stream Taseko River |
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| Angry Dave, I should wait more! |
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| Dave is a super navigator |
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| This was common |
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| Spot the Dave! |
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| Taseko Lake looking North |
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| Night eight camp on Taseko Lake |
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| Camp kitchen, we had a nice fire in the left hand corner |
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Part way up Warner Pass, Taseko Lake is a ways behind
the ridge with the steep shoulder on the left |
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| Warner Pass looking to Taseko Lake, see the ridge from above! |
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| First view of Warner Lake |
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| Camp night nine on Trigger Lake |
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| Like every morning the dew is heavy and frozen |
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| Classic Chilcotin trail along Gun Creek |
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| Stop and smell the flowers, well you get the idea |
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Gold Dust Motel, Goldbridge, camp night nine.
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The Hurley Pass, it was at the beginning of this climb I realized I had been running a calorie deficit,
after consuming a burger, fries and two and a half beer at Tyax Lodge and collecting our food drop, we rode into Goldbridge and the motel where I continued with 250g peanut butter, a full bag of flour tortillas, a bag of instant mashed potatoes, two Guinness and whatever else I could shove in my cake hole, on this climb my legs were back! |
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Pemberton Valley, down there another beer and burger waites!
This was also the end of our ride, my knee could take no more. |
