Day 27 BISON! BISON! BISON! Coal River to Watson Lake 157.7km. Trip Total 2138.7

WOW! What a big day. Lots happened today but it’s getting late, and I have a hotel room to get back too, so I am going to try to keep this one short.

We left Coal River with the intention of Stopping at Contact Creek for the day(91km), but after a couple of unfortunate and sad events Michelle and decided to push on to Watson Lake. Today Christopher received news of a family emergency and he decided to end his trip. Suzanne and Jaimee supported Christopher, and together they got a ride to Carcross so they could catch an earlier ferry from Skagway. We miss them already, and we hope that seeing the large herd of Bison today brought smiles to their faces.

The large herd of Bison was incredible! We pedaled our bikes through over 50 very, very large Bison. We waited to have a vehicle escort, but we were not quite sure if it would have been much of a help if one of the Giants on the side of the road felt threatened. This was by far the highlight of our day today and we have posted a video for you. Please excuse the shaky video, I was riding my bike next to a moving car, trying not to piss of a Buffalo, at times the camera goes off the main subjects!

Day 26 Liard River Hot springs to Coal River 58km

Today was a short day largely due to the logistics of route planning. We would have had to put in a really long day to get to the next location with services(approx 2ookm). So we took it easy today, and we had a wonderful experience today. While on the road to Coal River we encountered our first Wild Buffalo(Bison) on the side of the road. It was alone, which was surprising at the time, and when we slowly approached it on our bikes it started to run along the side of the road with us. I have video tape footage of it, as does Christopher, but I have chosen to post a picture. I have another great video of bison for the next post. It was a very scary and adrenaline rushing type experience watching a huge 800 pound wild animal go from zero to fifty in about 3 seconds!

Where the Coal River meets the Liard

Hard to top that experience today, but Michelle and I had a great time swimming in the Coal River under a warm and relaxing summer sun. As my Mother said, today was a day for smelling the roses. Christopher, Suzanne, and Jaimee jumped back into their books.

Day 25 Rest Day Liard River Hotsprings

It is not hard to figure out what we did today. Everyone visited the. Christopher, Suzanne, and Jaimee spent lots of time reading, and Michelle spent the majority of her day going over plans for the next 4 or 5 days. The Hot springs are a must stop along the Alcan, and the international crowd in the beautifully natural pools was a sure sign of their popularity. We met folks from Fairbanks, New York, Germany, Inuvik, and Canada. believe it or not we did not get a chance to talk to everyone! it was a crowded place, only 3 campsites were available at the provincial campground. I have attached some photos of the springs. 

The very warm and soothing pools of the Liard Valley

Day 24 Toad River Lodge to Liard Hot Springs 120km Trip Total 1916.9

This morning we woke up with the comforting feeling that we would be enjoying breakfast at the Toad River restaurant. It opened at 6:30 am and Suzanne and Christopher were there right on the dot. The coffee was brewing and as a result, we were all smiling. Toad River really was an oasis. It offered free showers, affordable camping with great facilities(running water, electricity, and wireless internet all accessible right in front of our tents) so we were a little bit sad to leave. However, once on the road, the majesty of the environment quickly pushed Toad River to the cellar of memories in my mind. Not long after leaving the lodge we briefly spotted a Moose in the woods, and before our conversation about it ended we came across another Moose right in front of us on the road. It stayed there for three or four minutes before a RV scared it off the road. It was a great start to the day. 

The Moose of the morning

 

The day continued and was truly a  fantastic day. We followed the Toad River for most the morning as it twisted and turned through a valley guarded by sedimentary giants. It reminded Michelle and I of the Icefield Parkway in Alberta. Everyone seemed to be enjoying the cool air and fantastic scenery. Then the work started. 

After a cruisy morning the road began to climb, and climb, and climb!!! The steepest grade was 9% and the day was starting to warm up so we were working hard. Our efforts were rewarded with fantastic views of the Terminal Range to the east and a variety of wildlife. We would pass Stone Sheep, and Mountain Caribou as we crested the climb. 

A lone Mountain Caribou

Both helped me to forget about the earlier climbs. 

The winding Toad River

 

We then had some great long descents that allowed us to cruise at about 40km per hour! Fun, Fun ,Fun!!! At this point we were a little tired so we stopped in at GG Services for a surprisingly great lunch. Tha facilities only staffer, Lois, worked hard to prepare us Meatloaf sandwiches, and Chili! We all agreed it was one of the best meals of the trip. After almost 2 hours at lunch we continued on towards Munch Lake. 

Munch Lake is described as one of the most beautiful lakes in the world, and it is easy to see why. 

A hazy Muncho Lake(Wildfires to the west are the cause)

 It stretched on for 16km and every step of the way was breathtaking. To quote Suzanne, “it is the definition of peaceful”. Jaimee stopped for a dip in the lake, and we all took lots of pictures. We left the lake and continued on towards the hot springs. We had a lengthy downhill that was interrupted with alluvial fans that caused us to curse each time we had to climb, but in the end we would make it to the Liard River Valley and the. We arrived tired and agitated, but food and rest dulled the edges and sleep came very easy.

Day 23 – 94km Tetsa River Regional Park to Toad River

This morning, for breakfast, we each enjoyed a bagel drowned in natural peanut butter and topped with a mountain of raspberry jam.  Collectively, we decided to give the instant-oatmeal a miss for the foreseeable future.  The coffee was delicious again this morning, but we’re having some difficulty with the new brand of powered milk me purchased.  The new powered milk produces substantially more floaties when compared to the original we picked up earlier on in the trip.  We’ve thus far been unable to come up with a suitable solution to the problem.  If you have a solution please feel free to leave a comment.  At one point we tried to use a small carton of milk purchased the day before, but when we came to use it, it was pretty chunky.  Clearly, Mother Nature’s refrigerator is not nearly as good as Kenmore’s .

We left camp at our usual time of 7am this morning knowing that because of the construction site at the entrance to the Regional Park, we’d get a ride up the hill in the pilot car.  However, either Suzanne didn’t fancy the free ride up the hill in a heated truck and thus deflated her rear tire, passing it off as a flat, or she actually got another flat.  Either way we had a delay to the start of the day while we changed tubes and swapped tires. 

For most of the day today, it was a difficult and strenuous day.  The journey to Toad River started with the group travelling on loose gravel for close to 20km.  The pace was slow going!  If that wasn’t bad enough, we were treated to a dust bath by vehicles large and small.  The most frustrating part of this stretch wasn’t the road conditions or the sandstorm, it was the speeding drivers who refused to slow down, even when asked to do so with hand-signals.  When they refused my requests I gave them some alternative, and less friendly,  hand-signals to contemplate.

After the long stretch of  loose gravel ended we started our climb to Summit Lake, which is the highest point on the Alaska Highway.  Summit Lake is in excess of 1900m above sea level.  The climb was long, painful, and exhausting; much like yesterday, actually.  Once we reached Summit Lake I tried really hard to appreciate the amazing scenery.  The impressive Stone Mountain towers over Summit Lake to the south-east.  Stone Mountain comes by its named honestly, the grey granite, cone-shaped mountain dominates the landscape at this elevation.

After a  brief stop at the lake we started our decent to Toad River.  On the way down we rode by the impressive Racing River, which cuts a swath through many large mountains.  We also passed many mountain goats who were traversing the rock face, much like they do in the southern Rockie Mountains. 

As the road continued its descent the scenery changed from granite mountains dotted with small coniferous trees to areas of farmland and deciduous trees.  Sometime later, exhausted and fatigued, we crested the last hill before Toad River.  While on top of the hill the view reminded me of the view coming into Chilliwack from Hope.  When we arrived at camp we found a great spot for a great price.  The site was equiped with showers, wireless internet, clean water, a restaurant, grass pads for tents and a pond view.  Perhaps we’ll see a moose or two eating from the pond in the morning.

Before I forget, at lunch, we were rudely interrupted by a young and very disoriented caribou/elk/moose.  We were quietly minding our one business, eating our humus sandwiches when all of a sudden out of nowhere I eyed a suspicious movement on the east side of the highway.  We were eating on the west side of the highway.  I call to the others but before they had a chance to take a look it crossed into an area of high foliage, effectively it disappeared for a moment.  Suddenly it reappeared and made directly for us.  Once it hit the road, it crossed without looking for traffic, to our side of the highway.  When we let the young and disoriented cariboo/elk/moose know of our presence,  it look at us, then look all around before it  ran back (full tilt) to where it came from, never to be seen again.

Day 22. Ft. Nelson to Tetsa River Regional Park 100km Total 1703km

Today we out of bed a little later than normal because we decided to eat out before leaving the big city of Ft. Nelson. The breakfast at the RV Park was surprisingly great! We enjoyed the food and then prepared our bikes with their heaviest loads yet; 7 days of food! We were a little bit apprehensive about the days ride because of all the people we had met over the course of the last two days who told us about the plethora of wildlife, and the monstrous hills we would encounter on this next stage of our journey. We were told of a very large hill called “Steamboat” that we would encounter today, and of Bears, Moose, Sheep, and Bison. Well, after 65km we stopped for lunch and we had still not encountered any “great” climbs, but we had seen 5 bears and one extremely large mature Moose with a huge rack! I personally started to hope that this legendary hill would be but a bump in the road, and that the wonderful wildlife sightings would continue. I was wrong on the hill front, and lost all interest in wildlife.

Five minutes after lunch the climb would start and would go on for what seemed an eternity. In reality it was only 6 or 7km, but every time we thought it was over we would surmount a crest only to find that it continued on.  This great hill would take us from the rolling hills west of Ft. St. John to the Mountains of the Muskwa-Ketchican Region. The epic wilderness we encountered today foreshadowed the coming days. The reward for our work was a 7 or 8km downhill, the great views, and a ride in a pilot car to our campsite which had its entrance located right i the middle of a road construction area. The Tetsa River regional Park turned out to be a wonderful sight where we enjoyed Pasta and Pesto with Almonds and Parmesan for dinner after taking advantage of the surprisingly warm waters of the Tetsa River to wash. A challenging but rewarding day!

Oh What A Day!!! – Day 19 Sikanni River to Prophet River

Our day started with a positive – we were cold and we were able to turn on the heat in our 5 star cabin   then it went downhill from there.  The lovely heat was followed up by our favourite oh so nutrious breakfast of  instant oatmeal.  Did you know that no matter what flavour you buy they all taste the same.

We biked forever that day and it was all horrible!!!!

We arrived in Prophet River which made ghost towns look busy.  There were two stores – one was boarded up and the other closed at 4pm and we arrived at 430pm -  although we found out later that it wasn’t opened at all that day.  I saw a Prophet River First Nation sign and we began knocking on doors – no success.  A car pulled in thank goodness!  Darryl to the rescue.  He let us into a house to fill up on water and then took us over to his house to camp in his back yard.  Oh the stories, which people will have to get from their people.

We had warnings from Darryl to watch out for the quads as we were camping in there pathway – luckily, him being the smart man he is – being a Liverpool fan like myself, I knew I’d be safe – Christopher on the other hand was a little worried.

Dinner was fantastic!!!  Not so much what it was but what Darryl gave us to put in it – soy sauce, salt, pepper – me not being a big fan of any of those was loving it that night. Mmm

It’s those little things that make this trip better – such as seasonings and of course REST DAYS! 

Fort Nelson Rest Day – THEY'RE GREAT!!!!

Have I mentioned how much I love rest days!!!  The highlight of this trip!!!   That and every night when we get to stop biking.

Our camp site had a saloon right in the middle of it!  With saddles as stools at their bar.  Don’t recommend dinner but breakfast was brillant.

Loved my rest day. Layed in the grass and read while listening to music – almost made me feel like I was on summer vacation   Went to a coffee shop and had a iced chai and date square – again it made me feel like I was on summer vacation

One more biking day and we’re on another rest day.  Yea!!!! 

Day 18 A Series of Unfortunate Events.Wonowan to Sikanni River

This morning we awoke re-energized and ready to go. We had lucked out with our previous nights accommodation. Life was good in Wonowan!

Living Large in Wonowan

The start of our days ride was wonderful; the air was cool and the feeling of wilderness isolation was beginning to take hold. The power lines bringing electricity to Wonowan went no further, and as a result the only sign of civilization was the road, and the odd oilfield services sign. The Spruce and Pine forests seemed pristine and endless on both sides of the road, and the wilderness feeling continued to grow when Michelle and I spotted an immature Moose slowly leaving the shelter of the forest towards the warm early morning sun. We stopped to try to get a picture, but on cue, the Moose clumsily scampered back into the woods breaking branches as he went.

Wilderness on the Alaska Highway...the start of the day!

Soon after this moment a series of unfortunate events would begin to unfold.

Michelle and I were riding together about 1km behind Christopher, Suzanne, and Jaimee. Michelle had to stop her bike due to a flat rear tire, and like any good riding partner, I stopped to assist her with the repair. I propped my bike up with the kickstand on the side of the road and we began to change Michelle’s tube. After 6 minutes on the tire a large Grey flatbed truck went roaring by on the road, and the wind it created caused my bike to fall over. When I went to pick up the bike I noticed that my rear derailleur was horribly bent and that two spokes on my rear tire were completely broken.

I was a little frustrated….remember that wilderness isolation feeling I mentioned earlier…I knew this was going to be a problem, but I was not quite sure what type of problem. I like to be prepared, and I had 3 spare spokes for my bike, I also felt like I could bend my dérailleur to the point that I could ride with it. So my plan was to fix the spokes first, but as luck would have it the spoke nibbles of my spare spokes were too small and as a result I could not replace the spokes. The result was that my rear tire was completely out of “true”(running straight). I did manage to bend the dérailleur so that I could change gears, but as you could imagine, it was far from in good shape. So after a few expletives we had got my bike running(limping is more like it), and had Michelle’s flat fixed.

We had not seen the rest of the group in almost 2 hours now. We continued riding north and I decided I would just limp my bike two Fort Nelson and take care of it there. My pulse heightened as we rode up a long hill. I spotted the familiar colors of our groups red, white and blue tops and the distinguishable words “Ambulance” on the back of the scary familiar white square vehicle. To top it off there was a long line of cars stopped at the ambulance. Immediately I forgot about my bike and hoped that things were not about to get a lot worse for our group.

As soon as I spotted Christopher, Suzanne, and Jaimee I knew that everyone was OK so I went back to worrying about my bike. As it turned out, our crew was waiting in the shade of the ambulance which was parked as a precautionary measure at the start of a construction zone on the highway.

The goodness of human beings really began to shine through the minute our group, and the surrounding road crew, heard of the poor state of my bike. To begin, the flagging lady used her Blackberry to get us the Fort Nelson bike shop telephone number; a random worker stopped to offer us a ride back to Fort St. John; Christopher aided in trying to repair my bike, and retrieved the Fort St. John Bike shop telephone number(as it turned out Fort Nelson’s bike shop had no mechanic, and none of us have the skills to true a wheel on our own).

At this point we had said no to the ride back, and were confronted with a transport issue because I decided that going back was the best option. Suzanne offered her BCAA service-plus membership card because my Basic membership did not include the 160km towing that hers did. So the plan was for me to get a ride back to Fort St. John to get my bike fixed at Ferris Fast Cycles, and I would then ride back to catch up, or take a bus, depending on the timing of the repair. The patience and understanding of our group and of the people on site was fantastic especially considering that steam was seen coming from my ears!

The goodness continues….. Alex Eisenkrein pulled up from BCAA  about 35 minutes later in a new VW Passat with trailer attached, and we strapped my bike and trailer on his trailer. My last words, with a smile,  as we drove away were “have a good ride see you back in Chilliwack”. The last thing I heard was Michelle saying ” very funny Mister”. Alex gave me a ride directly to the bike shop in town where I met the owner Pat Ferris, his son Stephen, Kendra Young, and Cassie Baker. Pat was busy on another bike, but quickly got to mine, and had my problems solved before I knew it. His years of cycling experience were evident as he educated me about cycling parts as he fixed my bike. I am not sure he ever actually had to look at what he was doing, his hands seemed to be on auto pilot as he worked, and his eyes moved from me to the other customers he was talking with. In the end my bike was up and running in great shape, I had learned a lot more about touring specific rims, and tires, and a considerable amount more about the road ahead. The Ferris Fast Cycles offered great service and hospitality at a time when it was desperately needed: www.ferrisfastcycles.com. Thank you very much again.

The goodness of Pat and his team was only topped by Alex Eisenkrein from BCAA. He waited in Fort St John for me and my e, and then gave me a ride back to Wonowan. Approx. 35km from where the bike broke down. Thank you again Alex.

Alex the Great!

I waited at the Blueberry Esso in Wonowan for 10 minutes before getting a ride north with Micheal and his partner from FI Oilfield Services. Together they gave me a ride past the accident site all the way to the Sikanni River RV Park where Michelle and the rest of the group had stopped for the night. They were a bit surprised to see me so soon.

The Sikanni River guard.

They told me of the rest of their day riding after the lengthy delay due to the technical problems.They had rode 30km in the rain to reach the RV Park, and as a result rented a very affordable $30.00 cabin for the night. It was not the Sheraton, but after a very rough day, like every person mentioned in this blog, it offered us warmth, shelter, and security.

Day 18: The honest blog…

Dear Journal,

My legs feel like crap.

Jaimee is threating to throw her  bike off of a cliff… or bridge… or in front of a moving vehicle.

Scott’s bike broke down.

I don’t want to bike another 100km tomorrow.

My bowel movements have  been messed up for seven days.

5am is too early to wake up.

Instant oatmeal makes me gag.

There’s a reason no one ever sold a cucumber peanut butter wrap in a restaurant.

It rained cats and dogs on me the last 30kms.

I cried.

This is bike touring.

Day 18.

At it’s best.

Jaimee’s Re-occuring Dream – ‘Bad Thing’ = bike

PS.  Oh.. Sorry!  Is this on a public blog????? I take it all back… everything is wonderful… the sun is shining… we love biking!!

PPS.  no worries about Scott’s bike.. it’s all fixed, i’ll let him fill you in on the details!