Still Heading South on the Cassiar Highway

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Sunday August 21, 2011
Sun?

I woke up late and dry. The sun looks like it want to make an appearance; but you never really know anymore. I was even going to stay put for the day and take a rest day to get laundry done. I heard (from inside the tent) the RV Park owner criticize the Austrian guy for wasting his day by getting up late. I could not help think that this might be an interesting day if I stayed around.

When I finally emerged from my tent I asked the owner about whether he sold laundry detergent. Most camps that have laundry facilities sell little boxes of detergent for a buck. He gave me the craziest look and then looked at his watch telling me that checkout time was 11:00 am and I was supposed to have left 10 minutes ago. I decided it was safer (for me and him) if I just packed my gear and left. I joked with the Austrian that I was going to ask the guy what made him so angry at the world. The Austrian beat me to the answer. The Austrian left while I packed up; 15 seconds later he turned around and approached the owner. I could tell the Austrian was asking him that exact question. I hope to catch up to Austrian at some point so I can find out what the answer was. By the time I was packed the owner was nowhere to be seen. I had lunch in town because there was no way I was going to take the time at the campground. Was on the road at 1 pm

The sun was out but the winds were exceptionally strong today. There were 2 big climbs today. Between the 2 climbs, the strong winds and the late start I was only able to ride 65 km’s. I think my kilometers are going to start to drop now that I no longer have a midnight sun.

The sun was so nice today but it did get quite cool this afternoon. It wanted to rain a few times but I got lucky. The weather in Vancouver is sunny and hot.


Monday August 22, 2011
What Happened To The Sun?

I slept in this morning; well actually woke up early to the usual crappy weather and ended up falling into one of those dreamy deep sleeps. I was on the road at 12:00 pm.

The road continues to have a lot of the usual up and downs so common in the area. Fortunately the wind is not as bad as the day before but it is a cold day; one of the coldest as of yet. Light rain has been falling on and off most of the day but luckily not enough rain to get wet. I was so hopeful when I saw the sun yesterday morning.

I am riding through the Mount Edziza Park and Spatsizi Plateau Wilderness Park today. From what I can make out through the heavy and low clouds I am passing through some pretty amazing mountain ranges. What a shame for all this bad weather and clouds; I am missing a lot. It would have been nice if the weather could have cut me a break. I have seen some aerial photos on pamphlets of the area. There are some very impressive views off the highway areas.

I rode 90 km’s today and the last part was in the dark. I (physically) could have kept riding but riding in the dark is pretty dangerous with no (highway) shoulders and the darkness makes it hard to find a good camp site. I will have to see if I can adjust and start waking up earlier. I miss that midnight sun of the NWT. I camped just off the highway.


Tuesday August 23, 2011
At A Lose Of Words About This Weather

I woke up to another day of overcast and today feels colder then yesterday. For some strange reason I was able to pack my tent dry today. The wind does not feel as strong as the last few days but the weather is not improving. I know I am missing some real nice landscapes and mountain views. I can’t even see any mountains the clouds are so low and thick. It would have been another good day to have good weather.

I ran into a couple riding north today. I thought I was the only person that travels the roads less travelled. North is the last place I would be going the way the weather has been. Somehow we got on the topic of campgrounds and they mentioned that they never use them; they only do wilderness camping. I asked about showers and they said it had been a few weeks since the last one. I just thought; gross.

The first part of the day was the usual up and down climbs. About half way into my day the road went more flat and I could tell that the trees were actually getting bigger. This area has some pretty big trees; not as big as the ones I have seen on Vancouver Island but very respectful in their size. As I reached this flatter area the rain also started and never quit. I rode quite a few hours in the rain. Riding in the rain kind of sucks; you just kind of hang your head and look directly at the pavement; so I saw very little after it started to rain. I missed a lot today.

I stopped at Bell 2 after 85 km’s of riding. Yes the place is called Bell 2. There is a lodge there. I had an expensive but very good hamburger and fries for dinner to buy me some time to figure out my next move.

I am soaked head to toe and cold and it is dark out. I paid for a kind of expensive camp site. I don’t know if I will be setting up my tent though; the rain refuses to stop. I am writing this in the laundry room as I do my laundry and attempting to dry myself out. For $23 I am out of the rain and cold. It is still raining outside and there is no point to setting up a tent in the rain. Better to just stand in the rain and just get me wet instead of all my gear. If I get kicked out of the laundry room I will move to the showers for a shower.
Today I saw 3 bears; two of them practically at the same moment as they came to the road (1 further down the road). And one bear was a bit later down the road. All 3 scattered very quickly when they saw me coming. I also had some kind of brown weasel go on the road right in front of me. Boy was he surprised when he saw me.

I don’t know what tomorrow will bring if it is still raining. Today could have been a better day.


Wednesday August 24, 2011
Sun And Highway Landing Strip

The rain did not stop until 9 am this morning. I stayed in the laundry room the whole night watching movies. I got no sleep at all. My tent was never set up at my camp site. The sun actually came out momentarily right at 9. I had an expensive pancake breakfast and was on the road by 10 am. Three minutes into my ride it started to rain and I had to but my dry rain gear on. It is taking all my self-control not to swear right now. Two kilometer’s past the lodge was a rest area and I was able to get a little cover from the rain. Ten minutes later the rain stopped and I was on my way. The sky looked even worse where I was headed. But as I followed the curve of the road the sky cleared up and there was the sun! I could not believe it; I almost cried.

About 5 km’s up the road I ran into I guy that had parked his (small) airplane off to the side of the highway. He had landed on the road and parked off to the side because of poor visibility to the north. He asked me how the weather was to the north. As I looked north I saw the weather looked kind of rough and was right on top of us. It started to sprinkle a bit and he let me take cover under the wing of the plane. The rain only lasted about 10 minutes. Then the sky cleared and the pilot gave the weather another 10 minutes and them had me watch the road while he taxied onto the highway and then took off down the road and into the air. It was kind of sort of neat to watch.

The weather cooperated for the rest of the day and I had mainly sunny skies. At the end of the day the weather did get cooler. My destination was the junction that leads to Stewart, B.C. and Hyder, Alaska. There is a very big climb leading to the junction. I would not necessarily call it a killer climb but after no sleep the night before it took its toll on me and there were a few little climbs after the big one and it was all I could do to get up the little ones.

Leaving Bell 2 the mountains are not as impressive as the ones that I have past or I should say missed because of bad weather. That being said I actually have vague memories of
this section of the Cassiar Highway from my 2004 road trip.

I stopped at the campground at the junction. As dead as I was I just made super and then moved on. There were no showers and no drinking water. I was not going to pay $16 for nothing. I was using there picnic table to make super so that was good enough. There were very strong winds coming off the lake. It took forever to boil my water for KD. It was so cold I thought it would snow. In fact it was so cold that by the time I had finished mixing the cheese in my KD and put it on the plate the KD was already cold.

As weird as it is when I hit the road again I was on a second wind and could have kept going for some time. But by the time I was back on the road it was pretty much dark out. Turning on the 37a Junction (towards Stewart & Hyder) it took close to 10 km’s to find a place to pull off the road.

Today I saw my record number of bears. I saw 12; 5 of them alone were on the 10’s I rode looking for a campsite. This place is completely infested; I have never seen so many bears in so few kilometers. Earlier in the day I had 2 stand up for me; not that I could get my camera ready quick enough but one had a tan patch on his chest so that was kind of neat to see.

I rode 100km’s today on no sleep under mostly nice skies. The rode was mostly flat until I hit that big climb at the end.

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Photos

Water Falls Right at the Side of the Road
The pavement on the road was getting wet from the splashing water.

Comments

[Steven]

Cool...
Cool pics Buddy...love them