Day 34

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Day 34:




Within minutes of leaving the lodge we were onto the Lola Motorway. This is a misnomer as the road started off as a slippery, river stone gravel road, but soon changed to a narrow dirt track with plenty of rocks, views and steep ascents. Another couple of arm wrenching uphills warmed us up & by the time we were at 2100m we stopped to shed a layer or 2. We were riding through forests which had been hit by fires so many trees were dead, but an equal number the fires had missed completely. The views were chocolate box perfect, the trail was enjoyable as it wound amongst alpine wild flowers & the trees. As well as our adventurous trip this pass has been travelled by Lewis & Clark the explorers 200 years ago & many motorcyclists since. The explorers had Nez Perce Indian guides & during their journey which took around a week or more they encountered snow 7 feet deep. All we had were GPS, maps & motorcycles, no Indian guides – they had it easy by comparison. The pass got up to nearly 7000 feet (2100m or more) and overall was a spectacular ride.

Up here Deer, Bears, wolves, wolverines & mountain lions are apparently plentiful (as we saw by the stuffed animals & skins in the lodge last night)……….. however we saw only the odd deer & many ground squirrels. I saw 2 skunks crossing my path but none of the other species. We saw almost no other humans except 4 people on 2 ATVS – they must have been camping up here & out hunting. This section was around 130kms and took us around 4 hours – the low average speed was an indication of the technical nature of the track.

Dropping down into the small town of Pierce we gassed up & went to the local pub, the Timber Inn, for lunch. The chef/owner whatever, got talking to us & it turned out he had been in Christchurch & Antarctica in 1969 as part of Operation Deep Freeze as a helicopter crewman. Shortly after we arrived, 2 motorcyclists came in (A Canadian & an American ) who were doing the BDR like us but North to South. They had some good maps & gave us a heads up on the trail ahead. They said they were averaging 20mph which put us off trying to attempt the whole afternoon section of around 120 miles which meant 6 hours riding and it was already 1.30pm. Adjusting our plans we decided to do an hour or 2 of the trail & then cut West to either Elk River or Clarkia.

Setting off we immediately encountered a river stone gravel road which kept us slipping & sliding for quite a few miles. After a couple of hours of this we took a turn off heading for Clarkia 45 miles or around 75kms away. This was described as an “Unpaved Road” on the GPS. It definitely was. Basically a track, in some parts quite overgrown it was nevertheless nicer to ride than the slippery gravel. Again through burnt & unburnt forests & at on one stage when I was leading a red/brown wolf ran across the road in front of me. By all accounts the Gray Wolf can be red or white or brown, however there is a species of Red Wolf so who knows?

Turning onto another track towards Clarkia we disturbed a moose grazing on the side of the track. Probably a female with no antlers, instead of hi-tailing into the bush it turned & looked at us for a few seconds & then allowed us a good look at it as it ran down the road in front of us for a few hundred metres, before going into the bush.

Continuing to Clarkia we stopped for a drink & found the closest accommodation was at St Maries a further 50kms on. Main highway all the way, so we covered this at around 3 times our average speed for the day. Checked into a motel for a well earned cold beer after a hot long dusty day. 81/2 hours riding and 380kms



Tomorrow Keith & I head towards Vancouver 735kms away & Ian & Bryan will do a couple more days on the trail.

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