Norden Canada Ride Report (*pics*)

[Lightcycle]

We've lived out here in BC for close to four years now, and in that time, we've made several trips to the west, the east and the south.

The Swedish word for "North" is "Norden". So, to christen Neda's new motorcycle, we're taking it out on a road trip and heading Norden!

I'll be taking my GS with a classic three box setup. Neda is sporting a more mass-centralized approach with a topcase and dry bag on the pillion seat. I think her setup is better as I can feel the weight of both panniers affecting my low-speed maneuverability. I love my soft bags on my enduro, but for long trips, I just prefer the ease, convenience and security of hard cases.

If we do more off-roading on the big bikes, I may have to do a re-think on this.

... aaaand we're off!

We live in a very touristy part of BC, and as locals, now is the perfect time to escape as the Canada Day long weekend draws in vacationers streaming in on both sides - from Vancouver in the west and Calgary to the east. On the road out of town, we weave and dodge red-plated Alberta cars and SUVs. Buh-BYE!

 

[Lightcycle]

This is the main highway through the Okanagan. What an amazing view for commuters!

It's a beautiful warm summer morning heading north on Hwy 97. About mid 20s, very comfortable temps for a motorcycle ride. Past Vernon, we duck into the back roads around Salmon Arm to have some fun in the twisties.

Two-wheeled cousins acknowledging each other

It's good to get off the highway, but these roads are so familiar because we've done them countless times. I'm really looking forward to seeing new sights and riding new routes. I kind of miss our time living full-time out on the road, when we'd get to see something totally new every day.

Soon.

Neda acquiring her ADV bike is just one of the steps to getting back out there. More on that later.

Typically at Salmon Arm, we either head back south, or head east on the TransCanada towards Revelstoke, but this time around, we turn north-west... or Norden-west. Yay, new roads!

Past Schuswap Lake, we see a big billboard at the side of the road advertising a motorcycle museum! Cool, let's check it out!

Dreamcycle Motorcycle Museum just outside of Sorrento

We parked beside several new-ish motorcycles that this place rents out, as well as other interesting vintage bikes for sale. This one caught our eye:

Another Husqvarna!

It's a 1974 WR450. Husqvarna dominated the MX racing scene in England in the 60s and 70s, their two-stroke bikes handily beating the British four-strokes.

You can see Neda's Norden in the background approving.

 

[Lightcycle]

Inside Dreamcycle Motorcycle Musuem

They wanted a $17/person entry fee to see the actual musuem, that was too steep for us, so we just poked around the gift shop and hastily made our way over to the Sprokkets Cafe attached to the musuem to grab some nosh. ("Now is the time on Sprockets when we dance... er, eat!")

One item stood out on the menu: "Ducati Meatball Panini". They totally should have called it the "Ducati Meatball Panigale-nini", what a missed opportunity!

Ordered some coconut cream pie instead

My bike in the background judges me silently, disapproving of all the extra weight it will have to carry this afternoon.

We consider trading in our ADV bikes for this Baja RE 4S Tuk Tuk. We can do circus tricks on this!

Bajaj did not dominate any racing scene in any geography. Although, I think taking one up to the far Norden Canada would make a great Top Gear episode: "Tuk Tuk to Tuktoyaktuk"! Well, maybe not a whole Top Gear episode, but perhaps a short Tik Tuk video...?

We met a group of motorcycles outside the museum and we chatted for a little bit. One of the ladies found out that Neda used to ride a F650GS so she had a lot of questions about it as she herself was shopping around for a F750GS. E-mail addresses and Instagram accounts were exchanged. I was chatting with another guy who rode his KTM Superduke from Vancouver to visit his folks in the area - who also hapened to be on bikes. A motorcycle family! Ryan later stumbled upon us again on one of the Facebook groups we're both on. Small world!

It was really nice exchanging motorcycle stories, and we said goodbye and headed back out on the road.

 

[Lightcycle]

A bit west of Sorrento, we get off TC1 to take a new road I had scoped out on the map:

Adams FSR. Our first gravel road of the trip!

Pretty straight and not that much to see except for trees, but once in a while, the FSR veered off close to Adams Lake and we get a terrific view of the waters below.

Noice!

At the Norden end of the lake, Adams FSR changes names to Agate Bay Road and reverts back to pavement.

As scenic as the backroads around Salmon Arm

That was a really nice route! Agate Bay Road lets us out at Highway 5 and we stop at a gas station Norden of Barriere to fill up.

 

[Lightcycle]

While we were sitting under a shade, this little curious guy came up to us and starting poking around our gear

Such a brilliant blue! Matches Neda's bike!

We saw another group of motorcyclists park next to our bikes as they poured intently over some maps

We walked over to say hi.

We found out that they were from Finland! Cool! They flew over and rented bikes from CycleBC out in Vancouver. We've rented from them a few times as well when we used to fly in to the west coast to ride, back when we lived in Toronto. These guys had hung Finnish flags from the backs of all their topcases. We asked about their route and they told us they were heading up to Jasper and riding down the Columbia Icefields. We did that exact ride two years ago, but in reverse!

We all left the gas station at the same time, and we followed the Europeans for a little while, watching their Finnish flags flapping around behind their bikes.

We left the Finns 15 minutes later, at Little Fort, getting off the main road and turning off at BC-24 (Little Fort Highway). It's another road that I had seen on the map that we've never done.

Plain Jane kinda road

It was okay. Not that interesting. *shrug* You win some, you lose some. Looked like rain clouds in the distance as BC-24 terminates at Highway 97, but it only spit down for a short while.

We pass a town called 100 Mile House. There's another town just south of here called 70 Mile House and another one Norden called 150 Mile House, all named for their rough distance away from Lillooet, which is Mile 0 on the Cariboo Highway. These towns were based on roadhouses that were built to take advantage of the prospecting traffic during the Gold Rush of the 1850s.

We go Norden. Naturally...

 

[Lightcycle]

An hour later, we find ourselves at Williams Lake, our first stop of the trip. Since we were traveling during a long weekend, we made sure to book most of our accommodations in advance. Prices for everything are sky-high these days, especially with inflation and vacation surge pricing. Still, we managed to secure a camp spot for $25 CDN. Not bad!

Here's where we're staying:

At the Williams Lake Stampede Grounds

And this being Canada Day, they're holding their annual stampede this weekend! Fun!

Unfortunately, we arrive after all the races and the shows, but this is primarily a motorcycle trip, so we're not that broken up about it. The campground host tells us that there are all sorts of music and activities this evening and apologized in advance for what little sleep we weren't going to get because of the noise.

Haha, no problem. Even though the sun sets well after 9PM up at this latitude, it's getting a bit chilly, so we have to don our sweaters and hiking pants.

#65 - J. Rea - KRT... This is how I remember numbers...

We set up our tent against the fence far away from all the RVs and their gennies. Lots of other campers here as well. By now, we're starving, so as I'm fiddling around inside our tent, setting up our sleeping pads and bags, Neda cooks dinner.

Rice and smokies!

Smoked sausages are a great camp food, since they're already pre-cooked and won't spoil when stored in your dry bag underneath the hot sun, during your trip. We leave some smokies left over for our breakfast tomorrow.

 

[Lightcycle]

While we ate, we heard the sound of horses whinnying from just behind the fence. I peeked through the slats but couldn't see anything, so after dinner, we walked around the site to check out who was making all that noise.

Aha! Saying hi to our neigh-bour

He was curious at first when Neda walked up to him. But after realizing there was no food to be had, he lost interest and turned around back inside. LOL!

We walked around the race track towards the grandstand, where we were told there would be live music playing this evening. Passed several cowboys and cowgirls tending to their horses, many of them First Nations.

 

[Lightcycle]

We entered the grandstand area where there was a huge law enforcement presence, both RCMP and private security groups checking people before they entered the premises. Turns out there was a shooting here last year so they beefed up security this year.

Made it through the checkpoint after being scanned for knives and guns.

This is the main entertainment area - the Let'R Buck Saloon

Lots of cowboy hats, jeans and large belt buckles milling around the area! Everyone having a great time. Coors was sponsoring the event, I guess Bud Light had to withdraw this year...? And all the beer was served in cans instead of bottles, as per event rules. Made good sense, because as soon as the band started playing, cowboy boots and shoes were tossed aside as people starting dancing the night away in socks and bare feet!

House band played lots of Garth Brooks, John Mellencamp, Tom Petty...

I was going to make a request, but something told me these guys didn't know any New Order. Or Ministry. Or KMFDM...

Just sit down and don't stand out, city boy...

We stayed awhile doing some people-watching. When we did our last big BC trip, we rode through Falkland, about an hour and a half from where we live, right during their annual stampede. That was towards the end of our ride, so we didn't stop. So glad we got to experience a little bit of this stampede.

We headed back to our camp site. As we got closer, there was a different band and crowd playing outside our tent:

Haha, this is more our speed

Hanging out with our fellow grey-hairs.

But these guys didn't know any Ministry either...

9:30PM and it's still bright outside. Crazy. Also, no fireworks this evening, I guess because it would spook the horses?

I checked the weather and it's going to be 5C tonight. Ugh. We turn in for the night, looking forward to more good roads tomorrow!

 

[Lightcycle]

As part of our camping kit, we always pack a pair of earplugs and a eye-mask to block out all sounds and sunlight in the morning. The only thing that woke me up this morning was a bursting bladder. I took off my eye-mask and was blinded by what I thought was the afternoon sun beating against the wall of the tent. Had we over-slept? I checked the time on my phone: 6:30AM. OMG, so bright for so early! Sunrise is at 4:52AM in this part of the world. Crazy.

Got up to go pee, still a bit cool outside. Then crawled back into the tent to try to get more sleep. Didn't work, because by 7AM, the tent had turned into an oven because of the sun. We had bought a sun shelter on our last truck-glamping trip, and we'll definitely use it to shield the tent from the morning sun the next time.

These guys had arrived late last night

A pair of his and hers GSes. So cute! I wonder if they're headed up to Alaska? That's a lot of jerry cans strapped to those panniers, for bikes that can easily do 400+ kms on one tank of gas!

We pack up the tent quickly and efficiently, scarf down a quick breaky - smokie sandwich, and head out of the campsite. Sidestands are up before 9AM and on our way out, we pass a line of cars streaming into the parking lot for Day 2 of the Stampede. We've got our own idea of fun for this holiday long weekend!

 

[Lightcycle]

It's a straight shot today, west from Williams Lake all the way to Bella Coola on Highway 20, just over 450 kms in total. The road starts off with a bang, with an uphill climb past the Fraser River on a few switchbacks that climb high up onto the Chilcotin plateau.

Although not super-twisty, there were enough fast sweepers on Highway 20 to keep us entertained. So far in the south, we hadn't encountered any bugs but now we rode through a cloud of dragonflies. Over the intercom, I could hear those bugs splatter against Neda's visor and vice versa... "plok.... plok.... plok...." and we'd giggle and comment on each other's splat-noises: "Ooooh, that sounded like a juicy one!"

My windshield was slowly clouding over with bug guts. Gross.

A couple of hours later, we stop at a lookout and meet these bikers who had stopped for a smoke break. It was a dad with his son and his two friends. They lived just a short distance south of here, at Lac La Hache, about 45 minutes south of Williams Lake. They were just going a short way on the Bella Coola Highway and then turning around and heading back home.

I talked to the father who was riding the boulevard cruiser (no windshield! his jacket was monstered with dead bugs) and he told us about all the forest fires they had experienced in the area over the years, most of them started by campers who just leave camp-side fires unattended. We had our own story to tell because yesterday, we just heard about a forest fire about 10 minutes away from our house back in Kelowna. A lot of people in the north end of town were on evacuation standby. I told him we might not have a home to go back to after this weekend.

May just have to live off our motorcycles from now on...

The guy on the KLR told us about some good gravel roads we could take from Lac La Hache all the way to Williams Lake. We'll have to try that the next time we're up here. I love meeting up with bikers on the road. Everyone enjoys sharing their favorite local roads!

Posing with the South Chilcotin Mountain Range in the background

Our bikes do some posing as well

 

[Lightcycle]

About half distance to Bella Coola, we stop at Tatla Lake to fill up. I have about 110 kms till empty, Neda has over 150 kms left in her tank. Despite having 1L less fuel capacity, the Norden's 899cc engine is very efficient, netting on average around 50 kms more range than I get on my GS.

Uh oh... the gas station is closed this holiday weekend...

This is a bit worrisome. We've got about 225 kms more till Bella Coola and we've been told that gas stations are few and far between on Hwy 20.

I wasn't the only one worried. As soon as we stopped, three other ADV bikes also pulled up next to us and asked about the gas situation. One guy on a V-Strom had 13 kms left in his tank! Thankfully, they were all carrying extra fuel canisters, but were still unsure about where the next gas stop would be.

We went inside to the restaurant to inquire about fuel availabilty and it was also a good place to stop for lunch.

We're fueled up, now we just have to worry about the bikes...

Before anyone judges me about my double-cheese burger, Neda is lactose intolerant so she gave me her slice of cheese.

I also wish she was french-fry intolerant, but no luck there...

Lunch was delicious, but super-expensive. Inflation, plus also this is the only restaurant for over 200 kms in all directions. I'm glad we brought our camp stove with us and buying groceries and cooking our own food.

Across Tatla lake, you can see the Niut Mountain Range in the distance

The ladies who worked at the restaurant told us all that there was gas available at Ninpo Lake, about 75 kms away. Wow, that's cutting it a bit tight for me. And V-Strom guy would probably have to borrow fuel from both of his buddies supplies. We chatted with the other bikers for a while at lunch, and they shared with us some dirt trails that weaved in and out of Hwy 20. Cool! More routes for our database!

 

[Lightcycle]

We set off for Ninpo Lake. Just as advised, the gas station there was open. Only regular, no premium and priced at $1.87 a litre. Not as bad as it was outside of Williams Lake - $2.00/litre! When gas first broke a buck/litre I was astonished. Now, I'm just numb to the ever-increasing costs of... well, everything...

I'm a bit worried about the octane. Both our bikes call for 91 AKI. Not sure how well our bikes are going to do with low-test, but as long as we're not heavy on the throttle, should be okay? We'll see.

Nimpo Lake Mall. Not exactly what I was expecting.

We met a lady in a pick-up truck who warned us about the gravel coming up further down the highway to Bella Coola. We told her we knew about it and that's the reason why we were up here and she looked at us like we were crazy. LOL!

We pass Anahim Lake 15 minutes later and just as warned, the road turns to gravel.

One of about ten gravel switchbacks on Highway 20

Temperatures start to rise as we descend into the valley, so we stop to peel off our layers

Much has been written about Highway 20 to Bella Coola. It's been featured on websites like "dangeorusroads.org". Most of the routes that we've enjoyed are actually on that web site (should really be called "reallyfunroads.org"), so we were looking forward to riding it. Like most public roads, it's fairly well maintained, the gravel is well-graded, wide enough for a 50-ft motorhome to negotiate, and the infamous "Hill" is a benign 15% grade, barely noticeable at all, because of the many switchbacks that smoothed out our descent into the valley.

 

[Lightcycle]

Such amazing scenery!

I think what makes it seem dangerous to a lot of people is the lack of a guardrail to stop you from going over the edge if you lose focus. I've read stories of tourists who were so unnerved about the drive in that they opted to abandon their rental car at Bella Coola and fly out or take the ferry back to the mainland. That's just weird.

The gravel mountain pass turned out to be really short. About a 1500m descent over 15 kms, which gave us some amazing views because it was all downhill. We were kind of sad it was over so quickly when the pavement returned beneath our wheels after the last switchback. I'm glad we did it in this direction because you see more scenery going downhill than up.

Pictures don't quite do it justice, the scenery was fantastic and it's easily the best stretch of Highway 20!

Shortly after the gravel ended, we found a grocery store at the town of Hagensborg, so we stopped to stock up on food for this evening and tomorrow morning's breakfast. No telling how much restaurant food would cost at the port town at the end of Highway 20.

15 minutes later, we arrive at Bella Coola. We're opting to stay at a motel tonight because we need to check-in to the ferry tomorrow at 5:30AM!

We saw a few other bikes parked at the inn, we'll probably see all of them tomorrow morning.

 

[AllistonGT]

Great write up. Thanks for sharing!

 

[guzzirider]

Nice to see lots of pictures.
I tend to get fixated on the road in front of me and don't stop & take enough photos.
I have always been fascinated by the road to Bella Coola.
Back in the 80s the maps had "not suitable for trailers" on them.
Since I moved back to southern Ontario from Edmonton I will probably never get to ride it.
Good luck and have a good trip.

 

[sburns]

Looks like a good ride. BC seems nice for touring.
I thought you guys were going way north, I have friends in Prince George, seems nice there, but even that isn't all the way north in BC.

 

[Lightcycle]

Nice to see lots of pictures.
I tend to get fixated on the road in front of me and don't stop & take enough photos.

Our memories are all we have of our trips once we've finished them, and a lot of the details get washed away with time. I've realized how much we end up forgetting when we go back through some of our blog posts from decades ago and remark, "I don't remember that AT ALL!".

It's super-important to both of us to have a record of these trips, especially for that time when we're too old and frail to swing a leg over.

I have always been fascinated by the road to Bella Coola.
Back in the 80s the maps had "not suitable for trailers" on them.

They haven't significantly upgraded the road since it was built in the 50s by locals when the provincial government decided to stop construction at Anahim Lake. Its reputation is severely hyped. It's no more "dangerous" than any other switchbacked gravel road. 10-15% grade is less steep than most people's driveways.

Maybe 18-wheelers might be too long to negotiate some of the tighter switchbacks, but we saw so many 2wd vehicles going back and forth. You'd have to have be a super-nervous driver to be worried about the Bella Coola highway.

 

[Lightcycle]

Looks like a good ride. BC seems nice for touring.
I thought you guys were going way north, I have friends in Prince George, seems nice there, but even that isn't all the way north in BC.

We've done the entire length of BC before, all the way to the Yukon, but there are so many off-shoots in between, so we're going to explore while we're here. The last time we went up to the Arctic Ocean, we went through Prince George to the Cassiar Highway and up through Alaska.

Not reasonable for a long weekend ride though!

Next time we go, we'll head further west to Prince Rupert and maybe catch the ferry through the narrow channel back down to Bella Coola and do Highway 20 in reverse. So much to see and do here!

 

[afici0nad0]

Love reading your stories/adventures

 

[Lightcycle]

For what's supposed to be a rest day, we're up super-early this morning.

We're catching the ferry from Bella Coola to Port Hardy, on the northern end of Vancouver Island. The departure time is set for 7:30AM, but the check-in window is merciless early - from 5:30AM-6:00AM. Ugh.

We booked a room at the Inn so we wouldn't need to pack up a tent first thing in the morning, otherwise we'd probably have to set our alarm for 4:00AM. Thankfully, the check-in lot is just outside the motel, so not far to travel at all.

Bikes are instructed to line up at the back of the line, so I think they're boarding First-In-Last-Out... or at least, I hope so.

There are nine motorcycles in total, one large group of six riders, mostly KTM ADVs, that seem to know each other, a lone rider on a 1290 Super Adventure R and us.

Having to wait two hours to board gives all the riders a lot of time to talk and take pictures

We got to know our fellow riders. The big group is from the Kootenays, one valley over from us, and the solo rider has come all he way over from Fort St. John. Neda's Expedition is a huge hit with all the other ADV riders as they pepper her with questions about her new ride. There aren't a lot of these on the road, yet.

Chatting with Dorian, our next-door neighbour from the valley over

Everyone was raving about how scenic the mountain pass to Bella Coola was. One rider, Dorian from Nelson, shares with us a whole whack of trails and invites us to their local Facebook riding group. Cool! We have people to show us around the next time we go over to the Kootenays!

The Northern Sea Wolf, our ferry, arrives at the harbour at Bella Coola - so scenic here!

This ferry only sails an average of twice a week, so we've all booked our tickets well in advance, since this is a long weekend. You'll be waiting a few more days for the next sailing if the ferry is full.