Ride Report: 2020 BC
- Thread starter shanekingsley
- Start date
kiley
Well-known member
i would love to see some kind of collaboration with input for great places to stay / camp and eat and such.
i find others ride reports so helpful.
J_F
Guest
was thinking this would be a good idea for a stickied thread
a list to keep updated
GTAM member approved motels, restaurants, camp sites etc.
arranged by location, city, province, state etc.
Too small of a contributor group on GTAM.
Something like this exists for the larger traveling community. Try iOverlander | Find your next destination
You can even join and become a contributor and add your reviews to the listings.
Something like this exists for the larger traveling community. Try iOverlander | Find your next destination
You can even join and become a contributor and add your reviews to the listings.
After being on the island for the past few days now, I think tomorrow morning I will come back and ride the Pacific Circle Loop from Victoria through Port Renfrew instead of the Sunshine Coast. I don’t need to be back at my sisters til 4pm and this loop has a bunch of other roads that are great too.
Next time!
Thanks - I just checked a bunch of locations I will be passing through and all of them look great over the next 10 days. Fingers crossed there are no more surprise cold fronts that pop up later next week.
Priller
Well-known member
Makes total sense. I've done it in a car, and the stretch along the coast is stunning. If it lines up, the Point No Point Resort is totally worth a stop for grub, assuming it's open.
The restaurant is delicious, and has tables with incredible views overlooking the ocean that each come with a set of binoculars for wildlife spotting. It's about a third of the way from Sooke to Port Renfrew, or two thirds of the way in the other direction.
Day 14/15
Went back over to my cousins place a few more times in North Vancouver to help them unpack.
While on route to their house on one visit I made sure to stop and support the local economy.
The officer was really nice, so I figure a combo of humour and small talk was my ticket outta here.
Her: "Excuse me do you know how fast you were going?"
Me: "Ummm 80?"
Her: "You were going 84. Do you know what the speed limit is on this road?"
Me: "84?"
Her: "Haha very funny - I'm gonna need you to pull in over over there. It's a 50 zone here."Doh!
She looks at my license plate from Ontario and doesn't quite seem to know what to do with it. As she is doing her thing, I figure the best thing to do is make more small talk.
Me: "Wow - very nice bike. Is that a Harley?"
Her: "Yes."
Me: "Can I take your picture to add to my travel photos?"
Her: "Knock yourself out."
She comes back to me and hands me a piece of paper with my license and tells me I'm good to go. She apologizes and says she has to give me a ticket, but has lowered it to the lowest ticket she is allowed to do. The whole process took 6 minutes - most efficient stop ever. Now to look into reciprocal relationships.
Several days later I meet a local rider and we start talking about speeding tickets in BC. He explains to me that there is some sort of traffic enforcement division that is managed or paid for by the ICBC, who then hire cops to hand out tickets only within speed traps. Those cops have to follow a policy that they must give you a ticket if they stop you at a dedicated speed trap, however if a regular cop stops you on the road they can just send you off with a warning.
I'm glad it was my first and only time exceeding the speed limit on this trip. Lesson learned.
Went back over to my cousins place a few more times in North Vancouver to help them unpack.
While on route to their house on one visit I made sure to stop and support the local economy.
The officer was really nice, so I figure a combo of humour and small talk was my ticket outta here.
Her: "Excuse me do you know how fast you were going?"
Me: "Ummm 80?"
Her: "You were going 84. Do you know what the speed limit is on this road?"
Me: "84?"
Her: "Haha very funny - I'm gonna need you to pull in over over there. It's a 50 zone here."Doh!
She looks at my license plate from Ontario and doesn't quite seem to know what to do with it. As she is doing her thing, I figure the best thing to do is make more small talk.
Me: "Wow - very nice bike. Is that a Harley?"
Her: "Yes."
Me: "Can I take your picture to add to my travel photos?"
Her: "Knock yourself out."
She comes back to me and hands me a piece of paper with my license and tells me I'm good to go. She apologizes and says she has to give me a ticket, but has lowered it to the lowest ticket she is allowed to do. The whole process took 6 minutes - most efficient stop ever. Now to look into reciprocal relationships.
Several days later I meet a local rider and we start talking about speeding tickets in BC. He explains to me that there is some sort of traffic enforcement division that is managed or paid for by the ICBC, who then hire cops to hand out tickets only within speed traps. Those cops have to follow a policy that they must give you a ticket if they stop you at a dedicated speed trap, however if a regular cop stops you on the road they can just send you off with a warning.
I'm glad it was my first and only time exceeding the speed limit on this trip. Lesson learned.
Priller
Well-known member
One thing you'll realise in BC is folks out there get very tinfoil hat about ICBC. They compare rates to Alberta, not understanding that until recently Alberta rates were capped, so were artificially low. (If I had a beef with ICBC, it would be about driver training and the shockingly low bar for licensing.)
My understanding is that ICBC does give local police forces money for road safety/enforcement, but it's for a whole range of things including RIDE checks, distracted driver/mobile phone traps (ask me how I know about that one - definitely unusual), etc. and I believe the various police detachments choose how to spend the money. Of course, them choosing easy prey is not unheard of. There's a spot at the bottom of Boundary Rd in Burnaby with a long, very steep hill that the cops love and even have a dedicated turnout lane to park in just for handing out tickets.
I'm pretty sure the speed trap vs road stop warning thing is universal across Canada. Many, many (yes, many, Mr Insurance Man) years ago, I got tagged doing 70 on Lakeshore eastbound coming towards the Ex grounds. They were hiding behind the Legion building that now has a giant poppy on the side. The officer was weirdly apologetic about the ticket, saying he watched me pass a car and was hoping I wouldn't exceed 65, as they give you 15 kmh on streets and 20 on the highway. But because it was a speed trap, he had to issue the ticket.
Day 16-18: Richmond to Richmond
Many years ago I had been out from Victoria to Nanaimo, but I've long since forgotten what that was all about. This trip was going to be with my sister and her 16yr old son and 14 yr old daughter. Unfortunately we were in her 2007 Honda Odyssey van with almost 350,000km on it, but the trip was spectacular nonetheless.
We went from Sunday to Tuesday which was a good thing, because all the lodgings were booked up. The cheapest places in Tofino and Ucluelet were around $350/night so no thanks. There was one place that was $1350/night!
So we found a decent place called the Hospitality Inn in Port Alberni which was around $100/night. Getting there involved a 2hr ferry from Richmond to Nanaimo and the weather was incredible - around 25deg and sunny and views for miles:
The scenery is breathtaking from all vantage points:
We arrive at the Duke Point ferry terminal and drive for about 90 minutes, along some sweet roads to get to Port Alberni. We were arriving into Port Alberni around 6pm and had a bit of time before dark, so we wanted to go for a short hike or see something nice. We found this small hole in the wall hike and decided to check it out. There wasn't much info on it, but it seemed to be less than hour round trip, so off we go. It's an easy descent along a well used path that opens out in to this - literally a hole in the wall:
We walked across the water and climbed up into the hole and checked out the other side while my sister looked on with a mild scared look on her face wondering what bad lessons I'm teaching her kids. It was worth it though, because it was pretty sweet on the other side too with large fallen trees and and dense forest all around.
Afterward he need to find some food and some place called Dimitri's Pizza gets good reviews so we check it out. It turns out it's a 2 minute walk from out hotel and they also serve East Indian style pizza with butter chicken or tandoori etc. My sis and the kids all got different pizzas and they loved them. I decided to try out the veggie lasagna, which they added curry powder and made it super spicy for me and it was big and delicious!
We wake up the next morning and head down to the waterfront for breakfast. Port Alberni has a really laid back waterfront with nice views. We drive over to Ucluelet to go for some hikes, see the coastline and maybe some big trees in the rainforest. As luck would have it we found just that. We do the short walk on the left side of the map, but you can see there is a decent amount of ground to cover if you are interested:
There is a trail called the Rocky Bluffs which we decide to check out. It's only about 3-4 km and the views are the perfect combination of rugged and glorious:
After the Rocky Bluffs we do the Giant Cedars loop and these trees are supposed to be around 800 years old and they really are giant:
I like big trees:
From here we head north to Tofino. The drive along the coast is really nice. Sometimes the road is surrounded by trees, and other times it's open views of the Pacific Ocean and the 35kms of beautiful beaches. We all really wanted to just relax in the sun and maybe watch some people surfing. The walk to the beach looks promising:
And the beach delivers just what we all needed:
There was even some rocky outcrops with starfish, and some other cool stuff happening just below the waters surface:
It's almost time to head back to Port Alberni, so we stop off at Chocolate Tofino for some amazing gelato. Well worth the visit and wait if there is a line-up. We arrive back in Port Alberni and have more pizza and lasagna for dinner.
The next morning I wake up at 6am to go for a run. It's damn cold out, but it was so worth it. I found a nice trail along Sproat Lake for a hilly 7km run. Because I'm an idiot I ran up this ramp thinking it would be fun, but I didn't realize it was covered in spider webs all strategically at the height of my face for a protein breakfast:
Tons of bikes out along the #4 between Tofino and Port Alberni:
Stopped off in Coombs to the Country Market and checked out the green roof and the lawn mowing goats:
Heard that there was a nice Petroglyphs Park to check out and so we did. It feels like everything we did was really educational for the kids:
Decided to go check out a waterfall nearby and it was incredible. We could get really close and walk right into the water (which was ice cold!) and just enjoy the moment:
This one's for Kiley:
Got to see many more giant trees next to the waterfalls:
Then we caught the sunset ferry back to Richmond. What an awesome few days on the island with my sis and the kids:
Next up - not sure yet - maybe a ride up the Sunshine Coast or maybe a ride out to Port Renfrew or maybe spend some downtime before the long ride home.
Many years ago I had been out from Victoria to Nanaimo, but I've long since forgotten what that was all about. This trip was going to be with my sister and her 16yr old son and 14 yr old daughter. Unfortunately we were in her 2007 Honda Odyssey van with almost 350,000km on it, but the trip was spectacular nonetheless.
We went from Sunday to Tuesday which was a good thing, because all the lodgings were booked up. The cheapest places in Tofino and Ucluelet were around $350/night so no thanks. There was one place that was $1350/night!
So we found a decent place called the Hospitality Inn in Port Alberni which was around $100/night. Getting there involved a 2hr ferry from Richmond to Nanaimo and the weather was incredible - around 25deg and sunny and views for miles:
The scenery is breathtaking from all vantage points:
We arrive at the Duke Point ferry terminal and drive for about 90 minutes, along some sweet roads to get to Port Alberni. We were arriving into Port Alberni around 6pm and had a bit of time before dark, so we wanted to go for a short hike or see something nice. We found this small hole in the wall hike and decided to check it out. There wasn't much info on it, but it seemed to be less than hour round trip, so off we go. It's an easy descent along a well used path that opens out in to this - literally a hole in the wall:
We walked across the water and climbed up into the hole and checked out the other side while my sister looked on with a mild scared look on her face wondering what bad lessons I'm teaching her kids. It was worth it though, because it was pretty sweet on the other side too with large fallen trees and and dense forest all around.
Afterward he need to find some food and some place called Dimitri's Pizza gets good reviews so we check it out. It turns out it's a 2 minute walk from out hotel and they also serve East Indian style pizza with butter chicken or tandoori etc. My sis and the kids all got different pizzas and they loved them. I decided to try out the veggie lasagna, which they added curry powder and made it super spicy for me and it was big and delicious!
We wake up the next morning and head down to the waterfront for breakfast. Port Alberni has a really laid back waterfront with nice views. We drive over to Ucluelet to go for some hikes, see the coastline and maybe some big trees in the rainforest. As luck would have it we found just that. We do the short walk on the left side of the map, but you can see there is a decent amount of ground to cover if you are interested:
There is a trail called the Rocky Bluffs which we decide to check out. It's only about 3-4 km and the views are the perfect combination of rugged and glorious:
After the Rocky Bluffs we do the Giant Cedars loop and these trees are supposed to be around 800 years old and they really are giant:
I like big trees:
From here we head north to Tofino. The drive along the coast is really nice. Sometimes the road is surrounded by trees, and other times it's open views of the Pacific Ocean and the 35kms of beautiful beaches. We all really wanted to just relax in the sun and maybe watch some people surfing. The walk to the beach looks promising:
And the beach delivers just what we all needed:
There was even some rocky outcrops with starfish, and some other cool stuff happening just below the waters surface:
It's almost time to head back to Port Alberni, so we stop off at Chocolate Tofino for some amazing gelato. Well worth the visit and wait if there is a line-up. We arrive back in Port Alberni and have more pizza and lasagna for dinner.
The next morning I wake up at 6am to go for a run. It's damn cold out, but it was so worth it. I found a nice trail along Sproat Lake for a hilly 7km run. Because I'm an idiot I ran up this ramp thinking it would be fun, but I didn't realize it was covered in spider webs all strategically at the height of my face for a protein breakfast:
Tons of bikes out along the #4 between Tofino and Port Alberni:
Stopped off in Coombs to the Country Market and checked out the green roof and the lawn mowing goats:
Heard that there was a nice Petroglyphs Park to check out and so we did. It feels like everything we did was really educational for the kids:
Decided to go check out a waterfall nearby and it was incredible. We could get really close and walk right into the water (which was ice cold!) and just enjoy the moment:
This one's for Kiley:
Got to see many more giant trees next to the waterfalls:
Then we caught the sunset ferry back to Richmond. What an awesome few days on the island with my sis and the kids:
Next up - not sure yet - maybe a ride up the Sunshine Coast or maybe a ride out to Port Renfrew or maybe spend some downtime before the long ride home.
Day 19 Route (I actually did many more backroads than shown here, but this is all Google Maps will allow in one route, so more detailed links are below): Richmond to Richmond
After going back and forth about what to do, I decided to head back over to the island, but this time on my bike and explore the Port Renfrew loop. I had read that the coastal ride near Port Renfrew was remarkable and when I looked into it further it also seemed that there was quite a few backroads worth checking out, which actually turned out to be some of the best roads I have hit up on the entire trip.
Since I'm heading back home tomorrow, I have to be back at my sisters place for dinner so we can have a nice last night together. I have to catch the 7am ferry out of Richmond, which is pretty awesome, because I get to do a sunrise ferry after doing the sunset ferry last night. And the sunrise did not disappoint!
There were only two other bikes on the ferry. I think one of the bikes was a DR650 and the other was a Fireblade. The guy on the DR650 was there for work and we didn't talk much. The guy on the blade was named Dean and an elevator technician who was going to spend a few days of aimless riding around the island. We spent pretty much the whole 90 minutes chatting about bikes and trips and stuff. Very nice guy!
The ferry docks and we ride off. As part of this ride I want to spend as little time as possible on the main roads. Using the Destination Highways BC maps, I find out that there are some backroads worth checking out very close to Victoria and right on the way to and from the ferry terminal. Turns out that it was pretty cold and wet in the morning and it didn't seem like a good idea to push it on these roads. Some of them were pretty tight and technical, so I decided to ride them nicely and then try them out again on my way home when it was much warmer out.
Somewhere along the way I pass this road which can only be a good omen of things to come:
To make my way over to Lake Cowichan I also read about a bunch of other decent backroads, so I check them all out too. All of them were quite nice and much more interesting than taking the highway.
Once I headed south from Lake Cowichan the road gets petty tight, there is no centreline and it's quite bumpy in the turns. There was also pretty much zero traffic on this road and often the GPS and me cell would both lose all signals. It was a nice ride to see all the logging that had been done over the years and there were many dead trees standing - perhaps from the pine beetle or something else:
I make my way south to Port Renfrew and stop to take this mandatory picture and as I do so this guy photobombed my moment. I would pass him about 5 more times and he would catch up to me every time I stopped for a picture:
Instead of staying in the town and checking things out there, I want to make my way over to the Pacific Rim Park and check out the water views and the beaches. By now the elevation has increased significantly, so the faint outlines of mountains in the distance and views of the water are incredible down below:
I had read that pretty much where this picture above was taken, there is a hiking trail along the waters edge which spans many kilometres. I think it was called the Juan de Fuca trail, located in the Juan de Fuca Provincial Park, along the Juan de Fuca Strait. I see a beach called China Beach and think this must be a good place to see the water. I head down and they had this interesting sign showing the expanse of the hiking trail, which seems to be pretty challenging in some areas:
Another vista of a beautiful beach awaits with more terrific trees. It was about 30deg out now and I walk the 500m down the hill in my full gear which was pretty easy. It wasn't so pleasant coming back up however, but I did find some amazing beach pebbles to take home which made it all worthwhile. As you walk out to China Beach:
This was a pretty quiet beach!
No shortage of big trees at the waters edge to the rainforest:
All these frequent stops are making me feel like I'm going get late for dinner. I decide to pick up the pace and just as I do so, I'm being asked to go slow. Shirley you can't be serious.
As I come into the town of Sooke, I decide to check out some more backroads. If you are ever in the area make sure you check these out. They are flat out awesome. Amazing pavement, tight turns, nice scenery and no traffic.
As I head back north towards the ferry terminal I have the chance to again ride the backroads I started the day off with. By now the temps are around 33 and the tires are sticking like glue. It also helps that have left all my gear at home so the bike is riding quite nice. I only keep the side cases on to make me appear like gentleman. I really liked Munn Road and one of my favourite roads on this entire trip was Finlayson Arm Road. It's short, very narrow, has many blind corners and extremely steep hills, so I did most of the road in first gear!
As I make my way back to the ferry I pass a sign saying that the world famous Butchart Gardens are only 2km away. Being someone who likes plants, I decide to check it out since I know many gardeners who praise this place. It means I miss the ferry and will be getting home a bit later, but it would be pretty dumb for someone like me who worked as a gardener for 15 years not make a little time to see this place. It was incredible and I will go back!
I catch the 5pm ferry which will have me back for 7pm dinner. I'm also the only bike on the boat this time so it gives me a chance to take in what an amazing day I just had. In case you didn't know, these big ferries don't require the bikes to be tied down, since the boats are very large, slow and gentle. Just put the kickstand down and if you want you can take a tiered block and wedge it on the opposite side of the bike like I have done here.
Tomorrow I say goodbye to my sis and start my slow journey home with an opportunity to ride the southern interior of BC!
After going back and forth about what to do, I decided to head back over to the island, but this time on my bike and explore the Port Renfrew loop. I had read that the coastal ride near Port Renfrew was remarkable and when I looked into it further it also seemed that there was quite a few backroads worth checking out, which actually turned out to be some of the best roads I have hit up on the entire trip.
Since I'm heading back home tomorrow, I have to be back at my sisters place for dinner so we can have a nice last night together. I have to catch the 7am ferry out of Richmond, which is pretty awesome, because I get to do a sunrise ferry after doing the sunset ferry last night. And the sunrise did not disappoint!
There were only two other bikes on the ferry. I think one of the bikes was a DR650 and the other was a Fireblade. The guy on the DR650 was there for work and we didn't talk much. The guy on the blade was named Dean and an elevator technician who was going to spend a few days of aimless riding around the island. We spent pretty much the whole 90 minutes chatting about bikes and trips and stuff. Very nice guy!
The ferry docks and we ride off. As part of this ride I want to spend as little time as possible on the main roads. Using the Destination Highways BC maps, I find out that there are some backroads worth checking out very close to Victoria and right on the way to and from the ferry terminal. Turns out that it was pretty cold and wet in the morning and it didn't seem like a good idea to push it on these roads. Some of them were pretty tight and technical, so I decided to ride them nicely and then try them out again on my way home when it was much warmer out.
Somewhere along the way I pass this road which can only be a good omen of things to come:
To make my way over to Lake Cowichan I also read about a bunch of other decent backroads, so I check them all out too. All of them were quite nice and much more interesting than taking the highway.
Once I headed south from Lake Cowichan the road gets petty tight, there is no centreline and it's quite bumpy in the turns. There was also pretty much zero traffic on this road and often the GPS and me cell would both lose all signals. It was a nice ride to see all the logging that had been done over the years and there were many dead trees standing - perhaps from the pine beetle or something else:
I make my way south to Port Renfrew and stop to take this mandatory picture and as I do so this guy photobombed my moment. I would pass him about 5 more times and he would catch up to me every time I stopped for a picture:
Instead of staying in the town and checking things out there, I want to make my way over to the Pacific Rim Park and check out the water views and the beaches. By now the elevation has increased significantly, so the faint outlines of mountains in the distance and views of the water are incredible down below:
I had read that pretty much where this picture above was taken, there is a hiking trail along the waters edge which spans many kilometres. I think it was called the Juan de Fuca trail, located in the Juan de Fuca Provincial Park, along the Juan de Fuca Strait. I see a beach called China Beach and think this must be a good place to see the water. I head down and they had this interesting sign showing the expanse of the hiking trail, which seems to be pretty challenging in some areas:
Another vista of a beautiful beach awaits with more terrific trees. It was about 30deg out now and I walk the 500m down the hill in my full gear which was pretty easy. It wasn't so pleasant coming back up however, but I did find some amazing beach pebbles to take home which made it all worthwhile. As you walk out to China Beach:
This was a pretty quiet beach!
No shortage of big trees at the waters edge to the rainforest:
All these frequent stops are making me feel like I'm going get late for dinner. I decide to pick up the pace and just as I do so, I'm being asked to go slow. Shirley you can't be serious.
As I come into the town of Sooke, I decide to check out some more backroads. If you are ever in the area make sure you check these out. They are flat out awesome. Amazing pavement, tight turns, nice scenery and no traffic.
As I head back north towards the ferry terminal I have the chance to again ride the backroads I started the day off with. By now the temps are around 33 and the tires are sticking like glue. It also helps that have left all my gear at home so the bike is riding quite nice. I only keep the side cases on to make me appear like gentleman. I really liked Munn Road and one of my favourite roads on this entire trip was Finlayson Arm Road. It's short, very narrow, has many blind corners and extremely steep hills, so I did most of the road in first gear!
As I make my way back to the ferry I pass a sign saying that the world famous Butchart Gardens are only 2km away. Being someone who likes plants, I decide to check it out since I know many gardeners who praise this place. It means I miss the ferry and will be getting home a bit later, but it would be pretty dumb for someone like me who worked as a gardener for 15 years not make a little time to see this place. It was incredible and I will go back!
I catch the 5pm ferry which will have me back for 7pm dinner. I'm also the only bike on the boat this time so it gives me a chance to take in what an amazing day I just had. In case you didn't know, these big ferries don't require the bikes to be tied down, since the boats are very large, slow and gentle. Just put the kickstand down and if you want you can take a tiered block and wedge it on the opposite side of the bike like I have done here.
Tomorrow I say goodbye to my sis and start my slow journey home with an opportunity to ride the southern interior of BC!
You bet. When I parked my bike on the boat, I looked back and it looked pretty awesome being the only vehicle in there. I jumped of the bike to take a pic and then a few cars had just started to board the vessel. That boat ended up being fully packed as well - just no bikes for some reason.
Day 20 Route: Richmond to Merritt
I said my goodbyes to my sis and off I went at 7:30am. I really wanted to ride the Sea to Sky Highway with little traffic on it and since today was a Thursday morning, it looked promising. As I made my way out of Vancouver it dawned on me that I did not have my spare clutch cable. Doh! When I was at the shop, they had replaced my handle bars and were supposed to give me the cable to take with me. They forgot to and I equally forgot to ask for it. They called me later that night to apologize for the mistake, but I had other commitments at that moment, so I said I would pick it up before leaving my sisters... but I never did. Good thing the bike is working good and I'll have to remember to ask them to ship it to me or send it to my sis.
As I'm heading north, the Sea to Sky has next to no traffic on it, just as I had hoped. I didn't take any pictures because the sun was still really low and the views were better suited to my memories than dark and grainy photos. It was also incredible to move at my own pace without all the RV's and cruisers slowing me down - and much more enjoyable with proper handlebars! Once I passed Pemberton, I looked for the wooden bridge I slipped on a couple weeks ago. I come across it and now the sun is shining on it and it actually looks like a pretty good bridge - new wood, no algae - I guess it was just the mountain dew that did the trick. I was coming from the opposite direction when it happened - probaly around 7:30am that day vs 9:30am now:
I continue on and just a few minutes up the road is that same beautiful picture postcard spot I saw when heading south a couple weeks ago. This time, it seems someone else was there and maybe went for a hike or canoeing, because their chairs are left there, but no one is around. Pure Canadiana here:
From here on in, the road is going to get really good. I have so many pictures of awesome twisty roads. The section between Mount Currie and Lilloet is one of my favourites to ride on. For this picture, I parked my bike way down below and walked back up the hill about 1/2km to capture the view as I saw it when coming around a corner to this:
I reach the town of Lillooet and it definitely has a rugged feel.
After Lillooet I decide to head south towards the Yale/Hope area. I had read that the TransCanada section north of Yale is really nice. I couldn't recall if it was supposed to be twisty, scenic or both. For some long stretches, the road hugs the shoreline of the various rivers or lakes. It's always better to ride with the water on the right and I'd say this road is pretty nice:
At around the halfway point between Lillooet and Hope, I come across a bunch of bighorn sheep munching away. They must be really desensitized to humans or plain dumb, because they routinely stroll out onto the road in front of traffic. For this pic I actually rode up and down past them 3 times trying to get a picture and they didn't flinch.
There were several really cool tunnels to ride through:
Just before I reached Yale, I come around a corner and I see a bike just neatly parked in the ditch. The guy who owned this bike had stopped to take a couple of pictures and then was trying to do a U-turn, but rode straight into the ditch. From where he was parked on the other wide of the street, it meant he could not manage to do a U-turn inside the width of at least 2.5 lanes. Dude needs some lessons. I stopped to assist and myself and another guy helped him get it out while he just stood and watched. He looked really frazzled, so I didn't tell him that he has no skills. He and the other guy went to look for a path out of the ditch while I made sure to capture the epic fail:
I take a much needed break in Yale. It's getting really hot out - somewhere over 30deg and no breeze at all. After getting some food, water and rest in me, I basically head back up the way I came to eventually make my way to Merritt. Originally I was going to stay in Cache Creek, but my sis also told me it wasn't the best town to stay in and the roads to get there weren't flat out amazing to even make that worthwhile. As I made my way back up the TransCanada towards Lytton, it was now closed for some road work. There were crews out fixing up the rock faces at various points and it's worth mentioning that many times I would come around a corner and there would be small rocks in the lane that had recently fallen. The signs that say watch out for falling rocks mean business up here. The line-up is really long at this falling rocks closure:
This really nice lady who is doing the traffic control comes up to me and says it going to be at least 20-30minutes and I should come up to the front and park my bike in the shade of this big truck instead of cooking in my full gear. What a nice lady! I pull up and as I'm waiting there she's sitting on a cooler in the baking sun trying to use the stop/slow sign to shade herself. My sister made this really good chocolate chip banana bread, so I walk up to her and offer her a bunch. She says sure and takes it and loves it. So here's me parked in the shade of the truck as she eats her banana bread in full sun:
When it's time to go I didn't have my helmet or gear on and she patiently holds the whole line up for me to get my gear on, so I could be first. That turned out to be really sweet because then there wasn't a vehicle ahead of me for the rest of this road. From Lytton I make my way east to Merritt and crash at the local Super 8 motel. It wasn't the longest day of riding, but it was an amazing collection of people, scenery and roads. Back in my hotel room I eat some banana bread while thinking about what lay ahead with game 7 of the Raptors/Celtics...
Next up - tomorrow heading south to the Okanagan and then up to somewhere around Vernon for the night!
I said my goodbyes to my sis and off I went at 7:30am. I really wanted to ride the Sea to Sky Highway with little traffic on it and since today was a Thursday morning, it looked promising. As I made my way out of Vancouver it dawned on me that I did not have my spare clutch cable. Doh! When I was at the shop, they had replaced my handle bars and were supposed to give me the cable to take with me. They forgot to and I equally forgot to ask for it. They called me later that night to apologize for the mistake, but I had other commitments at that moment, so I said I would pick it up before leaving my sisters... but I never did. Good thing the bike is working good and I'll have to remember to ask them to ship it to me or send it to my sis.
As I'm heading north, the Sea to Sky has next to no traffic on it, just as I had hoped. I didn't take any pictures because the sun was still really low and the views were better suited to my memories than dark and grainy photos. It was also incredible to move at my own pace without all the RV's and cruisers slowing me down - and much more enjoyable with proper handlebars! Once I passed Pemberton, I looked for the wooden bridge I slipped on a couple weeks ago. I come across it and now the sun is shining on it and it actually looks like a pretty good bridge - new wood, no algae - I guess it was just the mountain dew that did the trick. I was coming from the opposite direction when it happened - probaly around 7:30am that day vs 9:30am now:
I continue on and just a few minutes up the road is that same beautiful picture postcard spot I saw when heading south a couple weeks ago. This time, it seems someone else was there and maybe went for a hike or canoeing, because their chairs are left there, but no one is around. Pure Canadiana here:
From here on in, the road is going to get really good. I have so many pictures of awesome twisty roads. The section between Mount Currie and Lilloet is one of my favourites to ride on. For this picture, I parked my bike way down below and walked back up the hill about 1/2km to capture the view as I saw it when coming around a corner to this:
I reach the town of Lillooet and it definitely has a rugged feel.
After Lillooet I decide to head south towards the Yale/Hope area. I had read that the TransCanada section north of Yale is really nice. I couldn't recall if it was supposed to be twisty, scenic or both. For some long stretches, the road hugs the shoreline of the various rivers or lakes. It's always better to ride with the water on the right and I'd say this road is pretty nice:
At around the halfway point between Lillooet and Hope, I come across a bunch of bighorn sheep munching away. They must be really desensitized to humans or plain dumb, because they routinely stroll out onto the road in front of traffic. For this pic I actually rode up and down past them 3 times trying to get a picture and they didn't flinch.
There were several really cool tunnels to ride through:
Just before I reached Yale, I come around a corner and I see a bike just neatly parked in the ditch. The guy who owned this bike had stopped to take a couple of pictures and then was trying to do a U-turn, but rode straight into the ditch. From where he was parked on the other wide of the street, it meant he could not manage to do a U-turn inside the width of at least 2.5 lanes. Dude needs some lessons. I stopped to assist and myself and another guy helped him get it out while he just stood and watched. He looked really frazzled, so I didn't tell him that he has no skills. He and the other guy went to look for a path out of the ditch while I made sure to capture the epic fail:
I take a much needed break in Yale. It's getting really hot out - somewhere over 30deg and no breeze at all. After getting some food, water and rest in me, I basically head back up the way I came to eventually make my way to Merritt. Originally I was going to stay in Cache Creek, but my sis also told me it wasn't the best town to stay in and the roads to get there weren't flat out amazing to even make that worthwhile. As I made my way back up the TransCanada towards Lytton, it was now closed for some road work. There were crews out fixing up the rock faces at various points and it's worth mentioning that many times I would come around a corner and there would be small rocks in the lane that had recently fallen. The signs that say watch out for falling rocks mean business up here. The line-up is really long at this falling rocks closure:
This really nice lady who is doing the traffic control comes up to me and says it going to be at least 20-30minutes and I should come up to the front and park my bike in the shade of this big truck instead of cooking in my full gear. What a nice lady! I pull up and as I'm waiting there she's sitting on a cooler in the baking sun trying to use the stop/slow sign to shade herself. My sister made this really good chocolate chip banana bread, so I walk up to her and offer her a bunch. She says sure and takes it and loves it. So here's me parked in the shade of the truck as she eats her banana bread in full sun:
When it's time to go I didn't have my helmet or gear on and she patiently holds the whole line up for me to get my gear on, so I could be first. That turned out to be really sweet because then there wasn't a vehicle ahead of me for the rest of this road. From Lytton I make my way east to Merritt and crash at the local Super 8 motel. It wasn't the longest day of riding, but it was an amazing collection of people, scenery and roads. Back in my hotel room I eat some banana bread while thinking about what lay ahead with game 7 of the Raptors/Celtics...
Next up - tomorrow heading south to the Okanagan and then up to somewhere around Vernon for the night!
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Day 21 Route: Merritt to Vernon
The plan today was to make my way from Merritt to Vernon. Normally it's less than a 2hr ride, but I'm going to use the opportunity to explore some of the Okanagan. I've read that Vernon is a good area to have as a base for exploring and I also wanted to check out the Penticton area, since my wife likes to do Ironman's and the Penticton Ironman has been on her bucket list for some time.
On my way south I read that just south of Merritt is a really good backroad called Coldwater Rd. It was awesome. It had flawless pavement and was basically like a very hilly, twisty farm country road - it kind of reminded me of riding in Ohio. After this I headed south on the 5A and the road was pretty cold and the elevations felt pretty high up. I came across this interracial couple posing for me:
If I happen to see cows on the side of the road, I usually pull over and moo at them. It gets them looking at me and sometimes a whole bunch of them will come over and check me out:
I bet this pilot liked flying high:
From there I wanted to check out some back roads near Princeton. One particular road I really liked was the short little out n back from Princeton to Tulameen. It was awesome! It was super tight and twisty and had zero traffic on it. There were some houses and interesting things to see here and there and the road often hugged a rocky mountain face with very little room for error. At the end of it, I stopped in Tulameen to take a quick break. This logging truck drove by and reminded me that I wanted to snap a pic of one that had full length logs on it. These things are huge when fully loaded! This one has both of the empty sections on it, but alas no logs...
The trip out to Tulameen - another amazing road in a sea of amazing roads:
On my way over to the Okanagan, I stop for a break in Keremeos. There are endless picturesque vineyards and orchards in the area:
At this time I check my phone to look into places to get my rear tire changed. Gene (aka Lightcycle on this forum) had let me know that a shop worth checking out in Kelowna called Valley Motorsports was a good shop and they may be able to help me out. I call them up and the guy is super nice and says he has a Continental Conti Attack SM Evo or something and it will fit my bike. They can get me in tomorrow and swap the tires. I still have some life on my current tire, but today is Friday, shops are closed on Sundays and Mondays and I'm not confident I can get another 3k on my rear tire.
Gene and I had made plans to get together and grab a meal and do some riding. I let him know my plans and I'm just about to sort out my place to stay in Vernon and he offers to let me sleep in his house and do some laundry. Thanks Gene!! So obviously that totally makes my day and now I spend the rest of the day wondering how I will convince Gene that V-Stroms are the finest bikes ever made.
On may way towards the Okanagan Valley including Penticton and Osoyoos, I ride Old Hedley Road, Green Mountain Road, Eastside Road, Green Lake Road and a short bit of the Crowsnest Highway - all flat-out, amazing roads on the west and south side of Penticton.
Since cattle in the western provinces is such a big thing, you will often cross over these Texas gates - gates in the road that prevent the animals from leaving their ranches and wandering onto the main roads:
Coming south of Penticton along Skaha Lake (Eastside Road):
In Osoyoos I decide I need to stop and eat a fresh peach. I want to go to a small local fruit stand and eat one of their freshly harvested peaches. I see a small sign directing me down a winding road and decide this is a good one instead of the larger tourist trap ones that are all along the main roads in the area. As I make my way down the road this is what I see - their place is the one with the reddish roof on the far right:
I get to the fruit stand and there's this really nice grandmother working the stand by herself. We start talking and I tell her I rode all the way from Ontario to eat one of her finest peaches. She gives me one and won't accept any payment for it either:
I want to buy something nice for Gene and Neda for their impending kindness. They know nothing about me other than I am the map guy on GTAM. I find some locally made salad dressings and hope they eat salad. That's a fine peach I might add:
From here I make my way up the 33 to their place in Kelowna. At the bottom of the 33 I'm reminded about the potential for forest fires in this area and wonder what it must be like for those who live in areas that are subjected to this kind of stuff. Frequent threats of evacuation, loss of homes and livelihoods and even dealing with the smoke from neighbouring fires!
I make my way up and arrive at their house. I see no evidence of motorcycles and no grease or oil stains on the driveway - I hope I'm at the right place!
Up next - some riding, some talking and some tire changing.
The plan today was to make my way from Merritt to Vernon. Normally it's less than a 2hr ride, but I'm going to use the opportunity to explore some of the Okanagan. I've read that Vernon is a good area to have as a base for exploring and I also wanted to check out the Penticton area, since my wife likes to do Ironman's and the Penticton Ironman has been on her bucket list for some time.
On my way south I read that just south of Merritt is a really good backroad called Coldwater Rd. It was awesome. It had flawless pavement and was basically like a very hilly, twisty farm country road - it kind of reminded me of riding in Ohio. After this I headed south on the 5A and the road was pretty cold and the elevations felt pretty high up. I came across this interracial couple posing for me:
If I happen to see cows on the side of the road, I usually pull over and moo at them. It gets them looking at me and sometimes a whole bunch of them will come over and check me out:
I bet this pilot liked flying high:
From there I wanted to check out some back roads near Princeton. One particular road I really liked was the short little out n back from Princeton to Tulameen. It was awesome! It was super tight and twisty and had zero traffic on it. There were some houses and interesting things to see here and there and the road often hugged a rocky mountain face with very little room for error. At the end of it, I stopped in Tulameen to take a quick break. This logging truck drove by and reminded me that I wanted to snap a pic of one that had full length logs on it. These things are huge when fully loaded! This one has both of the empty sections on it, but alas no logs...
The trip out to Tulameen - another amazing road in a sea of amazing roads:
On my way over to the Okanagan, I stop for a break in Keremeos. There are endless picturesque vineyards and orchards in the area:
At this time I check my phone to look into places to get my rear tire changed. Gene (aka Lightcycle on this forum) had let me know that a shop worth checking out in Kelowna called Valley Motorsports was a good shop and they may be able to help me out. I call them up and the guy is super nice and says he has a Continental Conti Attack SM Evo or something and it will fit my bike. They can get me in tomorrow and swap the tires. I still have some life on my current tire, but today is Friday, shops are closed on Sundays and Mondays and I'm not confident I can get another 3k on my rear tire.
Gene and I had made plans to get together and grab a meal and do some riding. I let him know my plans and I'm just about to sort out my place to stay in Vernon and he offers to let me sleep in his house and do some laundry. Thanks Gene!! So obviously that totally makes my day and now I spend the rest of the day wondering how I will convince Gene that V-Stroms are the finest bikes ever made.
On may way towards the Okanagan Valley including Penticton and Osoyoos, I ride Old Hedley Road, Green Mountain Road, Eastside Road, Green Lake Road and a short bit of the Crowsnest Highway - all flat-out, amazing roads on the west and south side of Penticton.
Since cattle in the western provinces is such a big thing, you will often cross over these Texas gates - gates in the road that prevent the animals from leaving their ranches and wandering onto the main roads:
Coming south of Penticton along Skaha Lake (Eastside Road):
In Osoyoos I decide I need to stop and eat a fresh peach. I want to go to a small local fruit stand and eat one of their freshly harvested peaches. I see a small sign directing me down a winding road and decide this is a good one instead of the larger tourist trap ones that are all along the main roads in the area. As I make my way down the road this is what I see - their place is the one with the reddish roof on the far right:
I get to the fruit stand and there's this really nice grandmother working the stand by herself. We start talking and I tell her I rode all the way from Ontario to eat one of her finest peaches. She gives me one and won't accept any payment for it either:
I want to buy something nice for Gene and Neda for their impending kindness. They know nothing about me other than I am the map guy on GTAM. I find some locally made salad dressings and hope they eat salad. That's a fine peach I might add:
From here I make my way up the 33 to their place in Kelowna. At the bottom of the 33 I'm reminded about the potential for forest fires in this area and wonder what it must be like for those who live in areas that are subjected to this kind of stuff. Frequent threats of evacuation, loss of homes and livelihoods and even dealing with the smoke from neighbouring fires!
I make my way up and arrive at their house. I see no evidence of motorcycles and no grease or oil stains on the driveway - I hope I'm at the right place!
Up next - some riding, some talking and some tire changing.
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ScorpionT16
Well-known member
Awesome report, pics and stories! I'm going to have to go back someday and do these places 
Smoke doesn't look too bad, my parents are there now and from the pictures, I couldn't see anything
Buchart Gardens have always been on my list, we did all the ones in Vancouver from Vandusen to the Blodel one, those were lovely, especially during Christmas when all lit up
Smoke doesn't look too bad, my parents are there now and from the pictures, I couldn't see anything
Buchart Gardens have always been on my list, we did all the ones in Vancouver from Vandusen to the Blodel one, those were lovely, especially during Christmas when all lit up
Nice. I've also been to Vandusen and really liked it. I've never heard of the Bloedel one though. Thanks - it looks awesome and I'll try to see it next year if we can go back.Awesome report, pics and stories! I'm going to have to go back someday and do these places
Smoke doesn't look too bad, my parents are there now and from the pictures, I couldn't see anything
Buchart Gardens have always been on my list, we did all the ones in Vancouver from Vandusen to the Blodel one, those were lovely, especially during Christmas when all lit up
As for the smoke - it all depends on where you are. It was brutal for me when riding in the south. I think I took a year off my lungs from the exposure to it while riding for so long. I'll post up some pics later.
ScorpionT16
Well-known member
Blodel is smaller, though it has an aviary with all sorts of tropical birds which is really nice.
Looking forward to the pics, glad to see it's cleared a bit now for you. Maybe it's just me, though the skies here in Mississauga have been pretty hazy and red too as of late, not sure if that's from the smoke too, air quality seems okay
EDIT: looks like our hazy skies here in the GTA are due to the smoke
Smoke from U.S. wildfires is creating hazy skies in Toronto
Major wildfires have been raging across the western part of the United States for quite some time now, and smoke from the California and Oregon fires…
www.blogto.com
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