2011-05-30 Dease Lake

Hallo Everybody

The past couple of days were just awesome heading North on Route 37.
After staying at the Upper Grant Lake about 25 km south of Dease Lake I made it for lunch into town, rolling down the hill and stopping from time to time to take in and take some pictures of this breathtaking landscape and admire Mother Nature and the formation of a huge thunderstorm cloud.

I should make it to Whitehorse by the end of the week and will update my blog there with hopefully more reliable internet.

All the Best Wishes to all the Birthday Kids

Stefan

2011-05-24 Smithers to Hazelton

After my bike stand broke yesterday I did a morning of bike maintenance and running some errands, utilizing the fact that Smithers will be the last great outpost with full service and a bike store. Actually Smithers has two bike stores, (Mike Bike and Sportand COB Bike Shop) both of which had been very very helpful. Though none of them had the kick stand I desired. As I felt that a kick stand was essential I decided on an alternate model and got in addition to the kickstand the 17 mm wrench necessary to mount and maintain the kickstand during the ride.

Aside from dealing with my bike I also had breakfast and met my fellow tree planters from dinner again. Not surprising - small town – but very pleasant. After I got all my things done, packed and late check out I met Lindsay for Lunch. I contacted Lindsay through couchsurfing.org. Lindsay works for the some department responsible for fighting the many forest fires. Prepared as she was, she had checked out the weather forecast for me. Not too bad. As it looked, may be a few showers but overall it shall be getting better the further north I am heading. After a big Burrito I ready for the road again. Onward west it was.

At this stage I actually hadn’t had decided whether I would actually cycle to Whitehorse via Route 37 the Steward-Cassiar HWY or whether I would be heading to Prince Ruppert, taking the ferry up to Whitehorse to gain some time and race for Prudhoe Bay. Due to the ten day delay end of April it had become clear that I won’t be able to cycle the entire way to Prudhoe Bay. Even if I would race I won’t be able to do 4200 km in a months time without competing at the Tour de France.

Well well- heading to Skagway or Haines and onward to Fairbanks and Prudhoe Bay or taking a more leisurely stroll along Route 37? This question went back and forth in my head. Still the foremost important for me was to enjoy the trip, enjoy the cycling and enjoy me being on the road.

While cycling by yourself gives you lots of time to think and contemplate, the scenery often distracts your thoughts and you just admire, 

here some mountains and trees mirroring in the calm waters of a lake, a flock of birds passing overhead, some cows on the meadow starring at you and following your trail, horses galloping along side on their meadow, some dandelions covering the embankment of the road, highlighting the spring season.

Isn’t it amazing? Life is beautiful and mother nature so pure.

Where was I again? – Steward-Cassiar HWY or boat from Prince Ruppert and onward to Prudhoe Bay?

Does it really matter – No - Not really and I will see – probably making the decision spontaneously at the Route 37 Junction.

2 – 4 – 8 – 9 – 15 – 23 – 31 – 33 – 34 – 35 km have passed, some slow some fast. A quick stop for a picture here and another quick stop for a picture there. Time and distance – two dependent variables on this trip. Sometimes time is flying and the kilometers are passing, sometimes time is crawling and you just wonder how endless this journey along the Bulkley River may be.

Onward I heading and along the way I see a moose talk with a native and finally get to New Hazelton. On the way to New Hazelton there were some great advertisement for a campground called Ksan – Well the signs look great – natural colors – a native campground of the Gitxsan Lax-YIP with a museum and Wifi. I decide this to be me final destination today – just a 1 km behind town.

Racing with about 50 k’s downhill towards New Hazelton I pass the town pretty quickly – turn right as described just to discover that the campground is another 7 klicks away – off the road. Checking briefly out the tourism board at the roadway I finally decide that it should be worth while heading to Kshan. At the end I think it was. The road leads high above the river – crossing a bridge on its narrowest path and leading another 100 or so meters in elevation down passing the actual town of Hazelton until the confluence of the Skeena and the Bulkley River.

I arrive just in time to pay my dues and check in. As the grounds were almost empty I decide to take over the shelter and not pitching up my tent in the showery weather.

As I unpack my food bags and prepare for cooking my dinner I briefly leave the shelter to get some water, a quick chat with one of the other RV’ campers on the ground I return with water and discover that a Raven had discovered my food, and nicely picked into all 4 of my cooked pork loins. You can imagine my initial reaction – as the raven flies off upon my return. I look at the mess and think about how to save the remainder of the meat not picked at – I discover some bits and pieces of some earthworms and some beetles – Thank you very much for the presents – I answer the Ravens call.

And than I think about this sarcastic answer – What if the Raven had interpreted my display of food as a gesture of greatness and kindness – as a kind of offering?

What would you do if someone hands you a great offering?

Would you try to give something back?

May be this was actually what happened!?!

The Raven may have taken my display of food, as an offering and regurgitated as a Thank You for my offerings.

This thought suddenly provides the miss happening a complete different meaning.

How bad of me thinking bad of others!!!

And so the night set-in and I pulled out my sleeping bag after safely hanging my food into the rafters, safe from the bears and safe from the mice and other critters which may want to indulge.

Bon Nuit

2011-05-23 Burns Lake to Smithers

After rain follows sunshine, or in my case today just cloudy weather with only a few drops of rain.

From Burns Lake the road was heading north across the Six Mile Summit - 840 m above sea-level. Not the highest but it was a fun ride up the hill - racing for new speed records on the way down - Is the Check your brake sign also valid for cycles? 

As always the ride down was fun fun and fun, Next destination was Houston at the Blukley River. Houston even holds a World Record. It has the worlds tallest Fly-fishing rod. Don't ask me how tall or long the rod is, but it certainly is impressive. I however doubt that it may ever have caught a fish.

In Houston I also finally saw the cute little passenger train heading to Prince Rupert. Wouldn't it be fun? luxury travel and food!

Due to the heavy rain and snow melt over the past days all rivers are high. The Bulkley River in parts has been flooding the road - lucky me it was before and I had passed those areas. Above a picture of the river waters reaching the underside of the railway bridge in Houston.
 

Another respectable and fun climb lead out of Houston and onward to Smithers my final destination for the day. Along the way I startled and passed a deer just a few feet away and took a nice break on one of the many lakes along the roadside.

Nearing Smithers the mountains have become higher and snow covered again. Smithers itself seems to be a fun small town with lots to offer for the young and older. Though on Victoria Day - a Canadian Holiday - non of the stores are open and the only place for food is either Burger King or Boston Pizza. On my search for food I had joined a group of Tree Planters and we decided on the Boston Pizza Place. Good food and a corona. They are on their off day and tomorrow they will be moving from one deployment side to the other - so overall two days off - yeah. Greetings folks Hope you hadn't too much rain and neither too much sun.

After a good meal I went off to bed in the Hotel - Yes another day in a comfortable bed - roughing it ;-)

2011-05-22 Fort Frazer to Burns Lake

I woke up to some pretty fine rain. A quick breakfast, packing my things and getting on the road again wasn't so appealing like the other days when it was sunny. Though I was happy to be on the road with a very uneventful day ahead of me. Aside from rain and being cold there was not much to report.

 Though I have to say that I am in part pretty happy with the road improvements payed by the Canadian stimulus money and likely also ahead of the Olympic games earlier this year. The roads so far had been nice and pleasant with mostly lots of space for me as a biker on the side of the road.

Arriving in Burns Lake I took a long long break in the restaurant chatted with one of the locals who's wife was just preparing my fried liver with onions which were just to the point and very delicious with a fresh side salad, and two nice fellows who were heading up to Alaska with their small little van. One of them will be guiding fishing trips in Alaska this summer. (check out his blog http://prescriptiontrout.blogspot.com/).
At the end I ended up taking a motel in town. A nice cozy dry place and ready for an early start tomorrow morning

Quesnel may 18

Arrived in Vanderhoof BC - great weather two black bears and coyotes last Thursday

2011-05-21 Prince George to Fort Frazer - Beaumont Provincial Park

After a nice rest day, some great cooking and company I am on the road again.

First stop in the morning for breakfast was at Joseph Shea's place. Joseph is a post doctoral researcher at UBC/ UNBC studying glacier hydrology (http://www.geog.ubc.ca/~jshea/). We met last week in Pembelton at the Pub. He had just come down from the Mountain doing GPR fieldwork while I rested from my ride down from Whistler. The world is small.

After some great blue berry pancakes. I hit the road and Joe went off hiking with his wife and two sons.
After a quick shopping stop in Prince George I headed up the hill hitting the highway west towards Vanderhoof and onward to Fort Frazer and the Beaumont Provincial Park my destination for the night.

On the way out of town I passed the Sikh Vasakhi Parade with colourful floats and lots of happy chanting.

The ride out to Vanderhoof was mostly rolling hills, nice fast riding, chasing the shadows of clouds. I can call myself lucky. I had a couple of clouds providing me with some good shade riding in the sunny part of the day but missed the big showers. Overall I am pretty surprised how many houses and small settlements are all along the road. It has quiet a European feeling where you drive along the countryside, passing a farm here some houses there and a small village a little further down the road. At a small rest stop on the way to Vanderhoof I had my late afternoon Lunch stop and chatting with two brothers who were building a house, adding to the urbanization of the countryside.

Arriving in Vanderhoof I hadn't yet made my 100 km mark and so I decided after a short stop to head on and see where I may end up.
Heading further west the weather turned a bit against me with some showers. Still some amazing views.

I finally arrived at the Beaumont Provincial Park pitching up my tent next to a couple of RV's enjoying there late afternoon of the Victoria holiday weekend. Happy with a good meal and a good nights rest.

2011-05-20 Prince George Rest Day - Ancient Forest

A day off the road. I decided that it was time for a rest day. My legs were hurting and Dennise had a day off. She packed me into her car and we headed east towards Jasper. The destination was the Ancient Forest a more than 1000 year old Cedar forest with some of the oldest trees reaching back to the Roman times. On the way up we saw a couple of black bears, young adults, and one beautiful Grizzly Mum with her two cups. Like the day before the bears were within a few miles, on the side of the road. The Grizzly Mum was pretty impressive, but also pretty shy. As we pulled over onto the shoulder she soon disappeared into the forest soon followed by their two adorable cups. 

There was still a lot of snow in the Ancient Forest. From the parking lot the hike went up the hill into the impressive forest. This old growth forest provided an interesting glimpse into the natural ecosystem. Several meters in diameter the trunks of these old trees provide lots of shelter, numerous smaller caves and larger caves, which can be used as dens to winter over or raise kids safely. Now in spring life was restarting and the floor was covered with sprouting grasses, ferns, and other greens. You can imagine what paradise this must have been. Plenty of nutrient rich food for everyone accustomed to the life in the wild. Passing by the water fall the trail was circling back to the parking lot and with this we were heading back to town.

A quick stop in the food store and off we were for a leisurely afternoon at home. Some of Dennise’s friends came over for a chat and invited for dinner. We had some lamb chops and I was making my Swabian Spaetzles and Mouse of Chocolate. It was a lovely afternoon and evening among friends. 

2011-05-19 Quesnel to Prince George

After a good night sleep a light yummy cereal breakfast the day had started well and with a little adventure. Due to the heavy rain the past few days part of the driveway had washed out and we got stuck by trying to drive around a big pot hole. With a few rugs and a piece of plywood at hand and a little bit of digging we made it out and Willow to work. A couple of nice pictures, a quick good bye and a stop at Safeway I was back on the road again. 

On my way across the Frazer River I met Tim a native North American with his dog. A sad part of our society, having taken away the land of these people we have given them alcohol and so Tim’s answer to my question what he will be doing today was - drinking.

Too Bad that I wasn’t wit enough on the spot. While riding my bike and passing along the land of these peoples I had a thought. I should have asked Tim to head over to the local policing department, ask for Willow with greetings from me and ask for a large garbage bag, than head out with his buddies and take good care of his land picking up the trash our society is daily leaving behind. Not that I would like to suggest to that others should pick up after us, No I more think that one can make an impact and leading by good example.   

There is a lot of garbage along the roads - cans, plastic bottles, entire trash bags which people have disposed – a real shame.

With another beautiful day riding was fun, and I made some good progress towards Prince George and my second couchsurfing night. I took my lunch at a small lake and than headed onwards. 

In the early afternoon I finally encountered my first black bear. Good 100 to 150 meter of the road the Mum with her two cups were sitting in the grass grassing the fresh greens. After leaving a bit more distance I stopped and took a couple of pictures. Continuing my ride I encountered the next bear a mile or so down the road on the other side of the road. Likely a male, as it was large and alone. I watched him for a little while with my binoculars before heading on again. Another mile down the road I encountered my next wildlife experience. A group of coyotes. Again I took my bino’s out and watched them for a while until they left the scene retreating into the forest. 

Wow what an experience, lots of wildlife in such a short distance. Needless to say aside from the common deer I did not encounter any further wild animal until Prince George, where I spent a lovely evening at my couchsurfers Dennise house before falling sound asleep.

2011-05-18 McLeese Lake to Quesnel

Having slept on the bench of the shelter getting started in the morning was easy, all things were dry, the sun was shining and I even had some leisurely time to watch some chipmunks and squirrels hop through the dandelions. 

A quick phone call to my Mum and I was back on the road. Averaging 20 km/h I made it quickly to Quesnel, where I would be staying with Willow, my first couchsurfing host. 

Arriving early I hung out at the Tourist information, capitalizing on the free Wifi to do some e-mailing and organizing of my moving things, as well as uploading a long due blog. Just before Willow picked me up, the Rocky Mountaineer Train arrived and a couple of Quesnel people had formed a welcome committee wearing fancy old clothing from the good old Gold Rush times. (enjoy some more pics on the oceanrock pictures site).

After a tour of the city, looking at the massive flooding of the Frazer and Quesnel River we headed up to Willow little animal sanctuary. A small farm featuring a variety of animals who had been abandoned by their owner and are looking for a new home. The animals range from an exotic cow from Africa over horses, to a handful of friendly dogs. Even the little pincher who permanently barked at you when passing by in the hallway calmed later on down, especially after it got some treats. The evening than passed with great conversations, good yummy homemade Lasagna and a beautiful sun set over the mountains.