Day 37: Hurricane Ridge, Olympic National Park day trip

June 28, 2014

Hurricane Ridge Day trip

Good morning! Back in the United States of America!
I decided to cowboy camp last night due to the availability of stars to look at. No tent, just a tarp, pad, and bag.



We went to bed at 1998 miles total, and by the time we made it to breakfast we had done 2000miles.



Bill took us out to breakfast and afterwards we parted ways for the third time. I still believe we will see him again. So see you later, Bill!

We planned to go up a steep 17 mile road to a famous viewpoint known as Hurricane Ridge, but we didn't want to do it with our bags. Ryan asked the rangers at the visitors center if we could leave our packs there. He was foolish enough to ask the old cranky man, who said no.

Fortunately I still have my charm with the ladies so I went to a female ranger, smiled at her, kindly asked if we could leave our bags there while we biked up and back, and she said yes.


It was very strenuous, even without our packs. Sweaty, tired, but content and satisfied.


But as always, the view is worth the effort.

I always imagined deer pooping like cows, standing up. Turns out they poop like dogs, squatting down. Who knew?

I have not matured at all on this trip. Here's the actual view that was "worth it."






The woman taking it said we should look more friendly towards each other. I don't know if we do or not.



I took this picture and then my camera died.

The ride down was one of the highlights of the trip. I think that trip must be included in some "Epic Rides" list. I highly recommend it. 17 miles: up in 3 hours, down in 30 minutes.

Day 36: Nanaimo, BC to Port Angles, WA BACK IN THE USA!

July 27, 2014
64 miles +ferry ride

Tyler (guy we stayed with, not me) was kind enough to take us to the shop so that we could learn how to take care of our bikes better and make some adjustments. Thanks Tyler!

After we finished, we said goodbye and then made haste to get to the ferry on time. We decided to take a ferry going from Victoria to Port Angeles, Washington.

We rode a short ferry to cut off a large hill and save us some time.

And we made it to the ferry terminal with time to spare!
If you notice there are three bikes at the Victoria to Port Angeles terminal, Nick's, mine, and our good friend Bill's bike. This is the third time we have run into him since we met him on the ferry form Prince Rupert to Port Hardy a week ago, despite having wildly different itineraries! He was smart and went island hopping the surrounding island by taking several short ferries.That is what Calvin did too. That is how you avoid the intense traffic that Nick and I hated actually enjoy bike touring Vancouver island. Oh well. Next time!

Here are some views of downtown Victoria from the ferry.

Below is a famous hotel.

It was windy on the boat!

There were many cyclists on board, including Ryan (green jacket below). Ryan is touring from Portland to Vancouver island and then heading for the tip of Argentina! We will join forces and ride with him for a while.

We arrived in Port Angles as the sun was setting, which was pretty, but also inconvenient for finding our way around town to a camping spot.

No problems at customs. Goodbye Canada, hello USA!

Day 35: Parksville to Nanaimo

July 26, 2014
Day 37: to Nanaimo

I wrote in my journal twice today, once at midday, and then again at night. Rereading them gave me a chuckle because the first sentence in my journal was "Worst day since cold, miserable wet, 40 degree and rainy day with ridiculously steep hills in Glacierview, Alaska."

And in the evening I wrote, "Best day in BC!"

It started off as the worst day because, for some reason, Canadians think it is normal to ride on the freeway. We saw many other cyclists doing it, and everyone we talked to, including the bike store people, said that's the way to go. This is probably the first thing I have come to truly dislike about Canada.

We made it to Nanaimo and struggled to make it back onto the freeway so we stopped near downtown. I was angry and frustrated so I stress ate to make myself feel better. I also found this metal box was made in Minnesota!



In a stroke of good fortune, we were in Nanaimo on their "Bathtub Days" weekend. We were told it is the busiest weekend all year. We didn't see the main event, but they streets blocked off, all sorts of vendors out, a band playing, a classic car display, and all of that sort of stuff leading up to the great "bathtub races" tomorrow.

I don't think this woman was a booth, but she and her poodle attracted a lot of attention.

While I was brooding and watching the band play, Nick made a friend at the Bicycle Co-op booth. His name was also Tyler! Tyler turned my mood from bad to glad.

Tyler was kind enough to offer his and Laura's house as a place to stay. It was splendid. We got to eat plums, apples, and blackberries from their backyard trees.

 They also took us to a beach to see the sunset and play in the water.

I played with the seaweed. I had never seen so many kinds of ocean seaweed before, and the textures and colors are something to behold. There's a seceret message in there. There would have been a second, but "d" and "a" are harder to make seaweed.

But thanks to Tyler and Laura, we went from having one of the worst days to having the best day of the trip. Thanks you two!

How we got a free *hand rolled cigarette*

Between the misery of hte evening, and the good fortune of meeting Tyler and Laura, we met a man and his dog Chico.

While waiting outside a bike shop (not the bike Co-op), a guy walks to the bike shop with an unleashed chihuahua. The man tells the dog, "Chico, stay." And without stopping to make sure the dogs stays, the man goes in. The dog then pees on one of the display bikes outside before it goes around to see who will give it some attention.

One us is giving the dog attention when the man comes out and starts talking to us, asking us where we started, where we're going  etc.

We give him some more details about our route and eventually tell him, "We went through the lava fields outside of New Aiyansh."

At this point he stops and says (I'll omit the expletives, which were numerous) "No way! No way! I was born there! My grandma was born and raised there! A white dude... Down here... And you even said it right!"

Apparently we impressed him just by riding through his  birthplace in the boonies, and pronouncing it right.

We talk a little while longer until he finally has to go about his business, which was finding a flyer to roll a joint with. That is why he was frequenting the bike store and beauty salon in the first place.

He takes Chico, his disastrously trained dog, with him and we all laugh amongst ourselves.

About five minutes later, the guy drives through the parking lot and beckons Nick closer. Just below window level I see the man holding what appears to be a *hand rolled cigarette*. Shall we call it that?

Nick hastily takes it out of the man's hand and thanks him. What else can you do?

The man drives off, leaving us with all laughing with a hell of a story, a thousand laughs, and a hand rolled cigarette to boot.

Day 34: Oyster River to Parksville

July 25, 2014

Day 34 Oyster River to Parksville

60 miles

Good morning from Oyster River! And hey, suddenly my vertical pictures are working!

Vancouver island continues to disappoint due to heavy traffic and not much to do or see. But fortunately we met and rode with a new cyclist. Riding with Calvin helped to make us not notice the not fun riding conditions. 

He got a couple flats, sadly. I tried to sell him my spare tires which are wider and have better puncture protection, but he declined. So I'm stuck with my unnecessary spares that are rubbing against and blackening all my gear.

We were also stopped by a co-designer for the "Unitrekker." I may take one on the Continental Divide tour next summer as a promotional and/or test ride for him!

As we were loading up on groceries, wouldn't you know it, Bill appeared! He was surprised to catch up to us since he laid back a day after getting off the ferry, and Nick and I were putting in some serious miles. 

It was nice to reconnect with Bill, and we all camped together in a big grassy field with a bunch of black tailed deer.

Here are some goodies I found. The owner says the nudists are not harmless, and has seen them walking up to children "wanging their dangs." I quote the quote in the article.

 Nothing like using cute little girls in to make a shameless appeal to emotion.

Day 34: Eve River to Oyster River

July 24, 2014
Day 33: Eve River to Oyster River
79 miles
6:10:00 ride time

Blue skies again!


Vancouver Island has been a disappointment so far. The scenery isn't as great as we expected, and the traffic is far worse than we could have imagined. Although with civilization comes random sights like this:



The cleat on my shoe came completely off, and so we rushed to the next bike store. Thanks to the lady at Swicked Bike Shop who let me quick buy a new cleat after she had just locked the place up!

We made it to Cambell River (the town), which is a coastal town.It is very developed. Definitely a change from what we are used to!

Day 32: Port Hardy to Eve River

July 23, 2014

83 miles
6 hr 10 min ride time

Greetings from Vancouver Island!


We "got caught" for the first time.

A friendly woman who works at the boat landing rousted up with a "Up and at em, boys, there's no covernight camping."

We suspect she deals with a lot of that, considering how many hikers and cyclists and other nomadic people come off the boat at 11:00 pm every week.

We are in the Rain Capital of BC. So it is still raining, which makes a good environment for slugs. I took some pictures of these because they remind me of a beloved student of mine who, after learning what slugs are and seeing pictures of them, told me, "Oh! They're cute!"

Traffic is heavier here, and makes for not so fun riding. But we're going far and fast!

We were told it would be very remote, but so far it hasn't been. Then again, we are used to Alaska and Yukon standards of remoteness.

Day 31: Prince Rupert to Ft. Hardy via Ferry

July 22, 2014

Good morning from the ferry terminal at Prince Rupert!
Also see me sporting the new highvis that I found on the side of the road to replace the one that I lost in New Aiyansh.

Shortest day of biking so far: less than 1 km from our stealth spot to the ferry, and then less than 1 km from the ferry to our new stealth spot.

Longest day of travel: But we made over 300 via ferry!

In the middle of the night, we heard crunching between our tents. Turns out it was a porcupine munching on blackberry twigs!

We were extremely fortunate to have the first blue skies since New Aiyansh. That made for good viewing of the other boats out on the ocean.

And of the steep cliffs that line the narrow channels we passed through.



We also saw orca whales, porpoises, and a couple humpback whales.





We were on there a long time, so we took several naps.


We met Marcus, a Canadian who is hitchhiking and longboarding his way down through Vancouver island. I liked him a lot because he is an environmental activist, and a fun guy to talk to.

This was our first time seeing Bill, a cyclist from North Carolina. I say first time because we had a habit of saying goodbye to Bill, only to see him a few days later. He has inspired us to do the Great Divide mountain bike route after he showed some photos of him riding it. Great guy!

We got to the terminal sometime after 11:00 and went down the road less than 1 km to a public boat landing where we said goodbye to Bill and set up camp with Marcus.

Day 30: Rest Day in Prince Rupert

July 21, 2014

Rest Day in Prince Rupert

We walked through Butze Rainforest. As advertised there were trees and it rained. I guess I can't be too disappointed.

Prince Rupert is a port and fishing town, so we went down to the docks and watched fishermen haul their keep up the planks, and throw the fish remains into the water. I would love to be a turtle in that harbor.


Little Scandinavian Pride!


Ferry leaves at 7:00 tomorrow morning! Won't get our AM/PM confused again.

Day 29: Skeena River to Prince Rupert

July 20, 2014

Today we woke up extra early so that we would make it to the ferry on time. The ferry leaves at 7:00 and we wanted to be there by 6:00 to give some wiggle room.

We got there several hours before 7:00, only to find out that the ferry leaves at 7:00 in the MORNING. And it leaves every other day, so we have all day tomorrow to relax.

That clears up the confusion I had over how an overnight ferry could be known for beautiful scenery.

Day 28: Terrace to Skeena River

July 19, 2014
Day 28 Terrace to Exchamsiks River/Skeena River

Did errands in town: laundry (first time at a real washing machine), groceries, and ALL YOU CAN EAT PIZZA!

Guys at McBike were very helpful. The owner is very good to cycling tourists. I bought two new tires, which are the golden standard for cycle touring.

Highway 16 between Terrace and the coast is amazingly beautiful. You have incredibly steep cliffs coming up from the Exchansis river valley. Glacial streams come down from the mountain, and you can see waterfalls that must be 100 feet tall or more up high in the mountains.


Here's a picture I stole to give you an idea of the beauty out here. Google image search Skeena river valley.

Day 27: New Aiyansh to Terrace

July 18, 2014

No pictures, but we did use the bear spray, so keep reading.

Went to sleep to sounds of a bear in the woods. Such things happen when you camp near a bunch of salmon streams. After fretting for a while, I put ear plugs in. If you can't hear or see something, it isn't there. Right?

We woke up early, tired, and wet from the overnight rain. We tried to leave quickly, but my tire went flat overnight. I butchered the patch job as we were alert for the bear we heard last night.

We didn't use the bear spray on the bear. We didn't see any bears today.

I got my tire working and we rode on.

While riding along a beautiful  Lava Lake, which is emerald/robin's egg blue from the acidity, we were passed by a van reeking of weed. Ahead of us, it braked suddenly, and started honking at a coyote that had run in front of it. Instead of running away like coyotes are supposed to, it walked in front of the van and down the middle of the road towards us. The van was about 30 meters ahead of us, and went in reverse, and then stopped. We tried scaring the coyote away like it was a black bear.

As we hopped on our bicycles to get away, the coyote started following us very closely. If you wanted to train your dog to heel, you could not have done better than this.

The coyote's strange behavior, and our vulnerable position made me think that we should use the bear spray.

"Spray it!" I said.

"Really?" said he.

And so he took the bear spray, took off the safety cap, and gave the coyote a blast of highly potent pepper spray. Bear spray is much more potent than regular pepper spray, just so you know.

That stopped him in his tracks and gave us time to ride off, leaving the coyote standing in the middle of the road opening and closing his mouth like he had a bad case of cottonmouth.

The people in the van said something to us, and I'm not sure if they were mad we sprayed the bear or not. Maybe we violated some ancient First Nation custom or belief. But I decided I will trample over any sacred tradition before getting nipped in the leg by a rabid coyote.

While spraying the poor deranged coyote was crazy enough for me, I wonder: What was that scene like for the stoners in the van?


The rest of the ride was okay, made it to Terrace where we paid for camping for the first time all trip. Not bad!


The campsite has berries growing all around the roads and trails. I couldn't believe no one else was picking them!

Day 26: Meziadin to New Aiyansh

July 17, 2014
75 miles

LOST!

Lost clothes on gravel road between Meziadin Jct. and New Aiyansh:

• Reflective Vest (also known as a highvis in New Zeland)
• Khaki mountain biking shorts

If you see these things, please return them to me! Thanks.

I offered a reward to motorists who passed us in the other direction if they could find them and return them. A man with a Russian accent told me to ask my girlfriend where my pants went. What a joker.

Good riding, the gravel road is a fun change of pace and scenery.

Day 25: Bell 2 to Meziadin Jct.

July 16, 2014

75.91 miles
7:29:36 ride time

No pictures. Camera busted, and I haven't gotten them from Nick yet.

Woke up early to take full advantage of the all you can eat buffet at the ski lodge! It was such a great idea, and we fully enjoyed the wide selection of cooked items. Despite eating almost exclusively oatmeal for breakfast and snacks for the last 2 weeks, I jumped for the granola they had there. Nick made fun of me for going for the oats over potatos, bacon, sausage, and fresh fruit at the buffet.

I know why I don't sunburn despite little sunscreen: I  have built up a layer of dirt, dead skin, and general filth that protects my skin from UV rays.

We reached an important junction and decided our route south:
Leave the Cassiar Highway
New Aiyansh and the Lava Field
Terrace (big city)
Go to Prince Rupert (port town on coast)
Take ferry from Prince Rupert to Fort Hardy on Vancouver Island


This will take us through some different scenery, and the ferry ride is supposed to be spectacular.

Day 24 Kinaskan Lake to Bell 2

July 15 74.45 miles
7:07:54 Ride Time

Good morning from Kinaskan Lake! Great free campsite, if you are a cyclist and you get the awesome park ranger lady.





Met many people today!

We met a group from Missoula Montana doing a group ACA ride. Don't know if I mentioned this yesterday. Anways, there were two groups and we met the second group today.

We also met a man from Japan going from Vancouver, BC, to Anchorage, Alaska. He went up via the Al-Can highway, through Banff and Jaspar.


We also met "X." X is not his real name, but he said "On this trip, call me X." X started traveling in St. Petersburg, Russia. He walked across Europe and then flew to Toronto. He worked in Toronto for a year before heading out to Detroit. From Detroit he started walking towards Alaska. His goal is to make it to the Western edge of Alaska and then find a way back into Russia across the Bering Strait. He is ambitious. I asked him why he is doing this, and I don't think he understood my question, but anyways he said that he walks because he can swim across rivers or cross mountains if he needs to.



So good luck to X!

We scared off two more bears, and chased off another bear into a ditch as we approached. We saw a fourth bear from about 10 feet away right beside us as we went down the road. We frightened each other and the bear ran into the bushes, luckily for us.

I've felt great since the 100 mile day, and I think it is time to up the mile quota. 50 minimum no longer, its  time to do 60!

Look at the mountains in the background, ruining the picture of this beautiful transmission line platform.

In BC, there are so many waterfalls all over it's not even a big deal. If this waterfall were in Minnesota, there would be all like OMG OMG!!!!! And there would be brown signs pointing to it for miles around as a tourist destination. Here, they are all like, eh, NBD.  It's just another roadside water fall.

Finally a view not perverted by powerlines.

466 m is really not very high, but we started out low.

I don't know what was actually happening here, but I like it that way. Where is Nick walking to? What will he do there? Will he turn back? Did he get tired of riding his bike? Will he walk to Panama?

So close to glaciers!

Spending night on road by Bell 2. Bell 2 is a heli skiing resort, and is a quiet fancy hotel where a bunch of ski bums work and hang out all summer. We were told they have a breakfast buffet... Can't wait.