Day 22 Dease Lake to Gnat Pass

July 13, 2014

Good morning from Dease Lake!

Woke up, swam, watch trout jump out and into the lake. 

Used the fishing line the hitchhiker gave us in Tok to make this crude fishing pole. I could cast the line, but never quite figured out a good way to retrieve it or respool the line. Still a lot of fun.

 One way to cast it is to swim the lure out into the middle of the lake. I don't recommend that, as it scares away all the fish. And it's a lot of work on the swimmer's part.

A couple showed up to use the swimming hole. They had kayaks and dogs. The dogs got all our nice clean laundry all sandy again, and as an added bonus they shed some hair on our clothes, too.

We thought about having a rest day, but then we got itching to hit the road, so we did. We climbed up a steep, long hill and made it to the top of Gnat Pass.

Easy riding after that with some beautiful scenery. Tip for cyclists and roadside campers: Use the rubbish bins as bear proof containers by opening htem from the back and putting your bags behind the rubbish bags. If the bear bin is locked from the back, open it from the inside by lifting the bar.

A conversation I overheard:

While in Dease Lake, eating at the grocery store, we met a man from Luxembourg. He had a curly moustache, looked and acted exactly what I would expect a man from Luxembourg to look and act like. 

He started talking with a First Nation woman and somehow they ended up talking about construction or development that was being planned in the area. She was opposed to it, and he had a naive faith that human engineering would be able to solve any problem that may lie ahead of the project, and that the project would make the lives of everyone in the area better. 

I loved the woman because she thought exactly the same way I think, "You can't beat mother nature," she said, and talked about landslides that blocked off salmon runs. The man had an idea for transporting fish using nets and trucks and stuff, which sounds like an awful hassle considering the salmon would do all right if we just leave the river be. 

Then the man started telling the woman how much money could be made from the project, and how it would increase tourism by making all these ridiculous attractions to go along with the project. To this the woman said "It's always about money. I've tried the white man's way and it's too expensive."  

For her respect for nature and quiet resolve to fight the machine, I gave her a thumbs up behind the back of the Luxembourg man as I left. It was a fun conversation to overhear.

For being a very tense subject, she was very civil and respectful. I love Canadians, I've seen them behave way more decently towards difficult people than I would have expected, and never thought "Oh, that was one rude Canadian."

Day 21 To Dease Lake

July 12, 2014

Good morning from a gravel pit! BC is so pretty that even their gravel pits are worth taking pictures in front of.

Awoke to a brush cutter from the Ministry of Transportation getting ready to cut alongside the highway. We realized we have been lucky none of them have been operating where we have set up camp.

The man was super friendly and gave us each an iced tea from his chilibin. Still cold!

The sun, while a welcome change from the clouds and rain, is also very very hot. It's already uncomfortable during breakfast time and I must choose: take shirt off and die by bugs, or keep it on and die by sweat?

See the bugs between my rainfly and screen? They buzz and keep me up at night.

We met two people from the US on this bridge. The second American cyclists all trip! They are touring as a fundraiser, and you can check out their website. The picture is of Tom and Nick.

 There's a cute little spring coming out from the rocks. Perfect to fill a waterbottle!

We got close enough to smell this bear!

Today was an extremely special day, and we were fortunate enough to have Tom along with us. While traveling alone, Tom happened to run in to many people and make connections with what seems like half the people in British Colombia. One of these people was a First Nation woman who invited him to a birthday party in Dease Lake on July 12, if he was in town. Well, we ended up making it to town just in time for that birthday party.

While I was in the grocery store, buying a tub of ice cream to eat by myself, that woman he met two weeks prior walked into the store, which greatly simplified the process of finding her and getting the details for the event.  We hadn't been in town for more than 10 minutes before this happened. It's a small town, but still, what are the odds?

And so we ended up going to a Birthday Party for Lilian, who just turned 75. I don't have picutres of it, but it was quite the event. It was in the community center, and featured a pot luck of salmon, doll sheep stew, caribou stew, and moose rib. That is in addition to the regular cheese, crackers, and veggie platter that you normally find. 

I highly recommend moose rib, if you ever get the chance. 

They had "Indian Gift Giving" which, as they described it, is when you give a gift, and then take it away. I've done similar gift exchanges before, but the version my family plays is much tamer, and they are all too passive, reserved, and polite to each other. "Oh, don't want to take something that someone else might want, let me pretend to be excited by this light up keychain I don't want and have no use for...."

I much preferred the boisterous, no holds barred intensity that this family played with. They ran across the circle to grab someone elses gift, and yelled at each other, and yelled over each other, and made their joy and frustration very clear. And they were allowed to accumulate as many gifts as they wanted. One guy walked away with two of the coveted wool blankets. 

The whole experience was quite surreal, and I thought it was time to go. But things were about to get even crazier. For me they got crazier, but that's only because I'm weird.

As I went up to peraonlly wish Lillian a happy birthday, thank her, and say goodbye, she started talking about what she had been up to in the community recently, and that included being arrested for protesting mining operations in the sacred valley. I thought that was cool, but then she dropped the name "David Suzuki" real casually, and I really started paying attention because David Suzuki is to the environmental movement what Babe Ruth is to baseball. You can't really become much bigger of a rock star in the environmental movement than he. 

So I listened some more and learned that they had worked together in some respects on this project and she has met and talked with Dr. Suzuki several times. And she's been arrested several times. You can see her getting handcuffed and taken away at about 2:00 of this video:

 

Happy birthday, Tiger Lilly! Keep fighting.



It was the best day of the trip so far, and what better way to conclude it than setting up our tents and going for a swim?

Day 20 Cassiar Highway

July 11
60 miles? Something like that.

Good morning from the Cassiar Highway, British Colombia!



Awoke to discover we slept in a strawberry patch. That is good, except that bears like berries and the Cassiar highway is not exactly wide enough for cyclists and bears to share the road comfortably.

For being the day after a 100 mile day, the legs were surprisingly strong. Took it easy, and took some long breaks at this park. We didn't go into the park, we just used the sign to lean against.

It's getting hot and my hair is getting extra sexy. The shirt is off, and we need to procure sunscreen. I will have to remind myself many times: even at $14 a bottle, sunscreen is still a much better value than skin cancer treatment.

They have so many mountains around here it isn't even a big deal to have a view like this. This is the new normal.

And we met a friend! Tom was about to lay down for the night when we found him. Tom is from New Zeland and has been all over the world for the last 2 years or so. He started his bike ride in Inuvit, YT and is headed south to Vancouver via a ferry to Vancouver Island. He is an expert on bear safety, and gave us many useful tips for dealing with grizzlies vs black bears. Turns out you do completely different things depending on which one it is. Who knew?

See him here in his "Hi-Vis," pedaling to the nearest "long-drop" because the egg-salad sandwhiches went "off" in the "chilibin" That's what they call the reflective vests, outhouses, going bad, and coolers in New Zeland. Crazy Kiwis.

We saw a porcupine. Never seen one before in my life!

The Cassiar offers no paint, no shoulder, no gentle slopes, but it does have some spectacular views. We biked through several burn areas, and the pink and purple flowers growing beneath the blackened tree trunks were beautifully unique.

Day 19 Rancharia Park, YT to SUPER NATURAL BEST PLACE ON EARTH!

July 10, 2014
100 miles

We slept in a little park that isn't a campground, but it doesn't say no camping, and there were other RVers spending the night, so we figured we were okay to camp and set up our tents inside the picnic shelter.

The RV family from the night before came over this morning and gave us freshly percolated coffee in an awesome mug.

That was a great start to a fine day with many milestones!

• Passed 1000 miles total
• Rode naked mile down the mountain
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
• Saw our first black bears (3 total)
• Turned on to the Cassiar Highway
• Left Yukon and entered British Colombia for good.

• Had first midnight ride
• The sun actually went down and it actually got dark!
• Had first 100 mile day!
• The weather was awesome and it didn't rain all day!

 We are in some pretty remote territory.

But it is beautiful. I almost died from mosquito and bug attack trying to get this picture.

After seeing the welcome sign for British Colombia, I am even more convinced that their tourism bureau is run by 9 year olds. Super! Natural! Best Place On Earth! YAY BRITISH COLOMBIA!

Day 18 Marley Lake, BC to Rancharia River Park

July 9, 2014
56.5 miles


Good morning from Marley Lake!

My body is breaking down, I need a rest day. Haven't had one since Tok. Knees are sore and my fingers are still cracked from the boundary waters trip I took a month ago.

It is time to throw the great sponge away. We found it on the side of the road on a very cold, wet, rainy day. It has been a symbol of dryness, providing hope  during times of wetness that things will one day be made dry again. Unfortunately, as a symbol, it serves little practical purpose to us on this trip. Despite its light weight it takes up a lot of space and on top of it all, it doesn't actually help to dry things all that much.

So farewell Sponge, may you soak up toxins in a dump somewhere.

Here is a view of some of the scenery.

We crossed the continental divide, but not the Pacific/Atlantic divide, the Pacific/Arctic Divide. Before this I didn't even stop to think that there would be more than one division in the flow of water across the continent!

People:
The Trucker
Talked to a trucker who told us all about fishing in AK and the Yukon, and about the different road users. We concluded that everyone hates RV drivers for being unqualified to drive a vehicle that large and then driving them poorly.

The RVers
And after we spook poorly of  RVers, a family driving in an RV invited us in for pork chops and mashed potatos! Imagine that! A homecooked meal. We graciously accepted and enjoyed talking with them about bear sightings and the different possible routes: If we stay on the Al-Can highway, we see buffalo and the best hot springs in Canada. But.... it's a longer route and we have been told that the Cassiar is more scenic and probably more manageable for bikes.

The Fishermen
These two middle aged men were funny. One guy said "We left our women at home to go fishing." And the other immediately turned around and corrected him, "You don't even have a wife!" To which he said "Well actually I have a girlfriend." They talked to each other like a married couple. It was cute.

Here's a cool waterfall where we met the fishermen. That's Nick.

Mosquitoes are horrible here. They have pushed me to my tolerance limit. I might have to start using bug spray. Yuck.

Day 17 to Marley Lake, British Colombia

July 8
56.5 miles
11.8 average mph

Hello from the highway!

My brain must still be thinking about yesterday's bonk, because in my journal I wrote a lot about food. For lunch we bought some "nice stuff" in a grocery store, which means canned veggies to go with ramen noodels, and beans and pork. And potato chips. That was lunch: over 2,500 calories.

Then we crossed this bridge, and Nick almost got ran over by a bunch of semis as he ran with his bike to the other side. I was lucky. No cars came while I was on it.

We met a northbound Australian, who reported seeing Shawn! The Australian said Shawn had thrown out a huge 2 kilo bag of rice alongside the road to "cut down on weight." 

And we said to ourselves, "Yep, sounds like Shawn."

Good to hear Shawn is still doing well. 

Had a flat tire, but we have patches and spare tubes for that. It just takes time to fix it, and then you have to eat a snickers bar to give yourself a moral boost afterwards.

You know you are in the middle of nowhere when the sign says "JUST 56 miles ahead"

The highway dips down into British Colombia for several km, so we get to be in British Colombia for tonight
I think the tourism bureau in BC may be run by 8 year olds graders studying adjectives. Or they had a write in campaign and drew them at random.

On this stretch of highway there is a very nice, free, campground.

It's really pretty if you are there. Trust me.