Tuesday, Aug 7, 2012
I went out of my way to get to Lillooet for a reason, and that reason was staring me in the face first thing in the morning. I was excited about that, but also aware that I was in a race against the clock in order to ride the two ferries to a place I had never been before: up the Sunshine Coast and into Powell River.
Riding the highway between Lillooet to Pemberton on the Sea to Sky Highway is one of the most extraordinary experiences I have ever had. The first time I took this on the Magical Mystery Tour 2008 I did not know what I was getting into. It was tight, perilous, and kicked the shit out of me. On the long descent into Pemberton my brakes gave out and I had to use a runaway truck lane to avoid riding to my doom down the side of the mountain. The second time was on the Little Miss Sunshine Tour 2009 at the end of a Vancouver-Lillooet day. It was then that I realized that this highway needs to be ridden east to west to enjoy the full glory of the Coast Mountains, and that early morning focus was also required.
This is why I had to get to Lillooet from Ymir the day before. No other reason.
After saying goodbye to the lovely “we’re-from-BC-and-ride-motorcycles-but-don’t-know-anything-about-riding-motorcycles-in-BC” couple I left town and started my adventure. The hazardous route starts immediately as the highway attempts to take you from the canyon wall overlooking the Fraser River through the wild Coast Mountains. The road is always next to a mountainside with a severe drop-off with no guardrail on the other side, crosses creeks and rivers on a regular basis and most times the way across is a single-lane wooden bridge, and the way to get there is by broken asphalt and in some cases, gravel.
I made it to Pemberton with no mechanical troubles and a very serious feeling of satisfaction. It is hard to believe that a road so rugged was only minutes away from where the eyes of the world were turned for the Olympics only two years ago: Whistler.
I had no interest in enjoying the scenery or the ride south of Pemberton. I was on a race against the clock to make the ferry to get up the Sunshine Coast at 2:00. I left Pemberton at 11:00 knowing I would have to hurry. Besides that, I’m not sure I’ll ever enjoy Whistler and the plethora of trust-fund kids riding their long boards down the road.
I reached the ferry after grabbing a sandwich in Squamish with 10 minutes to spare before the ferry arrived. Now, here’s the thing about ferries in BC: motorcyclists are Rock Stars. No matter how late we arrive we always get directed to the front of the line, and we are also the first of the ferry when it lands. Seriously, there was a few kilometers of cars waiting, many of the latter ones would have to wait several hours for the next ferry…and I just rode past them like I was Ringo freakin’ Starr.
The Sunshine Coast on the other side was a bit of a disappointment. There was no view of the sea from the highway and the road itself simply meandered through socialite cottage country while offering no real challenge. It was a necessary evil to get to my destination of Powell River, but I had to race the clock again to take the second ferry to get there. I arrived with about 40 minutes to spare and fell asleep on the grass at the ferry landing.
By this point I was tired and getting sick of racing the clock to get places and just wanted to enjoy some holiday time. I arrived at Powell River at around 9pm and ordered more takeout before watching Olympic coverage. I didn’t even unpack my bags. I had to get up very early tomorrow in order to make the Ferry to Vancouver Island at 8am.
I had another gin from my bag as I looked out over the Georgia Strait from my motel. It had just dawned on my in that instant that I was breathing salt air. I had made it to the ocean.
BC Bike Tour 