Thursday, May 30, 2013

The morning came far too early. I forced myself out of bed at around 8:30, had a quick shower, and emerged into the lounge area of the Lodge where I noticed our rum bottle had a pretty good dent in it. Oops. Seemed like a good idea at the time…not so much right now. We earned it though. Yesterday was one hell of a day.

This was my first time staying at Cougar Mountain Lodge in Valemount. They actually cater well to groups, especially in the wintertime when hordes of snowmobilers file into the Rocky Mountain Trench at Valemount to take in some of the best trails and powder in Canada. Our host, Sue, made us a stellar breakfast of breakfast quesadillas and salsa and hash browns. It was nice to have a good, warm meal first thing in the morning. We would need it. We had another long day ahead of us.

By 9am we stepped outside and breathed in the cool, moist morning air of the mountains. It was the first glimpse of the Rocky Mountains I had, although they were now to the east of me and we were nestled in between them and the Caribou Mountains to the west. We quickly packed our bikes and started to head south down the Yellowhead #5. Destination: Downtown Vancouver.

The #5 south of Valemount is a lovely ride, albeit uneventful. The North Thompson River flows alongside the river all the way to Kamloops. The road itself is straight and wide, and you have a chance to check out the scenery without having to worry about treacherous road conditions…very pleasurable but hardly adventurous.

Greg and I took turns taking the lead as we made our way out of the high mountain country and into the rolling hills of the Shuswap Highlands. Occasionally we would be separated by other traffic but we would catch up with each other eventually. We stopped infrequently, usually just to gas up or to visit a rest area to use the facilities. By 3pm we were in Kamloops and after a short break to refuel and have a snack, we ascended out of Kamloops on the #5 high up into the Thompson Plateau.

This stretch of highway is much different than the casual, tranquil pace we were used to north of Kamloops. It is fast, wide, and has heavy traffic. The clouds were breaking up but it still threatened rain as we rode high up in the plateau to Merritt where we stopped for more fuel.

I had only ridden the Coquihalla once before- on a Sunday afternoon in August during the Easy Rider Tour 2006. That was my first trip to BC and my first time riding a high mountain pass. I remember feeling blown away by the feats of engineering of the highway and how high it ascends. This time around it was late May and much cooler…when we reached the summit there was still snow in the ditches. We stopped for a moment to have an impromptu snowball fight before heading down into Hope.

The ride from Hope to Vancouver was even more fast paced, and it was here that we met a horrible storm in Abbotsford. The rain came down so hard that I almost had to pull over because I couldn’t see anything. Greg was behind me and it took all of my concentration to stay focused on the yellow dividing line to stay in my lane while giving the semi in front of me enough room. The rain subsided by the time we reached the new Port Mann Bridge, and we were able to find our hotel and settle in at around 9pm.

We met up with our third North Battleford representative once we checked into the hotel: our Mayor. The three of us enjoyed an amazing dinner of indian food in the hotel restaurant before we regaled the Mayor with the details of our trip and discussed the objectives we had for the conference we were attending for the next several days.

My hotel room overlooked a busy street in downtown Vancouver. I smiled as I stared at the city lights and thought about how we left North Battleford only the day before…and during that time we braved countless hours of rain, cold, dark, wildlife, and a mechanical scare.

Definitely better than flying.