Monday, June 3, 2013

It was not hard for me to convince Greg and the path of least resistance to get home was not necessarily in our best interest. Of course, for that argument to be valid you must assume that our best interests include picturesque vistas, winding curves, sweepers, and narrow wooden bridges.

For that reason taking Highway #1 and then the Coquihalla to get from Vancouver back into the Thompson Plateau simply would not do. It was either the Fraser Canyon or the Sea to Sky. I let Greg pick…and he went with the Sea to Sky. He had never taken the road from Pemberton to Lillooet- my second favourite highway in all of BC. I knew we were in for a treat.

We had left Vancouver just after 9am and we reached Pemberton by 11:00. The climb out of the valley is a series of switchbacks with a steep 9% grade…and once you get onto the mountain the view is extraordinary…glaciers, meadows, lakes, and streams. We stopped to take a short hike to view a glacier and there was still snow everywhere. Lucky for us it was a warm, sunny day. I got the feeling it still got very cold up in these Coast Mountains.

That leg of road took us a few hours and we rolled into Lillooet just after 1:00 where we stopped to take in the majesty of that road and eat some local Asian fare. It was quite hot in Lillooet (it usually is), and we prepared for the next leg of the trip up the Fraser Canyon and on to Cache Creek. The difference between Pemberton and Lillooet is actually quite stark. When you cross that mountain range you go from the cool, wet coast of BC to the hot, dry interior. The rain shadow effect is evident in the bare, jagged mountainsides of Lillooet.

I have a fascination for the Fraser River and its Canyon. It embodies the wild, rugged British Columbia interior very well as it bubbles and churns against the rock faces of the canyon floor. At Lillooet the roads are high up on the ledge of a steep gorge with the river at the bottom with very little in the way of guard rails. It is hard not to feel small and insignificant when you are surrounding by that gorge, the roaring river below, and the mountains towering all around you. I could spend a lot of time here and be very happy.

After leaving the canyon and heading to the dry interior, I started to get the Fades. The Fades are when your eyes get heavy and you start to fall asleep. You end up having to shake your head repeatedly in order to stay awake…something about the road hypnotising you combined with a big lunch and a warm sun…easy combination to induce a nap. The Fades can be dangerous and we reached Cache Creek just in time…I wouldn’t have been able to go on much farther.

At Cache Creek I popped a 5-hour energy drink and an entire medium root beer from the A&W. That woke me up pretty good and Silver roared fast across the Thompson Plateau from Cache Creek to Kamloops. We did not even stop at Kamloops, and we kept cruising all the way to Salmon Arm on the #1 highway where we had to refuel.

The road from Salmon Arm to Sicamous runs along the south shores of the Shuswaps, and memories of Ryan & Silver’s Excellent Adventure 2007 were popping in my head. I had spent 4 days on a houseboat on that tour and I’ve always wanted to do that again. Just have to find the right group of people.

Sicamous is where we chose to eat dinner. It was after 7pm and Greg knew a place called Joe Schmuck’s. I broke down and had a burger (haven’t had a burger in like a year)…it was perhaps the best burger I ever had. Amazing. If you’re ever in Sicamous eat at Joe’s.

After eating we saddled back up and headed toward Revelstoke. Our goal was to reach Golden for the night but it was getting late, the sun was starting to set, and there were dark clouds forming above us. I wanted to avoid another situation like on Day 1 of the Fellowship of the Road Tour where we rode through Jasper National Park through the rain, the dark, and the cold.

Riding from Sicamous to Revelstoke takes you out of the north Okanagan and into the lush heights of the north Kootenays. The mountains start to get bigger, the trees are more dense, and the air is cool and moist. I would have loved to stop and take pictures and soak in the scenery but we were losing light. By the time we went through Revelstoke and started to climb up to Roger’s Pass the sun had set and we were riding in the dark.

Greg ended up being far ahead of me and we stopped at the summit of Roger’s Pass just in time to put on our rain gear. It wasn’t raining just yet…but it was so cold (about 5 degrees) that we needed the extra layer of clothing to keep warm. I climbed onto Silver for the last 70km stretch of the day. It was pitch black and the road was swarming with big trucks. Again…no mountains to see…and Roger’s Pass has some pretty breathtaking scenery to check out. Too bad.

I hate riding in the dark with big trucks. They push you from behind…barreling down on you…forcing you to go faster down steep declines that you would comfortably want to go…it is a very tense experience. It was just as one of these bastards was tailing me that the rain started. Now my visibility was reduced and I had to watch for slippery road sections. I had to laugh…this was another National Park (Glacier) through some of the worst conditions. It was my last leg though. I took my time. No sense making a stupid mistake right at the end.

It was after 11 by the time we reached Golden and we lucked out by finding double room left for us. After unloading our bags we settled into our room and warmed up with a little rum. Didn’t take long to fall asleep that night. It was another very long day and we rode through 5 different ecoregions of the British Columbia interior. If we rode straight through to Golden we’d have been here about 4 hours ago…

…but what’s the point of that? We’re on tour.