 |
| 3,100 kms loop, Calgary to Salmon Arm, Williams Lake, Bella Coola, Campbell River, Whistler, Golden and Calgary |
With little to none planning, we booked a ferry from Bella Coola to Port Hardy and hope for a good weather to travel across Hwy 20 in BC and make it on time to the ferry...
Once again, Darcy, Pete and myself. Darcy was eager to try his new bike (KTM 1,290 adventure) on a longer trip, and this year we picked a trip that combines a bit of gravel in between. Hwy 20 is rated one of the most dangerous roads in BC, with over 60kms of gravel and steep switchbacks with 18% grade !
We left Calgary on a mission to get as far as we could on day one after work, made it to Salmon Arm and stayed in a campground in town (well, the plan was tenting, but they had a little wooden cabin for three available and we took it).
After a quick coffee and solid breakfast we left to our next destination (Williams Lake, BC).
We got there early with only 400kms ride, checked in the hotel and headed out for a short little run/hike to stretch the legs.
In the morning and after refueling we headed out to face the hwy 20 ! with the uncertainty of the conditions we were just eager to get it over.. In the 500 kms hwy there were 60kms of gravel and dirt, with grades as steep as 18% ! we saw a couple of bears along the way and a beautiful scenery of twisty roads and mountain ranges..
Once at the bottom of the "Heck Road", the ride to Bella Coola was a nice paved road.. twisty and fast ! with big trees along the way and a beach smell all the way..
Next day we check in at 6:00 am in the ferry (11 hours trip to Port Hardy). The first 7 hours were nice and calm, beautiful blue ski and warm wind.. We saw at least 12 Whales and could heard some Sea Lions on the small islands. There were only maybe around 40 people, so we pretty much had the ferry to ourselves :--). Breakfast and lunch was pretty good, but expensive !. Once we were in the open water on the pacific side we had some fog and nasty weather (the ferry was rocking a lot !) enough to make us start to feel sick for a while... lots of gravol and walking around to make sure we didn't get too sick since we needed to jump on the bikes with good balance :--)
Port Hardy !! we made to first cross. Soo happy to be on Tierra Firme !! From here we rode to Campbell River, were Darcy and Pete wanted to meet for coffee next day with an old classmate from college that haven't seen in 30 years !
Ferry number 2 took us from Nanaimo to Vancouver, it was supposed to be 1 1/2 hours, but an engine died and with free drinks we made it there in 3 hours instead.... All good, but lots of rain from Vancouver to Whistler on a twisty but fast road! beautiful scenery if I would have been more relax on dry pavement :--(
Made it to Whistler, and with a quick stop at the liquor store we crashed at Paul and Louise's house (some friends of Darcy and were the greatest hosts), amazing 25 million dollar house right on Green Lake with the view of Whistler ski hill.
Almost at the end of the trip, one more leg (or two). Rode from Whistler to Golden on hwy 99, beautiful twisty road (but on the rain not so fun), I was scare all the way with a pretty worn out rear tire and lots of curves to handle with care.. Almost 11 hours.. By the time we hit Golden it was a bit late for me to continue on to Calgary on my own and we decided to spend the night and head out super early for the last 270kms of the trip.
It was an amazing journey to say the least, the destination says nothing, but the journey, the stops, lunches, beers, hotels, stories, hikes, walks, ferries, more beers.. all for one reason THE ADVENTURE
Comments
Post a Comment