Cross Canada Tour
Day 2 - June 9th - Hope to Princeton
137 Kms
Another big day and a tough ride with two mountain passes under my belt. The first pass of any trip is always a toughie, and today's was no exception. The weather was hot and sunny, which seemed to make the hills seem all the more daunting. Allison Pass was more difficult from the west than when I rode it from the east last year. Anyway, that's those two out of the way!
I decided on taking Highway #3 - the Crowsnest Highway - as my route east out of BC, rather than the Trans Canada #1 a little further to the north. Highway 3, although more mountainous, is a far more scenic route and does not have the "freeway" atmosphere of #1.
I met a gaggle of cyclists just as I was leaving Hope, they relayed that they were on their way to Edmonton. They had empty bikes, a motor-home and a SAG wagon following. I was almost jealous as I was humping my 50 lbs of gear up the hill out of Hope. However, whilst climbing the hill, I was riding alongside and chatting with one of the young lady cyclists (the only one that was slow enough to keep up with my laden snail pace) who was describing their intended route to me, when I suddenly realised that they should have taken the Coquihalla out of Hope, not Highway 3! So off she went to catch up with the others, who fortunately had stopped for a rest a little further up the hill around a bend. They all had to turn around and head back to Hope - a good warm-up for all those youngsters, I chuckled to myself!
About 30 Kms out of Hope, I saw this guy coming towards me, in a car with his head hanging out of the window, shouting and yelling. It was the no show from yesterday - John Keyser. Turns out that he did show to ride along with me a way yesterday, but we just missed each other. Actually, we saw each other from a distance, but we were both too stupid to realise who each other was and make the connection - until today. Anyway, it was nice of him and his wife Bev to track me down today. Only problem was that he was in a hurry to get back to the gas station that he left his wallet at! Good luck John!
Further along today's route, I met two young lady cyclists from Quebec. They flew their bikes and gear out to Vancouver and were riding all the way back to Quebec. I met them about 5 Kms west of the Allison Pass summit and they grilled me on the road ahead. As soon as I mentioned that Sunday Summit was still ahead after the crest, they decided to stay in Manning Park for the night. Wise move, I didn't get into Princeton until 6:00 p.m.! - 6 litres of water later and very tired. At least the last 30 Kms after Sunday Summit were downhill!
While I was crawling up one of the hills today, a small bear cub ran in front me - "Great!" I thought, "where's Momma bear?" But I was lucky, as Momma never appeared. I also saw a mule deer and I snapped a good photo of a moose cow, not to mention Basil's ground squirrel buddies a Manning Park.
On the outskirts of Princeton, I rode past the remains of the big forest fire that was started by a motor-home last year; lots of blackened and charred trees - Ugly!
Tired as I was, I rode by some spectacular scenery, that would only be visible by someone cycling eastward, as I was, very close to some very precipitous embankments - beauty! The weather was also a bonus, but I'm still looking for those tailwinds! Maybe tomorrow eh?
I've opted for the riverside cabin tonight, rather than camping. Nice, clean and peaceful - cheap too!
Day 3 - June 10th - Princeton to Osoyoos
124 Kms
Shortest day yet, but I'm feeling it! I think that I might just have a rest day here and tackle Anarchist mountain the next day. I've got a nice campsite by the beach, showers etc. So I can use tomorrow to do laundry and relax. I'm quite a bit ahead of where I figured I'd be by now, and besides the weather is really hot all of a sudden, so a day to acclimatise certainly won't hurt - that's my excuse and I'm sticking to it! Besides, by the lake, on a beach, temperatures in the high 30's - come on now!
Anyway, some of my friends back home must have done some good praying last night, 'cause I got my tail winds today - for the most part. I had a great run into Keremeos and Cawston, but as soon as the road began to undulate the wind god turned on me. Mostly flat road today except some fool stuck Richter Pass in the last part of the ride, but it was a nice downhill after that into the desert like Osoyoos and it's surrounding area. The road follows the Similkameen River for a long stretch and it was interesting to watch the scenery change to the desert and sagebrush qualities of this area from the highly forested regions of the previous days' rides.
The campground that I'm staying at has the beginning of the climb up to Anarchist summit for a backdrop, so I can watch the trucks crawling up there, just as I will have to do - Oh joy!
My Moroccan pasta and beans are almost ready, my beer's getting warm and I'm starving - I'm off!
Day 4 - June 11th - Rest Day - Osoyoos
0 Kms
Day 5 - June 12th - Osoyoos to Grand Forks
127 Kms
Two more passes under the wheels. Anarchist mountain was an almost 3 hour ride to the 1233m summit, but I left early enough to beat the heat and wind, plus I fortified myself with a breakfast of oatmeal, banana and tea! It wasn't too bad a ride, especially after my rest day. The first look-out was about 10 Kms up from the town and the views from there and during the rest of my climb to the top were nothing short of spectacular - you just don't get the same perspective out of a car window! After a fast descent from the top, I just had to have a cooked breaky at Rock Creek; nice little restaurant there. I remembered passing it when we were riding our Kettle Valley Railtrail tour. In fact, during the whole day I was catching glimpses of the trail. Funnily enough, when I rode the trail, I was always catching glimpses of the highway that I rode today! Brought back some good memories though... I'm even camping in the same town park that we camped in a few years ago in Grand Forks.
Changing vistas today; when the scenery transformed to the familiar rangelands and forests of the Kootenays, as opposed to the arid like quality of the Osoyoos area.On the way to Grand Forks, I passed through Rock Creek, Midway (which actually is half way across the Province), and Greenwood (BC's smallest city). Of course, after Greenwood I had Phoenix Mountain to conquer and the 1105m summit at Eholt. There's nothing left of Eholt, just a plaque explaining that the old copper mining days brought thousands of miners to this area - now only ghost towns and memories remain. Much of Highway 3 follows the old prospector's route of the "Dewdney Trail."
Just as I was cresting at Eholt, I saw an ugly cloud, heard a clap of thunder and then the wind picked up dramatically. I rushed to put my pannier covers on and donned my new poncho - it's waterproof tested now! The storm soon passed, but it kept raining for a while, just long enough to spoil some of my downhill run - typical!
When I arrived at the campground in Grand Forks, there were branches strewn around that had been torn off trees, many of garbage cans were blown over and everybody was wondering what had hit them. Turns out that the wind was much worse in town than where I was on the mountain - most unusual?
Anyway, there's three young (late teenage) guys here, who are also riding across Canada, but it has taken them 11 days to get here from Vancouver, what's more, they've been trying to leave Grand Forks all day today (it's now late afternoon) - the hold-up is that they met some local girls today! I chatted with them for a little while and wished them luck on their trip - if their hormones will let them continue! But youth prevails and they seem to be having a good time so far.
As I arrived in Grand Forks, a sign at the outskirts of town... "Grand Forks, famous for Sunshine and Borscht." I actually did notice lots of Russian restaurants, probably due to the Doukhabors who immigrated into the region.
Got to go, time to cook.
Day 6 - June 13th - Grand Forks to (almost) Salmo
133 Kms
I got off to an early start again - but unfortunately finished late. So I grabbed a cheap motel for the night on the outskirts of Salmo; actually I stayed there on last years tour, kinda deja-vous.
Bonanza Pass was a real grind as the granny gear got a good workout again, not to mention my poor old legs! After Christina Lake the road just goes up and up to the 1533m summit, which is actually called Paulson Summit, but most maps read "Bonanza Pass." Paulson is a dot on the map a few kilometres prior to the summit; all there is to Paulson is a bridge, and the only claim to fame of the bridge is that Adam K camped under it on his Kettle Valley Rail Tour - Yeah, I know, big deal!
After the summit, I had a fast ride down for a while, but nothing compared to the 30 Km climb. The only fun part was that as I was nearing Castlegar, I actually had to slow down; I had caught up with a logging truck and he (perhaps she?) was making me brake too much - I didn't want to overheat my rims and risk a blow-out, so I pulled off at a convenient cafe and had an ice cream - third of the day I might add!
When I arrived in Castlegar, you could fry eggs on the pavement - it was damn hot, as was I. I really wanted to get close to Salmo though, to make for a good start on Kooteney Pass tomorrow. Kootenay Pass, at 1774m, is the highest one on Highway 3, and actually British Columbia's highest mountain paved road pass.
So I set off for a (what I thought would be a relatively short) 30 Km ride in the searing heat - after replenishing some supplies, water being one of them luckily - sometimes I question my own sanity! Anyway, I'm a map freak, and I've looked at many a map of BC and the road between Castlegar, Highway 3, and Salmo shows no mountain pass. Well folks, after a gruelling climb for a steady and steep 17 Kms, I reached "Bombi Summit" at 1214m - never heard of it before, but I know that sucker intimately now. Even Basil was swearing as we reached bend after bend only to find - more mountain! The only good part was that the downhill was long and steady too. Regardless, Bombi made for a long day, and realistically, I should not have been out on that stinking hill in that stinking hot weather for so stinking long! But I was, so now I'm having a cold one to celebrate - there's a convenient restaurant opposite the motel, I've been  here before you know!
Scenery? Lots of it, and all viewed from the best positions - mountain sides. Sometimes a great vista goes whizzing by, but pardon me for not stopping and crawling back up the hill for that perfect photo - I have taken a few good ones though and will share upon my return.
I must mention that, so far, 99% of the drivers on the roads have been very courteous and given me lots of room. The other 1%? We won't talk about them. I did affix a small reflective "slow moving vehicle" triangle to the rear of my left rear pannier, and perhaps that's the reason for the space that I am afforded, who knows? But I'm thankful for it!
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