Western BC Circle Tour

Williams Lake to 100 Mile House
105km

 Another stinking hot day was the forecast for this day and it didn't fall short. The route involved a fair bit of climbing, but was mainly pleasant and especially scenic when we were passing Lac la Hache - "the Longest Town in the Cariboo," - which is a very popular recreation area. We continued to glimpse trains and track who's routes almost paralleled ours. And in fact our whole route, from Prince Rupert to Vancouver, could be travelled by train; Via Rail from Prince Rupert to Prince George, and BC Rail From Prince George to Vancouver.

 

[Sadly, BC Rail is no longer in operation. Via Rail operates train service from Prince Rupert Jasper, AB]

 

 

There was a nice municipal park for camping at 100 Mile House, so we pitched our tents and went to get our provisions in town. A well stocked sporting goods store there had camp stove fuel and all different kinds of gas canisters for camp stoves. It was nice to see a good selection, as most places always seem to be out of stock of the particular canisters that we required. Larry bought another spare tire without being coaxed and we did the rest of our shopping. Halfway back to the park, Larry turned around and headed back downtown in a hurry? Tim and I followed, and Larry went into the grocery store and came out with a glum look... "What's up?" we said. "Lost my wallet," was the reply. The grocery store was the last place he had it and it wasn't there, so it must of slipped out of his pocket when he began riding back. We retraced our steps and couldn't find a trace of it, Un-Lucky Larry! Fortunately, there was only a bit of cash in it, some ID and one bank card, which would be useless to anybody without the PIN. We appeased Larry, and ourselves, with food and beer back at the park!

 At the park we had striking evidence of the massive Spring run-off and floods that had happened a few weeks before. Normally a small creek that flowed through the park was a raging torrent. A footbridge crossing the "creek" was completely submerged and cut off the park trail. The photo show what a small creek can turn into, and the noise was like sleeping next to Niagara Falls!

 

100 Mile House to Clinton
80km

 We stopped at the local Police Station before we left, to report the loss of Larry's wallet and to see if perhaps someone had turned it in, no such luck! I guess that Larry was destined to rely on our generosity for the remainder of the tour!

 The morning wake-up hill beckoned, and it was 6km long out of 100 Mile House, quite steep too, some 9% sections if I remember correctly. But after that it was plain sailing, and quite a short and leisurely ride passing through 70 Mile House, and onto our next destination of Clinton. Nice valley views to the east for many miles made it enjoyable too. Lakeview Campground was actually about 6km south of Clinton, quite nice, but it was one of those places that charges "per tent." So while there were only three small tents, that could virtually fit onto one camping spot, we were still charged for three spots, $10.00 per tent, what a rip-off. Needless to say we spread out to our full $10.00 worth! There wasn't much else to choose from in the area, short of "guerilla camping," and as a small consolation, the shower facilities were free and ice cream was available at the office/store.

 We sat around for a while by the small lake at the campground and chewed the fat. Our discussion turned to how the weather had actually been very nice for the last few days. "See," I said, "just like I promised!" That was the wrong thing to say - all I got after that was, "but where are the babes on the beach?"

 

Clinton to Lillooet
100km

 There is choice of roads when leaving Clinton for Pavilion; one way is to continue on 97 and the other is a secondary road (to Downing Provincial Park), much of which is gravel and posted as "Summer Travel Only." We opted for the highway, as I had previously enquired about the secondary road and it was not recommended for (road) bicycle travel, and we didn't really have the tires for off-road terrain either.

 After expecting a morning climb for quite a few days, it was a pleasant surprise to find ourselves on a downhill run almost straight away. In fact this gradual downhill would continue for over 20km and almost until we made the right turn to leave Highway 97 and pick up the eastern end of Highway 99. Once we started on 99 we lost the good road shoulder and had to contend with virtually none. The traffic flow was very low and that was just as well as this was another hot, dry day with quite a stretch of narrow winding and hilly road all the way to Lillooet. There wasn't much on this road except for the general store at Pavilion, which was a welcome ice-cream and water stop. Supposedly the oldest general store in BC, it was quite a step back in time.

 

[Sadly, the store is no more. An electrical fire in 2000 destroyed the building -
all that remains at the site is the fireplace and chimney!]

 

 From Pavilion on, the scenery changed dramatically. We we riding above and alongside the Fraser River and the usual greenery was changing to an almost desert like landscape. The heat of the day was a good complement to the surroundings. Lillooet was Mile 0 and the the start of the Gold Rush Trail in the Cariboo Gold Rush days, hence the name of the towns we had already passed through further north, e.g. 100 Mile House, 70 Mile House etc. On our way into Lillooet, we crossed the Fraser river via the Bridge of 27 Camels! So named after a failed business venture that brought camels to this part of the world to be used as pack animals for the gold prospectors. Unfortunately for the entrepreneur, the camel's feet were too tender for our rugged BC terrain!

 The campground was at the end of the bridge next to a swollen river, nothing fancy, but very reasonable. Boy it was hot though. Too warm to cook, so we walked up the hill to town for beer and pizza. After one beer, we each needed a jug of water as we seemed to be very dehydrated and the beer just didn't help. The waitress just kept bringing the ice water and couldn't believe how much we were drinking! Bellied up on pizza and water we went back to camp and sat around watching the wind pick up a huge dust cloud on the other side of the riverbank. After a while the wind seemed to get worse, and the dust cloud bigger, and bigger, the wind got stronger, the sky got darker, the rain drops started and we really pegged our tents down. The wind was howling by then and we were worried about the tents blowing away, so in we went figuring that with our weight inside, the tents would be safe. Well they were, but the sky opened up and it poured down, together with some thunder and lightening, ear plug night!

 

Lillooet
0km - Forced Rest Day

 The next morning it was still pouring when I woke up. I made a mad dash to the washrooms to be followed by Tim. We decided not to even attempt riding until the rain stopped as we were to head up the Duffy Lake section of Highway 99, which would be a challenge even in good weather. Back into the tent, read my book for a while and fell asleep, waking up to the sounds of Larry lamenting "I'm hungry, it's lunchtime." The rain had just about quit, but it was almost noon and too late to ride the difficult 100km to Pemberton.

 We ventured out and had a nice lunch of fish and chips followed by a fruitless search of the local grocery stores for pita bread (travels well!); not an item stocked in Lillooet! We then toured the Lillooet museum, where there was an interesting array of local historical items and literature, dating back to the gold rush days, which kept us occupied for quite a while. As we left the museum the sun was actually peeking out from behind a cloud. On our way back to our camp we chatted with some locals at the railway station. They informed us that the rainstorm had caused a massive rock slide over 400 yards of rail track, and that the train couldn't make the run to Lillooet that day from Pemberton. Passengers were being bussed by coach to Pemberton to pick up the train there. The bus driver, who had travelled the road we were to negotiate, advised us to be careful as there were a lot of smaller rock falls on the roadway. By the time we returned to our tents the raindrops had started to fall again, so we decided then that we would push on to Pemberton the next day, regardless of the weather. If it was to be rainy, we would get a motel in Pemberton and dry out. By the time we decided this and got back into our tents, it was pouring rain again!

 As dinnertime approached and the rain was still beating down, I found that I had enough snacks and cold food items so I didn't have to think about cooking in the tent. However, I could smell aromas from Tim's tent though. Cooking in the tents is something we are usually averse to when touring in bear country, due to the fact that the food smells tend to permeate the tent material and could be a magnet for unwelcome guests in the future. Well I did warn him!