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Offline turn_one

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BC by Bike
« on: October 02, 2014, 04:18:29 PM »
So living in the Pacific Northwest gives me the ability to see some wonderful areas...about 3 months out of the year because the other 9 it's gray and raining.

One area I haven't spent much time exploring is British Columbia, just about 2 hours north of me.  My buddy Brent spends quite a bit of time here (living in Bellingham just this side of the border), had been egging me on for some BC adventure time so off we went.
BC has wonderful map books, (5) I think in total detailing all of their backcountry.  Things such as hikes, kayak routes, bike trails, horseback loops, even portages.  This was our tool to get into some trouble.  We simply wanted to get up into backwoods...into the mountains where the living is good.  We had no particular destination in mind, just a loose timeframe thanks to my work and 2 cool bikes to do the job.

I have a 2014 KTM 690 R and Brent, a turd DR650 (no offense Chief).  Here we are about to cross the border in a town called Sumas at their creamery...Brent likes the ice cream.


Our route took us east of Vancouver into Abottsford.  Wanting to leave the cities quickly behind we turned north to Harrison Lake and up the west side towards our first nights stop; a cool indian ran hot springs with about 4 soaker pools right on a river. 

Here are the bikes 1/2 way up Harrison Lake


The next morning we were up and on the road by 5am...ok...maybe 10 and blitz our way into Lillooet then Pemberton 2 small towns with gas north of Whistler.  We slept along the river outside of Pemberton with 3 million mosquitoes and maybe a few bears.  Here's Brent scaring off the bears...and me


Pemberton presented the last known opportunity for gas.  My bike has a 3.2 gallon tank and is thirsty (70hp singles drink gas), Brent has an obese tank which made my bike the weak link.  I can get about 120-150 miles per tank and also carry 2 32oz. MSR fuel cans which provide about another 25 miles.  With where we were headed in consideration this meant we had to rifle through the trash at the Pemberton Subway for juice bottles (aka redneck fuel tanks) as not to get hung out high and dry.  We also (and I know this will get all the survivalist/planner types all twisted up) got some Canadian cash so we could buy fuel from folks should we encounter any.  This later proved necessary.

BC has an excellent network of gravel roads going in every direction and unlike WA state don't dead end.  They are kept open and maintained either because of old mining/logging operations and/or link indian villages.  With map books in hand we pointed to a point north and took off.  Few examples of the gravel roads:



Our map book pointed to an offshoot from the Yalakoom River we had been following that appeared to dead end at a lake, we decided to check it out.  The lake had a primitive campground but we weren't ready to turn in.  More importantly it had a single track heading off into the mountains, we went to explore.  After about 5 miles we ended up at this old hunters camp along a lake.  Weird because the only way in we saw was this pack trail.  Good views and fishing consumed the rest of our afternoon.






Night 3 we camped next to some friendly Canooks who shared some food, gas (we reimbursed them) and some secret areas with us.  They had been coming up here for 20+ years and stoked our flames about an nearby area that had awesome single track, mountainous terrain and good fishing lakes.  They also told us about being stalked by cougars here.  Our spot:


Fully gassed and a few Canadian dollars lighter we tromped up 30+ miles of gravel past old hunters cabins, mines and plenty of streams I wished I had time to drop a fly into.  Our first stop was this peak one could jeep up to (can't remember the name and we actually saw 3 rock-crawler type jeeps heading down).  I do remember that most of Canada's loose rocks were on this mountain.  Elevation somewhere around 7K' here:


Down the jumbles and towards the area we were recommended we went.  This involved a water crossing better suited for a Typhoon class sub...which I did my best not to mimic, and some pretty cool 4WD roads.  We met up with some ATV folks that helped us ford this 'puddle':


We then all met at a lake a mile up the road where I got a chance to fish for a spell.  Of course the kids in the group wanted to eat fish for lunch...so dad got the fire started and the pressure was on me once my fly hit the water.


I managed to catch about 6 rainbows, all adding up to about 1 lb. Gladly the dad brought hotdogs which took the heat off me.

I prefer single track riding primarily.  The idea of hooking up cool single tracks in the middle of nowhere with scenic gravel roads are what this bike was made for.  This day was perfect.  Let the pics do the splainin:




At this point I had to at least head south towards cell coverage, work concerns, so off we went leaving 2000+ miles of country north of us for another time.  Our route took us through Gold Bridge, Seton Portage and D'Arcy.  All points on the map not really resembling towns in person.  Gas could be had in Seton Portage by appointment only.  To break up the monotony of long segments on dirt roads we found some more interesting off-shoots to explore.  This one took us up to the alpine via logging roads and ATV tracks.  We found a hunters cabin completely stocked (everything is shared) with salmon jerky, soup, freeze driers, etc.

Up into the alpine we went:


End of the trail put us at the base of some lakes.  Still snow in August:


Stream between the two lakes.  This is about 7K':


..and our first bath for the week...yes, cold:


South towards home with one more stop for food and sleep.  This one in Squamish (best rock climbing NA if you ask me).  Thanks buddy for the adventure:




« Last Edit: October 02, 2014, 05:18:23 PM by turn_one »

Offline Flyin6

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Re: BC by Bike
« Reply #1 on: October 03, 2014, 07:34:19 AM »
Wow!
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Offline KensAuto

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Re: BC by Bike
« Reply #2 on: October 03, 2014, 10:21:40 AM »
Awesome to say the least.
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Offline moto123

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Re: BC by Bike
« Reply #3 on: October 03, 2014, 01:55:52 PM »
Looks like a great trip, I am definitely jealous!

Offline JR

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Re: BC by Bike
« Reply #4 on: October 06, 2014, 03:21:54 PM »
Sounds fun, wish I could do it or afford it.

I have been that way though Sumas but always at night heading up to Chilliwack. Know a guy up there with a few hundred acres.
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