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travel kid vs.amerika Registered: 12/03/02 Posts: 10,675 Loc: beautiful BC Last seen: 8 years, 4 months |
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This is very long-winded and relatively detailed. I haven't proof-read at this point and will be using this as the basis from which to produce a blog or online journal. I kept no records while I was on the road and am trying to get down as much information as possible, while i can remember. I recognize this may not resonate with many people on the shroomery.
I got home yesterday after 27 days of riding over a period of 28 days + a 36 hour trip back home (plane -> bus -> train). Stats:
Backstory: Have toured before when young and stupid: PDU bike tours in South America. This tour was immediately followed by a ridiculous trip to burningman on my bike. Also spent a number of summers hitchhiking in my local province and one trainhopping across the US: Pictures and info. After 5 years tied down in a relationship I regrettably became boring and complacent. That said I've also finally become stable and directed rather than just focusing on being wild, travelling and taking drugs. Although I now have more obligations than I once had, it is important to find a balance between life productivity and the activities which keep you mentally focused and balanced. I've been keenly aware of what's lacking from my life over the past few years.... I found myself in a unique situation this summer which allowed me to take a month off and go on an adventure; I had to stick around home to upgrade a highschool physics course over the summer, thus my time was divided and I wasn't able to get a "real job" and made meager earnings as a labourer locally while doing my course(May-Aug). Additionally, my stepfather passed away in the fall and my mom is in poor health. I am living at home (*facepalm* ... eating humble pie) while I do my first 2 years of schooling at the local university and helping my mom transition. Without sugarcoating it, she's obviously helping me transition aswell by providing me with food and shelter. I am immensely fortunate to have her support as I move forward with life. Due to my freedom from major financial responsibilities I was presented with the opportunity to take a month and go adventuring. - In the forseeable future I will be once again tied down while pursuing well paid camp jobs and/or internships related to my major over the next 4 summers. Additionally, I may find myself in the position of being a landlord and holding a mortgage, thus this was my last chance to get out for any significant duration over the next long while.... The Plan: This was not long in the making. I conceived of the idea while at work, googled the distance while on lunch break, looked at a couple crazyguyonabike tour journals over the next few days and decided it was ambitious but possible. At which point I promptly bought a one way plane ticket back home. This left me with 3 weeks to plan the details. The Details: The details of this route are not insignificant. A majority of the route (after the first 500kms) are quite/very remote with services presenting themselves only every 2-4 days and with major resupply points occurring every 7-10 days. Logistically, I was leaving a dry semi-arid desert in 37 degree Celsius heat and approaching the Yukon and Alaska which was supposed to be around 15 degrees during the day, but turned out to be largely just above freezing wet/cold and sometimes windy and snowy. <-- the range of conditions makes it very difficult to plan for and select appropriate gear. The Route: British Columbia - 1745kms
Yukon - 882kms
Alaska - 645kms
Thoughts: Day 1 was severely difficult, within the first 35kms my legs were spasming and were locking up really bad. I was shockingly hungry and pounding water like never before. I also got a flat within the first 2 hours. I felt nauseous and off balance by the time I got to the first restaurant at 80kms and was severely questioning my ability when i realized that i had another 60kms to go in order to meet my milage quota. After the meal things improved - I made it to the next village where I pounded some gatorade, washed the salt off my body in a creek, and stretched and relaxed in the shade for a couple hours. In the late afternoon the sun cooled off and a storm started rolling in as I pressed on towards my destination, Clinton BC. Upon arriving in the village of Clinton I promptly rode up to the RV park which had been advertising $10 tent sites and "all you can eat BBQ" for many miles previous on the highway. As i walked into the restaurant portion the proprietor asked if i wanted a tent site, said they were $15 and wouldn't honour the $10 prices advertised and suggested i sue him if I have a problem with that. I told him that i'll just get a meal but asked about the specifics of the "all you can eat BBQ." He told me to come in and there is a sign at the end: pork steak $9.99, pork ribs $12.99, Steak $16.99 with all you can eat sides of vegetables/gravy. I said i'd get the ribs and he told me "good, i'll burn them for you" and i chuckled... I parked my bike and brought my bottle in at which point he yelled at me "get that bottle out of here, we have bottled water for sale, help yourself." At which point i said i'd leave and he told me "good, i don't want you here anyways, you cyclists want everything for free", and as i was leaving the premises yelled out across the driveway "I hope you get eaten by a cougar". There was a european family of tourists horrified by his actions. Perhaps needless to say, i've never experienced such random and unprovoked hostility and it left me feeling pretty crappy at the end of a long day. I had a great, cheap meal down the road and ended up stealth camping behind a closed down business across the way from the RV park. The following day was equally hard. At this point my saddle was really starting to bother me and i was becoming very uncomfortable on the bike. Salt with building up on my riding clothes and everything was sticky/scratchy and uncomfortable. I also had another flat. Normally a flat is no bike deal, but on a touring bike you first need to unclip all your bags and it's quite a production and time consuming. In this instance there was nowhere to go, so i stayed on the shoulder, in sweltering heat getting my things blown around by the passing cars - not a fun time. The idea of filtering water seemed impossibly difficult and I instead splurged on a gallon in Mcleese lake due to mental exhaustion. I took a dip in the lake with my clothes on and changed shorts, eating pretty much all the food I had been carrying. I made it to a rest stop that night 30kms south of Quesnel where a couple from Portland were broken down after RV'ing for 2 months around Alaska. They offered me a hot meal of couscous with tomato paste, bread and tea and enjoyed a rousing discussion about travelling, alaska and burning man. They had met when he picked here up hitch hiking in 94 and 3 years later they were married and happy ever since. Great people - random encounters like this affirmed why i like to travel this way and gave me motivation to continue. I knew in my mind that when i was touring in South America the first couple days were absolute hell and on day 3 things started to turn around. This time, I woke up extremely stiff and sore but my new friends made me oatmeal with shredded with apple and coffee. I reached Quesnel before lunch which was the first major supply point on route. I splurged on trail mix, fresh fruit, "roasted chicken parts", baby wipes and some penaten cream to try to heal the damage i'd done on the underside of my ass; saddle sores were rapidly developing. Having the mental comfort of food and sun and decent roads/scenery I was feeling rejuvenated. In Quesnel I also got a new tire (good quality, shwalbe marathon) to compliment the cheap city tire i'd purchased in Williams Lake. The flats i'd been having were due to the skinny tires I was riding, and consequently the road conditions were beating me up. There is something to be said about having wider tires to disperse the load and cushion the road imperfections. Although i'd prefer to have wider tires the upgrade from a pair of 28mm Vittoria randoneurs to a 38mm city slick and 35mm Shwalbe Marathon made a massive difference in my comfort level and staved off any flats for the rest of the ride. That evening I passed through Hixon, BC, which is a small roadside town consisting of a few houses, a gas station/post office/general store, a motel and a restaurant. The restaurant was new and modern and served excellent food and outrageously good pie and ice cream at very reasonable prices. After chatting with some locals I made it within 40kms of Prince George and felt strong and in high spirits. The next morning I past through Prince George and had an excellent experience at the local bike shop cyclelogix. Up until this point, the discomfort was too great, and I purchased a good quality used saddle for $40.00. The proprietor of the store also offered some info about stretching to help ease the pain I was feeling in my knees (IT band). He mentioned "you've picked a great time to hit the Cassiar, although it'll be a little chilly there'll be no bugs." Reading journals of cyclists riding the Cassiar in spring/summer you'll see them wearing bug nets and complaining about not being able to eat because bugs fill their mouth and nose anytime they stop moving, or are outside their tent. This was good news from a local! The road from Prince George to Burns Lake was pretty bad. Logging is the major industry around here and there are saw mills and active logging all along the highway, thus lots of logging truck traffic, crumbly shoulders barely wider than the rumble strip and a fairly strong headwind. All of these factors combined to make poor scenery and unrewarding and challenging cycling. I simply coped with this stretch. Luckily I finally got my new saddle into position and started to feel comfortable on the bike. However, despite the uninspiring road conditions I did meet a couple of Germans (amerika-radtour blog) who were heading from Smithers to Vancouver via the icefields parkway through Jasper. They were on day 4, and I was on Day 5 and we were both the first cycle tourists we had come across. They were credit card touring (staying in hotels) because she was scared of tenting around bears! Anyways, I had made the brash decision to send home my cooking gear a day or two previous in a town called Fraser Lake. At the time I hadn't been cooking and was too exhausted everyday to deal with setting up my multifuel stove, plan meals, carry cooking/cleaning water, deal with cleaning up, stashing cookware in addition to food to keep animals away from my campsite, etc. I would severely regret making this decision within a few days. Smithers was the next location of resupply. After a night camping on the beautiful banks of Bulkley River I did Laundry, paid $6 for my first shower in more than a week and proceeded with the challenging task of finding the most calorically dense foods possible which didn't require cooking. I bought a comical amount of trail mix/dried fruit/raisins/granola bars and supplemented with cheese sticks, wraps, pizza pretzels, hummus, pepperoni. After carefully unpackaging all of the food and stuffing my bear vault as tightly as possible, i realized I could only fit 2/3rds of the food i purchased in my bear can.... On the approach to the Cassiar I passed through Moricetown, Hazelton, and Kitwanga and was introduced to the first of many mountain ranges to come. The Yellowhead highway is sandwiched between the Babine and Hazleton mountain ranges and the temperature immediately dropped by 10 degrees. Just outside of Smithers I met Leigh Pedal 360 Blog. Leigh has been on the road for 5 years and was fresh off the Cassiar after close to a month in Alaska. Headed to Brazil he seemed greatful to be approaching the interior of BC after being chased by rain the entire time in the north. Leigh was obviously experienced and was riding a custom built UK bike called a Mercian with an internally geared Rohloff hub (no external gears!) - very cool. He commented "you've got a lot of gear" and i felt bad considering i'd dispensed absolutely all of the gear i could possibly live without.... I am deeply inspired by folks like Leigh and can't wait to head off on a RTW (round the world) trip. The same day I passed another german tourist headed South, but he didn't stop to chat. After travelling on the highway of tears (a stretch of the yellowhead where dozens of aboriginal women hitchhikers have been killed/gone missing) I finally reached the Cassiar and paid for camping for the first time at the Cassiar RV Park. Although I was hardpressed to pay for camping I was rewarded with the company of the only other tenter in the park, Richard, a motorcyclist on his way home to Fairbanks, AK from California. This was his 20th time making the same trip on his 2wd Ural Russian motorcycle with sidecar. He had a nice setup and was formerly a cycle tourist as a youngman. We had stimulating conversation and he told me what to expect from here on out.... He offered me some coffee in the morning and I later found out that he's worked for NASA his whole life! Once again, an affirmation of why i take these trips and travel this way. At this point I was on the Cassiar for close to a week. The historic Stewart-Cassiar highway is legendary amongst cycle and motorcycle tourists from around the world. It is a narrow, twisty, up and down road without a center line or shoulder. The highway passes through some of the most remote wilderness in British Columbia, terminating just after crossing into the Yukon Territory. At 720kms there are only 3 gas stations and one grocery store on the road at Meziaden junction, Iskut, and Dease Lake. I'll be honest - after the first few Km's and seeing how dense the forest was and how close the treeline was to the edge of the road, I felt intimidated. I knew I was headed into 10 days of rain, the temperature was dropping and the road was continually climbing. As i approached the Meziaden Junction, the destination on day 2 - I had past hundreds of piles of bear scat aswell as a dozen black bears foraging roadside. Although I am comfortable with my "bear aware" camping practices; I had a bear can for my food as well as bear spray. Academically I felt safe with the knowledge that bears want my food and not conflict with me. Never-the-less, it feels a bit uneasy at first being in such remote wilderness with such large animals absolutely everywhere.... The next morning it was raining shortly after I packed up and would continue to rain each day from about 10am until 3pm. At 6-10 degrees celsius I had no problem staying warm when i was on the bike (due to bodyheat production), but stopping in the wet/cold poses challenges. Luckily by about 5pm each day the sun would break through the clouds and usually I was able to set up, eat and change at the end of each day in dry weather and also pack up the next morning before the rain started. This window of dry weather also allowed me to de-layer before getting off the bike for the evening and allowing my clothes to dry via wind and body heat. No problems, not entirely pleasant - however, my shoes were soaking wet and cold each morning and having days of wet/cold feet would sap my core body temperature. Combined with a lack of hot food my morale and energy levels were declining. The day before my 30th birthday was wet, windy and cold. The roads were getting significantly worse (seal coated with large gravel, very slow surface to ride on) and I was growingly increasingly unhappy. I was rained on all day - had washed my clothes the night before in a lake and they never dried and then got hammered by a torrential downpour 3kms before my planned camp for the night. I set up my tent without shelter in the rain and crawled into my new ultralight down sleeping bag sopping wet, hoping to dry my clothes on my body by the next morning. While it worked, i soaked the bag which consequently lost most of its insulating ability. I awoke in the AM very cold, forced to get up and get moving. I had no choice but to wrap up my soaking tent and sleeping stuff and headed to the highway after a breakfast of 4 granola bars + some trail mix. Miserable doesn't begin to describe how I was feeling that morning.... Soon enough I came upon a road crew laying ashphalt and I had to load my bike on a pilot car and got a 10km ride up the road. The driver blasted the heat for me and it helped raise my spirits. Within a couple hours I had made it to Yukon/BC border and by early afternoon had arrived in Watson Lake. Watson Lake had a well stocked grocery store and was sizzling at 25 degrees. For the past couple days I was considering turning around at this point and heading down the Alaska Highway and heading home, instead of heading up and north towards Alaska. However - after a couple hours sitting in the sun drying myself and my gear and eating some food, I decided to stick it out and carry on. The sun turns out to be amazingly therapeutic after days of grey and rain.... PS: Heres some pictures! To be continued: -------------------- GO OUTSIDE.
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suruasohpol Registered: 08/09/07 Posts: 8,744 Loc: CA |
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That looks like quite the adventure. I've always wanted to do something like that.At work I always think about hiking the Appalachian trail or the west coast trail. I wonder if I could do something like that on my BMX cruiser? I'm guessing I would need gears for those steep inclines.
Good Luck and post more pictures!
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Registered: 11/03/11 Posts: 10,634 Loc: |
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that's some beautiful scenery, i gotta do something like that soon. inspiring
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fantasmagoric Registered: 06/12/10 Posts: 4,111 Loc: Last seen: 19 minutes, 4 seconds |
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posting so that I can come back and read the full report.
Looks like an incredible journey with spectacular vistas. Congrats on pushing all the way through and having the balls to even start such a journey and not just talk about doing it. -------------------- "What appears impenetrable to us does exist, manifesting itself in the deepest wisdom and the most radiant beauty" Einstein "The conservatives of 70 years ago would be outraged at what has come to pass. It embodies everything they took up arms for to defeat"Asante
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