CYCLE TOURING CANADA
CROSS CANADA
*PART 2 -The Journey Continues*
FORT ST. JOHN, B.C. to SASKATOON, SK
We had planned to start from home again, and head east through southern B.C., using Highway 3 most of the way. However, when the southern half of our fine proveince seemed determined to burn up with forest fires, we felt a need to reconsider our route. So the logical choice was to continue from our previous stopping point-Fort St. John, my old hometown. A quick check of the maps showed that getting to Saskatoon should be within our reach without too much trouble. This was important, as we had to fly home after the trip (or at least our holiday time) was done.
We got off to a rather inauspicious start. After not riding for the last three weeks before our trip started, we boxed our bikes up and sending them ahead, we hopped on a Greyhound heading north. I don't really mind travelling by Greyhound, but after 20+ hours, I was a little tired of it. Not to mention that I seemed to have picked up some kind of bug before we left home, so I was feverish and freezing the entire trip. I'm sure I probably contaminated some others on the bus. I know that shortly after arriving at my parents place in FSJ, Marilyn came down with what I had been suffering with.
Starting our trip, unwell and undertrained, was a great plan. We did have some general ideas of what distances we might cover, and where that would put us in our trip. However, we seemed to fall behind early, leaving us miles to make up later, or cutting into our rest days, visiting family, friends, or sightseeing.
DAY 1 - September 2, 2003
Fort St. John to Dawson Creek B.C.
Distance 88km Riding Time 5:30
We left from my Mom's place, at Mile 54 of the Alaska Highway. A quick stop in town for supplies, then a long stop looking for a payphone, and then we were under way. We stopped in Taylor for a sandwich before hitting the big hill.I've always thought that the Taylor hill going south was a pretty big hill in a car. It is really big on the bike. It wasn't bad riding until we were about 3/4 of the way up and hit the construction zone. The only place I've seen where new construction is making the road steeper! We did walk a stretch of the contruction zone that was all loose gravel
We came to the top of the hill, to find a wonderful headwind waiting for us. It stayed with us all day, save for a few kilometres. This was also Marilyn's first trip with front panniers, and she was finding that a little harder also. We took the "old highway" down to the original Kiskatinaw Bridge. The road is pretty rough-fine for a bike, but it wasn't so good when it was "the" road, and all the traffic had to go that way. The bridge is great-a curving wood bridge from when they first built the Alaska Highway. It was a long, steady climb out of the valley again, but we did stop and talk with some curous llamas on the way up.
We rode into the wind all the rest of the way. I love the rolling countryside around there. We made it to the Mile Zero campground, set up the tent, and then wandered into town for dinner, and did some shopping for breakfast. End of a hard day.
We did have a really unusual scare today-we had stopped on the shulder of the road for a drink, and to curse the wind, when I happened to look at the traffic coming, and saw a semi just down the road. The driver had thrown some boards across under the trailer, for use blocking it up when parked. One of these boards had slid out the side, and was dragging one end along the shoulder at 100 km! We grabbed our bikes, and moved into the ditch ASAP. I guess the driver figured out something was wrong, because he stopped just past us and threw the plank into the ditch. I can only imagine what getting hit with that would have been like.
KISKATINAW BRIDGE
DAY 2
Dawson Creek, B.C. to Hythe , AB
Distance 80km Riding Time 4:20
This is a pretty easy day of riding-about what we could handle today. The Highway, and streets, in Dawson Creek were in terrible shape. We hit two construction zones where they were repaving the road. It was preety nice being on a bike-the traffic had to wait, but the flagpersons (people?) just waved us through, and told us to watch for equipment.
We definitely had to stop for some photos at the Alberta border-our first border on the bikes! The roads have nice wide shoulders, but they could use some repaving. We rode in to Hythe, and went to the Municipal campground. It wasn't very exciting, but we found a nice piece of lawn to set the tent up on.
Marilyn still wasn't feeling well, so she stayed in the tent, while I walked over to the stock car track. My older brother Carl was bringing his car down that evening for practice, so I went down to the pit area and watched him doing soem laps. I hung out with Carl, his wife Barb, and our old friend Darren for a while. I didn't take Carl up on his offer of taking the car out for a few laps though. Barb drove me back to our camp, and had a bit of a visit with Marilyn. They all headed out back to Fort St. John, and we set out to get some dinner. We ended up eating hot wings and wedge fries form the Tags store-they wee half price because the store was closing, and there was no doubt that they had been sitting under the lamps for a while.
We walked back to the tent, and Marilyn asked about the airport. She thought she was looking at the airport lights, but I told her it was probably lightning off in the distance. We had just got into the tent, when all of a sudden the storm was right here. The wind basically flattened the tent, with us inside. We spent half an hour or more laying there trying to keep it from completely collapsing on us. A bit of rain, and then it was over. No harm to the tent, or the bikes that the wind knocked down.
ALBERTA AT LAST
DAY 3
Hythe to Grande Prairie, AB
This was a great ride, and a great day for riding! Beautiful weather , and tailwinds. Wow. We cruised to Beaverlodge for breakfast, and to take a look at the relics at the Beaverlodge Hotel. It's been renovated - all the old stuff is gone! I was shocked. I worked there for a while in about 1989/90, and those displays were what made the place what it was. Progress I guess.
Cruised the rest of the way to Grande Prairie, with a stop to watch buffalo at a ranch beside the highway. We pulled into town, and got a room at the Stanford Inn, then walked into town to shop for the next couple of days. Grande Prairie has changed a lot since I lived there in 1988. It looks good.
Marilyn felt that I should try to contact my father, who lives just outside of the city in Sexsmith. I called him, and told him where we were, and he said that he would see if he could make it in. Marilyn asked me if he was coming in, and I said "I have no idea". We ordered some chinese food, and were just finishing when "Dad" showed up.It was a bit awkward at first-I haven't seen him since 1990, and he hadn't been in my life much since I was about 13. I still haven't figured out what I should call him. Dad doesn't seem right, so maybe AJ like his friends do? I lprobably learned more about his childhood and upbringing that night than I had ever known previously. He looks prety good for pushing 70, and he was telling us how much he enjoys the ances at the Golden Age Centre. I gave him our address and telephone numbers if he wanted to get hold of us.
I didn't record our distance or riding time-too bad because we had a great average with flattish roads, and tailwinds. The long downhill into GP let us use our top gears
DAY 4
Grande Prairie to Kakwa River
We got a bit later start than we planned on. We either slept through our wakeup call, or it never came. Whatever. Fueled up at Tim Hortons (coffee and bagels), and headed south on Highway 40. There is a fair bit o development happening in the first few km's, and quite a bit of traffic-all oilfield or logging it would seem. We had rain happening off and on, so we tried out our new Goretex jackets. Nice on cold rainy days, but you can get pretty warm in them too.
We had a fair size climb out of the Wapiti River valley, and had several decent sized climbs through the day. They were in the 2-4 km range in length, but not very steep. I spotted a coyote just off the road as we descended toward the Cutbank River. He was just watching till I said "Hey Boy"-then he just flattened out in the grass, and basically dissappeared.
We saw a campground sign, but nothing saying which campground it might be. Rode past the turnoff and up to the bridge, just to confirm that it was the Kakwa River. Sitting all by itself along the bridge was a Trek 520 touring bike-fully loaded, but no one in sight. We were calling, and the rider finally appeared. A nice guy named Sean. He said he had left his home in Toronto, gone south to Key West, Florida, and was now heading north to Alaska. After that he intends to head south to the southern tip of South America. Sean doesn't use a tent! He was planning on sleeping under the bridge to keep dry. A philosophical decision on his part, as he says that people have offered him a tent, but he doesn't want one. Not my style, but it seems to be okay for him.
The campsite at Kakwa is no screaming hell. The pump there has a warning to boil the water, so it was okay to cook our pasta with. The picnic tables are falling apart, so it really offers nothing over free camping. I hiked down to the river and filtered some water, then walked back to camp in the dark singing (yeah right!) snippets of Johhny Horton songs-North To Alaska, and Battle of New Orleans. I'm sure my singing voice would frighten off any wildlife in the area.
We skipped out without paying the $10 camping fee (honour system) as it seemed kind of high for offering nothing over staying in the ditch over nearer the bridge.
Kakwa River Campground
DAY 5
Kakwa River to Grande Cache, AB
Well, we knew that we would have to climb out of the Kakwa River valley, but we didn;t realize that it was mainly uphill for nearly 40km. About 80% of that was climbing, with the odd short (real short) downhill. It was probably 8 km to get out of the valley-great we're done. Nope, you climb again, and again. We came to a few signs warning trucks to gear down, only to find the downhill was only a couple hundred metres in length, then a couple more k's of climbing. By the time it stopped going upward, I was out of water. Stopped at a rest area for a snack, but no water there either. The grapefruit was nice and refreshing though. From the rest area (Southview?), you have a lot of downhill, like about 25 km's worth. Not all down, some little flats or even uphill, but still nice crusiing down into the Smoky Rive Valley. We stopped at Sheep Creek, and filtered (and drank) a bunch of water, and soaked our feet for a while.
We did see a few other cyclists out on the road as we approached town, but they didn't seem inclined to talk, or even wave most of them, so screw them. Nice riding, with the mountains on one side, and the river on the other. A lot of coal seams visible in the rock faces everywhere.
We had been warned that there was a big hill right before town. No Kidding! You climb for about 3 or 4 km from the river, right to the edge of town. I'm sure its at least an 8% grade, maybe steeper. We were hot and tired, and getting grumpy. We stopped a few times on the way up. Marilyn stopped the last time about 100 meters from the "Welcome to Grande Cache" sign to put on bug spray. When you get to the sign, you are basically in town. I think we covered the whole town looking for a place to stay. Looked at one motel, and didn't like it, then rode around looking for a place with AC, and finally ended up at the Bighorn Motel-the first one we rode past as we entered town.It still didn't have AC, bu it seemed pretty decent, and was $50- a night.
DAY 6
Rest Day in Grande Cache, AB
What do all touring cyclists do on a rest day? Laundry, shopping, eating. I was dissappointed, as I had told Marilyn what a great setting the town has, but the smoke from the BC fires had drifted across, and left us with no view. Later in the afternoon, there was a little rain, and the wind moved the smoke out so we could enjoy the scenery.
DAY 7
Grande Cache, AB to William A. Switzer Provincial Park
The day started out pretty cool, so we were in all our gear-full finger gloves, shoe covers, leggings, and Goretex jackets We were sure that it wouldn't be long before we'd be peeling at least some of it off, but we ended up wearing it all day. We saw a bit of wildlife just outside of town- I saw a deer, and then a little later Marilyn saw a coyote. We were hoping to see some elk or woodland caribou that the signs kept warning us to watch for, but htye were hiding from us still. The map looked a little vague, but we were looking to hit the Wildhay river after about 70km, but it was 104km before it showed up. About another 10km to the park. It had some services, but they were of course, all closed for the season. The signs said that they were turning off the water the next day, so I guess camping season there is pretty well over.
MKr Park Rangger told us that we would have a pretty easy day tomorrow going to Hinton. "5 Mile Hill", and we would be going down it!
DAY 8
William A. Switzer Provincial Park to Hinton, AB
Very Codl morning. Marilyn didn't sleep well because her feet were cold, so she wasn't the happiest camper. Decided we'd just skip breakfast, and get coffee and a bagel at Tim Hortons in Hinton. Maybe not the best plan, as we both seemed to be powering out on the little rollers, and even the flats! About 18km to the start of "5 Mile Hill", which comes out close to 9 km by my computer. Pretty good sized hill, and we were glad we weren't going up it today.
Lunch at the Husky House, and then we were ready to roll. Marilyn was more than a bit tired, so I asked if we wouldn't be better off staying over here rather than pushing on. I mean, we are both on holidays, so its better being rested and happy than miserable and making a few more km's in my opinion. We checked the Ramada-girl was a bag, so we went to the Days Inn. Girl working the desk was nice, so we stayed there-laundry, grabbed a beer, pizza for dinner, and early to bed.
DAY 9
Hinton, AB to Edson, AB
Up early (for us) 6:45am, raided the Continental breakfast, the on the road before 9. WE were prepared for a climb out of town, but it was pretty easy riding. We hit Obed Summit, the highest point on the Yellowhead about 20km out of town. The hardest climb was actually after that, but still no big deal, and then it started to flatten out.
Leftover pizza for lunch beside the road, then contined on to Edson. The girl at the tourist info booth was very helpful and interested in our trip. We checked out the old military jet on display in the park, had a pint of Kilkenny at the pub, did some shopping, and continue out past town anoth 8km or so to "East of Edson" campground. Nice place, with coin showers, as well as mini golf, hiking trails, and more.
DAY 9
East of Edson to Lake Wabamun
I had to fix a flat this morning-a little piece of wire went in through the sidewall. All patched up in no time, and took the time to lube the chains etc... The tea we made for breakfast was terrible because of the soda in the water there.
The day started cool, and the riding was great-not real flat, but nothing that would require a granny ring. Stopped for lunch at Carrot Creek store, then back on the road. We had a bit of a tailwind. Went past the turnoffs to Evansburg and Entwistle, but never went off the highway to check them out. Marilyn said we'd stop at the next dot on the map, Gainsford, but there wasn't much there, and it was still early so we kept going. Were going to stop at Seba Beach, but again, off the highway, then Fallis-only a store there, so on to Wabamun it was. This should make for a more manageable ride into Edmonton tomorrow.
We went to the only hotel,checked in with the bartender, then hauled the bikes up a long and very narrow staircase-1 pulling, and 1 pushing the bikes one at a time. Wandered around town a bit, and found a pay phone to call Glen in Edmonton to let him know we were coming. It is quite nice being on the lake, but it was quite windy too.
DAY 10
Lake Wabamun to Edmonton.
Rolled the bikes downstairs, then went around the corner for a coffee. Marilyn didn't think the mocchaccino was up to her standards, and maybe they forgot to use espresso. Headed out on a wet and windy day. Raining quite hard, but the wind was behind us. We were a little unsure of which route to take when given a choice of Hwy 16 (thru road) or Hwy 16A (all services). Decided to stick on 16 as it is a more drect route. Stopped on the east side of Edmonton at the Husky House truck stop for lunch. Service sucked-sat at a dirty table for ten minutes, and the only way to get a coffee refill was to get it yourself. Oh well
Back on the road we hit construction around 184th street on the west side. We had no shoulder as we got into the city of Edmonton, but traffic was accomodating enough. Stayed on Hwy 16 until 97th street, then headed north. A couple extra detours and we made it to my brother Glen's place about 3:40pm. We just hung out for about an hour watching the rain and wind come and go until they got home.
DAY 11
Edmonton
Day off hanging with my brother Glen and his wife Luise. Toured around town in Glen's car. Picked up a new kickstand for Marilyn's bike at River Valley Cycles. Then checked out West Edmonton Mall, and wandered through the Casino. Dinner, then a movie back at the house.
DAY 12
Edmonton to Elk Island Natl Park
Slept late, then a leisurely morning-breakfast, a little bike maintenance, and some waiting for the weather to improve. Headed out about 1 pm. It was still windy and raining, but as we left town it started to improve. The highway actually runs through Elk Island Park, so you are going through the park for about 7 km before you can actually get off the highway and enter it. We were really excited when we saw a buffalo along the fence. Just after we paid ($5- each) at the gatehouse and entered the park we saw buffalo. Cows and calves, and they didn't seem to like us, as they got up and took off. A few kilometres down the road we were confronted with two bull buffalo right bedise the very narrow road. They didn't seem to like us either, but they didn't run away. This did present a problem, as we wre not prepared to ride within 20 feet of them (pamphlet says stay a minimum of 50 yards away) to get past them, and they just stood staring at us. We eventually flageed down a car, and rode on the "off-side" of the car to get past. They still just stood there staring, and we were not more than 10 feet away. I found it quite intimidating, and exhilarating. We went ot the campsite, and set up, then walked over to the golf course (no kidding) and had dinner-what else but buffalo burgers!
WE had croosed a "cattle gate" going into the camping area, and assumed that this meant it was a "buffalo free zone", but that isn't quite true. We were quite close to one that was quietly munching grass (an Alberta Lawnmower) and saw another one as well.
GRANDE CACHE
CROSS CANADA
*PART 2 -The Journey Continues*
FORT ST. JOHN, B.C. to SASKATOON, SK
We had planned to start from home again, and head east through southern B.C., using Highway 3 most of the way. However, when the southern half of our fine proveince seemed determined to burn up with forest fires, we felt a need to reconsider our route. So the logical choice was to continue from our previous stopping point-Fort St. John, my old hometown. A quick check of the maps showed that getting to Saskatoon should be within our reach without too much trouble. This was important, as we had to fly home after the trip (or at least our holiday time) was done.
We got off to a rather inauspicious start. After not riding for the last three weeks before our trip started, we boxed our bikes up and sending them ahead, we hopped on a Greyhound heading north. I don't really mind travelling by Greyhound, but after 20+ hours, I was a little tired of it. Not to mention that I seemed to have picked up some kind of bug before we left home, so I was feverish and freezing the entire trip. I'm sure I probably contaminated some others on the bus. I know that shortly after arriving at my parents place in FSJ, Marilyn came down with what I had been suffering with.
Starting our trip, unwell and undertrained, was a great plan. We did have some general ideas of what distances we might cover, and where that would put us in our trip. However, we seemed to fall behind early, leaving us miles to make up later, or cutting into our rest days, visiting family, friends, or sightseeing.
DAY 1 - September 2, 2003
Fort St. John to Dawson Creek B.C.
Distance 88km Riding Time 5:30
We left from my Mom's place, at Mile 54 of the Alaska Highway. A quick stop in town for supplies, then a long stop looking for a payphone, and then we were under way. We stopped in Taylor for a sandwich before hitting the big hill.I've always thought that the Taylor hill going south was a pretty big hill in a car. It is really big on the bike. It wasn't bad riding until we were about 3/4 of the way up and hit the construction zone. The only place I've seen where new construction is making the road steeper! We did walk a stretch of the contruction zone that was all loose gravel
We came to the top of the hill, to find a wonderful headwind waiting for us. It stayed with us all day, save for a few kilometres. This was also Marilyn's first trip with front panniers, and she was finding that a little harder also. We took the "old highway" down to the original Kiskatinaw Bridge. The road is pretty rough-fine for a bike, but it wasn't so good when it was "the" road, and all the traffic had to go that way. The bridge is great-a curving wood bridge from when they first built the Alaska Highway. It was a long, steady climb out of the valley again, but we did stop and talk with some curous llamas on the way up.
We rode into the wind all the rest of the way. I love the rolling countryside around there. We made it to the Mile Zero campground, set up the tent, and then wandered into town for dinner, and did some shopping for breakfast. End of a hard day.
We did have a really unusual scare today-we had stopped on the shulder of the road for a drink, and to curse the wind, when I happened to look at the traffic coming, and saw a semi just down the road. The driver had thrown some boards across under the trailer, for use blocking it up when parked. One of these boards had slid out the side, and was dragging one end along the shoulder at 100 km! We grabbed our bikes, and moved into the ditch ASAP. I guess the driver figured out something was wrong, because he stopped just past us and threw the plank into the ditch. I can only imagine what getting hit with that would have been like.
KISKATINAW BRIDGE
DAY 2
Dawson Creek, B.C. to Hythe , AB
Distance 80km Riding Time 4:20
This is a pretty easy day of riding-about what we could handle today. The Highway, and streets, in Dawson Creek were in terrible shape. We hit two construction zones where they were repaving the road. It was preety nice being on a bike-the traffic had to wait, but the flagpersons (people?) just waved us through, and told us to watch for equipment.
We definitely had to stop for some photos at the Alberta border-our first border on the bikes! The roads have nice wide shoulders, but they could use some repaving. We rode in to Hythe, and went to the Municipal campground. It wasn't very exciting, but we found a nice piece of lawn to set the tent up on.
Marilyn still wasn't feeling well, so she stayed in the tent, while I walked over to the stock car track. My older brother Carl was bringing his car down that evening for practice, so I went down to the pit area and watched him doing soem laps. I hung out with Carl, his wife Barb, and our old friend Darren for a while. I didn't take Carl up on his offer of taking the car out for a few laps though. Barb drove me back to our camp, and had a bit of a visit with Marilyn. They all headed out back to Fort St. John, and we set out to get some dinner. We ended up eating hot wings and wedge fries form the Tags store-they wee half price because the store was closing, and there was no doubt that they had been sitting under the lamps for a while.
We walked back to the tent, and Marilyn asked about the airport. She thought she was looking at the airport lights, but I told her it was probably lightning off in the distance. We had just got into the tent, when all of a sudden the storm was right here. The wind basically flattened the tent, with us inside. We spent half an hour or more laying there trying to keep it from completely collapsing on us. A bit of rain, and then it was over. No harm to the tent, or the bikes that the wind knocked down.
ALBERTA AT LAST
DAY 3
Hythe to Grande Prairie, AB
This was a great ride, and a great day for riding! Beautiful weather , and tailwinds. Wow. We cruised to Beaverlodge for breakfast, and to take a look at the relics at the Beaverlodge Hotel. It's been renovated - all the old stuff is gone! I was shocked. I worked there for a while in about 1989/90, and those displays were what made the place what it was. Progress I guess.
Cruised the rest of the way to Grande Prairie, with a stop to watch buffalo at a ranch beside the highway. We pulled into town, and got a room at the Stanford Inn, then walked into town to shop for the next couple of days. Grande Prairie has changed a lot since I lived there in 1988. It looks good.
Marilyn felt that I should try to contact my father, who lives just outside of the city in Sexsmith. I called him, and told him where we were, and he said that he would see if he could make it in. Marilyn asked me if he was coming in, and I said "I have no idea". We ordered some chinese food, and were just finishing when "Dad" showed up.It was a bit awkward at first-I haven't seen him since 1990, and he hadn't been in my life much since I was about 13. I still haven't figured out what I should call him. Dad doesn't seem right, so maybe AJ like his friends do? I lprobably learned more about his childhood and upbringing that night than I had ever known previously. He looks prety good for pushing 70, and he was telling us how much he enjoys the ances at the Golden Age Centre. I gave him our address and telephone numbers if he wanted to get hold of us.
I didn't record our distance or riding time-too bad because we had a great average with flattish roads, and tailwinds. The long downhill into GP let us use our top gears
DAY 4
Grande Prairie to Kakwa River
We got a bit later start than we planned on. We either slept through our wakeup call, or it never came. Whatever. Fueled up at Tim Hortons (coffee and bagels), and headed south on Highway 40. There is a fair bit o development happening in the first few km's, and quite a bit of traffic-all oilfield or logging it would seem. We had rain happening off and on, so we tried out our new Goretex jackets. Nice on cold rainy days, but you can get pretty warm in them too.
We had a fair size climb out of the Wapiti River valley, and had several decent sized climbs through the day. They were in the 2-4 km range in length, but not very steep. I spotted a coyote just off the road as we descended toward the Cutbank River. He was just watching till I said "Hey Boy"-then he just flattened out in the grass, and basically dissappeared.
We saw a campground sign, but nothing saying which campground it might be. Rode past the turnoff and up to the bridge, just to confirm that it was the Kakwa River. Sitting all by itself along the bridge was a Trek 520 touring bike-fully loaded, but no one in sight. We were calling, and the rider finally appeared. A nice guy named Sean. He said he had left his home in Toronto, gone south to Key West, Florida, and was now heading north to Alaska. After that he intends to head south to the southern tip of South America. Sean doesn't use a tent! He was planning on sleeping under the bridge to keep dry. A philosophical decision on his part, as he says that people have offered him a tent, but he doesn't want one. Not my style, but it seems to be okay for him.
The campsite at Kakwa is no screaming hell. The pump there has a warning to boil the water, so it was okay to cook our pasta with. The picnic tables are falling apart, so it really offers nothing over free camping. I hiked down to the river and filtered some water, then walked back to camp in the dark singing (yeah right!) snippets of Johhny Horton songs-North To Alaska, and Battle of New Orleans. I'm sure my singing voice would frighten off any wildlife in the area.
We skipped out without paying the $10 camping fee (honour system) as it seemed kind of high for offering nothing over staying in the ditch over nearer the bridge.
Kakwa River Campground
DAY 5
Kakwa River to Grande Cache, AB
Well, we knew that we would have to climb out of the Kakwa River valley, but we didn;t realize that it was mainly uphill for nearly 40km. About 80% of that was climbing, with the odd short (real short) downhill. It was probably 8 km to get out of the valley-great we're done. Nope, you climb again, and again. We came to a few signs warning trucks to gear down, only to find the downhill was only a couple hundred metres in length, then a couple more k's of climbing. By the time it stopped going upward, I was out of water. Stopped at a rest area for a snack, but no water there either. The grapefruit was nice and refreshing though. From the rest area (Southview?), you have a lot of downhill, like about 25 km's worth. Not all down, some little flats or even uphill, but still nice crusiing down into the Smoky Rive Valley. We stopped at Sheep Creek, and filtered (and drank) a bunch of water, and soaked our feet for a while.
We did see a few other cyclists out on the road as we approached town, but they didn't seem inclined to talk, or even wave most of them, so screw them. Nice riding, with the mountains on one side, and the river on the other. A lot of coal seams visible in the rock faces everywhere.
We had been warned that there was a big hill right before town. No Kidding! You climb for about 3 or 4 km from the river, right to the edge of town. I'm sure its at least an 8% grade, maybe steeper. We were hot and tired, and getting grumpy. We stopped a few times on the way up. Marilyn stopped the last time about 100 meters from the "Welcome to Grande Cache" sign to put on bug spray. When you get to the sign, you are basically in town. I think we covered the whole town looking for a place to stay. Looked at one motel, and didn't like it, then rode around looking for a place with AC, and finally ended up at the Bighorn Motel-the first one we rode past as we entered town.It still didn't have AC, bu it seemed pretty decent, and was $50- a night.
DAY 6
Rest Day in Grande Cache, AB
What do all touring cyclists do on a rest day? Laundry, shopping, eating. I was dissappointed, as I had told Marilyn what a great setting the town has, but the smoke from the BC fires had drifted across, and left us with no view. Later in the afternoon, there was a little rain, and the wind moved the smoke out so we could enjoy the scenery.
DAY 7
Grande Cache, AB to William A. Switzer Provincial Park
The day started out pretty cool, so we were in all our gear-full finger gloves, shoe covers, leggings, and Goretex jackets We were sure that it wouldn't be long before we'd be peeling at least some of it off, but we ended up wearing it all day. We saw a bit of wildlife just outside of town- I saw a deer, and then a little later Marilyn saw a coyote. We were hoping to see some elk or woodland caribou that the signs kept warning us to watch for, but htye were hiding from us still. The map looked a little vague, but we were looking to hit the Wildhay river after about 70km, but it was 104km before it showed up. About another 10km to the park. It had some services, but they were of course, all closed for the season. The signs said that they were turning off the water the next day, so I guess camping season there is pretty well over.
MKr Park Rangger told us that we would have a pretty easy day tomorrow going to Hinton. "5 Mile Hill", and we would be going down it!
DAY 8
William A. Switzer Provincial Park to Hinton, AB
Very Codl morning. Marilyn didn't sleep well because her feet were cold, so she wasn't the happiest camper. Decided we'd just skip breakfast, and get coffee and a bagel at Tim Hortons in Hinton. Maybe not the best plan, as we both seemed to be powering out on the little rollers, and even the flats! About 18km to the start of "5 Mile Hill", which comes out close to 9 km by my computer. Pretty good sized hill, and we were glad we weren't going up it today.
Lunch at the Husky House, and then we were ready to roll. Marilyn was more than a bit tired, so I asked if we wouldn't be better off staying over here rather than pushing on. I mean, we are both on holidays, so its better being rested and happy than miserable and making a few more km's in my opinion. We checked the Ramada-girl was a bag, so we went to the Days Inn. Girl working the desk was nice, so we stayed there-laundry, grabbed a beer, pizza for dinner, and early to bed.
DAY 9
Hinton, AB to Edson, AB
Up early (for us) 6:45am, raided the Continental breakfast, the on the road before 9. WE were prepared for a climb out of town, but it was pretty easy riding. We hit Obed Summit, the highest point on the Yellowhead about 20km out of town. The hardest climb was actually after that, but still no big deal, and then it started to flatten out.
Leftover pizza for lunch beside the road, then contined on to Edson. The girl at the tourist info booth was very helpful and interested in our trip. We checked out the old military jet on display in the park, had a pint of Kilkenny at the pub, did some shopping, and continue out past town anoth 8km or so to "East of Edson" campground. Nice place, with coin showers, as well as mini golf, hiking trails, and more.
DAY 9
East of Edson to Lake Wabamun
I had to fix a flat this morning-a little piece of wire went in through the sidewall. All patched up in no time, and took the time to lube the chains etc... The tea we made for breakfast was terrible because of the soda in the water there.
The day started cool, and the riding was great-not real flat, but nothing that would require a granny ring. Stopped for lunch at Carrot Creek store, then back on the road. We had a bit of a tailwind. Went past the turnoffs to Evansburg and Entwistle, but never went off the highway to check them out. Marilyn said we'd stop at the next dot on the map, Gainsford, but there wasn't much there, and it was still early so we kept going. Were going to stop at Seba Beach, but again, off the highway, then Fallis-only a store there, so on to Wabamun it was. This should make for a more manageable ride into Edmonton tomorrow.
We went to the only hotel,checked in with the bartender, then hauled the bikes up a long and very narrow staircase-1 pulling, and 1 pushing the bikes one at a time. Wandered around town a bit, and found a pay phone to call Glen in Edmonton to let him know we were coming. It is quite nice being on the lake, but it was quite windy too.
DAY 10
Lake Wabamun to Edmonton.
Rolled the bikes downstairs, then went around the corner for a coffee. Marilyn didn't think the mocchaccino was up to her standards, and maybe they forgot to use espresso. Headed out on a wet and windy day. Raining quite hard, but the wind was behind us. We were a little unsure of which route to take when given a choice of Hwy 16 (thru road) or Hwy 16A (all services). Decided to stick on 16 as it is a more drect route. Stopped on the east side of Edmonton at the Husky House truck stop for lunch. Service sucked-sat at a dirty table for ten minutes, and the only way to get a coffee refill was to get it yourself. Oh well
Back on the road we hit construction around 184th street on the west side. We had no shoulder as we got into the city of Edmonton, but traffic was accomodating enough. Stayed on Hwy 16 until 97th street, then headed north. A couple extra detours and we made it to my brother Glen's place about 3:40pm. We just hung out for about an hour watching the rain and wind come and go until they got home.
DAY 11
Edmonton
Day off hanging with my brother Glen and his wife Luise. Toured around town in Glen's car. Picked up a new kickstand for Marilyn's bike at River Valley Cycles. Then checked out West Edmonton Mall, and wandered through the Casino. Dinner, then a movie back at the house.
DAY 12
Edmonton to Elk Island Natl Park
Slept late, then a leisurely morning-breakfast, a little bike maintenance, and some waiting for the weather to improve. Headed out about 1 pm. It was still windy and raining, but as we left town it started to improve. The highway actually runs through Elk Island Park, so you are going through the park for about 7 km before you can actually get off the highway and enter it. We were really excited when we saw a buffalo along the fence. Just after we paid ($5- each) at the gatehouse and entered the park we saw buffalo. Cows and calves, and they didn't seem to like us, as they got up and took off. A few kilometres down the road we were confronted with two bull buffalo right bedise the very narrow road. They didn't seem to like us either, but they didn't run away. This did present a problem, as we wre not prepared to ride within 20 feet of them (pamphlet says stay a minimum of 50 yards away) to get past them, and they just stood staring at us. We eventually flageed down a car, and rode on the "off-side" of the car to get past. They still just stood there staring, and we were not more than 10 feet away. I found it quite intimidating, and exhilarating. We went ot the campsite, and set up, then walked over to the golf course (no kidding) and had dinner-what else but buffalo burgers!
WE had croosed a "cattle gate" going into the camping area, and assumed that this meant it was a "buffalo free zone", but that isn't quite true. We were quite close to one that was quietly munching grass (an Alberta Lawnmower) and saw another one as well.
GRANDE CACHE
We had planned to start from home again, and head east through southern B.C., using Highway 3 most of the way. However, when the southern half of our fine proveince seemed determined to burn up with forest fires, we felt a need to reconsider our route. So the logical choice was to continue from our previous stopping point-Fort St. John, my old hometown. A quick check of the maps showed that getting to Saskatoon should be within our reach without too much trouble. This was important, as we had to fly home after the trip (or at least our holiday time) was done.
We got off to a rather inauspicious start. After not riding for the last three weeks before our trip started, we boxed our bikes up and sending them ahead, we hopped on a Greyhound heading north. I don't really mind travelling by Greyhound, but after 20+ hours, I was a little tired of it. Not to mention that I seemed to have picked up some kind of bug before we left home, so I was feverish and freezing the entire trip. I'm sure I probably contaminated some others on the bus. I know that shortly after arriving at my parents place in FSJ, Marilyn came down with what I had been suffering with.
Starting our trip, unwell and undertrained, was a great plan. We did have some general ideas of what distances we might cover, and where that would put us in our trip. However, we seemed to fall behind early, leaving us miles to make up later, or cutting into our rest days, visiting family, friends, or sightseeing.
DAY 1 - September 2, 2003
Fort St. John to Dawson Creek B.C.
Distance 88km Riding Time 5:30
We left from my Mom's place, at Mile 54 of the Alaska Highway. A quick stop in town for supplies, then a long stop looking for a payphone, and then we were under way. We stopped in Taylor for a sandwich before hitting the big hill.I've always thought that the Taylor hill going south was a pretty big hill in a car. It is really big on the bike. It wasn't bad riding until we were about 3/4 of the way up and hit the construction zone. The only place I've seen where new construction is making the road steeper! We did walk a stretch of the contruction zone that was all loose gravel
We came to the top of the hill, to find a wonderful headwind waiting for us. It stayed with us all day, save for a few kilometres. This was also Marilyn's first trip with front panniers, and she was finding that a little harder also. We took the "old highway" down to the original Kiskatinaw Bridge. The road is pretty rough-fine for a bike, but it wasn't so good when it was "the" road, and all the traffic had to go that way. The bridge is great-a curving wood bridge from when they first built the Alaska Highway. It was a long, steady climb out of the valley again, but we did stop and talk with some curous llamas on the way up.
We rode into the wind all the rest of the way. I love the rolling countryside around there. We made it to the Mile Zero campground, set up the tent, and then wandered into town for dinner, and did some shopping for breakfast. End of a hard day.
We did have a really unusual scare today-we had stopped on the shulder of the road for a drink, and to curse the wind, when I happened to look at the traffic coming, and saw a semi just down the road. The driver had thrown some boards across under the trailer, for use blocking it up when parked. One of these boards had slid out the side, and was dragging one end along the shoulder at 100 km! We grabbed our bikes, and moved into the ditch ASAP. I guess the driver figured out something was wrong, because he stopped just past us and threw the plank into the ditch. I can only imagine what getting hit with that would have been like.
KISKATINAW BRIDGE
DAY 2
Dawson Creek, B.C. to Hythe , AB
Distance 80km Riding Time 4:20
This is a pretty easy day of riding-about what we could handle today. The Highway, and streets, in Dawson Creek were in terrible shape. We hit two construction zones where they were repaving the road. It was preety nice being on a bike-the traffic had to wait, but the flagpersons (people?) just waved us through, and told us to watch for equipment.
We definitely had to stop for some photos at the Alberta border-our first border on the bikes! The roads have nice wide shoulders, but they could use some repaving. We rode in to Hythe, and went to the Municipal campground. It wasn't very exciting, but we found a nice piece of lawn to set the tent up on.
Marilyn still wasn't feeling well, so she stayed in the tent, while I walked over to the stock car track. My older brother Carl was bringing his car down that evening for practice, so I went down to the pit area and watched him doing soem laps. I hung out with Carl, his wife Barb, and our old friend Darren for a while. I didn't take Carl up on his offer of taking the car out for a few laps though. Barb drove me back to our camp, and had a bit of a visit with Marilyn. They all headed out back to Fort St. John, and we set out to get some dinner. We ended up eating hot wings and wedge fries form the Tags store-they wee half price because the store was closing, and there was no doubt that they had been sitting under the lamps for a while.
We walked back to the tent, and Marilyn asked about the airport. She thought she was looking at the airport lights, but I told her it was probably lightning off in the distance. We had just got into the tent, when all of a sudden the storm was right here. The wind basically flattened the tent, with us inside. We spent half an hour or more laying there trying to keep it from completely collapsing on us. A bit of rain, and then it was over. No harm to the tent, or the bikes that the wind knocked down.
ALBERTA AT LAST
DAY 3
Hythe to Grande Prairie, AB
This was a great ride, and a great day for riding! Beautiful weather , and tailwinds. Wow. We cruised to Beaverlodge for breakfast, and to take a look at the relics at the Beaverlodge Hotel. It's been renovated - all the old stuff is gone! I was shocked. I worked there for a while in about 1989/90, and those displays were what made the place what it was. Progress I guess.
Cruised the rest of the way to Grande Prairie, with a stop to watch buffalo at a ranch beside the highway. We pulled into town, and got a room at the Stanford Inn, then walked into town to shop for the next couple of days. Grande Prairie has changed a lot since I lived there in 1988. It looks good.
Marilyn felt that I should try to contact my father, who lives just outside of the city in Sexsmith. I called him, and told him where we were, and he said that he would see if he could make it in. Marilyn asked me if he was coming in, and I said "I have no idea". We ordered some chinese food, and were just finishing when "Dad" showed up.It was a bit awkward at first-I haven't seen him since 1990, and he hadn't been in my life much since I was about 13. I still haven't figured out what I should call him. Dad doesn't seem right, so maybe AJ like his friends do? I lprobably learned more about his childhood and upbringing that night than I had ever known previously. He looks prety good for pushing 70, and he was telling us how much he enjoys the ances at the Golden Age Centre. I gave him our address and telephone numbers if he wanted to get hold of us.
I didn't record our distance or riding time-too bad because we had a great average with flattish roads, and tailwinds. The long downhill into GP let us use our top gears
DAY 4
Grande Prairie to Kakwa River
We got a bit later start than we planned on. We either slept through our wakeup call, or it never came. Whatever. Fueled up at Tim Hortons (coffee and bagels), and headed south on Highway 40. There is a fair bit o development happening in the first few km's, and quite a bit of traffic-all oilfield or logging it would seem. We had rain happening off and on, so we tried out our new Goretex jackets. Nice on cold rainy days, but you can get pretty warm in them too.
We had a fair size climb out of the Wapiti River valley, and had several decent sized climbs through the day. They were in the 2-4 km range in length, but not very steep. I spotted a coyote just off the road as we descended toward the Cutbank River. He was just watching till I said "Hey Boy"-then he just flattened out in the grass, and basically dissappeared.
We saw a campground sign, but nothing saying which campground it might be. Rode past the turnoff and up to the bridge, just to confirm that it was the Kakwa River. Sitting all by itself along the bridge was a Trek 520 touring bike-fully loaded, but no one in sight. We were calling, and the rider finally appeared. A nice guy named Sean. He said he had left his home in Toronto, gone south to Key West, Florida, and was now heading north to Alaska. After that he intends to head south to the southern tip of South America. Sean doesn't use a tent! He was planning on sleeping under the bridge to keep dry. A philosophical decision on his part, as he says that people have offered him a tent, but he doesn't want one. Not my style, but it seems to be okay for him.
The campsite at Kakwa is no screaming hell. The pump there has a warning to boil the water, so it was okay to cook our pasta with. The picnic tables are falling apart, so it really offers nothing over free camping. I hiked down to the river and filtered some water, then walked back to camp in the dark singing (yeah right!) snippets of Johhny Horton songs-North To Alaska, and Battle of New Orleans. I'm sure my singing voice would frighten off any wildlife in the area.
We skipped out without paying the $10 camping fee (honour system) as it seemed kind of high for offering nothing over staying in the ditch over nearer the bridge.
Kakwa River Campground
DAY 5
Kakwa River to Grande Cache, AB
Well, we knew that we would have to climb out of the Kakwa River valley, but we didn;t realize that it was mainly uphill for nearly 40km. About 80% of that was climbing, with the odd short (real short) downhill. It was probably 8 km to get out of the valley-great we're done. Nope, you climb again, and again. We came to a few signs warning trucks to gear down, only to find the downhill was only a couple hundred metres in length, then a couple more k's of climbing. By the time it stopped going upward, I was out of water. Stopped at a rest area for a snack, but no water there either. The grapefruit was nice and refreshing though. From the rest area (Southview?), you have a lot of downhill, like about 25 km's worth. Not all down, some little flats or even uphill, but still nice crusiing down into the Smoky Rive Valley. We stopped at Sheep Creek, and filtered (and drank) a bunch of water, and soaked our feet for a while.
We did see a few other cyclists out on the road as we approached town, but they didn't seem inclined to talk, or even wave most of them, so screw them. Nice riding, with the mountains on one side, and the river on the other. A lot of coal seams visible in the rock faces everywhere.
We had been warned that there was a big hill right before town. No Kidding! You climb for about 3 or 4 km from the river, right to the edge of town. I'm sure its at least an 8% grade, maybe steeper. We were hot and tired, and getting grumpy. We stopped a few times on the way up. Marilyn stopped the last time about 100 meters from the "Welcome to Grande Cache" sign to put on bug spray. When you get to the sign, you are basically in town. I think we covered the whole town looking for a place to stay. Looked at one motel, and didn't like it, then rode around looking for a place with AC, and finally ended up at the Bighorn Motel-the first one we rode past as we entered town.It still didn't have AC, bu it seemed pretty decent, and was $50- a night.
DAY 6
Rest Day in Grande Cache, AB
What do all touring cyclists do on a rest day? Laundry, shopping, eating. I was dissappointed, as I had told Marilyn what a great setting the town has, but the smoke from the BC fires had drifted across, and left us with no view. Later in the afternoon, there was a little rain, and the wind moved the smoke out so we could enjoy the scenery.
DAY 7
Grande Cache, AB to William A. Switzer Provincial Park
The day started out pretty cool, so we were in all our gear-full finger gloves, shoe covers, leggings, and Goretex jackets We were sure that it wouldn't be long before we'd be peeling at least some of it off, but we ended up wearing it all day. We saw a bit of wildlife just outside of town- I saw a deer, and then a little later Marilyn saw a coyote. We were hoping to see some elk or woodland caribou that the signs kept warning us to watch for, but htye were hiding from us still. The map looked a little vague, but we were looking to hit the Wildhay river after about 70km, but it was 104km before it showed up. About another 10km to the park. It had some services, but they were of course, all closed for the season. The signs said that they were turning off the water the next day, so I guess camping season there is pretty well over.
MKr Park Rangger told us that we would have a pretty easy day tomorrow going to Hinton. "5 Mile Hill", and we would be going down it!
DAY 8
William A. Switzer Provincial Park to Hinton, AB
Very Codl morning. Marilyn didn't sleep well because her feet were cold, so she wasn't the happiest camper. Decided we'd just skip breakfast, and get coffee and a bagel at Tim Hortons in Hinton. Maybe not the best plan, as we both seemed to be powering out on the little rollers, and even the flats! About 18km to the start of "5 Mile Hill", which comes out close to 9 km by my computer. Pretty good sized hill, and we were glad we weren't going up it today. Lunch at the Husky House, and then we were ready to roll. Marilyn was more than a bit tired, so I asked if we wouldn't be better off staying over here rather than pushing on. I mean, we are both on holidays, so its better being rested and happy than miserable and making a few more km's in my opinion. We checked the Ramada-girl was a bag, so we went to the Days Inn. Girl working the desk was nice, so we stayed there-laundry, grabbed a beer, pizza for dinner, and early to bed.DAY 9
Hinton, AB to Edson, AB
Up early (for us) 6:45am, raided the Continental breakfast, the on the road before 9. WE were prepared for a climb out of town, but it was pretty easy riding. We hit Obed Summit, the highest point on the Yellowhead about 20km out of town. The hardest climb was actually after that, but still no big deal, and then it started to flatten out.
Leftover pizza for lunch beside the road, then contined on to Edson. The girl at the tourist info booth was very helpful and interested in our trip. We checked out the old military jet on display in the park, had a pint of Kilkenny at the pub, did some shopping, and continue out past town anoth 8km or so to "East of Edson" campground. Nice place, with coin showers, as well as mini golf, hiking trails, and more.
DAY 9
East of Edson to Lake Wabamun
I had to fix a flat this morning-a little piece of wire went in through the sidewall. All patched up in no time, and took the time to lube the chains etc... The tea we made for breakfast was terrible because of the soda in the water there.
The day started cool, and the riding was great-not real flat, but nothing that would require a granny ring. Stopped for lunch at Carrot Creek store, then back on the road. We had a bit of a tailwind. Went past the turnoffs to Evansburg and Entwistle, but never went off the highway to check them out. Marilyn said we'd stop at the next dot on the map, Gainsford, but there wasn't much there, and it was still early so we kept going. Were going to stop at Seba Beach, but again, off the highway, then Fallis-only a store there, so on to Wabamun it was. This should make for a more manageable ride into Edmonton tomorrow.
We went to the only hotel,checked in with the bartender, then hauled the bikes up a long and very narrow staircase-1 pulling, and 1 pushing the bikes one at a time. Wandered around town a bit, and found a pay phone to call Glen in Edmonton to let him know we were coming. It is quite nice being on the lake, but it was quite windy too.
DAY 10
Lake Wabamun to Edmonton.
Rolled the bikes downstairs, then went around the corner for a coffee. Marilyn didn't think the mocchaccino was up to her standards, and maybe they forgot to use espresso. Headed out on a wet and windy day. Raining quite hard, but the wind was behind us. We were a little unsure of which route to take when given a choice of Hwy 16 (thru road) or Hwy 16A (all services). Decided to stick on 16 as it is a more drect route. Stopped on the east side of Edmonton at the Husky House truck stop for lunch. Service sucked-sat at a dirty table for ten minutes, and the only way to get a coffee refill was to get it yourself. Oh well
Back on the road we hit construction around 184th street on the west side. We had no shoulder as we got into the city of Edmonton, but traffic was accomodating enough. Stayed on Hwy 16 until 97th street, then headed north. A couple extra detours and we made it to my brother Glen's place about 3:40pm. We just hung out for about an hour watching the rain and wind come and go until they got home.
DAY 11
Edmonton
Day off hanging with my brother Glen and his wife Luise. Toured around town in Glen's car. Picked up a new kickstand for Marilyn's bike at River Valley Cycles. Then checked out West Edmonton Mall, and wandered through the Casino. Dinner, then a movie back at the house.
DAY 12
Edmonton to Elk Island Natl Park
Slept late, then a leisurely morning-breakfast, a little bike maintenance, and some waiting for the weather to improve. Headed out about 1 pm. It was still windy and raining, but as we left town it started to improve. The highway actually runs through Elk Island Park, so you are going through the park for about 7 km before you can actually get off the highway and enter it. We were really excited when we saw a buffalo along the fence. Just after we paid ($5- each) at the gatehouse and entered the park we saw buffalo. Cows and calves, and they didn't seem to like us, as they got up and took off. A few kilometres down the road we were confronted with two bull buffalo right bedise the very narrow road. They didn't seem to like us either, but they didn't run away. This did present a problem, as we wre not prepared to ride within 20 feet of them (pamphlet says stay a minimum of 50 yards away) to get past them, and they just stood staring at us. We eventually flageed down a car, and rode on the "off-side" of the car to get past. They still just stood there staring, and we were not more than 10 feet away. I found it quite intimidating, and exhilarating. We went ot the campsite, and set up, then walked over to the golf course (no kidding) and had dinner-what else but buffalo burgers!
WE had croosed a "cattle gate" going into the camping area, and assumed that this meant it was a "buffalo free zone", but that isn't quite true. We were quite close to one that was quietly munching grass (an Alberta Lawnmower) and saw another one as well.