Chetwynd to Hudson Hope

Well, we didn't have a lot of distance to cover today, only about 60km. Easy day. Right! We did know there was a big hill out of town - it doesn't seem too big in a car. The first part, the part you can see, isn't too bad. kind of like Nanoose Hill here on the Island. Then you go around the corner, and it continues, just  steeper. Then another corner, and more hill. It was about 8km of climbing, and Marilyn was in no mood for a hill like that. My joking that "That's not a hill!" probably didn't do much to help out. We had left late too,so it was pretty warm when we wereoing up and up and up. Once we got to the top, the riding was actually pretty good. We stopped in Moberly Lake to use the washroom at the native gas station "Crowfeathers Gas Station", then had coffee a bit further along at another store/cafe.
Some old guy told us it was only 22km to Hudson Hope, and "all downhill". You just know that's got to be a lie. It was about 35 km (maybe he meant 22 miles?), of mainly rolling countryside. There is a nice long downhill into the Peace River valley. The signs say 8% downhill, but it's really only that steep for a short ways. I think most of it is about 4 to 5% , for about 8km. Nice, even if the pavement is kind of rough. At least the long descent put a smile on Marilyn's face!
We stopped for photos at the bridge, and two guys came up who had been fishing. They were looking over the bikes and gear. It turns out that they are from Nanaimo! Malaspina University  students, working for BC Parks over the summer. And they bike too. Told us about their trip from Williams Lake to Bella Coola last year. They also warned us about the bridge. A couple of cyclists had just gone by ( we had seen them on the road), and 1 guy caught a tire, and fell. I guess its better to fall on a bridge than to fall off of one! Anyway. we took a little extra care going over, especially as it is a suspension bridge there are expansion grates at either end to allow it to move.  We made it to Dinosaur Lake, and got our camp set up before Mom and DAle arrived in their camper. I think they were pretty amazed we made it. We had a campfire-I singed the hair off one hand using Dale's firestarter mix. After a dinner of smokies, we took a boat ride up the lake. The water was so calm and quiet. It was great. We saw a beaver in the water, and a few deer along the shore, to go with a couple of deer we saw while riding during the day.
It started to pour rain about the time we went to bed.

Distance 63 km