We woke up super excited to be out of the city and attack the day. Today is perfect! The clear and crisp mountain air around us fills our lungs and clears our heads, what a great day to be riding. The fresh morning blossoms into a mildly warm day and we find ourselves comfortably settling back into the groove. Just a wonderful day of riding though this majestic countryside. We were freshly splashed with a few large rain drops here and there, but nothing major! After 5 hours of riding the meaty part of my left thumb was fairly sore, so, we decided to call it a day at Lake Williams. After getting off the bike I realized that the clutch assembly was loose and had slipped forward causing my hand to stretch forward farther. Easy fix! Looking forward to tomorrow!
After a good nights sleep and some deep heat massaging cream on my left thumb and palm area I was pretty good to go again. My right arm has twinges of muscle stress from time to time, but nothing major. Every day that I ride I gain more strength along with a more confident and comfortable statue. I'm really glad to be back on the bike! I don't know if I'm just so happy to be back on the bike or if it has something to do with these super long daylight days. The daylight hours are getting longer as we ride farther north, and it is such a cool mindset to feel like you have a day and then some! I have to tell you... it is so so tempting to just keep on riding. Eventually far, far into the day and after many miles, or kilometers cause we are in Canada 'ay…. you will ride into a sunset ;)
Todays ride took us into Vanderhoof which is actually the geographical center of British Columbia. Vanderhoof is an interesting town, kind of like a cowboy Germany?…hmmmm. It is actually the geographical center of British Columbia. Apart from experiencing a black bear bound across the roadway, which was awesome, the scenery has not been too impressive since leaving the Cascade Mountain area. We go to sleep in daylight now and are waking in daylight…really a trippy experience!
We are now ahead of schedule and have plenty of time to make the ferry leaving on the 6th. Looking at the map we really could make it to Prince Rupert today if we wanted to…and, damn it, I think we want to! Now google tells us that it will take us 7.5 hours, kind of a long day, but we can always change our minds 'ay? It is 9am and we have left cowboy Germany…yee haa!
The scenery was starting to become more impressive again, as we followed the Yellowhead Highway, that will eventually lead us to the coast once again. From the township of Smithers, onward, mother nature turned it up! We passed by eye grabbers like Hudson Bay Mountain, Seven Sisters Peaks, and Mount Kenney. The weather began to chill, and the winds picked up as we followed the meandering highway that ran along the Skeena River. We had been riding for 8 hours now and Prince Rupert was almost in sight. We were starting to get tired and found a cozy wooded rest area along the river where we embraced a leg stretch and 15 minute snooze. Refreshed we continued our way into Prince Rupert, secured our camping spot and headed out for a warm meal. It was 10pm by the time we headed back to our campsite. As we pulled up a roaring fire was welcoming us…how cool was that! Our Westy traveling neighbor, Ian a few sites down, gathered some wood, lit a fire and had our site warmly aglow upon our return! Way to go Ian…thanks! It felt just as awesome to be back in the tent, as it was to be on the bikes!
We camped in Prince Rupert for the next 3 nights. It was different getting used to so much light at night. We quickly adjusted our sleeping schedule to stay up later and sleep in later, hopefully sleeping in long enough for the wetness of the dew filled morning to dry our tent and bike covers. We spent the next couple of days wandering around Prince Rupert, visiting the cute fishing village of Cow Bay, and even treated ourselves to a matinee movie…The Wolverine. Hugh Jackman rocks big time, and is an Aussie 'ay?…Oi Oi Oi! We also scoped out the ferry situation, picked up our tickets, sorted out our ferry camping gear and were ready to hit the inside passage up to Alaska!
Riding into Squatch Country...Kev feels that he could blend in!
The countryside is turning it up and beautiful turquoise rivers start to appear.
Rest area along the way
Surprise welcoming with a fire that Ian built!
Nothing beats a camp brekky and a fire!
Sharing traveling routes
Thats enough wood to get us through tonight!
Colorful and quaint Cow Bay .
Cow Bay
Cow Bay
Bald Eagles on a tower at Cow Bay
Get with it...You're in Canada now 'ay!