What an adventure! Thanks for posting this.
Is Si the Joburble on YouTube? I've seen his NZ motorbiking videos.
What an adventure! Thanks for posting this.
Is Si the Joburble on YouTube? I've seen his NZ motorbiking videos.
Moooving right along, next day we crossed back into Canada and headed south and east, nothing much to report. Just doin the miles, or K's now as we were back in the land of metric
Past some buildings
through some scenery
still a little hazy due to the smoke. We got to Haines Junction and grabbed a room. Through Whitehorse the next day and onto Teslin lake for the night.
Nice mural
Then back toward Watson lake, not quite to it though, we swung right before getting there and shot off down the Cassiar h/way
More of these bridges
the surface looks like this
which is a real PITA to ride on your not quite sure where the front wheels going to go, and just hope the back follows.
Some more hills
And I'm pretty sure we stopped at Dees lake for the night. Nice spot, very scenic.
Next day was more of the same.... riding, hills, trees, bears on the road, rain
Apparently it's pretty stunning when it's fine. Past a glacier...
and into Stewart. Then back across the border into Hyder.
It's quite a strange setup that one. One tiny tourist town in US territory about 2 k out of a Canadian town. They do however have a bear feeding area where there's supposed to be bears feasting on Salmon. The Salmon were there
Lots of them... but no bears. Guess you'll have to youtube it to see where we were. Then off up the dirt road some more where we crossed back into Canadian territory, no official border controls though and up to Salmon glacier
George was there too
Arguably one of the most stunning sights I've ever seen, the furthest point of glacier you can see is about 20k's away. If your ever in the area I can recommend it.
We carried on up the road further,
it was reeal nice, but after the glacier things just seemed insignificant.
Back down to the bear viewing area (still none ) then through the border crossing back into Canada. I do wonder how they're getting on under the current CoVid crises.
We grabbed a room in town, me on one side of the road, with a cool view of the hills, Si on the other side with a view of the guy with a view of the hills
I took a stroll around town the next morning with the camera.
Then it was just fridge magnet shopping and breakfast before leaving town
The previous night I'd been googling/ringing around trying to source a new chain for my trusty steed. I'd only managed to find 1 525 chain, at the KTM dealer in Prince George, 700km away. We saddled up and headed out. cant've been to much happening this day as I've only got a couple of pics of interesting buildings
Pretty sure we got to Smithers though.
Not that Smithers
The Town.... Once again we sharp deal on a room, because the owner rides too
It must've been a pretty unremarkable place as I cant find any photo record of it I left early next morning, while Si was still sleeping, as I had an appointment with the chain doctor in Prince George. Once again, no pics, I was just making the k's and watching out for wildlife. Got to P.G. just as the rain started coming down properly, and got a new chain fitted, and got robbed for the privilege . The front sproket was also toast but there wasn't one in town.
Next stop, the camping store to pick up my tent and post it back home That was turning into one expensive tent. Then I just cooled my heals waiting for Si to show up.
Next day was a rest day, sleep in, domestic stuff, dry out gear. It was to gooder day to not get out and go for a walk though. there was a history/rail museum only a few K's away so off I trotted. Some cool stuff in there too
I was going to wander around some trails, just along the road.... there was a sign there
Initially I was all like, MEH !! then as I was about to head across this bridge
a couple of people came out saying the bear was just over there.... not far off the path I decided to look at something else.... and stummbled back to the room, and made some calls trying to locate a front sproket. I found one suitable..... In Calgary
I think Si's working on them during the lockdown Gearup. FTCR... fuckin 10 character rule. Try replying with a reply less than 10 chars.
Next... we were off to Jasper and the start of the Icefields parkway. It was pretty much same same heading towards Jasper. However the hills were getting bigger and we crossed into another State
Cruised into Jasper and was just about to grab a late lunch when Martine (remember him from Seward ?) came rushing over, asking if we had any tools. He needed to replace his front sprocket, the old one was just starting to give issues. He had a new one in his kit. We said we'd take a look. after caffeine and food.
Turns out we didn't have the right tools so I got onto google and found a mechanic,
he even came to us, in about 10 mins. and gave us moral support, technical advice (I guess liabilty issues again) and a fuck off big rattle gun
Definitely time for a new one
Succeess
The guy was so nice he didn't even charge for the callout or time. LEGEND !!
Martine tagged along with us for a couple of days after that, he was a bit concerned he wouldn't keep up on his grossly overloaded 250, but we let him set the pace.
Found a campground right in the middle of the Parkway and managed to get the last spot, and free firewood
It's a crap cell pic, but there's a glacier just across the valley from the camp.
We discovered the joys of maple whiskey liquor that night too
Friendly critters, but damn they're quick
Carried on the next morning through the rest of it, very busy place
We gave Lake Louise a miss, it was dripping with tourists, all the carparks were full and they were busing people in from overflow carparks down the road. Si's been there before and reakoned we'd seen waay nicer lakes anyway.
You could tell we were getting closer to civilisation too. How cool is that ? special bridges for the wildlife to cross the road, otherwise the road sides were all deer fenced.
We got into Banff and had a look around
sortoff a cross between Queenstown and Queen st. Busy as hell too. We grabbed a coffee, and sat down on s garden planter. It's interesting the looks of
scorn people gave to Martine, perhaps because of skin colour or hair style. Stuck up ****? sorry about that but it still pisses me off... Mooving right along.... We found a campground and set up for the night.
Stunning is the only word for those mountains IMO.
Looks of scorn ay? Some people are disgusting.
Amazing bro! I realised ages ago that I don't have the gift for documenting my trips. Lucky my wife is good at it, but I am guessing that you also have some pretty good camera gear? Chur!
Only a Rat can win a Rat Race!
Not really, just a little point and shoot, and a cell phone, I use them quite a bit though. I do have a flash harry mirrorless jobbie with interchangeable lenses somewhere, with settings and features that only a pro would use. But after dragging it along on a couple of trips and never taking it out of it's bag I went back to simple stuff.
The folder where I've stored the pics of this trip is about 26 GB. Pics/video from myself, Si and Mike.
Si and I left Banff, leaving Martine to fend for himself and headed for Calgary, where there was a new front sprocket waiting for me. I can't recall the name of the shop, but they were good buggers Calgary was a crazy busy place after the last few weeks. New sprocket installed, and Si sporting a new pair of boots we headed out of town.
Lane splitting is not allowed so it was a slow trip, with the temp up around 33c. We escaped alive though, and zoomed through some nice rolling hill country
Through a little place called Crowsnest where a hillside had come down at some point and wiped out a town, it was what I imagine riding on the moon would be like
Through Sparwood, home of this...
Then into Fernie for the night.
Next day not to much happened, we just rode along Through Kootenay pass
and into a little place called Nelson, a liberal town, home of crossdressers, old hippies and draft dodgers (description provided by a local I was chatting with )
Quite a cool spot really. We found a campground within easy walking distance of town and settled in. Next morning we stumbled into town to find some decent coffee.
Si went off to find a gluten free brekky while I followed a local to where the good stuff was (IHHO) where he shouted me a Canadiano (like an Americano but instead of being topped of with water it's topped off with filter coffee ) because I'm from Nelson (NZ)
Then it was bye bye Nelson
and we bounced along the border towards Osoyosss. I seem to recall it rained a bit so not to many pics. These guys were pretty cool
they were a bit suspicious of us though
It's a shame I didn't get any shots of the large statues on the way down the hill into Osoyoos, maybe next time. The town itself was pretty full, with not to many accom options, we eventually found a spot on the outskirts though
Osoyoos town
Nice place, but it was good to be leaving. Over a hill...
Just buzzing along, heading back to Vancouver by this stage. with only a couple of stops, 1 at a fruit stall
Not to much else to report. We eventually made it back to Tsawassen/Delta, back where it all began.
Thanks for the great report Jatz.
This R/R has been the only reason to visit this site, as it has been pretty dead for more than 12 months now.
Here for a good time, not necessarily a long time
I'm not ready to go home just yet MXNut.
Anyway.... with the arrival of Mrs Si the next day, instead of hanging around and cramping his style I loaded up and headed out. Destination Vancouver Island for a couple of days. we said our good byes and I wobbled off in to the sunset heading for the ferry, actually it was about mid morning, but sunset sounds better than smoko time
I arrived just as the boat was loading. It was a very smooth crossing
It was guite busy getting through some of the smaller passages, before long I was spewed out in a place called Sidney where I grabbed a feed, visited the info centre and started making my way south, just following my nose towards a little place called Sooke, where I started heading north again, just cruising, with no particular place to be
I stopped at a couple of places looking for somewhere to park up for the night, but settled on a place called Jordan river, and managed to find a spot out of the wind and boil the billy, then went for a bit of a walkabout
They still fascinate me these "log booms"
Before long the one of the guys parked in the camp sauntered over and asked if Id like to come over for some BBQ ribs and stuff for tea. How could I refuse. Stayed most of the night in front of the fire, yakin and sippin whiskey. Nice couple of "red necks from the interior" there words, not mine while there kids ran riot round the camp.
After coffee with them next morning I loaded up and headed further north.
at a leisurely pace. Some good views out into the Pacific and south towards the USA.
I rolled into Port Renfrew, but didn't hang around long, and pointed my front wheel through what I thought was a little gravel road towards Port Albernie, turns out it was all seal but it was a stunning ride anyway through forests, over ridges and round little lakes
I got back on the main rd to Tofino and buzzed through a stand of MASSIVE !! redwoods. Sadly I only got one pic and it's pretty crap
Tofino had been recommended as somewhere to go, cause it's supposed to be pretty cool, but a couple of other people had said meh... it's alright if you like crowds, so I swung left at the intersection and went to Ucluelet.
There was a lighthouse there
and George
and this li'll fella, happily feeding away with tourists wandering around all over
I picked up a small stone and went back to town to find a camp for the night. Ended up on this expensive piece of waterside real estate
Nice spot though and even grass to pitch the tent on
Next day I needed to start making my way back to Vancouver so headed for the ferry at Courtenay,
trying to bypass major towns. I must've been starting to wind down by now as I hardly stopped for pics at all. No drama getting the ferry back to the mainland, and I started heading down the coast, another awesome road to ride, and another ferry ride
Then found a spot to pitch the tent in amongst the tall timber
Next day, the last day on the bike There was yet another ferry ride, after that I stopped at a beach thing, seeing as how it was another stunning day
Then made my way into Vancouver to find my airBnB. It was a bit different being right in amongst it. Up high in an apartment looking out at this.
TBC tomorrow....
I remember planning my riding on Vancouver Island in 2011... That looks like a nice island for a day trip up to the end and back on the rest day. 1000km round trip!
Ok, this island is a bit bigger than I thought, musta been zoomed out a bit, let's pick something closer.
Ah, Tofino looks like a cute wee stop on the edge, remote etc. Yeah, as you know, its busy as hell, with plenty of vehicles. Grabbed some food and got the hell out of town.
Definitely been enjoying the read...
Originally Posted by Jane Omorogbe from UK MSN on the KTM990SM
Thanks for sharing! Amazing scenery pics and a cool story to go with it
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