Where would you rather be?

[Anonymous]

On the edge of sleep
I was drifting for half the night
Anxious and restless
Pressed down by the darkness
Bound up and wound up so tight
So many decisions, a million revisions
Caught between darkness and light.....

Rush, Double Agent (Counterparts, 1993)


The moment of truth and the realization that the trip was actually happening hit on tuesday night, May 24th, when my uncle Jim and his friend Tony arrived from Ontario to join us on the trip to Hyder. after some shuffling, we proved that you can fit 3 large boxers and a zook in a space barely big enough for an Aveo



We got off to a slow start Wednesday morning, with Jim 'misplacing' his spare key for his bike. After 20 minutes and no luck, we finally headed out to get some breakfast. We finally hit the road at about 9 am and headed west on 11 towards our first fuel stop, Saskatchewan River Crossing, ~250km away. We stopped at a scale just outside of Rocky Mountain House to see how much our bikes weighed, and I came in at 340kg (748lbs), well under my GVWR of 472kg. Good thing I had upped the preload on my rear shocks the night before.


rolling towards SRC

At Saskatchewan River Crossing, we took a break for a quick snack, then hit the road again. We were in the mountains now, and heading off on the Icefields Parkway (highway 93) towards what would be the first test of my riding abilities; as we approached the pass that would take us over 7000', there was a horseshoe shaped curve right at the start of the climb, with a posted limit of 60kph. I wound up going in a little hot (about 70 - 80kph), and about 2/3 of the way around, I hit a couple of gentle frost heaves - you know, the ones that just make you bounce up and down, not normally a big problem - that almost completely unloaded the back end, with the bike going up and the tire going down into the next dip. On a straight line, this isn't a problem, but I was leaned over at speed and the rear end started to step out on me. Fortunately, there was no oncoming traffic so I just kept my throttle steady and let the bike run wide, only going about a foot over the centre line. I was a little more cautious going into the twisties after that.


the top of the pass

We stopped for lunch in Jasper, then headed off towards Prince George.
We finally got to PG later than we had originally planned, and it was a lot warmer than we had thought it would be.


the hotel in PG

As we were unpacking the bikes for the night, Jim found his spare key - it had been sitting in the seat lock on the back of his bike the whole time, just above his license plate. A testament to how good the locks on BMW's are and how smooth his RT runs that the key didn't fall out anywhere in the ~800km that we had traveled that day.

[Anonymous]

It was early morning yesterday
I was up before the dawn
And I really have enjoyed my stay
But I must be moving on

Supertramp, Goodbye Stranger (Breakfast in America, 1979)

Day two dawned bright and clear and hot. We had discovered at dinner that the temp in PG the previous day had been 27C and was forecast to be the same for the next week or so. So the electric vest and jacket liner got packed away.

We rolled out relatively early, and headed off to Burns Lake for our first fuel stop and breakfast. So far all animal encounters had been benign, with the few dear that we had seen keeping their distance, and only 2 bears while we were still in Jasper National Park. Then the birds showed up.

I had three close encounters with suicidal birds and one one psycho squirrel between Vanderhoof and Burns Lake. The birds all swooped down right in front of me and then veered away at the last second, causing me to duck and my dad to wonder if I had hit them, as from his viewpoint riding behind me the birds changed direction so quickly so close to me that it looked like they had bounced off my windshield or handguard.

Then the squirrel attacked. Cruising along nicely at 120kph, I suddenly see this little brown furry beast come charging across the highway, bound on intercepting my front tire. He missed me though, and my tires remained un-bitten.

We wound up making an unscheduled stop in Smithers while my uncle tried to track down a Canada Trust to get money, then off to Canadian Tire to get some rubber grippy stuff to put under his tankbag to protect his paint, so my dad and Tony and I topped off our tanks and then 'relaxed' on the side of the road for damn near an hour.


killing time in Smithers

Later that night, we finally arrived in Stewart, after another long, hot day of riding. We stopped to unload the bikes, take a picture or two, then I headed on over to the good old US of A.





The next two days there was pretty much spent drinking beer and sightseeing, with some fantastic conversations with other riders thrown in for good measure.

Here's just a few samples:


one of the many small waterfalls on the way to Salmon Glacier


on the dock in Hyder


only a few bikes in front of the Sealaska


The Grizz.

More pics from the trip can be found in my Hyderseek 2005 Gallery


On the way home Sunday night, though, I came across one scene that really summed up the way I was feeling and made me wish the trip would never end.



Moose Lake at sunset

Owen

[displaced]

wow

[Desolation Angel]

I hate Texas! Hot, flat, and ugly. I'd move up north in a heartbeat if the money was right!

[gasisontheright]

Thats awesome, great pictures too. that last picture is awesome.

[dpep]

Thanks for sharing. Well done.