Saturday, December 17, 2016

Going to the Sun Ride, Day Two: Golden, BC to Three Hills, AB via Drumhella, AB

Day 2: Golden, BC to Brown, AB. Click to enlarge.

As we locked the “his and hers” panniers onto the bike after breakfast the next day (mine was the small one with the exhaust cut-out, but I digress), we bumped into the American Harley Rider and his Canadian wife.   The bike had New York plates and that instantly got our attention.  They had met online years ago, and she’d moved down to get married.  Since then, every summer they planned a trans-continental ride.  I haven’t got time here to list off the places in North American they’ve ridden to; it would probably be easier to list the ones they haven’t.  They had lots of questions about BC and we chatted and chuckled for about an hour.  We steered them towards the Arrow Lakes and Nakusp, which we had stopped at on our last ride.  He proudly showed me his bike, trailer and the many upgrades he had done to it to make it reliable and comfortable, including a massive oil cooler from a diesel truck sticking out to port on on the crash bar.  It didn’t look very aerodynamic, but he swore by it after experiencing a near seize with the HD aftermarket Screaming Eagle accessory oil cooler.  A simple flick of the switch, he said, and you could watch the oil cap thermometer drop by a staggering 100f in minutes, even when idling in the Arizonan heat.  I imagine if the engine failed, you could flick the switch and be supersonic in seconds flat for as long as the battery lasted, which wouldn’t be very long as every known accessory to man (and frighteningly, woman too) would suck the juice from the battery quicker than the fan would blow the froth from your latte-maker onto your wife’s heated socks.  His only fear was a repeat of a final drive belt failure caused by a small rock, which he had suffered once before.  The whole back end needs to be removed in order to replace that. He looked at the big Zuke and said he envied the chain and water-cooling; Iris looked at the plush seat on the big HD, and I could tell, briefly entertained the 90s wife-swap fad.


The scenery around Takakkaw Falls - Turn left after Field, BC

Stopping in Revelstoke for coffee the previous afternoon, a pair of HD owners had told us about Takakkaw Falls.  While the falls were amazing, they were really tickled with the tight switchbacks to get up there and the short walk to the base of them, where you could be frozen bathed in the mist erupting from base as they hit the pool below.  So our first stop, en-route to Banff for lunch, was the short 60km ride to the Takakkaw Falls turnoff after the small hamlet of Field, BC, set in a small flood plane with an exquisite backdrop of mountains.  Turning left, we ground to halt when we saw a sign indicating that this was within a national park, and moneys would be taken at a booth further up the road.  Riding on, we expected to see a booth but never did.  It was only on the way down, that we saw we had missed one hidden on a turn-off to a camping spot.  Fancy that.  We had passed a few parks vehicles on the way up, but none had bothered to check us.  Parking was the same.  Cars were flaunting their multi-dollar passes, but our bike was studiously ignored.  Sure enough, the ride up was both spectacular and exciting.  Cars had to make three-point turns to make the switch back corners, but we were able to glide around, with no problem, apart from being blocked by incompetent drivers doing five point turns.  But, I have to disagree with the riders we had spoken too that morning: the jewel in the crown wasn’t the road-as good as it was-but the spectacular Takakkaw falls.  Quoting the Parks site is probably the way to go here:

Tumbling 254m (830 feet) in one stretch and 384m (1,260 feet) in total, Takakkaw Falls are among the highest in Canada and the gateway to some of Yoho’s most beautiful hiking. Feel the spray at the base of the falls or enjoy views from afar. Accessible mid-June until mid-October to small vehicles and bicycles only due to steep, tight switchbacks.

The Falls.

 

They are staggering, and the backdrop is spectacular.  Worth a ride.


Lunch in Banff was at the Wild Flour Bakery, sitting out on the sidewalk deck in the sunshine.  A child at the next table was giving her parents a sage lesson in dispute-resolution using a firm but calm consistency, as in she had it; they didn’t.  This was the typical power-struggle about food that all parents know well.  The child, who had succeeded in tying the doting parents into exasperated knots using logic, then emotional blackmail and finally setting mum and dad at each other’s throats, sat resolutely refusing to pile into her untouched sandwich as it withered in the sun.  Moments later, a small smile tickled my chops as the child victoriously tucked into dad’s pie and iced cream parked in front of her.  The parents sat silently watching.  Spent.  Yet another reason to travel by bike.


The ride to the Royal Tyrell Museum, just north of Drumhella was my first experience of riding the Prairie.  The novelty wore off quickly.  We cut off the TC1 at Morley, AB, and followed the Bow River to Cochrane, which initially was squiggly and picturesque.  Then we turned north on the #22.  Reading the small highlighted line on the map through a plastic weatherproof cover on my tank bag was not easy, but when the rain started, it became harder still.  Luckily, we were on dead-straight prairie roads and the navigation became easier than staying awake.  I played little games, like looking at road signs and wondering why the hell they’d call a place Balzac?  As if by association, mine started to complain.  The monotony was momentarily purged as we made a right turn and headed east near a place called Dogpound.  Again, why?  Surely there was something, anything, else you could have called your home hamlet? 


Heading east for 127km on dead straight single-track-township roads was, again, a novelty at first.  But, my God, the horizon never gets closer.  Looking ahead to the east, winding the throttle on and tickling well into the triple digits, didn’t make anything come closer, except the (sorry kids) fucking huge, dark thunderhead now looming off to the northeast-which at least offered a contrast to the yellow and brown fields on either side.  The storm seemed to be tracking south in sync with us.  Great.  The rain had sprinkled, but ahead there was a solid line of black cloud, with a skirt of heavy mist which looked suspiciously like rain exploding off the horizon and bouncing about 500 metres high.  More as an excuse to give my balzac a break, I stopped and sagely suggested we don the wet gear, knowing in my heart of hearts, that this would, at best be futile effort to delay the inevitable drenching we were both going to get.  Wifey, though, was blissfully unaware of the upcoming magnitude of the deluge to come.  Good thing.


It was about at a place called “Acme” – I kid you not, Acme! - that we were bombarded by raindrops the size of balzacs.  By the “Carbon” turnoff, we were dry.  The storm blew through quicker than fart on a stag night. and we began to see a small deviation in the road on the horizon.  Fixedly, I stared at this spot, mesmerised by the potential turn.  We shot down into what is called a coulee.  I genuinely wondered if I could remember how to make a turn on a bike, and whether we were too fast for this 60 degree turn.  Wow.  I swear to God, that this coulee was, at that time, the most beautiful spot I had ever seen, and that included the Takkikaw Falls earlier.  We dipped below the surrounding brown prairie into an olive-green wonderland, essed brilliantly through water-chewed rugged deserty canyons, over a bridge, flew passed a jalopy being driven by a cowboy hat and a blade of wheat, and up and out of the oasis to follow the Red River on our left shoulder. 

The museum was great. 




From Drumhella to Three Hills is 45 minutes north then west through more interminable prairie.   The only thing of note in Three Hills apart from our nice hotel – The Best Western Diamond Inn - are the appalling reviews of the food in the attached, air conditioned, “Bell 720 Restaurant”.  Those reviews couldn’t be right could they? Yep.  Don’t order the cold wallpaper glue with hot water and bits o bacon, advertised as Fettuccine Carbonara.  For the full experience, bring your own Parmesan as they were out the night we were there.  But, strung out by the ride, I downed the stuff and smiled while I supped my beer.  Day 2 done.  


Sure hope the riding improves from here.

Saturday, December 10, 2016

Going to the Sun Ride: Day 1 - Nanaimo to Golden

Day 1: click to enlarge
I like to listen to music when I ride.  “There’s a killer on the road, his brain is squirming like a toad, take a long holiday”...”Oh take your time, don’t live too fast, troubles will come and they will pass”... “The cars do the usual dances, same old cruising the curbside crawl”...  “On a long and lonesome highway east of Omaha, You can listen to the engines moanin' out it's one old song, You can think about the woman or the girl you knew the night before...”  And that’s all well and good, but I’d forgotten to pack the damn iPhone.  Worse, it was my GPS with the entire route, way-points, side trips, stops, hotels, telephone numbers...Amazing, I had ridden to the ferry, with the empty ram-mount staring me in the face without cuing in.  It wasn’t until I tried to find my ear buds that the truth dawned on me.

My wife took it well: she’s a gem.  By some sheer stroke of luck, I had gone into BCAA the day before and got the free maps of BC, Alberta, Montana, Idaho and Washington.  They would prove to be invaluable as reverted back to good old-fashioned navigation with a tiny scaled map staring up at me through a tank bag with the route highlighted in yellow.  It’s amazing how much better a journey is when you have navigate by your wits, check out your surrounding and stop to chat about possible choices.

The route we were taking on this first day was not an epic, eye-watering curvaceous beauty.  There are so many better routes through BC than taking the Trans Canada, but for us it was a way to a means.  Riding via Vancouver, on the TC1, Coquihalla Highway, through Kamloops, Revelstoke to Golden is a nice ride, make no mistake.  If you’re not from BC, then the coastal scenery, giving way to Fraser Valley fields hemmed in by hills, giving way to mountains, semi-desert and emerging into the Rockies is nothing to be sniffed at.  But for us, it was old hat highway riding and to be done as quickly as possible.  The fun would start on Day 2 where we planned to wiggle through the Rockies, get to Drumhella and look at some ex-dinosaurs in the badlands.

Say what you will, she has a gorgeous rear three-quarter view.
We got to Kamloops before noon, fueled up the bike and ourselves at Costco, and pressed on.  It was hot, and the traffic was starting to get heavier.  Men in white vans were driving erratically, and with over 300km to go we knuckled down and frequently topped the ton passing streams of campers and what not. 

Riding into Revelstoke for an afternoon coffee break and leg-stretch was a revelation.  I hadn’t been through there since I was a teenager, and the place looked so much better than I remembered it.  What a fashionable little mountain town it has become.  Main Street was cornucopia of bikes, and once we lowered the tone (and likely the house values) by parking between Harleys and minty GS Beemers, we nipped into the only coffee shop that didn’t have a bike outside it: the Conversation Coffee House.  A nice place.  It was as we were coming out, that a couple of Harley Riders sprang up from across the road at Isabella’s and wanted to chat.  I almost put an exclamation mark on that last sentence, because if you ride in Nanaimo, you know that, ironically, HD riders have a self-anointed elevated status and will turn the other cheek in an effort not to wave let alone look in your direction.  These guys were American: shattering another stereotype.  They were knowledgeable and friendly.  They gave us a great tip for the next day’s ride and were blown away by our progress.  They wouldn’t be the first HD riders that would turn out to be a mere mortals and more than willing to overlook our Zuke status.


Riding the last 150km to Golden was a blast, but my butt was starting belabour the point that I had been sitting for 650km and it was time to stand up.  So, risking the possible “stunting” fine, I rode for some miles up on the pegs ala enduro.  We hadn’t seen a cop all day, and that proved the norm for the entire rest of the trip until Idaho...I'm not sure of what my wife thought about viewing the world via nutscape, but she didn't complain.

We rolled up at the Best Western in Golden fairly strung out from the road.  I did notice an older Harley touring bike and trailer with New York plates.  

Another stereotype smashed: he wasn’t just out for coffee.

Day 2: Golden, BC to Three Hills, AB via Drumhella and the Royal Tyrell Museum.

Wednesday, December 07, 2016

2 Provinces and 3 States: The Going To the Sun Ride

(The overall route: each day a new colour.  Click to enlarge.) 

Even the name sounds evocative: “The Going To the Sun Road”.  It was a ride I had wanted to do for a while.  My last multi-day ride was two years ago on a different bike – two up on a 2013 VStrom 650.  I’d loved it, and found a two-week window in my busy summer to sneak a rare long ride in.

So, together with my wife and some hazy ideas about what we would find, we headed out on an early August morning ferry and liberation from Vancouver Island.  The route is 3,224 km long and I have split the ride up by day.  It includes a ferry, 2 provinces, the prettiest international border crossing you’ll ever ride over, 3 states, and another ferry back through the San Juan/Gulf Islands.  This is one spectacular ride, with curves, elevation and & beauty in abundance. 

While I have only done one multi-day road trip before, I have ridden all my life in several countries on many different machines.  Primarily I am a local rider now and, if you’re a regular reader of this blog, an enduro rider.  Unlike my last multi-day trip, we had more luggage, but still packed very light.  Originally we had planned to camp for the trip, but my wife, fortuitously for her, won a Best Western gift card of $1000US. 

Damn. 

So, “we planned to stay in hotels/motels and scotched the camping”.  But I wouldn’t compromise on the route, no matter if there was a Best Western near it or not.  Spousal negotiation finalised, hotelling gave us more room for some clothes and tools, so it wasn’t all bad. 

I bought the bike new with no km on the clock in 2015 after trading in an un-ridden virgin Harley I won – a crap bike, but I digress.  The 2014 Strom1000, named Simba because of its colour,  had been lost in a warehouse back east with a few others, and Suzuki Canada had sent one to each of the top vendors in each province with order to get them out before the 2016s came in.  So when I saw the ad for a virgin khaki Vstrom 1000 for $9999 including PDI and Freight in Kijiji it was too good to pass up.  The only thing that would shift my beloved 2013 Vstrom 650 out of the door was 2014+ Vstrom 1000.  The 650 had been the smoothest, most reliable, most awesome bike, even two up, but after riding the next generation 1000 I had to have it.  The immense torque, added power, and less top-heavy feel won me over.  I added hand-guards, a lower cowling to protect the oil filter, side cases and changed the windshield as I’d had to on the 650.  My only complaint about both bikes is the windshield: the buffeting from them was enough to give me double vision.  A Givi Airflow 18inch fully adjustable up/down and forward/back was enough to smooth things out on the 1000.  The suspension is amazing stock, but the seat can be a little testing on those 600+km days.  So my wife got the wool cover. 

I now recon I have the perfect bike for me.  It’s lighter than a GS1200, handles like a big super moto, and the v-twin chucks torque out like Trump tweets.  It is smooth, fast and handles like a dream. 

But, IMHO, like any over 650cc bike, it’s NOT an off road bike.  Technically you can take it off road, like a GS1200, but anything over 350lbs is, at best, a liability off road.  There are far better machines for traversing dirt than bloated Beemers, Litre+ KTMs or Vstroms.  The long suspension is amazing on the road, but would be far too stiff for my liking on the dirt.  The tyres, are good on the road, but on dirt would be a death sentence.  So, for that reason, and the fact I was two-up with my much-prized incubator, this trip was black top only.  And that suited me: I have a 70 degree Husaberg for the fun stuff!

Over the next few weeks, I will post the following and update the links:

Day Six: Sandpoint, ID to Wenatchee, WA via Coulee City, WA.
Day Seven: Wenatchee, WA, Oak Harbor, WA via Levenworth and Steven’s Pass.

Day Eight: Oak Harbor, WA to Nanaimo, BC via the Anacortes Ferry.


Friday, July 29, 2016

Friday, April 08, 2016

Sywash Ridge Ride ~ A Mashup of a Single Track and a Trail in Upper Lantzville

It was Wednesday after work, the sun was out and I was getting dirtbike withdrawal, so I decided to take a detour on the way home and play on the Berg.  After warming the clutch up on some single track trails near a gravel pit at Doumont, I headed off to see if could get to the Eagle's nest cabin a different way.  And afterwards, if time permitted, I would try to find that cabin in Lantzville that Andy had found via John's trails.  Well I was skunked on both counts.  My inadequate riding ability was unable to conquer the trail-come river rock strewn creek-bed hill climb which we saw a truck get up the other day.  Perhaps when it's dry, I'll give it another go.  Then I took a bum turn when looking for the Lantzville cabin and hit upon a little gem of a single track ride in Lantzville: The Sywash Ridge Ride. There are a bunch of hand carved signs in the woods around Upper Lantzville.  I'm not sure if they're for mountain bikes, hikers or quadders.  Certainly, some of the trails (Fire Bucket and Sweet Melissa in particular) present quite a challenge with logs and cutouts, and seem to be hiking trails, so it's best to stay off these.  But Sywash Ridge is a fabulous ride down from the foothills to Sywash Road via the power lines.  I can't imagine how I've missed these trails for so long...Maps Below







Trail uploaded to Wikilocks Here...
Video of the trail to follow...

Sunday, April 03, 2016

Lantzville Fixer Upper: Cabin in the Foothills





Took a quick ride out to the Lantzville foothills to see if the end of John's track was a cabin.  It was!  It's a bit of a fixer upper, but would give you shelter if you really needed it.  I entered the logging roads from the Weigles Rd/Doumont/Biggs side and continued through the new arrangement in the tank traps area using Tim berwests new logging spur.  I'm liking it--no muss, no fuss.  Track is available at Wikiloc.  (Thanks again John).

Here are a few pics:

Panoramic of Immediate Area

Front of Cabin

Left Side (with retired stoves and ice boxes)

 l'arriere

Front Looking Towards Exit Trail

Mountain Biking Trails

Building Dedication/Memorial

At the front door looking straight towards staircase

Table and benches at front window

Upstairs Sleeping Loft

 Big Ol' Cedar


Saturday, March 26, 2016

An Aerie Hideaway: The Eagle's Nest Cabin


It's a well known fact that if you buy a new motorbike it will rain for weeks.  Finally, we've had two rain free days lately and I was able to get the new Beta Xtrainer out for a blast on both days.  I met Ryan and Eric at the Wastelands track yesterday for a half day of log jumping and general blasting around, and today I went for a solo ride to find the Eagle's Nest Cabin off Bonnell Main logging road.  Big "thank you" to John N. for pointing this location out to me last month.

John had suggested that I try the route in from the top, (walking in from the N.E.), and so this is what I did.  Here's my route map:

Click to Enlarge
1.  Entered at Harwood Drive.  What a hilarious mess they have made of the usual way in.  The place is looking like The Maginot Line with its newly dug deep trenches.  I thought I was completely hooped until I rode down to the yellow gate at the very end of Harwood to find the walk-in entrance has been widened enough to get a Gold Wing through.  I guess they're fighting trucks only these days.

2.  The road in has been graded heavily once again.  The hilly section has a wide variety of rock sizes from large boulders to scree.  Fun ride up, although a little creepy on my new bike which is still a little too high for my stunted Welsh/Scottish legs.

3.  Leaving the Lanzville trails, I took a right turn onto Bonnell Main.

4.  Keep left and leave Bonnell Main and stay left at the next intersection nearly 200m ahead.

5.  You can go either way here.  A right turn will lead up a rocky road which eventually reaches a Y intersection.  A small quad trail begins between the branches of the Y and this will take you up to the back of the cabin.  It's the standard way in, although as John had mentioned to me, the road is quite rocky and the quad trail is steep and rooty.  It's quite do-able, and is likely the better way in, even if you're faced with walking.  A left turn will take you to a dead-end spur road (6) where you begin a 600m uphill hike to the cabin.  (A waypoint for the cabin and this track is available at Wikiloc).

UPDATE (Paul): I dragged Andy back to the cabin on April 2nd via the quad route above (Small Quad Trail).  I rode up the small quad trail which was much easier than it looked.  What was interesting was after visiting the cabin, and starting to ride back down this route, we saw a truck coming up from the south...

UPDATED AGAIN (Paul).  Wednesday, Ap 6th: Tried the "Unknown Large Truck Route" that heads southeast.  I approached it from the South, about a km after Kidney Lake.  Initially it was easy, but soon got into some large river rock like boulders that you would find in a creek bed.  The reason became obvious shortly after that.  I turned a corner and the road became a serious hill climb with river rock and wet rock outcrops which make traction very hard to acquire.  I tried to surmount the hill 4 times, and each time got stopped at a wet rocky outcrop.  It will be doable when dry, but still a challenge.  Good fun though.You can see the route in purple on Andy's updated map below.


UPDATED AGAIN (Andy):  John N. very kindly sent me this track that spells out the route coming in from the SE side.  I believe this is the route he meant when he originally told me to approach from the top side.  The trail begins about 1.2 km north of Round Lake.  Another possible cabin appears on the screen capture below.  Good for an upcoming ride!  (found it-click me).



6.  Park the bike here and proceed S.W. on foot.  Not a great hike and not the preferred route!  Directly ahead of you are a couple of marsh areas which are easy to get around if you don't mind clambering over a couple of hundred metres of downed trees. 

7.   From here there are a number of animal trails that make the going a little easier until they peter out and you're left with an uphill slog through more rough terrain.  As you continue upward, you'll see a rocky outcrop covered in moss--the cabin is perched on the flat top, (although it won't be visible yet).  Riding boots are a poor choice to attempt climbing this rock and more suitable walking/climbing boots would be worth the carry in.  You won't have much of a climb if you navigate carefully through the trees.

8.  After a final short climb up a heavily moss covered rock, you reach the front side of the Eagle's Nest cabin.  It's a small (perhaps 10' x 15') cabin with a framed plywood floor and upright log poles to support metal siding material.  It's nothing fancy, but it's well enough constructed to keep a few people warm for the night.  There's a small wood burning stove inside and water is supplied by a small rain-filled tank.  (Advisable to use water purifier pills since I doubt anyone gets up there to shock the tank with chlorine).  Bring in some ice if you want to use one of their ice coolers.  It looks like people really respect this place, at least the last visitors did.  It was clean, tidy and well organized.  A guest book is on the table.  There's an outhouse and a covered area for dry wood.  Four wooden lawn chairs surround the fire pit.  Some a-hole left beer cans scattered about the fire pit.  Please carry out your crap if you decide to use this open invitation cabin! 

9.  Having never tried the other way in, I walked down the quad trail for a distance to see what it's like.  Quite doable in dry conditions, although rooty and fairly steep in some sections.  (Didn't walk it all).

10.  After hiking back down the way I had come in, I took a quick ride along the alternative route.  I stopped where the road began to steepen and get rocky.  Still do-able at this point, but I wasn't ready to start bouncing around too much with this being a solo ride.  I turned around since I'd seen the cabin already.  :)

11.  Rode back along Bonnell Main and passed the entrance back into the Lantzville foothills with a plan to exit the logging roads via the "tank traps."

12.  Holy road changes.  A new road punched in near the tank traps made this intersection completely unrecognizable.  I thought I might need a left turn because I was getting close to the traps, but took a right to see where it went.  The road became familiar very quickly and was clearly the route towards Boomerang Lake.  I turned back.

13.  Took the left turn (location 12) option and rode along a new logging road.  This is the road that is now visible from the tank traps when approaching from the Doumont side.  I continued along here until the road stopped and turned around to try what appeared to be an obvious route towards the tank traps area.

14.  It was just what I wanted and soon opened up into the trail we have been calling the "Tank Traps Alternative."  The trail joins, (as it did before), the familiar route up through a round-rock riverbed towards Weigles Rd. and Doumont/Biggs.

15.  That's all I have for today.  It was an excellent solo ride on my new Beta Cross Trainer!

Video of the ride down from the cabin using the quad track to the "T Junction".  (Make sure you turn the Res up  to 1080p and watch it on YouTube for better quality.)





   Elevation Track

Google Earth Flyover of the Route



The End of the Road:  Hike Begins S.W. Towards the Cabin

 First View of the Cabin When Approaching from the top N.E. Side

Front and Side of Cabin.  Two Windows on the Right Side

Panoramic View:  Fantastic View of  Nanoose Bay from Up Here!

Christmas ALL YEAR at the Eagle's Nest Cabin

Front Sign

Looking in from the Front Door

Looking Back Towards the Entrance

The Wood Pile and Outhouse

The Back of the Cabin from the Quad Trail Leading Down

Enjoying the View of Nanoose Bay

Zoomed In on the View

I Liked it so Much, I Took Another

Please Pack Out Your Garbage

Thanks for the Visit, Eagle's Nest People

Track available here at Wikiloc: