Canada's Best Kept Secret: 500km from the nearest paved road, solo in Northern BC.

:eek1

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Haha, I'm not sure which pic you can even see that in, but on my trip to canoe the Spatsizi/Stikine, I made the genius move of strapping the bike with the kickstand down. The road was ridiculously rough and the bike kept falling down because my buddy's trailer didn't have any good place to strap to (so the straps would break from rubbing.)




So yeah, I learned my lesson.



But anyways, I was too cheap to get a new kickstand, so I asked a friend to see what he could do. He cut out the bent part, stuck a bolt in the two pieces of tube, welded it, and--VIOLA--good as new .

So I didn't really have time for an adventure ride this year. My holidays were booked in August for a family event and I had resigned myself to some short exploring trips around home. But a week before I left, my lovely wife suggested she could probably survive a few days without me.




You see, we (mostly her) are due to have our 4th child any day here. So if I was going to go, it was now or never. With only a few days, I knew where I wanted to go. I threw up a post on ADV to see if anyone wanted to come with, but no one did. Probably was for the best though, as the pace ended up being a little intense.

Still was the most relaxing thing I've done all year.

The night before, I put some stuff together and the next day I loaded up the bike, kissed the family goodbye and hit the road.




I'm not exactly known for my packing skills, but I am getting better. And like I said, about 60% of what's on the bike was rafting gear. I didn't bring any food or even a sleeping pad.




The setup was a little top heavy, but (as you can see) streamlined, which I prefer with so much high speed riding to get to the destination. My R2 is not exactly a torquemaster, but she eats up the highway miles no problem as long as you don't load her 4 feet wide.




First stop.

Come on....lets be fair. More than a few people WANTED to go.....just couldn't get the time off

Ok, Ok....I wanted to go. Stupid work

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Sorry, you're right. I guess work has a way of getting in the way of adventuring.

Same here. Work is seriously affecting my social life

Oh well. I guess it would be worse without a job. Couldn't even afford a bike then.......

Wow! Amazing photo essay, and nicely researched.

So Ben....do you guys leave the tree up year round???? Are you some sort of guide for employment??? Can I be you when I grow up??? I'm really sick of city life, 2 people gunned down 1/2 mile from my house ...shit. I need to move to the sticks. Sorry to be a downer.....

Back to the RR!!!!

Bullshit! You do not have a boat, paddles, camping gear etc., packed on that bike.

























...I hate you

My big ol' touring bike with lots of "real estate", looks like the leaning tower of Pizza, with just my sleeping bag and tent on it! Auugh! How do you get your's so awesome packed looking!? :huh

Beauty pictures, and what an adventure! Thanks for sharing!

That's not even our tree . We were at my sister's place so I got her to snap a quick pic for the Christmas letter while were were all happy and fully clothed. It's the most recent shot I could find with the whole family. We're not really into posed photos...

Sorry to hear about the shooting.

People are people everywhere though. Kwadacha (Fort Ware), which I was going to ride through on the way back, is home to only 266 people and has had it share of murders in recent years.

Which reminds me, if I forget to mention it when I get to the part about Germansen landing, ask me to tell the story about the murderer that I chatted with there :huh.

I'm learning a new secret technique. It's pretty complicated, but the gist of it is not bringing stuff that you don't need .

After fueling up at Crooked Creek (and checking to see if my much needed tent pole had come in the mail; it hadn't) I cheerfully endured a brief stretch of pavement (as there is only one bridge over the Smoky River) in order to get to Grande Prairie.




I guess I could have broken out the packraft and tried to float the Smoky with the bike, but I was already a day late leaving and didn't have the time for such shenanigans.

This is my boat, by the way:

<iframe src="http://www.youtube.com/embed/nXz7STM2Vdo" allowfullscreen="" frameborder="0" height="315" width="420"></iframe>


Anyways, at the intersection 4 miles north of GP, I climbed up a dirt hill to take a pic and say farewell to the flat lands.

Circa 1977, my Dad had a gold mine just North of Germansen landing, and I rode my XR75 all the way there from Fort St. James. (with Pops in the chase truck giving me heck at every refueling, for going too far ahead of him )

I laugh now, at how close it really is to the Fort, but back then, it seemed to be a never ending adventure trip, off to the ends of the earth.

Sweet . On an XR75 that is a proper adventure!

So even though I had a lot of ground to cover in little amount of time, I couldn't resist taking the scenic route. I have been wanting for a while to check out the town of Tumbler Ridge. It's a community that's only two years older than me, but has a fascinating history and is full of dead dinosaurs, waterfalls, and mining roads to explore. My kind of place. Check out more about it here.

Anyways, to get there, I took that route that Google will never take you.

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<small>View Larger Map

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Leaving the highway just before the giant beaver at Beaverlodge, I took the 722 to the metropolis of Elmworth (population:9.)

Not much for curves.




But she's a beauty none the less.




I didn't bring an Alberta map, so I ended up winging it south and west (and hitting a couple dead ends) on the gravel, but I eventually hit Township Road 700, which led me to where I wanted to go.




I don't think there was even a sign at the border, but I am pretty sure this is Hiding Creek, meaning we're in Beautiful British Colombia now.



The water's not muddy here, like back home, but stained red with tannins.

Eventually, there was a sign.




Which confirmed that I was indeed where I wanted to be.




The road splits here.




The left fork goes on a long dead end traverse southeast almost all the way back to the Alberta border.




But I took the right fork, heading southwest towards the heritage highway.



I know that my final destination was supposed to be north, but this way I snuck in an extra 200 km of gravel for pretty much free.

Looks awesome man

great trip!

Really enjoying this!