Adventuring in B.C.

I plan a ride every year and usually it ends up being a rushed affair with a short time window, this year would be different... Instead of the usual 3 or 4 days, I planned to take a couple of weeks if needed...

This year I had 4 takers that would join me for part of the ride, Shevthump, NI230 and Volcon would take in 5 days and 450X for a bit longer...

Day 1-
Had a late start riding out of Port Mcneill but we still managed to ride half way down the Island before dark...

While waiting for our last straggler Paul removes a small speck of dirt off his chain.. I think he secretly takes in the show and shine meets as his bike is always looking flashy


We made it to a friends place in Black Creek and camped in his yard, the next morning we would have to get up early to catch the 7:45 AM ferry out of Nanaimo...

Day 2-
We were up early and enjoyed watching the sun rise as we headed towards Nanaimo... The early am is a great time to zip the hwy as there is little traffic to tend with...


We made the ferry with time to spare...


Once off the ferry in Horseshoe bay we headed up HWY 99, met up with Volcon in Brittania and turned onto the dirt past Pemberton...

Here is the Motley crew

A few shots from the Highline...



The temps were really starting to climb as the day moved along..

Stopping in the shade was priority...





After lunch temps were already pushing the mid 30s and the woods were bone dry, good thing I replaced my spark arrester the day before..

We were taking a shade break and along comes 3 Beemers, now usually I stop and shoot the breeze when I see another group of ADVers pulled over, well these guys paused for a moment and blew on past... I guess they were in a hurry, or did not socialize or were members of an exclusive club which we weren't...

Horseshoe Canyon...

Shortly after this pic I had my highest temp reading of 43.8 C...
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Some ride video from the day

We stopped in Lillooet for linner and resupply before heading westside towards Lytton...

We grabbed a camping spot on this sandy beach along the river and set up.. Later on a native fisherman dropped by for a chat and to set out his net for the night bite..

This is one of Gregs shots that gives a pan of our camp..

I picked this fantastic spot, {or so I thought} to set my tent... Once it started getting dark the thermal winds reversed and picked up, sand was blowing every where incuding filling my tent, sleeping bag and camera equipment. I ended up packing everything up into a grove of trees and resetting for the night...

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Looking forward to following along.

Your high temp of 43.8 is close to what we hit in Mojave Desert this summer!

That was measured with my little temp guage and was probably pretty close as it was the hottest blast we had felt that day, the official high was 40.1 measured at Lytton, still very warm...

Day 3-

The next morning the fisherman showed up with his quad while we were having breakfast...





He started to pull his net which was about 30-40' long and anchored to a small tree propped out into the current...

Started to look like a pretty good set...

He wanted to get the fish out before the day started to heat up... Looks like over 2 dozen sockeye for the night, not too bad... He offered to give us one but we had no way to deal with it in the heat and we didn't need the smell of fish in our next campsite... We already had a black bear hanging around our area this AM...
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A while later we packed up our camp and made our way to the Lytton ferry...

We showed up at coffee break so had to wait a little while for the crew to come over and get us..

It was the first time on a reaction ferry for some of the guys, so it made for an amusing ride...


Off the ferry we headed for a grassy track that would take us to Hat Creek..





Typical trail sections we would spend the next few hrs on... The shade provided by the trees was welcomed as it kept the temps to a more moderate level..

This log filled trench was right on a turn at the bottom of the hill, the logs shifted and crossed Greg up...



Lotsa fences to open and close behind us on this route..



Cowboy country...


We headed back to Lillooet for fuel and then made our way up W Pavillion...

The road climbs and hugs the side of the mountain giving spectacular views....





Paul is just loving the riding...



It was getting on in the day so we decided to set up camp earlier and do a bit of bike maintenance...


Greg spent a little time straightening his pannier racks and Paul worked on replacing a weepy fork seal...



Actually we all lent Paul a hand...



Volcons panoramic image..

I was lazy and decided to sleep out tonight instead of dealing with my tent.

It was a cozy spot and I slept well despite the wild critters that were circling me all night long...

Outstanding. Keep 'em coming.

Now aren't those reaction ferries some of the smoothest sh*t going?

I'm headed that way next week, will probably see some of your tracks. Beautiful country to ride in, thanks for doing the RR!

NIce pics. Looks like a blast.

Day 4-

We packed up our camp and headed towards the Big Bar Ferry...

I stopped on the way down and took some pics of the guys riding ahead...

It looked like there was some difficulty on the middle plateu and someone went down...

Dust hanging over the silty section in the distance..

Upon heading down I found out what the trouble was: About 2 KMs of the road from the plateu down the hill towards the ferry was covered in 3-4" of very loose silt sand which made the loaded bikes behave like pigs... The flat area was manageable as you could throttle up to stop the front end from plowing but once on the steep downhill too much throttle would put you over the edge... I have been up and down that hill many times and have never seen the condition of the road like that... I saw a grader parked up the road so they either graded it which loosened up the surface or need to grade it to get the soft stuff off the surface... I hope the hill condition improves for those big bikes on the BC Traillie Ride, one good thing is at least they will be hitting it on the up slope which is much safer than taking it downhill...


After a cautious ride down we made it to the ferry intact...



We're a long ways upriver from the Lytton crossing and yet the river seems larger here..


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Off the ferry we headed towards Clinton for resupply...

Up on the Hi Bar we came across this Bighorn yew...

She dropped over the edge and when the guys went to look over after her they were amazed at how that sheep just ran down a shear vertical...

Further up I came across this band of skittish horses{wild?}

After the horses ran a long distance they finally stopped at a point where they felt safe and I was able to ride by without spooking them... After passing them I zipped up the road a ways and stopped to try get set up for pics before the guys caught up... Almost the instant after I shut down my engine the bikes started coming around the corner... There was Dennis, then Greg and then comes Paul around the corner hot on the throttle with the whole herd of horses chasing him and gaining ground... Paul goes rocketing past Greg and so do the horses on both sides of him... I'm a little bit in shock at this whole scene unfolding in front of me and did not even get the camera up... I then see Carson come around the corner and throw up his arms as if he didn't have a clue... Paul turned up the steep hill road and the horses ran parallel to him for a ways before settling down... I asked Paul "what the heck"? and he said as he rode by the horses he whistled and that started them stampeding after him... I only wish I had the camera rolling to catch the whole thing as it was a fantastic sight...

A very steep section of the Hi Bar hill..

After Clinton we headed towards Gang Ranch and stopped at Big Bar Lake for a cool down swim...



Shortly after this pic Dennis ended up with a Flat... We parked against a shady bluff near the Gang Ranch bridge and made repairs...

I was blitzing down 2800 RD towards Farwell when I stepped on my brake pedal and felt something against my foot... I looked down and saw my sprocket cover and case guard had rattled loose losing my upper chain roller in the process... I would have to get another one at my earliest convenience as I don't like the idea of not having case protection if the chain jumps the sprocket... I have worked on a lot of Hondas as to where the chain has jumped, punching through the case and destroying the pickup coil in the process...


We ended taking the Bella Coola HWY to Williams Lake for resupply and then found a lake to camp at on the Likely road...

It was a beautiful lake and Paul headed out for a dip but he didn't stay in long as the bloodsuckers were waiting for him in the reed grass... I told him the leeches were only there to help keep you clean, blood and all...


Greg caught this little leech eater kind of looks like he's wearing CadPat Camo...

that looks like a great ride. Have fun.

Dennis had left the group for a day to go visit his grandfather in 100 Mile House so we put together a route that would have us end up there near the end of the day...

I didn't take many pictures this day as the riding reminded me of my home turf...

We left the campsite and headed for Likely, as we neared this town the climate felt a little more humid, almost like on the coast...

We crossed the bridge into town and came upon a picturesque setting near the general store.... We spent a bit of time looking around in the store and then buggered off towards Horsefly on a twisty gravel road...


We stopped for a break along the horsefly river, lots of bear and moose trails in this area...

Once we reached horsefly we let the GPS lead us to Canim Lake and it did a great job until the road we were on wasn't showing... Because the road kept going in the general direction that we were headed we ignored the GPS and eventually hooked up onto the Canim lake mainline logging roads...

This was the typical area road, a lot like the roads that we're used to on Vancouver Island...
We eventually made our way to 100 mile house where we had the good fortune to bump into Dennis as we were riding around town looking for the bike shops, saved us having to find him.. I found a KTM shop and picked up a replacement chain roller for the one I lost the day before...


Our last nights camp together on Green Lake, the next day Dennis, Greg and Paul would head for their homes and Carson and I would be left to continue with our trip...

Green lake was a nice spot and everyone took advantage of a leech free swimming spot...

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Thanks for posting you RR, ...excellant pictures. I am enjoying your route, sounds like you are having some fun. Have a great trip.

We were up early that day as the homeward bound guys had a long day ahead of them... We waved goodbye as we split company just out of camp with Carson and I heading towards Clearwater.. My plan was to drop in on the HUBB get together in Nakusp but we had a day to kill before that started, so we decided to play tourist for a day...


We headed for the Rockies and did an evening ride through..

we ended up with some very good light for pictures that made for a magical setting, also being evening the traffic levels were low...









We lucked out as the rain cells would always zip by ahead of us only leaving us wet roads as evidence of their passing...

















We couldn't make it all the way through that night because darkness was closing so we grabbed a camping spot at one of the lakes..

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We were up bright and early and hit the road before 8 AM { 7AM BC time}.. We rode through the last bit of the Parkway before turning off towards Rogers Pass...


It was a little cooler this morning as we had camped around 4000'

Carson was wearing everything he had in a battle to keep warm, I on the other hand have an extra layer of natural insulation so I was OK...

On the way I noticed my front knobbie had worn down to the carcass so it was time to look for a tire... We stopped in Golden and looked for one with no luck so we headed for Revelstoke... We got into town and rode to the infocenter to inquire about a bike shop in town... The ladies were very helpful and rang up a fellow who has a small shop on the edge of town and then handed me the phone... It turned out he had 2 tires to choose from so I got directions as his place was a little off the beaten path... We were outside the info center looking at a town map when Peter {RTW2} pulled up on his 650 Dakar... He asked what we were up to and I explained about finding the bike shop, to that he said "follow me" and we were off to the races... I arrived at the bike shop and they showed me the 2 tires, one was a Kenda 270 and the other was a very knobbie DOT tire, I paid for the Kenda... Peter asked if I was going to have them mount it to which I replied that I'll do it in camp... So then he said "follow me to my place, you can mount it there", so we were off to the races again... Peters garage was well setup so I had the tire changed in about 20 minutes but it took us 2 hours to get out of there because of all the interesting chat... He has already been around the world on an older R-80 GS and was soon headed to Siberia on his prepped 650 Dakar... We had a great visit, thanks Peter...

From Revelstoke we headed down to Nakusp and I signed up for 2 nights of camping at the Hubb get together, Carson took a hotel room to get a warm restfull night... There already seemed to be over 100 riders in the campsite so I setup in the overflow area in a grove of trees.. I ate a good dinner there and took in 4 of the evening presentations... I should of left after the 3rd as I developed a bad migrane which accompanied me to my tent and rattled my brain for 3 hrs... The next morning I still felt the effects from the headache so I was not too chipper... After breakfast we met up with a group that was doing a rideout and followed Gene who was riding a nice Ducati...


Gene did a great job taking that Ducati where they normally don't go...

We weaved our way up a choppy mountain road and then followed a quad trail to get us down over the other side,

We had a great group of riders and all were very skilled...

Thanks Gene for the tour...

After we got back to camp Carson was antsy to get moving and I didn't feel like sitting through any more presentations... It sounded like all the good stuff was happening the next afternoon, so even though I pre paid for another nights camping we decided to bugger off...

We decided to try to get as far as Oysoyos for the night so off we went...

We crossed over a couple of passes on the way and by the time we made Grand Forks Carson was getting pretty chilled so we decided to look for a campsite...

We pulled into one just before dark and setup... I was up at 3 am looking for my fleece liner, I checked the temp and it was 0 C, no wonder I was cold...

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Nice!!! Thanks for sharing&#8230;
Cool glacier shots.

Great RR & pictures, keep 'em coming.

Ah crap, I only just found this. Good reading and I still hope to make it in your direction some time over the summer (well, fall now I guess!) I've just been a offered a WR 250, the dirt one, for a great price so I might have to take the plunge and then thank it for a 'get-to-know-you' ride. I'm hoping it'll handle left hand turns better than the KLR!!

The WR sounds like a good choice and it can easily be set up as a light tourer...

Let me know when your coming up and we can plan some routes...

Hi All,

Paul here from this ride on the KTM 640 E. Wanted to add this ride was FANTASTIC!!!!! . Never been in the areas we rode so everything was new and exciting to see. I am amazed at the landscape in the interior, Superb views.

I will add seeing horses in my mirrors behind me was fun and scary all at once...I think they thought my bike was an orange or something!!!!!!. They were haulin ass on my tail!!!!..GOOD TIMES !!!

Paul.S

I was up early again packing up, at 7 AM it had warmed up to a balmy 1.2 C and by 8 AM when we were ready to leave it was 1.6 C.. We headed off towards Osoyoos and it stayed cool until we dropped down the switchbacks into the valley..

We had breakfast in Osoyoos and then headed up towards Penticton and turned left onto the Apex rd...

We followed the Apex road through to the Nickel Platte mine and then took the cool switchback road down to Hedley...


From Hedley it was a short jaunt on the HWY to Princeton where we jumped onto the Kettle Valley Railroad...

On the Princeton end around Coalmont there were a lot of quads and buggies running the track but after riding about 10 Kms North we had it all to ourselves..

Once again we had lots of fences to open and close behind us... And some long sections of whoops along the way, about 5+ km of these if you were to add them up... I don't know if the quads form the whoops or if it just a natural settling of the ground, but they were kind of fun...

And some picturesque scenes along the way

I had opened a gate and was waiting for Carson to catch up and upon glancing down the track I saw his headlight and thought "Good, he'll be here soon... After another 10 minutes I looked down again with my Zoom camera and saw a dark object moving around on the trail about half a km away... I decided to investigate so I headed back down the track and what looked close was actually 2 KM away...


I came up to this scene...

Carsons back tire picked up a 4" spike, probably from one of the many bridges we crossed..

And while he was having fun on the whoops the nail did it's damage, good thing we carry spare tubes for front and back...

We got her fixed and continued down the track to where we came up to a couple on a quad overlooking a slide area... Their machine was too wide to make it through but we successfully bullied our bikes through...

We came through to the Coca Cola HWY and the track passed under it so we continued on this time in a South South West direction... About 3 km later I saw a small fuzzy shape dart across the the road from the river into the trees, followed by a second larger shape which turned out to be a female Grizzly, no photo opportunity presented itself and for this I was quite relieved as she was pretty close ... Another half KM down we came up to another slide that had wiped the railbed clear into the river... We studied it and noticed about a 10" wide track that continued on cut in the side of the bank, it looked pretty sketchy as my bike was around 30" wide with the boxes in place... After a bit of discussion we decided to turn around and look for other options as even if we got over this washout there would probably be more... Once under way another bear darted accross from the river, this time a black, confirming that there must be some fish in the river...

On the way back I pulled off to talk to some people who were camping in the area about route options... The campers told me about my only option out was the HWY, I warned them about the grizzly down the track, the guy thanked me and mentioned that there were Sockeye in the river...

I turned to head out and looked around for Carson but he was gone... I drove up the track and asked some people who were camped there if they saw a red bike go past, which they had not... I then drove up to the HWY exit in case he was there, but he wasn't... I went back to where I last saw his headlight behind me as I turned off and he wasn't there... I drove back towards where the bear had crossed and he wasn't there... I drove back to the campers and asked again and they still hadn't seen him... So I decided to head back for the last spot we had actually stopped together and chatted and before I got there I met him heading my way... After all the time we burned up we decided to head to Merrit for a bite to eat and then West to find a camping spot...

We came across this real nice spot on the Lower Nicola River...

There was lots of people camped over on the other side of the river...

But thankfully they were very quiet...


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....very Quiet!!! LOL

Nice ride report guys, ...I never get tired of viewing our back yard, ...we do have some excellant back roads and trails.

Enjoy your trip!