GS's adventure / Saskatchewan Alaska and BC

We started to talk about this trip last winter. The original plan (the first one&#8230 was to ride from Saskatchewan to Bella Coola British Colombia (BC) and to take the ferry to Prince Rupert BC and ride back home, pretty simple! But a few months later, in early spring once we started looking at the ferry schedules we noticed that there was no direct ferry from Bella Coola to <?xml:namespace prefix = st1 ns = "urn:schemas-microsoft-comffice:smarttags" /><st1:City><st1lace>Prince Rupert</st1lace></st1:City>. First we needed to take the ferry from Bella Coola to Port Hardy on <st1lace>Vancouver Island</st1lace> to make it to <st1:City><st1lace><st1:City><st1lace>Prince Rupert</st1lace></st1:City></st1lace></st1:City>. The dates didn&#8217;t work out and we didn&#8217;t want to lose 2 days on ferries plus 1 extra day waiting for the ferries, vacations days are too valuable. So we decided to ride to <st1lace><st1:City><st1lace><st1:City>Hyder</st1:City></st1:City>, <st1:State><st1:State>AK</st1:State></st1lace></st1:State></st1lace>/<st1lace><st1:City><st1lace><st1:City>Stewart</st1:City></st1:City>, <st1:State><st1:State>BC</st1:State></st1lace></st1:State></st1lace> to take a look at the Salmon Glacier, than take the ferry from <st1:City><st1lace><st1:City><st1lace>Prince Rupert</st1lace></st1:City></st1lace></st1:City> to Port Hardy. Ride south toward <st1:City><st1lace><st1:City><st1lace>Sydney</st1lace></st1:City></st1lace></st1:City> to take the ferry to <st1:City><st1lace><st1:City><st1lace>Vancouver</st1lace></st1:City></st1lace></st1:City> and ride back home. We looked at the maps and we had a pretty good idea of the roads we wanted to take to make it to Hyder and <st1:City><st1lace><st1:City><st1lace>Prince Rupert</st1lace></st1:City></st1lace></st1:City> but from there we would look at the maps day by day. So we booked the ferry for the morning of July 18. The final plan was to leave on July 12, be at the ferry on July 18 and back home on July 22. A few days before leaving we decided to leave on the 11 just to make sure we made to the ferry in case we had any problems along the way, we didn&#8217;t. I also started a thread on what roads we should take in BC and we had the time so, some of those we did give them a try.<?xml:namespace prefix = o ns = "urn:schemas-microsoft-comfficeffice" /><o></o>
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http://www.advrider.com/forums/showthread.php?t=699545


I'm on the left and ride the R1200GS and my Riding Buddy Gossamerdrift (I will call him Goss) ride the F800GS

The night before departure. July 10 2011

My house is about 60km west of <!--?xml:namespace prefix = st1 ns = "urn:schemas-microsoft-comffice:smarttags" /--><?xml:namespace prefix = st1 /><st1:city><st1lace>Saskatoon</st1lace></st1:city> so the night before we left, Goss came over to my place and stay for the night. When he arrived I was in the garage checking out the bike. On his way he was playing with is new camera that he just bought for this trip.

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That night, we didn&#8217;t go to bed very late. I finished my packing, checked out the maps and Goss updated his TOPO maps on his IPAD. We had a few drinks and good food, what a great way to start your vacation.

Where are we going again?


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Next morning we were up by 6am and breakfast with bacon and eggs was the only way to go. My wife is a great cook.



A few pics before departure.





3 hours later we made it to Edmonton


First stop.


Just before Jasper National Park we stopped in this small town and bought some steaks. First rain of the trip, almost everyday we saw some rain.


A few km's into the park we saw our first bear.





We stopped at a BC Provincial Park just after Jasper. On day one we rode just over 800km.


The only way to start a fire according to Goss!











The meal was excellent not sure what I was looking for in this pic!


A few pics from around the camp.

Picking out the grit......
Next time I cook!

And make the COFFEE!



Congrat on your first post Goss, you are not a Lurker anymore!

Left the camping ground around 9am and stopped by this lake just beside the highway.


Than this rider shows up; he&#8217;s from the <?xml:namespace prefix = st1 ns = "urn:schemas-microsoft-comffice:smarttags" /><st1:country-region><st1lace>Czech Republic</st1lace></st1:country-region> and traveling thru <st1:country-region><st1lace>Canada</st1lace></st1:country-region> and the <st1:country-region><st1lace>USA</st1lace></st1:country-region> for 30 days. He carriers a minimum amount of gear on his bike on all his trips. Second trip over here, he likes it. He told us that his tent was stolen from his bike in Jasper.


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We lost cell phone coverage just outside the town of <?xml:namespace prefix = st1 ns = "urn:schemas-microsoft-comffice:smarttags" /><st1:City><st1lace>Jasper</st1lace></st1:City>. The plan that morning was to find a place for breakfast with cell access so Goss could update his blog so our families could see updates on are trip. Along the way we stopped at a few places and took a few more pics.<?xml:namespace prefix = o ns = "urn:schemas-microsoft-comfficeffice" /><o></o>
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In the small town of <st1:City><st1lace>McBride</st1lace></st1:City>, cell phone coverage was back, and they also have a gas station and a few places to have breakfast, great location to stop.






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Once we left McBride, the plan was to make it to Smithers.

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We saw this Caribou somewhere between McBride and Smithers, the only one we saw on the trip. We didn't know that they came that far south!


Prince George BC


Again..we stopped to get more supplies!


The last hour to Smithers it rained pretty hard, just part of the adventure!




We made it to Tyhee Campground located southeast of Smithers, just over 600km on day 2.

Lucky 13!











Texting, great way to stay in contact at all time!

Day 3... We woke up later than we normally do on that morning because we only had about 400 km to do. First thing, we drove to Smithers to get some lunch, too late for breakfast (MacDonald on that day). Checked maps, updated blog and contacted families before losing cell coverage. The only place where we did not have cell access on this trip was between Jasper and McBride but, we were pretty sure that within the next 100km or so we would lose coverage for the next 3 days.

















This Bridge is located in the small village of Kitwanga BC (Skeena River). This is where hwy 37/Cassiar start and is the last gas station before Stewart/Hyder. No more cell phone access at this point!


Great location for the beavers, but


NOT a great location for the Cassiar hwy according to the local beavers. Sad day for Canada, beaver roadkill are infrequent, RIP buddy

A bit later we saw another bear with 2 cubs. The cubs were black but she was gray/white:eek1. We found out a later that black bear can also be white but are very rare.

WIKI answers.com:
"A black bear is black emphasis on the Black in its name
Black bears can also be brown, cinnamon, blond, and white.
They can also be dark brown with a cinnamon nose."


She didn&#8217;t want to pose for us!


Nass River just after Cranberry Junction BC




37A Junction, Stewart/Hyder about 60km away.

Hyder here we come!




The Bear Glacier











More scenic views, the 37A to Stewart is a most see...<!--?xml:namespace prefix = o ns = "urn:schemas-microsoft-comfficeffice" /--><?xml:namespace prefix = o /><o></o>





Hyder


We didn't know if we wanted to camp in Stewart or Hyder. Lots of places to stay in Hyder (Hotels) and 1 RV park but we didn't found any suitable Camping site so we camped in Stewart for the next 2 days. The border crossing was not a problem, so we could easily cross in and out. We asked the Canadian Border Guard if there was any crime in Hyder and he said " Crime in Hyder, it is safe and crime is lower than in Stewart, from what I heard they take care of themself". Sound like the Wild West to me


1872 was the year that came to my mind when I started to ride in this town, minus the coke's sign of course! Black and white looks appropriate for this pic.


The camp site in Stewart


We set up camp.


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Enjoyed the fire in a very cool camp site, cooked some food and had a few drinks.. live is good!


2000km in 3 days Great just 3000 left

Nice RR so far! Have fun, I hope your weather stays nice!

Just made this small video from footages/pics we took on hwy 37A between Meziadin Junction and Stewart, about 60KM( junction Stewart/Cassiar hwy to Stewart ).

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After breakfast at the <!--?xml:namespace prefix = st1 ns = "urn:schemas-microsoft-comffice:smarttags" /--><?xml:namespace prefix = st1 /><st1lace><st1lacename>King </st1lacename><st1lacename>Edward </st1lacename><st1lacename>Hotel</st1lacename></st1lace> in Stewart (they have free WIFI) we crossed back into Hyder to have a look at the Salmon Glacier located about 30Km from Hyder. On are way to the Glacier, we stopped at the Fish Creek Observation Site which is located on the same road. From mid-July to early September, you can see bears and grizzly as they fish for Salmons. But this year, the salmons were late and according to the onsite staff, maybe another 2 more weeks.<!--?xml:namespace prefix = o ns = "urn:schemas-microsoft-comfficeffice" /--><?xml:namespace prefix = o /><o></o>











No bears, so I started to look for an old fire place that I saw in a road report that an ADV inmate had wrote ,... found it!

No bears but, we were still hoping to see the glacier even though the weather didn't looked very good!


















The higher we got, the less we could see.


But we did get some pretty good ADV shots!












Made it to the top, according to my Blackberry, I should have a pretty good view of the Glacier right now! I need to come back on a sunny day, that&#8217;s a good enough reason for me, maybe in a few more years.<!--?xml:namespace prefix = o ns = "urn:schemas-microsoft-comfficeffice" /--><?xml:namespace prefix = o /><o></o>
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At the top, they have restrooms, tables and trash cans, I did not know that! Next time, maybe I&#8217;ll camp on this site, that would be great.




GS's on the moon!
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<o>We couldn't take pics of the glacier so Goss decided that he should look for flowers! :huh</o>
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<o>We met this really nice couple on the way down and we had a good little chat. He stopped his car and asked me, &#8220;where is the glacier?&#8221; I said, "take a look at my GPS, it should be right there!" He use to ride a GS but can&#8217;t anymore. A few years back he placed a sign in Watson Lake at the Sign Post Village and, they were on their way to see if it was still there. They were also hoping to see the glacier on this trip.<o></o>
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<o>The fog started to lift on the way back and that's the only view of the glacier we saw.</o>
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<o>This is what the GS and I look like once we were back down to Fish Creek. Not easy to stay clean when there are so many dirt roads. </o>
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Back in Hyder, we stopped at the Glacier Inn to get something to eat.<?xml:namespace prefix = o ns = "urn:schemas-microsoft-comfficeffice" /><o></o>
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The most expensive wallpaper in the world. The owner keeps a tally and it total over $85000.<o></o>









We had the fish and chips, it was excellent and tried the local beers.






This is also where you can be hyderized. This is what you may look like when you get hyderized! so we didn't.

We had one more stop before leaving Hyder for Stewart, the dock to have a look at the fjord.<?xml:namespace prefix = o ns = "urn:schemas-microsoft-comfficeffice" /><o></o>

Back in the camping site in Stewart, once again we enjoyed the camp fire, a few beers. I had smoked salmon and Goss had a ribeye steak. Another great day


Who needs to cook when it's already smoked...

Hi Guys, John here (John, Kristine and Scott, we talked to you at the King Edward in Stewart). Looks like you had a good trip, look forward to seeing the rest of your ride report!