From One Bear to Another

As we headed north on the Nisga'a Highway with Justin and Melissa we were looking forward to, and at the same time apprehensive of, the 32 miles of unpaved road that lay ahead. Being unpaved meant there would be less traffic that had the benefit of us being able to ride next to each other and talk, but had the disadvantage of being frequently frequented by bears. Having not seen bears Sophie and I were still nervous about these, seemingly, terrifying beasts. After a few climbs we hit the hard, packed gravel road and worked our way towards the Stewart-Cassiar Highway. With the appearance of some bear scat we were preparing for the inevitable sighting but all that appeared was the stop sign signalling the pavement and our left turn north. Before getting onto the road we ate our lunch and all did the customary dance to ward off the bugs.

Carrying on north Justin and I took the lead while Sophie and Melissa brought up the rear. It was fantastic to talk to somebody else while riding, some different stories and experiences. Please, don't get me wrong I love talking to Sophie but we had been on the road almost 4 months and adding conversational topics made the time fly as we completed the long ride to Meziadin Junction Provincial Park. At this point Team Baby Bunny (as we were now calling ourselves) were about to split with Sophie and I heading west towards Stewart while Justin and Melissa were going to just head north and blitz it to Watson Lake. However, after the couple of days of great riding we decided to keep Team Baby Bunnies together and all four of us were going to spend our 4 month-anniversary celebrating at our western most point of the whole trip.

Waking up on the 27th June, exactly 4 months after flying into San Fransisco, was great. We headed to the boat launch and jumped into the cold water to refresh our bodies and bring our minds into focus. The day ahead promised a down hill to the ocean, glaciers within touching distance and root beer floats with our new friends. There wasn't as much downhill as we had hoped (or had been promised) but we hoped that would mean an easier return the following day. As we climbed one of the unmentioned summits in the distance we spotted our first bears; a mother with her two cubs.  She looked at us and ushered her young ones into the bush, only to reappear moments later since Justin and I hadn't moved a muscle.  Justin went down to let the girls know about our furry friends while I tried to catch them on camera.  Unfortunately the battery was pretty low and I only managed to get a couple of seconds, from a very long way away.  When the trio arrived so to did an RV which caused the mother to stand up and investigate the situation before heading once again into the bush.  It was so brilliantly fantastic to finally see these wonderful creatures and what a treat to get to see a mother and her cubs.  We carried on further down the road to be wow-ed once again by a bear, but this one in ancient ice form; Bear Glacier. The glaciers were astounding. These massive frozen relics, snaking down valleys of their own creation were jaw droppingly beautiful, but tinged with sadness knowing that every year they recede up away back into the mountains. The other issue we faced was the head wind, but this is where the benefit of four riders came in. With the final promise of root beer floats just a few miles away, Justin and I alternated eating the wind as our four person peloton headed towards Stewart and the US border.

Stewart had once been a sizable town of 10,000 people. However, it's glory days are somewhat behind it and those hoping for a fast food establishment were quickly disappointed. There are two good grocery shops, however, and after some fevered snacking we were all well watered and fed and ready to organise a place to camp. The store owner of one, a Swizz guy that had lived in the town since the 70s and had seen quite a few changes in the town and wasn't afraid to let us know them, offered us some grass next to the shop but wanting showers we decided to head to the municipal park. When were arrived at the campground we were welcomed with the question "Can I help you?" with the subtext of "Roll your bikes off the property before I cut somebody" but looking past this we headed into to have an uncomfortable conversion and zero compromise. After rolling the bikes off the property the shouts of "You'll find nothing cheaper in town" fell on deaf ears and we pitched for free next to the grocery shop. After a wonderful steak sandwich made possible by Melissa and Sophie, and the awesome root beer floats sourced by Justin we really felt like we celebrated in style and prepared for the climb out of Stewart and back north towards the Yukon.

The climb was easier than first feared and actually, because we were not hindered by the brutal winds of the previous day actually managed to do the "climb" in just over 15 minutes longer than we completed the "descent".  Again we passed the glaciers and again we spotted a bear, this time a lone grazer in the grass that again left once it had noticed our presence.  After the climb we stopped for a break at the services at the top of the hill when 3 fellow cycle tourists turned up.  All 3 three from the British Isles and all heading south, one was heading to San Francisco while the other two were aiming for Argentina.  We exchanged camping and bear stories and found out that there was a lovely German lady at the Kinaskan Lake Provincial Park that would let cycle tourists stay for free.  Well feed and buoyed up with the knowledge of free camping in a couple of days our troupe headed northward.  After another 37 miles of riding we ate our camp food by a river and headed on looking for a suitable place to camp.  Justin was the only person that was completely comfortable about wild camping with bears around but there was no official campground around and all the trees were too small to hang our massive weight of food to keep it from wandering bears; what would we do? 

Coyote Ugly and Beautiful Baby Bunnies

After saying goodbye to Bryan and Theresa we stopped briefly in New Hazelton (another tasty bakery) and I managed to resist the urge to buy a 1.56kg bag of peanut M&Ms (just). We then briefly detoured to check out the suspension bridge at the K'san junction and continued on to Seeley Lake Provincial Park.

There was almost no one in the campsite when we arrived, but another couple were checking the place out and we arranged to share a pitch with them to save costs. Chris and Gil were from New Mexico and were road tripping up to Alaska. They had an amazing netted gazebo they put up over the table so we enjoyed a lovely evening outside without being sucked dry by the skeeters. They were great to chat to and very kindly gave us a taste of the trout they had just caught.

We got an early start the next day and enjoyed riding down a section of road that was no longer viable for cars which Bryan and Theresa had tipped us off about. It was great, the forest looked like it was reclaiming the road and we spotted a lot of bear scat, but still no bears. We joined the main highway again and had our first run in with Canadian wildlife. We spotted a coyote up ahead on the left side of the road, it stopped, turned and then despite us dinging our bells to try to scare it off crossed the road towards us. Tom shouted at it a bit, then yelled at me to 'GO! GO!' at which point we both pedaled hard and it started to give chase. Eeeek! Scary stuff. It was looking pretty scrawny and we guessed it must just gave been really hungry and thought we might be an easy meal. Despite following us for a while, we got away and then some cars passed us which we hoped would further scare it off. After this little burst of energy we kept our pace up and before long pulled into the gas station at the junction at the same time as Chris and Gil. We had a coffee, another chat and got to try our first fried bannock.

Although as the sign states you can turn North here for Alaska and the Yukon, and overall we're heading north, our usual convoluted route took us straight on, west, towards Terrace on the road to Prince Rupert. We'd arranged a Warm Showers host in Terrace but arriving into town much earlier than expected we made for the grocery stores to get stocked up. While here we met a German couple, Barbara and Matthias, who were heading the same way as us and we agreed to meet up the next day on the road or at the campground we were both headed for in the Nisga'a Lava Beds Memorial Park. 

Arriving at Cheryl and Sandy's house we were welcomed with the exciting news that there were another couple of cyclists due to arrive that evening too, an American couple heading north to Alaska. We also got to shower and, rather wonderfully, got a soak in the hot tub. Cheryl cooked us a gorgeous, hearty dinner of mashed potatoes and moose stew, with salad out her garden and then pudding! We shared this wonderful feast with Cheryl, Sandy and the two American cyclists, Justin and Melissa. After dinner Melissa and I joined in with the drumming circle that Cheryl was hosting. Honestly I was pretty rubbish and found it quite stressful to begin with, but I got more into it and it was fun to be part of something quite different. Cheryl cooked us a scrummy breakfast the next day and the four of us rode out together. Justin and Melissa had decided to alter their route a little and ride with us up the Nisga'a highway and we were stoked to have company to mix things up a bit. Tom and Justin rode ahead with Melissa and me bringing up the rear. I think it was nice for everyone to be able to ride at their pace, but still have company. And it was cool to have new people to talk to. It heaved it down with rain for the start and then the sun came out and we ran into Barbara and Matthias drying themselves by the side of the road.

We all stopped at Rosswood for coffee and lunch. It was funny to be in such a big group. For the majority of our trip we've seen barely any other cyclists and when we have they've rarely been going the same way, it was actually really nice to have a little gang of us. We stopped a number of times along the way to look at sights along the 'Auto Tour' and then rolled into the campsite. 

Tom and I had planned a rest day the next day to explore the Provincial Park, but as Justin and Melissa needed to keep going as they're on a much tighter time scale than us and as we'd all so enjoyed riding together the four of us packed up and headed off together in the morning. We thought we'd bump into Barbara and Matthias down the road, but sadly that didn't happen. As alluded to in my last post we've been a bit down in the dumps recently. We've found the weather challenging, the scenery a bit boring (though I really hate to admit it) and we'd not had as many lovely people encounters as we'd had during our time in the States. We needed something to change it up and riding with Melissa and Justin was the perfect antidote to our pedaling blues.

Positive Attitude = Positive Experiences

Ok so I'm going to spare you some whining by pretty much glossing over the days of riding between Prince George and Houston. It was 3 days of riding, it rained every day, we camped in Vanderhoof and at a rec site off the highway, our tent was wet (though when we're inside it we were kept dry) and all our riding gear was soggy. We didn't enjoy these days, the rain makes things hard and the scenery was either shrouded or pretty dull. We were particularly downhearted in Vanderhoof, but strangely I woke up at the rec site and despite the rain, difficulties and dampness I felt like it was going to be a good day and felt positive for the first time in 2 days. And I was right. So I'm going to tell you about all the good stuff that happened between Prince George and Houston as its way more interesting than me moaning about bad weather.

The first cool thing was before we even got to Vanderhoof. We met our first round the world cyclists! Patricia and Christian are French and have ridden across Russia, through Japan and down from Alaska. Wow! Awesome! And they're headed through North America then South through Central and South America like us. So we chatted for a bit and exchanged contact details, hopefully we can meet up along the way.

Next while riding on the highway a truck had pulled over coming towards us and the driver got out to talk to us. My initial thought was that he was going to warn us about bears along the way, but he crossed the road and said "I don't suppose you're Tom? And you're Sophie?" Turns out he's, Mike, a friend of Randy's (Marilyn & Zolt's son) who'd been told to keep a look out for us. So that was cool.

The third good thing was that the rec site we camped at was 2km off the highway up a rough gravel road and while I struggled to ride up much of it, the next morning I rode all the way down to the highway. This was a positive achievement for me and I was pretty proud of myself.

We'd decided that on leaving the rec site we would stop at Burns Lake, the first town we'd come to, for coffee and a general warm up/dry off. When we arrived at Burns Lake we were told about the National Aboriginal Day celebrations going on in town and invited to come along. There's free food. So positive thing number 4 is we roll down to the park where the event is on, the rain has stopped and we spend an hour and a half or so wandering about, talking to lots of folks, watching some awesome drumming and singing, and eating delicious free food. The atmosphere was really friendly and inclusive and we were made to feel really welcome. We ate traditional salmon and moose, both were seriously yummy, then a moose burger in traditional bannock bread, also very tasty and were given free water and a tshirt. A very worthwhile stop and overall great experience.

I got a puncture, the eleventh of the trip we think, near the top of Six Mile Summit, not so positive, but we then managed to cover 32km in about an hour and a half, which was quick and felt good! We arrive into Houston, the rain is picking up and when we ring our hosts to let them know how we're getting on they offer us a lift up Hungry Hill to their house which we accept. Which was smart as the rain then really started and I think it would have been really dodgy to ride up as we could barely see out the truck windscreen with the wipers full whack so aside from the risk of drowning we'd have been pretty much invisible to the traffic which is not a safe situation at all. Dee and Doug's place was beautiful, we got clean, warm and dry, did laundry to dry our gear, put up our tent in their car port to dry out and got fed a scrumptious dinner. It was perfect and just what we needed. We then slept in the world's comfiest bed. In the morning Dee came down and said it was still raining but was meant to clear up so if we wanted to have a lazy start we could take advantage of the bed for a couple more hours, I was asleep again before you could say "bliss".

The ride to Smithers was uneventful aside from our stop at the bakery in Telkwa. If you pass this place you have to stop. We got a ham and cheese croissant, a bear claw Danish and a cranberry and custard bun. All of them were beautiful but the cranberry and custard bun was mind-blowingly good. They make everything from scratch on site. It's just incredible. See it's all just getting better and better.

We got to Smithers and they had a little fete going on along Main Street with stalls and music and people doing mountain bike tricks off a dirt ramp. We had our loaded bikes with us and spoke to a lot of people. We were trying to figure out where to stay as the campsite turned out to be pretty pricey but lucky for us Bryan and Theresa came over to talk to us and offered us to stay at their place. Fantastic! We thought we'd be camping up there but they had a spare room, with a bed. We wandered around their home slack-jawed - they'd built it themselves, it was super eco friendly, really practically designed to make it as comfy and livable as possible, had a load of land, producing garden and a stunning view of Hudson Bay Mountain. It was like mine and Tom's dream home in many, many ways.

Over a beautiful dinner we talked loads about touring, travelling, the house and a bunch of other stuff and then helped relocate a bevy of chickens from Theresa's brother's place over the road. We'd already asked if we could stay an extra night for a rest day so after scrummy pancakes for breakfast we spent the next day pootling into town where we chatted to a couple of lovely RVers for maybe an hour who'd toured up through the States from Arizona, a similar route to us, and had been up to the Arctic Circle. Tom was feeling pretty tired when we got back and while I cooked dinner he slept. Long story short, Tom woke up the next day feeling crappy so we spent a third night there. While Tom slept Theresa took me on a hike up to Crater Lake, which was wonderful. I felt bad Tom missed out, but it was great to get out on a long walk and see something we'd not see on the bikes.

We were lucky enough that Theresa and Bryan rode out with us the next day to Moricetown. The scenery was lovely and it was great riding with company. We stopped for lunch by the Moricetown Canyon then said our goodbyes and headed on towards Seeley Lake Provincial Park our destination for the night. 

So to sum up, once we started feeling more positive things got better and one good thing after another happened to us (again). Our 'luck' seemingly improved (again), but really what I think happened was we stopped putting moany, negative energy out into the world and started to see all the wonderful stuff around us (again) and it's like a snowball of positivity. Same goes the other way too; if we'd kept being on a downer I think we'd have missed out on all this good stuff and got even more depressed and so forth. The other lesson is, and we've commented on it before, we think the world will always help you with what you need, but not what you want - we wanted a dry place to stay in Vanderhoof, but we didn't need it so we slept in the tent in the rain and though I really didn't want to go up the dirt road to the rec site, I think I did need the confidence boost of riding back down it. However when Tom got sick and we needed a place for him to rest all day, voila! Awesome people to the rescue. So in the immortal words of the Rolling Stones "you can't always get what you want, but if you try sometimes, you just might find, you get what you need".

Following the Fraser River North

With Sophie feeling better after her little tumble we headed north to Quesnel. Ever since leaving Vancouver we had aimed to get on some backcountry roads or any roads that weren't the main highway. Highways are ok for cycle touring but the traffic and narrow shoulders mean that Sophie and I can't talk so we are just sat on our bikes watching the world go by. So after doing a quick resupply at Williams Lake we aimed for the old highway that travels parallel with the main road but on the west bank of the Fraser River. Being Sunday morning and a back road the road was pretty empty and we chatted and talked about anything and everything as the road wound up and down the rolling hills. Soon the pavement turned to hard packed gravel and we switchbacked our way down to the red bridge to cross the swollen river to start section up the west side.

While Sophie had rested the previous afternoon I had arranged to stay with Chris and Heather from Warm Showers. They lived just north of Quesnel which added about 10 miles to our day, which was already fairly long because of the impromptu stop at Williams Lake. But we've done further and tougher days so it was more about just getting it done. While at the red bridge having a snack and shooting some B roll, a car pulled up and asked about our day and destination. After the well rehearsed explanation they informed us that we were very ambitious to try and get to Quesnel, and even more so to try and get to Watson Lake. They offered some information on the road ahead, it's a nice yet tough ride but you'll get a 20km downhill into Quesnel. They qualified the statement with the tit bit that they lived around there and knew so we were looking forward to the end of the day with it's final downhill section.

We were both so glad we picked this road, it was quiet, scenic and we would while away the hours talking. Cycle touring is so much easier when you can talk to somebody, for me anyway. We found a beautiful spot for lunch and carried on with the climbs and descents as we made our way north. By this time the road had turned back to pavement and we were making good progress, but yeah it was an undulating route for sure and if you added in the stops for filming and photographs we were making slower progress than normal but that 20km of downhill would up the pace once we were on it.

I'm still bewildered at us for ever listening to people about the terrain. It has been months now of incorrect information but for some reason we still listen; not all the time I have to add. Sometimes we smile and nod and then later joke that it's actually going to be 30 miles uphill with a head wind. But this time we listened, but where this massive downhill was I'll never know, but get to Quesnel we did. As instructed we phoned the Warm Showers host to get directions. Already tired and damp from rain showers the old news that it was 10 miles out of town still lowered spirits and that the hosts had already eaten damaged them further, add to this the fact they mentioned the climb to get to them and we felt pretty low but, the silver lining was that we weren't in a tent, they had a gazebo already and waiting. We headed to the supermarket to buy a giant sandwich and canned soup to eat when we arrived and headed out of town.

The hill was long and steep but thankfully it was split into two sections. The first was before Sophie's puncture, where we had a break to wrestle with bike, tyre and inner tube quickly followed by the second section of climbing. None of the words used during the replacing the inner tube can be repeated here. With all said and done we arrived with Chris and Heather. We ate, we chatted and we slept.  The sleeping part was in a wooden framed gazebo with netting to keep the bugs out. We made a brilliantly comfy nest using a foam mattress, our sleeping bags and a couple of blankets. We had a great morning and evening with our hosts and talked about their tours in Mexico. Their calm, warm presence chilled us out after the long day and we were ready to head out to Prince George with spirits renewed.  Especially as they gave us a lift up the long dirt hill from their house to the road and showed us a short cut back to the highway so we weren't retracing our steps back into Quesnel.

The journey up to Prince George was the standard highway journey. Very little talking just head down and grind. At some point in the last 10 miles my tire started to go down but it was slow so we just raced to Nicole's house, our Warm Showers host for two nights. We were introduced to our bed, the first proper bed we had slept on since Port Townsend in Washington USA. We had futons, blow ups and mattresses on the floor but there is something special about a bed. After showering and getting acquainted, Nicole went out mountain biking and we headed to the local pub for burgers and beer.

The rest day, which are poorly named because they are busy and full of work, consisted of washing, packing, fixing punctures, route planning, shopping and getting interviewed by the Moose Jaw Times Herald Newspaper. After the long day not in the saddle we spent the evening with Nicole and shared stories of our trips and journeys before heading to bed and getting rested for the next leg.

Keep The Rubber Side Down!

Waking in our tent in Clinton we discussed the best method to get packed up and gone without offering ourselves up as the breakfast buffet for the hoards of skeets on and around our tent. We got dressed in our cycling garb, put our pyjama bottoms back on over the top so our legs were covered and tucked them into our socks. We put our raincoats and head nets on, tucked the nets in, put up our hoods and put on our biking gloves. Having packed everything inside the tent we exited our safe zone in our protective gear, said goodbye to Shelley and David and packed the tent and loaded the bikes as fast as we could. We left without breakfast, stopping briefly at the road to take our pjs, coats and head nets off.

We had probably only got a couple of miles down the road when we had a little incident. As usual Tom was riding in front and as is often the case I was close behind him so we can have a conversation. Occasionally I get too close and my front right pannier rubs against Tom's rear left one. We often make a joke about "rubbing's racing" a quote from the classic Tom Cruise film Days of Thunder. It freaked me out the first time it happened, but it's harmless and so I've stopped being too worried about it. Unfortunately it was obviously just trying to lull me into a false sense of security as on this occasion it caused my bike to veer wildly towards the road, I think I then overcompensated to stop myself going into traffic and while trying to unclip my foot toppled the bike over to the right. The bike came to a stop & flung me from it down the short embankment into the ditch. This whole sorry episode lasted only a few seconds in which I managed to bleat out "oh f@&k" about five times and poor Tom thought I'd been clipped by a passing car. My helmet-clad head got flung about a fair bit and I remember thinking that's the second time in less than a week I've whacked my bonce! As soon as I came to a halt in the grass I stopped swearing and exclaimed "I'm ok, I'm ok" so as not to worry Tom any longer than necessary. He was quickly at my side, slowly helping me up and we started to check over my bike. It looked fine, hurray! But my back right Ortlieb had taken the brunt of it and I'd managed to snap one of the clips that attaches it to the rack clean off. After a little faffing around with the spare bungees we'd been given way back in Wilson, WY, we were back on the move. I was a little shaken, with a bit of road rash on my right leg, but otherwise mostly just annoyed at myself.

We stopped at 70 Mile House for coffee and shared some French toast. Chatting with the owner/cook/waitress we mentioned how much we liked B.C. and she promptly asked if we wanted to buy the business. Slightly taken aback we took her card and left with food for thought. We chatted as we rode about what it might be like to own a restaurant and motel in the area and if we thought we could make it work. I don't remember all that much about the ride from there to 100 Mile House except getting an escort through a long stretch of road works which we really appreciated and cycling past our first Canadian summit sign for Begbie Summit. We had lunch at the Visitor Centre at 100 Mile, making use of their wifi and toilets, before continuing on to Lac Le Hache Provincial Park. We rode just shy of 70 miles that day, but having arrived in the park we rode around some more to scope out a good site that was hopefully not mosquito infested. 

We decided on a spot when we noticed another loaded touring bike on the site behind and went to say hello. Lucy turned out to be a Canadian Environmental Engineering student using her summer holiday to ride around some of the more remote bits of B.C. and invited us to share her campsite and split the fee. We spent the next few hours trading stories, advice and experiences before the mozzies became unbearable to Tom and I and whilst Lucy braved a walk to the lake we retreated to the tent. After chatting with some other fellow campers in the morning we all rode off together and said our goodbyes at the highway. Lucy was headed to Williams Lake along the highway that day and we were going to check out the lake before taking the back road past Williams Lake to a spot on the map called Marguerite. Having looked at the lake we headed off in search of our dirt road and easily found our turn off. The pavement abruptly stopped and turned to a steeply rising dirt and gravel track. It was hard going and rough and caused me quite a lot of pain. Though I thought I'd got away unscathed from my little tumble I had woken up with stiff, aching neck and shoulders and a headache; basically I think I'd given myself minor whiplash. Nervous after coming off I did not have the mental toughness to cope with this terrain and yet although I was feeling pretty pathetic I didn't want to admit defeat. Thankfully Tom realised this was not a good route for us today and said we should head back to the highway.

The ride to Williams Lake was only about 30 miles, but we stopped a number of times as my neck, shoulders and head were causing me considerable discomfort and we decided to call it a day and camp there rather than pushing on. We bumped into Lucy again outside the grocery store and headed to the campground together. Once we put the tent up I crashed out while Tom headed off to the bike shop to try to fix the Ortlieb. Red Shred's were very amenable, taking the handle/clip off one of the bags in the store which they would order a replacement for and so for 15 Canadian bucks we had a fully functioning bag again. Stopping after so few miles meant we would have two long days ahead of us to get to our Warm Showers' host's place in Prince George on Monday, but I definitely needed the rest and the following morning was feeling much better and far more able to cope with what the day may have in store.

Cool Lakes, Hot Days and Down Right Frustrating Meals

When we arrived at the campground at Seton Lake we did our warm down and were met by the camp host Tony. Tony explained a few things about the site and informed us that we didn't need to hang food because bears weren't a problem in this area. He also went on to say that we could, if we were feeling brave, have a swim in the glacier fed lake. After the long, hot day of climbing we decided to take Tony up on the challenge and so we headed off to the lake. This dip would serve multiple purposes: 1) it would cool us down, 2) it would clean our dirty sweaty bodies and 3) it would serve as an impromptu washing machine to wash our salt encrusted cycling gear. As with all ventures into cold water there was a few screams and yelps followed by chuckles of laughter from folks sat on the waterfront. However once over the initial shock of the water passing the critical point, our bodies accepted their fate and we were floating in the emerald water and scrubbing the day's grime away from us and clothes to get them as close to clean as is possible in lake water with floating leaf debris.

Upon returning to the tent we still intended to head to Clinton the following day but also needed more information on which route to take.  Both Sophie and I need to get better at riding along gravel backroads and while we were in Vancouver we were pointed out several alternate routes by Paul and Jan, the first of which would be on the way to Clinton.  However we needed more information on the road from the tourist information centre in Lillooet.  After eating and getting into our sleeping bag I fell very deeply asleep, leaving Sophie to make the decision on what time to set the alarm in the morning.  When I didn't stir after questioning she made the executive decision to have a rest day.  Upon hearing this decision in the morning I was delighted.

In the morning we headed into Lillooet and talked to the lovely people in the tourist information centre.  They advised us that there was a large climb out of the next town over if we wanted to take the back road.  Also, even though that it was extremely hot at the moment, they had had a lot of rain recently and the dirt roads are mainly clay so it would make it tough work on a bike.  Thirdly, when we did make it to the top there is no shade along the rolling grass fields and it was planned to be another hot day.  With this is mind we decided against this road; we didn't want to be dropped into the deep end while tackling back roads.  It would have only damaged morale and affected confidence for future back road adventures.  From here we headed next door for second breakfast and some coffees and spent the afternoon sorting out internet based stuff.

With the decision regarding route made we set the alarm early with the aim of having a midday break to stay out of the sun.  Even though you know the alarm is set for 5 and it is very light outside, it still doesn't make it easy to get out of bed.  A sluggish pack up meant we were out and on the road for 6:15am and heading towards our first stop of the day at Marble Canyon Provincial Park.  There are three lakes at Marble Canyon (Pavilion, Crown and Turquoise), and even though their banks are only metres apart the colour of the water in the three is entirely different.  It is difficult to describe but a wonder to behold.  Here we met two German couples touring Canada together with their kids.  They offered us some freshly caught trout that we had to decline because we had no way to keep it cool in the beating sun and after a longer than expected break headed on towards Clinton.

After joining the busy highway heading north the scenery became familiar and repetitive, and we just wanted to get out of the sun and off the bikes.  Along the 97 a sign informed us that the campsite we were aiming for was closed but this was followed by an advert for camping and RV park with all you can eat BBQ buffet. AWESOME!!! We ground out the final few miles looking forward to our reward of infinite meat.  Upon arriving we were welcomed by a cloud of biting mosquitoes and during the dance to get off the bikes, find the bug spray and crush as many flying sets of teeth before being drank dry a voice asked if we wanted to take shelter in their RV.  We, literally, jumped at the offer and rushed inside to take cover from the insects of prey.

The first 5 minutes of entering the sanctuary was taken up by room clearing of any viscous intruders. The rest of the time we had a fantastic chat with David and Shelley about their adventures in Canada and things that we should visit as we head north towards Watson Lake.  David was a Brit and had come over when he was 20 and he and Shelley owned an organic farm in the Okanagan and offered us a place to stay if we were ever in the area.  After quite a while chatting and laughing our tummies started to rumble and we headed over to the RoadKill Grill to eat our body weight in beautiful, barbecued meats.

Here are some important lessons in expectation, advertising and underhand salesman tactics.  First it wasn't an all you can eat BBQ Buffet, it was an all you can eat buffet that was free if you ordered some meat from the barbie.  This seemed a bit misleading but we were hungry and couldn't eat from the camp stove because of all the mosquitoes.  Next, nothing had any prices on it and the way the guy offered drinks and desert made us think it was all included in the price.  "Drinks are in the back just help yourself", "make sure you leave space for your desert" with the added "are you ready for your desert now? I'll just bring it out".  At no point did it feel like the price of the drinks and desert would be a similar price as for the food.  That's right, after getting the bill we were both shocked and appalled that it was almost twice the price we were expecting to pay.  Too British, flabbergasted and tired to argue we paid the con man his money and left most put out.  Trying to put a positive spin on it, we took it as a tax to have met the brilliant and fantastic David and Shelley.