Kilometres: 446.7
Time: 7 hours, 45 minutes, including stops for gas and lunch
Weather:
Kamloops 20 C and hazy at 8:10, 21 C and smoky at 8:30 AM
Lillooet: 30 C with dense smoke at 11:30 AM
North Van: 24 C and partly cloudy at 4 PM
I was up nice and early and ready to roll. After a quick coffee and continental breakfast provided by Freddie and the hotel, I began packing. I looked around at the mountains and saw that they were a bit hazy. Freddie had told me the night before that he couldn’t see the small mountain (actually it was a hill compared to the other mountains) about 5 kilometres away. I thought he was exaggerating.
While I was packing, I noticed it was getting darker, and darker. I looked up at the sun and it was red … and I could actually look at it without getting spots in front of my eyes. In 20 minutes that hill (or mountain depending on your perspective) had disappeared in the smoke.
I left the hotel and went into Kamloops proper to get gas. It was so weird driving through the smoke. Everything was hazy and, I know this will sound gross, but I could taste the air. I decided not to stick around and filled quickly and was soon on the highway. The further west I went, the worse the air and smoke became.
To give you an idea of how poor the visibility was, I looked at the furthest light standard I could see and then counted them to where I was. I could see nine light standards. The tenths was lost in the smoke. Even so, I could keep tot he speed limit without outrunning my sight (also known as stopping distance), so I felt comfortable driving at speed.
At Cache Creek, I followed Highway 99 to Lillooet, knowing that I was getting closer to the 400-and-something fires burning in the province.
Highway 99 is a wonderful road to ride. It’s full of odd twists and turns. The real bonus is there are hardly any cars or trucks. Sometimes I rode for about 5 minutes without seeing another human in a metal box. It was great. I really got a chance to look at the vegetation as well. I couldn’t believe how brown Kamloops was, well, now I know why. I’m riding through a desert. Junipers and sage (I think they are) grow low to ground. Cedars seem to be few and far between. No wonder lightning has caused such fires. This land is brittle. But it is wonderful to look at. I could actually see the sides of mountains because there aren’t covered in cedar or pine forests. Today gave me a real appreciation for the diversity of the mountains and the climate.
I some point I entered at blasting zone (I think I was near Marble Canyon) and was stopped by the Indian (I was on a reservation) with the big red stop sign. I waited for about 30 second before he told me in would be about a 5 to 7 minute wait. We soon struck up a friendly conversation. I was outside the gates of a lime quarry. I could hear the grinding of the machines as I crushed up the lime and made piles of rock (and dust in the air) for the trucks to cart away. The stop-sign guy told me it was most used for copper mines and not for make concrete. We talked for a bit and then there was a bit BOOM. I’m sure it would have been really loud if I weren’t wearing earplug and a helmet. The stop-sign guy said it was extra loud because the last one was a misfire, so this was the misfire going off and the regular explosive. O waited for the all clear, which was a truck coming through from the opposite direction (checking for debris, I assume) and then rode through the blast zone. They were slowly taking down an entire mountain. Hmmm.
In the 5 to 7 minutes, 8 vehicles were in the queue behind me. Of course, I’m the sightseer who only goes 10 k over the limit, so they soon passed me and left me to my own speed.
About two and half hours from Kamloops is Lillooet, where I stopped for lunch. There wasn’t much of a choice, so I picked up and sandwich at the gas station. My new joke is that my I ate a smoked egg salad sandwich. I really glad I don’t have any respiratory problems or I would be coughing up a lung by now. I’d never seen the smoke this thick.
Riding out of Lillooet, I went over a one-lane wooden bridge and continued my journey. The road was a bit rough, but nothing to be concern about. I was only about 5 minutes out of Lillooet when the curtain of smoke just suddenly lifted. In about 30 seconds I went from smoke into sunlight. It was amazing. I flipped down my sunshield and then I began the most enjoyable and exhilarating ride I’ve had to this point in my riding life.
The ride was about an hour and a half of twisting, turning roads. At times the speeds limits dipped down to 20 because the turn was so shape. To make it even more interesting, the roads were under construction, so sometimes it went from old, rough pavement, to fresh blacktop and then into gravel … or any of the above combinations. Now add that I’m going up and down with steep grades. And don’t forget the lovely, yet shocking signs, “Barrier removed.” (Yes, Diane, I thought of you often.) The gravel shoulder was only about metre wide, and with no barrier it was a at times about a one kilometre drop to the bottom of the valley I’d just climbed.
The best one was when I was riding on an older, rough section of the road as I went up hill rather steeply. Ahead I saw the speed sign suggest 20 kph. I squeeze the brakes before the turn. I picked my turn point. I shifted my weight prior to the turn so a not to upset the bike’s suspension. Everything is perfect. I looked through the turn and began giving it more gas when the road disappeared into gravel right at the exact moment I needed the traction. Oh, it was wonderful. I’d do that turn a million times over!
The various combination of throttle, brake, up shift, down shift, clutch, and shifting my weight was such a wonderful learning experience. It was absolute bliss on two wheels. If I had the time, I’d go back and do Highway 99, especially between Lillooet and Penberton, at the drop of a hat. I HAVE to come back and ride that stretch of road again. It’s the most fun I’ve ever had on two wheels.
And then I got to Pemberton and life on two wheels returned to normal.
The See to Sky Highway was re-paved for the Vancouver Olympics. I had heard that the entire route was now two lanes in both directions. They are wrong. From Whistler (nope, I’m not stopping there) all the way into bout Lions Bay is one lane in both directions and then a few kilometres of passing lanes before going back to one lane.
I really didn’t enjoy that ride even thought it was on my “must ride” routes. I guess I was spoilt with hardly any cars between Lillooet and Pemberton. Now I was getting run over by cars and trucks alike. By the time I’d ridden through Whistler, I just wanted to get out of the rat race and check into the hotel.
I got to the hotel by about 3:30. I quickly unpacked, and had a quick shower. It was time to reconnect with my west coast family. I hadn’t seen my cousins in 18 years. I had a lot of catching up to do.
I’d made previous arrangements to go out for dinner with my cousin Sue, so I called her first and we sorted out our plans. It was fantastic catching up. I was almost like we just picked up the conversation from the last time I’d visited Vancouver. We went out for dinner and I don’t think we stopped talking the entire time.
After dinner, we went over for a quick visit with my cousin Ian, where the two of them made plan to keep be busy and entertained for my entire stay.
