Into Canada

The start from Seattle on the Saturday morning was pretty good. An easy jump onto I5 and I was cruising through the northern suburbs of the city heading further north towards Canada. By lunch the weather had turned grey and damp again and that is how I crossed into the Canadian province of British Columbia. I only wanted to go as far as the turning off the main highway and by three o’clock I was in a nice little motel in a place called Hope.

It turned out that this was a long weekend in Canada, and the Canuks were out to play for the weekend with many of the campsites full along the way. Just after I left Hope (again in the pouring rain) I started to recognise some of the roads from when I was here two years ago. The road towards Harrison Hot Springs and shortly after I came across the cable car ride at a place called Hells Gate.


Self explanatory really


Then you take the car ride


Down to the bottom

I was only heading for Williams Lake that day when I ran across a couple of Americans on bikes so we rode together. I felt it would be nice to have some company for dinner that evening so I stayed with them all the way up to Prince George. It made it a long day but we had a good laugh and a chat about our travels over dinner. The next day I decided to have another day in Prince George while Steve and Colby headed out. They were on a tight schedule and were covering anything between 650 and 800km a day! Too much for this little black duck.


Colby and his Dad Steve

While we were talking Steve suggested that like my Aussie mate Errol Goodenough had done I might consider going up to Inuvik instead of Prudhoe Bay. He said there was more to see and there was less heavy traffic on that road as there was no oil refinery at the end. Errol had asked me if I was going to go there before I left Aus and I had changed my mind because Prudhoe Bay was the further North of the two (not by much) and I didn’t realize how close I would be to be able to go up the Dempster Highway instead of the Dalton. So the plan has now changed to going to Inuvik instead.

Smithers is a lovely little town as you head west from Prince George. In the winter it is supposed to have some of the best skiing in British Columbia. It was the closed town before I turned right onto the Cassier Highway to head north again. This is a long stretch of road with very little traffic on it and only a few fuel stops along the 850km up to the Alaskan Highway. So you have to plan your stops or carry spare fuel. Having given away the fuel can in Bogota because I wasn’t allowed to put it on the plane I stopped at every fuel station to top up.


Nice little town Smithers

As soon as I turned onto the Cassier the scenery was magnificent, and it wasn’t long before I saw my first Black Bear crossing the road up ahead. By the time it got level with where he was he was running for the trees. Never mind I thought it was a good sign for the day. I saw a total of eight bears that day and the rest of them could hardly care less that someone had stopped to take a photo or two. I was later tod that when they built this road back in the 1970’s they sprayed the verges with a mix of clover and other seeds that the bears like. So you are now more likely to see the bears by the side of the road grazing than you would be five km into the woods!


Just looking for food at the side of the road


Mmm food! If I run fast enough??

That night I blew the budget and stayed at the Bell 2 Lodge. It’s a little short of half way to Watsons Lake on the Alaskan Highway (not that there is that much choice of places to stay) and considering the amount of bears that I had seen I didn’t think camping was the best idea anyway!


Bell 2 Lodge. Nice but expensive

Within the first hour of setting off the next day there were another four bears by the side of the road. The run up to the Alaska Highway was good, virtually no traffic and wonderful scenery again. A lot of the lakes that I past up here were still partially frozen. It must have been a hell of a winter this year.




The lakes are still full of ice


But the riding is magnificent

After a 550km ride I got to Williams Lake around three in the afternoon. This place is a blip on the Alaskan Highway and after asking at four places in town (one of which was full) I realised that the days of cheap motels are over (at least until I get back into the USA. Two other bikers from the USA pulled in to stay that night Bob Stallard on a 950KTM and Bob McTavish on a BMW1200GS who sold me his fuel bladder that he reckoned that he wouldn't be needing (thanks Bob) and we all rode on together the next day.


Bob and Bob........


More fantastic scenery

Unfortunately they were heading a little further on that night and then going across the Top of the World Highway the next day. I decided to have a couple of nights in Whitehorse a nice town with a good frontier feel about it.


Main Street in Whitehorse


Some more of the buildings give the place a frontier feel


The biggest nugget of pure copper in the world


The Old Telegraph Office from around 1900

Tomorrow I head up to Dawson City and from there onto the Dempster Highway. Wish me luck!!