Yesterday was like skying in the Alpes and riding through an African forest. In the morning riding in the cold in between the ice and snow blocks with the glacier some 300m below the trail, and in the afternoon, riding in between two dense green walls, 200km uninterrupted warm forests. We saw 4 bears. Sofie is showing signs of bike fatigue. It' s a good thing that she can step of the bike in 3 days. And it' s a pity that we had no place on the Prince Rupert ferry. That would have saved her some 1000km on the bike, and would have been a 17h boat trip through the inside passage, with exceptional good weather. The inside passage brings you through the many islands on the west coast to the northern tip of Vancouver Island, with views of whales and ancient coastal forests. Today we will ride the 500km return to Quesnel, where we will stay with Danielle, friend of Zigy.
I have no time to reduce the size of my pictures in order to upload them, but here is a travel report of 2 girls who did the same trip, and it says it all.... www.seizethejourney.com/alaska/080507.asp
Back in Smithers, 300km south of Hyder. Went over the 10 000km mark for this trip. 5000 with Sofie. The actual heat wave in the South west of Canada made that we still had very nice and dry weather so far north. We started the day with a 50 km ride to the Salmon glacier (just google it to get some pictures). Impressive. At the way back we had a quick stop at Fish Creek to see another grizzly taking his salmon. The 60 km stretch of coastal mountains south of Hyder/Stewart is a giant freezer with all these glaciers making sure you need a second layer under your jacket. We left at midday, but after 200km we had to take of all the warm clothing. Tomorrow back to Quesnel. No time for uploading pictures
Picked up Sofie in Salt Lake City on the 4th. We cruised and camped nicely through Utah and Wyoming, but by leaving Yellowstone Park I was stopped by a female ranger for speeding. Or she was scared, or she wanted to show her authority, but after asking if I carried a firearm she made Sofie sit down next to the bike, and I had to stay sit on the bike. Ridiculous. She wrote a ticket of $145 and when she gave it to me she said, that since I did not formally apologized, she went through with the ticket. Ridiculous again. The first campground out of the park was closed for tents since there had been a bear attack on a sleeping man in his tent. The camphost explained that we could camp some 5 miles further, but that was no option for Sofie. We found the last room in a nearby lodge. Next day, bad day again : after some 20 km Sofie realized that we lost a bag with rainclothers + second tent. I went twice back on our tracks, and by riding against the upcoming trafic, I touched at 40km/h the guardrail with my left pannier.... we crashed..... we had nothing but the allu box was completely destroyed. No help from the quad dealer in Cooke City, neather from the Harley Davidson riders doing the Beartooth. But we managed to put the pannier back in place, without being able to close it. Any way we are fully recovered from the disaster. We bought a new tent and clothes in Billings and crossed in one day Montana up to Glacier Nat Park. The Beartooth is a spectacular pass going over the 4000m and bringing you in 30 min from 5Celsius to 30C. Glacier park is also very spectacular but we had to return because of the bad weather. I have to leave this message because I am using the computer of the friendly Korean owner of the Flamingo Motel in Cardstone.
