One of the best things about a trip like this is being able to cut yourself off from the 24 hour news cycle -- it really reminds you how much time we waste listening to news and gossip everyday. Still, the news item of note for today was Sarah Palin's decision to resign as Governor of Alaska. What a yawner. It won't be long now before it's Sarah Who?
We're still enjoying great weather, so we had nothing but bright, blue skies when we hit BC99 heading out of Whistler towards Pemberton this morning. Our first stop of the morning was just past Pemberton when I pulled over for a quick stretch of the legs and a drink. It was our first reminder about the bugs the Canadian woods are famous for. About 30 seconds off the bike and both of us were covered in mosquitoes. It was the quickest I had seen Gi hop back on the bike this entire trip. Right after we passed the lake east of Pemberton, we started a long run of switchbacks up about 2000 feet of elevation. Lots of peg scraping going on, I can tell you.
Then we hit about 20 miles of road that was undergoing repair, and at this stage a lot of it wasn't anything but wetted gravel. Gi was not happy to say the least -- I'm afraid she doesn't like that puckered feeling she gets when the tires start sliding around on gravel. Fortunately, the reward on the far side of the pass was an opportunity to slip with another bike past a big motorhome, and then we had fast sailing on new asphalt to ourselves all the way down the other side. About the time we got off the new stuff, I pulled over so we could get a shot of the bike near one of those moraine-dammed natural lakes that pocket the higher elevation glacial valleys in these parts.
At this point we were following Cayoose Creek, headed past Seton Reservoir and into Lillooet. We wound through quite a spectacular canyon, and then at the dam we crossed over one more of the many wooden deck bridges we had encountered. Several back up the canyon were single-lane, although they currently appear to be replacing as many of those as possible with stimulus funding. Definitely glad the road was dry -- one of the riders we encountered on the ferry from Nanaimo had reminded me to be careful on these bridges because of how slick and dangerous they can be for bikers. He related the tragic story of a riding companion who was killed in a single-vehicle crash on such a rain-soaked bridge. He was the last rider and no one saw the accident, so they were actually left to infer that it was the slick wooden deck. Anyway, his point was well taken and I was glad for the reminder since it had been my childhood since I'd seen so many such bridges.
After Lillooet we drove through Marble Canyon, which not surprisingly is so named for a couple of towering mountainsides that appeared to be composed of nearly solid white marble. The second such hill was being extensively quarried, but the first appears to have been protected from demolition. However, aeons of erosion had contributed so much white marble sand to the bottom of a couple of lakes in that part of the canyon that when you looked through their crystal clear waters you saw a pale blue-green sandy bottom that looked for all the world like something you would see on a coral atoll. I'm sure the water was frigid, but it still looked extremely inviting, especially so because by this time the afternoon temps were over 80F.
This is dry part of the country, between mountains ranges and looks pretty much like large swaths of the landscape you find throughout Montana, Idaho and Wyoming. They've been suffering drought and increasing temps for a few years now, and there's huge outbreak of mountain pine beetle going on at the moment. Estimates are that the outbreak covers something like 30 million acres, and the pine mortality rates in the region are in excess of 75%. Gi took several pictures of hillsides full of dead pines for me, but I thought this one with the ponies would be the best share. Eventually, we reached an intersection with the Trans-Canada highway just north of Cache Creek. This put us back on four-lane for the rest of the ride into Kamloops, and we got in around 3 PM. This was a fairly short leg, but towns are far apart and accommodations are not always easy to find.
We're staying at our 4th Hampton Inn of this trip and all have been quite nice, definitely no complaints. We ate dinner at an Indian restaurant called "Gloria's". Service wasn't very fast, but the food was delicious. Afterwards, we took a stroll in a park downtown along the river. A lot of folks were out picnicking with family with an evening of bluegrass music at the amphitheater in the background, while tourists were enjoying a ride on a steam locomotive of the Kamloops Railway. This place has always been a crossroads for traders and travellers, now including us.
One of the best things about a trip like this is being able to cut yourself off from the 24 hour news cycle -- it really reminds you how much time we waste listening to news and gossip everyday. Still, the news item of note for today was Sarah Palin's decision to resign as Governor of Alaska. What a yawner. It won't be long now before it's Sarah Who?
We're still enjoying great weather, so we had nothing but bright, blue skies when we hit BC99 heading out of Whistler towards Pemberton this morning. Our first stop of the morning was just past Pemberton when I pulled over for a quick stretch of the legs and a drink. It was our first reminder about the bugs the Canadian woods are famous for. About 30 seconds off the bike and both of us were covered in mosquitoes. It was the quickest I had seen Gi hop back on the bike this entire trip. Right after we passed the lake east of Pemberton, we started a long run of switchbacks up about 2000 feet of elevation. Lots of peg scraping going on, I can tell you.
Then we hit about 20 miles of road that was undergoing repair, and at this stage a lot of it wasn't anything but wetted gravel. Gi was not happy to say the least -- I'm afraid she doesn't like that puckered feeling she gets when the tires start sliding around on gravel. Fortunately, the reward on the far side of the pass was an opportunity to slip with another bike past a big motorhome, and then we had fast sailing on new asphalt to ourselves all the way down the other side. About the time we got off the new stuff, I pulled over so we could get a shot of the bike near one of those moraine-dammed natural lakes that pocket the higher elevation glacial valleys in these parts.
At this point we were following Cayoose Creek, headed past Seton Reservoir and into Lillooet. We wound through quite a spectacular canyon, and then at the dam we crossed over one more of the many wooden deck bridges we had encountered. Several back up the canyon were single-lane, although they currently appear to be replacing as many of those as possible with stimulus funding. Definitely glad the road was dry -- one of the riders we encountered on the ferry from Nanaimo had reminded me to be careful on these bridges because of how slick and dangerous they can be for bikers. He related the tragic story of a riding companion who was killed in a single-vehicle crash on such a rain-soaked bridge. He was the last rider and no one saw the accident, so they were actually left to infer that it was the slick wooden deck. Anyway, his point was well taken and I was glad for the reminder since it had been my childhood since I'd seen so many such bridges.
After Lillooet we drove through Marble Canyon, which not surprisingly is so named for a couple of towering mountainsides that appeared to be composed of nearly solid white marble. The second such hill was being extensively quarried, but the first appears to have been protected from demolition. However, aeons of erosion had contributed so much white marble sand to the bottom of a couple of lakes in that part of the canyon that when you looked through their crystal clear waters you saw a pale blue-green sandy bottom that looked for all the world like something you would see on a coral atoll. I'm sure the water was frigid, but it still looked extremely inviting, especially so because by this time the afternoon temps were over 80F.
This is dry part of the country, between mountains ranges and looks pretty much like large swaths of the landscape you find throughout Montana, Idaho and Wyoming. They've been suffering drought and increasing temps for a few years now, and there's huge outbreak of mountain pine beetle going on at the moment. Estimates are that the outbreak covers something like 30 million acres, and the pine mortality rates in the region are in excess of 75%. Gi took several pictures of hillsides full of dead pines for me, but I thought this one with the ponies would be the best share. Eventually, we reached an intersection with the Trans-Canada highway just north of Cache Creek. This put us back on four-lane for the rest of the ride into Kamloops, and we got in around 3 PM. This was a fairly short leg, but towns are far apart and accommodations are not always easy to find. 
We're staying at our 4th Hampton Inn of this trip and all have been quite nice, definitely no complaints. We ate dinner at an Indian restaurant called "Gloria's". Service wasn't very fast, but the food was delicious. Afterwards, we took a stroll in a park downtown along the river. A lot of folks were out picnicking with family with an evening of bluegrass music at the amphitheater in the background, while tourists were enjoying a ride on a steam locomotive of the Kamloops Railway. This place has always been a crossroads for traders and travellers, now including us.
Jeff, that's GONDola not GONADola--get yoru mind out of the tree reproduction!!! BR
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