Bicycling the 400 or so miles of the BC Gold Rush Trail

We did this ride with Tour BC (http://tourbc.net), which provides
support: carries the bags, has a mechanic and medic available, marks
the route, provides maps, and sets up food stops (three meals a day
and two water stops a day). The ride is relatively intimate - there
were about 70 or so other cyclists on the tour, so it isn't a massive
cattle drive like Cycle Oregon or Ride the Rockies. This was the
second time we've done a ride with them - I think the staff is nice
and the rides are generally well-organized.

The photos for the ride are he http://www.flickr.com/photos/8768666...7600544726329/

Anyway, on Saturday, after putting the house into order, we headed out
to Hope BC with our tandem on top of the car. It took us about three
hours, including the border crossing, to get there. We went through
registration and bike check. We had dinner at a Japanese-Korean
restaurant (one of three in Hope, representing half the dining
establishments) and went to bed.

The next morning we got up and after the introductory welcome from the
tour director, we took off from Hope. It was beautiful coming up the
Fraser River valley. The valley walls were steep, and the mountains
covered with doug fir forests. The day was pretty hot, getting
increasingly so as the day wore on. When we came up Jackass Mountain,
it was probably in the 90s. We were pretty conscious of our hydration.
By the time we got to Kumsheen, the terrain had changed to pine trees
and it was pretty dry.

The next day was a pretty easy day, short, and while up and down, the
emphasis was on down. There was more pretty scenes of the river as we
followed the Thompson River, east and north, to Spence’s Bridge.
There, we crossed over the river and headed north to Ashcroft. It was
also increasingly arid, as the pine trees thinned out and there was
more and more sage brush. By the time we got to Ashcroft, the air
smelled strongly of sage. It was a bumpy ride into Ashcroft itself,
and then we checked into the hotel. Since it was a short day, we had
time to walk around town a little bit, and visited the local
historical museum.

Then, we went to dinner at the Ashcroft Opera House. After we were
done with our buffet, we saw a show at the Opera House – old timey
fiddle music and step dancing. It was very well performed and actually
rather fun.

Then it was up early the next morning to do the longest day of the
tour. 90 miles and over 5700’ of elevation gain. We made it up to the
top of the first climb thinking that we hadn’t hit the hard part yet,
which is always good. At the top, the vegetation changed back to pine
trees.

Then we made a stop in the Clinton museum to see if they had any thing
about my great-uncle. He was the first Jewish physician in BC and had
a practice in the early 1900s in the town. But there was no record of
him. Then it was another huge climb out of Clinton, and then the
scenery changed to being like it is in the Rockies – lots of aspens
mixed into the pines. We went to Painted Chasm Provincial Park for our
lunch stop, which was spectacular.

We then had a long upsie-downsie ride on this high plateau, along
Green Lake, which was large and rather beautiful.

Coming away from the lake, on our final big climb of the day, I was
really beginning to tire. But the clouds were increasingly
threatening, and I didn’t want to ask my husband to stop. Finally,
about 20 km before the end, after we crossed a cattleguard, we sat
down for a rest. While taking a womanly pee in the undergrowth, it
started to rain. We hastily put on our jackets (previously, in the
morning’s hot sun, I wondered why we had bothered taking them), and
rode away while the wind howled and the rain hammered.

It didn’t take long, though, to clear, and a few miles later, we shed
the jackets and stowed them again. At this point, it was down down
down into 100 Mile House, our day’s destination.

I fell asleep that night at 8:00 pm, and slept until nearly 6:00 –
that’s how tired I was. After day before's 90 miles, the next day was
really a rest day – less than 60 miles and mostly downhill.

We flew down those hills and made it to the lunch stop at Lake La
Hache before 11:00. Since we had the time, and I didn’t have a swim
suit, I went skinny dipping in the lake. It was cool and refreshing.
Too bad for all of you – the battery on the camera died, so no
pictures to reference with this trip report!

Then it was back on the bike. We did a beautiful side road, filled
with wildflowers and ranch lands. The only downside of that kind of
territory is lots of cattle guards. I know some people just tear
through them, but we dismount and walk gingerly across.

Somewhere we also broke a rear spoke, and the front wheel went a
little out-of-true. I don’t know if it the trouble actually began the
day before – the roads near Green Lake were pretty rough at times, and
we easily could have jolted something catty-wumpus then. We took the
wheel in to the mechanic’s truck for fixing at the end of the day.

The next morning we picked up our repaired bike and were ready to go.
Our second longest day of the tour was that day - about 77 miles, from
Williams Lake to Quesnel (“Keh-NEL”, I found out – it’s French).

Williams Lake is an industrial center for the region, and we came up
out of town with sawdust and other air pollutants causing us to cough.
Then, the crap-filled shoulder gave us (and a couple of others), a
flat. We changed the flat, and rode through really mostly unremarkable
countryside for much of the day. It was another day, though, for the
tandem to shine – an enormously long downhill back down to the Fraser,
and lots of long lazy uphills that we can book at 16 mph without
breaking a sweat.

When we got close to town, there was another late afternoon downpour
that turned to part-hail. We decided to skip the scenic by-pass that
rounded Dragon Lake, and instead soldier on through to our hotel.
After showers, we decided to head directly to the hotel bar & grill,
for an early supper. We had some happy hour appetizers, a big plate
each, and then plowed through a couple of New York steaks with all the
fixin’s. I also had 10 oz of red wine, then split a pint (after he
drank one all for himself) with my husband. This left me feeling well-
fed and happy.

We woke up in the morning to pouring-down rain. After breakfast,
though, the rain had stopped, and we headed out. The day ended up
being some combination of misty, light rain, cloudy, and very
occasional sunshine. The day was also one of nearly continual climbing
– over 5000’ in 58 miles.

The elevation gain and our northern latitude (as far north as I have
ever been in North America) meant that we crossed into two new zones
of vegetation. At one point, the Indian Paintbrush appeared; then,
lupines. The air filled with the scent of alpine spruce, and towards
the end, alpine meadows and lakes. There were signs for caribou and
moose crossings, but we never saw any.

At the top of one of these monster climbs we were doing some rollers,
the sort that you love on the tandem – just enough downhill such that
you can swoop up, past the singles, when – bang! ssssssss

David was fuming over the flat. For once we were at the front of the
pack, and we would lose our position while we were changing it. I was
more philosophical. Oh well, a flat, no big deal. While we were
changing it, about a third of the riders went by, and it started to
rain again.

We got back on the road, barely went any distance, and we got another
flat. This time, I was more frustrated, David less so. Another third
of the riders went by as we changed it.

We fixed that flat, and rode to the water stop. After that, we got
another flat. At this point, I was boiling mad, but David had gone to
philosophical. We had so lost our place in the pack, he no longer
cared where we were compared to everyone else. Me, I don’t care about
where we are versus everyone else, I just get tired of sitting in the
gravel by the side of the road in occasional rain, getting bitten by
mosquitoes.

This time, we ascertained that an existing gash (perhaps cut the day
before?) had gone all the way through the tire at that point. It was
now wider and deeper than it had been at the first flat. I had
previously determined at the water stop that our mechanic’s truck did
not carry our size of tire. I was unenthusiastic about buying a mis-
matched tire just to ride 20 more miles to the end of the 400+ miles
of the dang ride.

So, we cut up a mojo bar wrapper left over from the water stop, and
made a boot for the tire. By this time, we had the day’s sweep sitting
with us while we did the final repairs. Fortunately, this boot held,
and we were able to ride successfully in to Barkerville without any
further flats.

In the evening of this final day, we attended a show, a Gold Rush
Revue, at the Royal Theatre in Barkerville. The introductory song was
about coming up the Cariboo Road to the gold fields. They sang about
all the towns we rode through in turn, such as Yale, Lytton, Ashcroft,
Clinton, Quesnel, and then our final destination of Barkerville.

Our journey was much easier than it might have been 150 years ago – it
was exactly 150 years ago that Billy Barker struck gold – it was still
a long ways to go. Like many of those who traveled the trail a long
time ago, we went under muscle power. It was a lot easier, with paved
roads, and someone else carrying our luggage, support vehicles giving
us water and food at regular intervals, and warm and secure places to
sleep at night. But it was still a long way, a lot of climbing up, and
I’m proud of our accomplishment.

Warm Regards,

Claire
http://www.bicyclemeditations.org

On Jul 20, 9:23*pm, Claire wrote:
We did this ride with Tour BC (http://tourbc.net), which provides
support: carries the bags, has a mechanic and medic available, marks
the route, provides maps, and sets up food stops (three meals a day
and two water stops a day). The ride is relatively intimate - there
were about 70 or so other cyclists on the tour, so it isn't a massive
cattle drive like Cycle Oregon or Ride the Rockies. This was the
second time we've done a ride with them - I think the staff is nice
and the rides are generally well-organized.

The photos for the ride are hehttp://www.flickr.com/photos/8768666...7600544726329/

Anyway, on Saturday, after putting the house into order, we headed out
to Hope BC with our tandem on top of the car. It took us about three
hours, including the border crossing, to get there. We went through
registration and bike check. We had dinner at a Japanese-Korean
restaurant (one of three in Hope, representing half the dining
establishments) and went to bed.

The next morning we got up and after the introductory welcome from the
tour director, we took off from Hope. It was beautiful coming up the
Fraser River valley. The valley walls were steep, and the mountains
covered with doug fir forests. The day was pretty hot, getting
increasingly so as the day wore on. When we came up Jackass Mountain,
it was probably in the 90s. We were pretty conscious of our hydration.
By the time we got to Kumsheen, the terrain had changed to pine trees
and it was pretty dry.

The next day was a pretty easy day, short, and while up and down, the
emphasis was on down. There was more pretty scenes of the river as we
followed the Thompson River, east and north, to Spence’s Bridge.
There, we crossed over the river and headed north to Ashcroft. *It was
also increasingly arid, as the pine trees thinned out and there was
more and more sage brush. By the time we got to Ashcroft, the air
smelled strongly of sage. It was a bumpy ride into Ashcroft itself,
and then we checked into the hotel. Since it was a short day, we had
time to walk around town a little bit, and visited the local
historical museum.

Then, we went to dinner at the Ashcroft Opera House. After we were
done with our buffet, we saw a show at the Opera House – old timey
fiddle music and step dancing. It was very well performed and actually
rather fun.

Then it was up early the next morning to do the longest day of the
tour. 90 miles and over 5700’ of elevation gain. We made it up to the
top of the first climb thinking that we hadn’t hit the hard part yet,
which is always good. At the top, the vegetation changed back to pine
trees.

Then we made a stop in the Clinton museum to see if they had any thing
about my great-uncle. He was the first Jewish physician in BC and had
a practice in the early 1900s in the town. But there was no record of
him. *Then it was another huge climb out of Clinton, and then the
scenery changed to being like it is in the Rockies – lots of aspens
mixed into the pines. We went to Painted Chasm Provincial Park for our
lunch stop, which was spectacular.

We then had a long upsie-downsie ride on this high plateau, along
Green Lake, which was large and rather beautiful.

Coming away from the lake, on our final big climb of the day, I was
really beginning to tire. But the clouds were increasingly
threatening, and I didn’t want to ask my husband to stop. Finally,
about 20 km before the end, after we crossed a cattleguard, we sat
down for a rest. While taking a womanly pee in the undergrowth, it
started to rain. We hastily put on our jackets (previously, in the
morning’s hot sun, I wondered why we had bothered taking them), and
rode away while the wind howled and the rain hammered.

It didn’t take long, though, to clear, and a few miles later, we shed
the jackets and stowed them again. At this point, it was down down
down into 100 Mile House, our day’s destination.

I fell asleep that night at 8:00 pm, and slept until nearly 6:00 –
that’s how tired I was. After day before's 90 miles, the next day was
really a rest day – less than 60 miles and mostly downhill.

We flew down those hills and made it to the lunch stop at Lake La
Hache before 11:00. Since we had the time, and I didn’t have a swim
suit, I went skinny dipping in the lake. It was cool and refreshing.
Too bad for all of you – the battery on the camera died, so no
pictures to reference with this trip report!

Then it was back on the bike. We did a beautiful side road, filled
with wildflowers and ranch lands. The only downside of that kind of
territory is lots of cattle guards. I know some people just tear
through them, but we dismount and walk gingerly across.

Somewhere we also broke a rear spoke, and the front wheel went a
little out-of-true. I don’t know if it the trouble actually began the
day before – the roads near Green Lake were pretty rough at times, and
we easily could have jolted something catty-wumpus then. We took the
wheel in to the mechanic’s truck for fixing at the end of the day.

The next morning we picked up our repaired bike and were ready to go.
Our second longest day of the tour was that day - about 77 miles, from
Williams Lake to Quesnel (“Keh-NEL”, I found out – it’s French).

Williams Lake is an industrial center for the region, and we came up
out of town with sawdust and other air pollutants causing us to cough.
Then, the crap-filled shoulder gave us (and a couple of others), a
flat. We changed the flat, and rode through really mostly unremarkable
countryside for much of the day. It was another day, though, for the
tandem to shine – an enormously long downhill back down to the Fraser,
and lots of long lazy uphills that we can book at 16 mph without
breaking a sweat.

When we got close to town, there was another late afternoon downpour
that turned to part-hail. We decided to skip the scenic by-pass that
rounded Dragon Lake, and instead soldier on through to our hotel.
After showers, we decided to head directly to the hotel bar & grill,
for an early supper. We had some happy hour appetizers, a big plate
each, and then plowed through a couple of New York steaks with all the
fixin’s. I also had 10 oz of red wine, then split a pint (after he
drank one all for himself) with my husband. This left me feeling well-
fed and happy.

We woke up in the morning to pouring-down rain. After breakfast,
though, the rain had stopped, and we headed out. The day ended up
being some combination of misty, light rain, cloudy, and very
occasional sunshine. The day was also one of nearly continual climbing
– over 5000’ in 58 miles.

The elevation gain and our northern latitude (as far north as I have
ever been in North America) meant that we crossed into two new zones
of vegetation. At one point, the Indian Paintbrush appeared; then,
lupines. The air filled with the scent of alpine spruce, and towards
the end, alpine meadows and lakes. There were signs for caribou and
moose crossings, but we never saw any.

At the top of one of these monster climbs we were doing some rollers,
the sort that you love on the tandem – just enough downhill such that
you can swoop up, past the singles, when – bang! ssssssss

David was fuming over the flat. For once we were at the front of the
pack, and we would lose our position while we were changing it. I was
more philosophical. Oh well, a flat, no big deal. While we were
changing it, about a third of the riders went by, and it started to
rain again.

We got back on the road, barely went any distance, and we got another
flat. This time, I was more frustrated, David less so. Another third
of the riders went by as we changed it.

We fixed that flat, and rode to the water stop. After that, we got
another flat. At this point, I was boiling mad, but David had gone to
philosophical. We had so lost our place in the pack, he no longer
cared where we were compared to everyone else. Me, I don’t care about
where we are versus everyone else, I just get tired of sitting in the
gravel by the side of the road in occasional rain, getting bitten by
mosquitoes.

This time, we ascertained that an existing gash (perhaps cut the day
before?) had gone all the way through the tire at that point. It was
now wider and deeper than it had been at the first flat. I had
previously determined at the water stop that our mechanic’s truck did
not carry our size of tire. I was unenthusiastic about buying a mis-
matched tire just to ride 20 more miles to the end of the 400+ miles
of the dang ride.

So, we cut up a mojo bar wrapper left over from the water stop, and
made a boot for the tire. By this time, we had the day’s sweep sitting
with us while we did the final repairs. Fortunately, this boot held,
and we were able to ride successfully in to Barkerville without any
further flats.

In the evening of this final day, we attended a show, a Gold Rush
Revue, at the Royal Theatre in Barkerville. The introductory song was
about coming up the Cariboo Road to the gold fields. They sang about
all the towns we rode through in turn, such as Yale, Lytton, Ashcroft,
Clinton, Quesnel, and then our final destination of Barkerville.

Our journey was much easier than it might have been 150 years ago – it
was exactly 150 years ago that Billy Barker struck gold – it was still
a long ways to go. Like many of those who traveled the trail a long
time ago, we went under muscle power. It was a lot easier, with paved
roads, and someone else carrying our luggage, support vehicles giving
us water and food at regular intervals, and warm and secure places to
sleep at night. But it was still a long way, a lot of climbing up, and
I’m proud of our accomplishment.

Warm Regards,

Clairehttp://www.bicyclemeditations.org

Great post Claire.


Peter H