Day 56 (June 27) - Osoyoos to Midway, 45 miles

We got an early start to escape the heat of the desert. Unfortunately, the escape was not to be swift as Anarchist mountain loomed over us and blocked our passage to anywhere beyond the infernal oven. Our guidebook indicated approximately 12 miles of climbing, so we paced ourselves going up a series of long convoluted switchbacks. We took several breaks to admire the views down into the valley filled with lush green patches of vineyards (with wistful thoughts of wine we had not sampled). By 9am, the heat was beating down on us, we were drenched and there was no shade to be found for miles. This was a new kind of challenge, cycling in intense heat, when keeping your cadence is not only to get to the top, but also because you want to get to somewhere cooler!

We eventually got to the rest area where we had a celebratory pre-lunch. Some people there warned us of a rattlesnake nearby but nothing could dampen our spirits as we felt the summit was just around the corner. We could see a little uphill out of the rest area but the summit was just beyond I was sure of it (besides by odometer was practically at 12 miles)! We hopped back on the bikes, looking forward to nice downhill section… which never came. It was very gradual but somehow we were still climbing. Something was off and after a while I stopped fooling myself that the summit was just around the corner. I had to focus on more climbing, in the heat, and with a nasty headwind. Finally 7-8 miles later, in an anti-climatic finish, we got to the summit and had a true celebration.

The long awaited descent finally arrived and lead us right into Rock Creek. It wasn’t hard to convince ourselves to stop for some ice cream and shade at the local coffee shop. We were all feeling weary from the heat (or maybe the weight of 5 layers of sunscreen) but we reluctantly started pedaling again under the pounding sun. Our objective for the day was Boundary Creek Provincial Park with a stop required in the town of Midway for groceries. By the time we got to Midway, the temperature was well over 100 degrees and we decided to call it quits.

Going grocery shopping was an unusual treat as the store was wonderfully air-conditioned. We had never been so excited about a daily chore (especially the boys). Kismat even had the genius idea of sticking some juice in the frozen section to make it ice-cold by the time we finished our shopping.

We were packing up our purchases outside the store when we were approached by a local. There was the usual series of questions, when the lady suddenly offered to host us in her backyard. We looked over at the house she was pointing to, and in the front yard we saw a Canadian flag and a big Royal Canadian Mounted Police sign. Whoa! I was thinking, that’s either the safest place to be in town or they want to keep strange cyclists close by in case they’re trouble! After some deliberation, we headed over to the RCMP compound, which had a small office/administration building connected to a private residence. The lady, who’s name is Kim and is in charge of the Midway RCMP division, was a god-send. First she offered her backyard, pool and a phone call to the local campground to make sure we could use the facilities there. We were already amazed by her generosity but it kept getting better! She then upgraded us, and gave us the keys to the empty RCMP house next door to use the facilities at our leisure. The cherry on top was when she came out and gave us a bottle of local red wine with four wine glasses. Cheers!

Days 57 to 65 (June 28 - July 6)

Mileage Log:

Midway to Christina Lake, 48 miles
Christina Lake to Castlegar, 50 miles
Castlegar to Nelson, 28 miles
Nelson to Lockhart Beach Provincial Park, 38 miles
Lockhart Beach Provincial Park to Yahk, 61 miles
Yahk to Wasa Lake, 66 miles
Wasa Lake to Windermere, 58 miles

In Christina Lake, we ran into two cyclists who had been traveling together for 2 weeks. They had just decided to go their separate ways, realizing that their vision of a cycling tour was quite different. We felt sad for them, but it also made us grateful that we were still enjoying our trip as a group. As with any good team, communication is the key, and it needs to happen really often.

After riding in the hot sun for a few days, we were actually looking forward to our next big climb to gain elevation and some relief from the heat. Paulson Summit (5036ft) was our highest climb yet, and provided a break from the heat. It was short lived however, as we quickly descended into Castlegar.

It was at the campground in Castlegar that Bruno finally caught up to us after his stint in Osoyoos. He came along with a new recruit for the biketrippin crew - Andreas from Sweden. Andreas started his tour in Las Vegas, NV and did a zig zag across, up and down the western United States. His ultimate destination was Alaska.

From Castlegar, we rode to Nelson in our new 6-man formation. We had heard great things about Nelson, so we decided to spend Canada day there and see what it was all about. Despite the charm of Nelson, we spent many hours taking advantage of the wifi at the campground.

Nelson was great but it was time to move on. We continued our journey along the shores of Kootenay Lake. We enjoyed a short ferry ride across the lake and ended up at Lockhart Beach Provincial Park. We met another cyclist there who happened to be taking an afternoon break. We spent an idyllic afternoon lounging at the beach and bathing in the glacial water.

After the refreshing day at the lake, we had to face several hot days (without a lake to jump into). We changed our riding schedule, taking breaks midday to escape the heat. In Creston, we took a nap at a park, while in Cranbrook, we spent the afternoon at Safeway with a bunch of other touring cyclists (8 total!).

Just as we were getting used to the hot days, the weather pattern suddenly changed. We were now plagued with rain, rain, and some more rain. Our afternoon breaks turned into us taking shelter from the rain at every opportunity. We got really good at covering up our gear and dressing in our rain clothes. We also got to hear a whole lot of complaining from Bruno, who claims he never rode in the rain until he started riding with us.

Day 49 (June 20) - Vancouver to Lake Errock, 67 miles

After almost a week of vacation and very little cycling, we started our journey east across Canada. We made our way out of Vancouver through various suburbs. A couple of hours into the ride, Nick got his first flat tire when he ran over a giant screw.

The cityscape soon changed to rolling countryside and we could hardly believe we were just in a big metropolis a few hours before. We ended the day’s ride in Lake Errock, at “The! Campground”.

We were all settled in when we saw another cyclist pull up. His name was Karl and he had just completed a 30 day loop around BC. He took a look at our route and gave us some great information on the days to come. It’s interesting to see how other cyclists travel. Everyone has different systems and priorities. Karl, for example, chose to travel on back roads without maps, using only a compass. We asked him if he saw any bears along the way and he casually replied, “Yes, many. Too many to count. Yesterday I was on my bike daydreaming when I came across a bear 2 meters in front of me.” Then he showed us pictures to prove it!

Day 50 (June 21) - Lake Errock to Hope, 34 miles

We had anticipated lots of rain through Oregon and Washington, but it never came. Our rain gear finally came in handy today. It started raining cats and dogs about an hour into our ride, and we arrived in Hope completely soaked. It didn’t look like the weather would clear up anytime soon, so we decided to get a motel room.

We knew that our first big pass was right out of Hope and it scared us enough to go through all of our stuff to get rid of any excess weight. Some of the things that didn’t make the cut:

• solar panels and battery chargers (we’re not that far away from civilization after all)
• old cell phones that don’t work in Canada (stupid locked phones)
• Kismat’s running shoes (he’s not running any time soon)
• Mai-yan’s small nail clipper (maybe having a big one and a small one was a little much)
• Nick’s trike owner’s manual (he knows how to use it now)
• a set of travel sized speakers (we go to bed too early for parties with loud music)

There was lots more that we either threw away or sent home. The stuff must have been really unnecessary because we can’t even remember what it all was. In total, we sent home 10 pounds of gear and trashed another few!

Day 51 (June 22) - Hope

It rained through the night and we knew it wasn’t a good idea to try to climb a 4000+ foot pass in the rain, so we decided to stay put in Hope. We spent the morning lounging in the motel room and thought we would stay there another night. When we went to pay for the second night, they decided to raise the rate significantly. Despite Kismat’s best negotiating skills, we were not able to find a compromise. So, off to the campground we went. Luckily at this point, it stopped raining so it wasn’t too torturous to get out of bed. We spent the rest of the day taking care of chores and mentally preparing for the climb.

Day 52 (June 23) - Hope to Manning Provincial Park, 47 miles

We woke up to a bright blue sky and were really happy that we hadn’t attempted the climb the day before. It was time to finally face some serious climbing and it started right out of Hope. We got into our granny gears and started pedaling for the next five hours. There was a nice break in the middle, going through Sunshine Valley.

After that it started climbing again until we reached the top of Allison Pass. It was a moment of joy and relief all at once. We made a simple dinner and were off to bed.

Day 53 (June 24) - Manning Provincial Park to Princeton, 50 miles

We made our usual breakfast of hot cereal and peanut butter toast and set off for another day of riding. There wasn’t any drinking water at the campground, so we decided to stop at a lodge to fill up our water bottles. We were kind of procrastinating, knowing that we had another short, but steep climb coming up. It wasn’t hard to convince ourselves that we needed a second breakfast. We headed for the restaurant at the lodge and filled up on pancakes, eggs, and hash browns. By 10:30, we felt ready to start our day!

We made it over the climb without a problem (except another flat for Nick) and the rest of the ride was downhill. It was smooth until the rain started once again. We were soaked when we got to Princeton and were ready for another motel room when the sun peaked out. By the time we ate and went grocery shopping, we were dry and decided we didn’t need the motel after all. We camped next to the Similkameen River and basked in the late afternoon sun.

Day 54 (June 25) - Princeton to Keremeos, 45 miles

We had a fun ride into Keremeos, mostly downhill and with a tailwind. Despite a rain shower half way through the ride, we arrived to camp in 100° weather. We were surrounded by fruit orchards and stopped for some treats at some of the local fruit stands. They had delicious cherries, peaches, plums, apples and apricots.

Day 55 (June 26) - Keremeos to Osoyoos, 35 miles

The ride today was short but really hot. After climbing Richter Pass, we rode down into the town of Osoyoos. We found it to be a strange cross between the Palm Springs (desert resorts), Napa Valley (wine country) and Oxnard (fruit farms and a large seasonal population of fruit pickers).

We found a place to call home for the night, and then we went into town for a cold refreshing beverage. Not 1 hour into our stroll, who do we see milling around our bikes?? Bruno! He had already caught up to us after his 10 day stint in Seattle. We were more than surprised as were sure we had another couple days on him. We said hello and off he went to set up camp at “French Hill” with all the fruit pickers from Quebec. He assured us he would find us again in the next couple days.