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.
