August 2020
I was a bit hesitant of going on the highway but it seemed to be fairly quiet and with a bit more air pressure the 4” tires roll quite well. It’s like having two different bikes in a way. I followed a tip from the campers at Miner Lake and went looking for some waterfalls, the turnoff at the garbage dump led through an old fire and toward a nice valley.
Eventhough I would be going along the highway there are many lake rec sites which would offer great camping.
Big Stick Lake was not one of them, to my surprise after a rugged road I found a whole bunch of RV’s and campers and music going already at 5pm.
But just few km down the road there was another lake with even better camping.
The highway was a funny mix of industrial and 4 legged fluffy traffic
It was a bit of a detour but I went toward Charlotte Lake, still somehow hoping that one of these marked roads and trails on the BC Backroad Mapbook would exist and I could go around the lake without returning to the highway.
I spent an extra day at the lake looking at the birds and pondering on my future plan. Two guys in an old rusty pickup stopped by and knew a lot about where I wanted to go and an alternative trail to the “Big Hill” (which I thought would not be as interesting on a fat bike). But some 10 years ago there was a big mud slide that has surely blocked access to whatever remained of that trail.
it was all good until 8pm when two separate groups drove in and the party began. So odd to be seeing this in the middle of nowhere. I packed up and went toward the boat launch which was few km away. In the morning a shirtless guy wandered to my tent still hungover and asked if I was hiding :)
I was going through Nimpo Lake and there was still a big route decision to be made. I was still hoping that I could return to Chile/Argentina in time for the south america summer but that did not seem likely. My initial plan of riding the Mackenzie Trail looked promising, Darren whom I met few weeks earlier had gotten in touch with some fishing lodges along the way and it looked that aside from a 8km stretch everything should have been recently cleared of deadfall. But I could also take the ferry from Bella Coola to Prince Rupert and maybe escape some of the mosquitoes.
The Dutchman was the second restaurant that I went to since leaving in June and after months of mac & cheese, ramen and oatmeal it was a real treat. A great time to catch up on internet and recharge all the electronics along with some very generous food portions.
I was able to skip a good part of the highway along the forest roads but as I approached the lake I was hoping to camp at the mosquitoes were unbearable even while riding.
I had booked a ferry ticket but still had 10 days. I could definitely take my time going down The Hill and even few rest days along the way. Plus, how could I ride the coast mountains without getting to the coast?
Its odd how things change, in 2014 riding down this road was so cool and dangerous but now it felt like the easiest downhill since the trans canada trail. It was still impressive and required at least one hand had to be on the brake lever and those mountains sure look bigger from the valley floor.
and while I still need to wait for the ferry, The Bella Coola valley is definitely a good place to be stuck but more on that later.