Coal River to Fort Nelson and Fundraiser Update

Day 27, Wednesday July 6, 58.9km

Leg went bad again this morning. Same treatment, same result.
Another nice day, sun is shining again. Not long after leaving the lodge I can see some animals crossing the road. Getting closer I now see a herd of bison of about 40 to 50 animals.
Just when I get close, an SUV passes me and has to stop, some of the animals are blocking the road. The driver honks his horn a few times and reluctantly they move aside. 

The SUV is through, now it is my turn. The bison are not impressed at all by cars, however, Dick and Bob is a different matter altogether!

One of the animals decides that we are a threat and the whole herd starts stampeding down the highway in front of us. We are doing 20km/hr and the herd is pulling away from us. Some of the animals are on the highway but most are on the greenbelt on the left side. Now they slow down, but once we catch up it starts all over again. We are now heading for a down hill, this may be the chance to pass them. But I don't dare to, if one of them crosses the road while we are passing we are going to be toast. There is a big bull at the tail end of the herd who stops and watches us and luckily starts running again away from us when we are getting close to him. How long will this go on? We may be chasing those darn things all the way to Prince George, that is going to be a funny sight! After 20 minutes of this it is time for my stretches and we stop and get off the bike. The herd is still running, leaving a cloud of dust behind. I don't know where they pulled off the highway, we did not see them again.

A bit further down we see our first grizzly. He crosses the road just in front of us. It is a small one but it is a grizzly! He starts digging at the side of the road and we take a few pictures while biking past him.

Not much later we see another black bear. He is scared off by a tractor trailer but comes back to the side of the road after the truck has passed. He cannot hear me approach. We have our camera ready. Now he spots me and takes a run for it. Sorry, no picture.
Another black bear crosses the road ahead of us. Unfortunately there is an RV approaching from the other direction and it scares him away. I see him at the edge of the woods while passing.
It is only 10:30am and we have seen so much already. We have some great views of the Liard river.

Shortly before noon we reach the Liard River Hotsprings provincial park and after making camp head for  the pool. There is a small artificial waterfall and it is the greatest feeling to have that hot water massage my aching back and shoulders.

I have supper at the lodge across the road and we ordered a bison burger! There is a lot of excitement at the lodge. They are expecting a plane and it is going to land on the AH. The RCMP is there to close the highway. A little later the plane taxies to the lodge and parks. It is only a tiny little 2-seater.

Day 28, Thurday July 7, 69.9km

Before leaving the tent I flex and massage my leg to warm it up. Once on my hind legs, it went again as soon as I put weight on it. Now I notice that if I keep the leg straight (not bend the knee) the pain goes away. After hopping around like this for a while the leg is back to normal. Maybe this is the way to get started in the morning!
It is mostly cloudy when we leave the campground.
Several people I met along the way mentioned seeing this fellow walking the AH pulling a cart behind him.
And there he is on the left shoulder of the road, leaning with his back against the cart having his breakfast. We cross the road to talk to him. His daughter drove him to Whitehorse and now he is walking to Vancouver. He is clearly a peace activist and very friendly. His answer is "please do" after I ask permission to take his picture. As you can see, there are still a few hippies around!

                                    

The AH now leaves the Liard river valley and we enter a narrow valley direction Muncho Lake. The road is narrow and we lost the paved shoulder. We are now clearly entering the northern Rockies. This whole area we have been travelling is very remote and because of it there are no power lines and utility poles mucking up the landscape.

We are heading for a summit of 885m and reach it at 10:45. Once again great scenery. Later we have Muncho Lake in view. Too bad it is raining and we can see a lot more rain hanging over the lake. Our target for today is past the end of the lake at GG Services. That is good since the lake seems to attract the rain. Once we reach GG Services and although there is an official road sign that reads "Camping", I am informed that there is no camping at GG Services. We have to backtrack 2km to the Strawberry Flats provincial park at the edge of the lake. It has stopped raining now and the sun is poking through once in a while. We may be able to get the tent up before the next rain hits. And yes, more rain when the tent is up and we move inside and now it is blowing like crazy as well! Luckily the tent is well protected by trees. Later all is calm again but damp and cold. I am afraid that we left the nice weather in the Yukon.

Day 29, Friday July 8, 54.1km

Some rain overnight and we have to delay getting up by 15min because of another shower. We tried the straight leg routine this morning and it worked! One more picture of Muncho Lake before it gets out of view.

We are heading for a summit of  1140m, we are now at 820m. There is some low hanging cloud around
giving the landscape something mysterious.

After the summit we drop down to 800m and make a sharp turn to the east at a spot where 3 valleys come together. I really like this part of the AH. We are in a narrow valley with high mountains on both sides and a jade green river down in the valley.

Later we run into rain again, we have to build a shelter to be able to eat lunch. BC = rain.

The last hour we bike in the rain and it is still raining when the reach Toad River Lodge. We have a lovely grassy camp site at the edge of a small lake. There is a big beaver lodge and several times during the night I hear mister beaver slapping his tail on the water.

Day 30, Saturday July 9, 77.2km

A few sprinkles overnight. The sky does not look promising, we may as well dress for rain. Heading for the highest summit of this trip at 1305m. There are a lot of deer around. We just saw 4 deer crossing the road, one of them a little fawn and now we are looking at a group of 5 elk. They are high on a slope and they are watching me. By the time I get to my camera they are gone. A bit further down the AH we see another elk on the highway. He is watching me. He moves off the highway when a car passes from the other direction but moves back after the car is gone. We are going to surprise this one and get a really good picture. Before we get close there is another car and now he is off in the bush.

The very moment we sit down for lunch it starts raining and we have to build another shelter.
Once we reach 1090m there is a big drop down before we get to the real summit. It has been raining for a while now but it is a soft rain and not unpleasant. We have a nice view of the valley and we shoot a picture while it is raining.

Here is a little videoclip of Dick and Bob doing a 11 standing on the way to Summit Lake.

The last part of the AH on the way to the summit has been carved out of the side of the mountain, there are steep cliffs on the left and a big dropoff on the right. Let's hope there is no rockslide and better keep those handlebars straight! Good thing it is no longer raining.

We reach the summit at 1:50pm at 1304m.  We are at the highest point of the AH.

In an earlier post I claimed to have reached the highest point of the AH but that was the highest point of the AH in the Yukon. 

After the summit there is payback. A long downhill on the way to Tetsa River Lodge, our destination for today. Before we get there we see another moose, but he is chased away by traffic before we get close enough to snap a picture.

Tetsa River Lodge has a bakery and it is famous for its cinnamon buns. I order one unseen and can't believe my eyes once it arrives. It is the size of a frisbee and 3 inches thick and dripping with brown syrup. It tastes good but I can't eat it all. 

Day 31, Sunday July 10, 86km

Shortly after leaving Tetsa River Lodge we see another moose. This time we can get close enough to take a picture.

We are on our way to another summit, Steamboat Mountain at 1076m. We are now at 820m.

The AH has a paved shoulder again. We had to do without one since we turned direction Muncho lake.

We reach the summit around 11am and have lunch. On the way down there are fantastic views of the valley below and of the AH going up to the summit.

Now we have the longest downhill of this trip, in no time we are at 380m and it is a lot warmer here.
Distance from Tetsa River Lodge to Fort Nelson is 120km, too much for one day.
There are no services on the way, forcing us to camp another night in the wild. One possible spot is at Kledo Creek but once we get there the creek is muddy rusty water and we reject it. We have less than one bottle of water left. Shortly after leaving Kledo creek I hear water running and find a little stream with reasonably good water. I use my fold-up bucket and filter to fill up all 3 bottles plus my thermos.
Now a thunderstorm is approaching. Will we ignore it and just keep on going? The wind starts to pick up and the skies are ink black. Can't ignore this any longer, we stop to change to rain gear. Shortly after we are in a downpour lasting for about 20 minutes. After 86km we reach the junction of the AH and highway 77 and we are done for. We find a spot for our tent near the junction. No shade but that should not be a problem, it is cloudy. There is no water around but we will be able to manage since all bottles are full.
For supper I eat cold ravioli straight from the can and a can of salmon. Now I can finally lay down and rest my tired body. At this moment the sun pokes through the clouds and in no time the tent is steaming hot. Looking outside it is totally clear in the direction the sun is heading, we are going to be in the sun for a long time yet. Resourceful me makes a sun screen from the hammock fly and now we can go to sleep. The air horn and bear spray are within reach.

Day 32, Monday July 11, 27km

Not looking forward to getting out of the tent. There are a gazillion mosquitoes under the fly, this is one of the worst spots as far as bugs is concerned so far this trip. Dressed in biking pants, gaiters to protect my ankles, jacket with hood and gloved we emerge. Now they can't get me. We have enough water to make coffee with our granola. I don't know why, but mosquitoes are attracted by the coffee in my mug. I continuously have to fish out drowned bugs. We are almost out of camp fuel for our little stove.

Looks like a decent day out there, no rain in sight. We are looking at a totally different landscape. It is flat and a few low hills in the far distance.

Only 35km to Fort Nelson and there we can take it easy. Although we are behind schedule, we are still planning a rest day tomorrow.
At 9am we reach the "Welcome to Fort Nelson" sign and shortly after we register at the triple "G" Hide-A-Way campground for 2 nights. Campground is not very attractive for tents but it will have to do.
Nice day to hang everything out to get rid of the dampness after all that rain.
Mid morning another thunderstorm is approaching but it just misses the campground.

The tourist info centre is across the highway from the campground and they have 3 computers with internet connection plus wifi. All that free of charge. Great setup to update the blog from my notebook.

We find a small can of camp fuel at the local hardware store. I have supper at the campground restaurant and after that get the laundry out of the way. This was a day without rain!

Day 33, Tuesday July 12

This is a rest day but mother nature still calls early. Doing my straight leg routine my leg still goes bad on the way to the restroom. Now it hurts in the lower calf again and lasts for quite a while. My darling daughter Leanne has been looking into this for her dad and she thinks it could be Iliotibial Band Syndrome (ITBS for short). If that's what it is, only rest will cure it. Her advise is go day by day and know when to say when. And that is how we have to manage this. The Grayhound bus line is my safety net.

Last night I was chatting with a motorcyclist who was tenting next to me. He was interested in my trip and when I told him that this was a FUNDRAISER FOR AUTISM as well, he wanted to make a donation.

I gave him the link to my blog. I met several other people wanting to make a donation.

Fund raising is going well. Last count we raised over $800 and counting.

For detailed info on how to make a donation, look at the Friday, June 10 entry.

I am back in the office now to finish the update to the blog. Later today we have to stock up for the coming days and relax the rest of the day!