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Below are the 8 most recent journal entries recorded in
katakanadian's InsaneJournal:
| Thursday, July 3rd, 2008 | |
| 8:42 pm | July 2nd: Sechelt to Squamish I'm feeling a little old and tired. Even though I'm doing only 60-80K/ day I'm not seeing as much in the towns I stay as I would like because I don't have as much energy as I expected at the end of my day's ride. Blah. Having to meet ferry schedules doesn't help. No time to lounge on the beach  I took my intended side roads away from Hwy 101 which were quiet and often had a bike lane marked but I suspect the hills were steeper. As I suspected one connection to a coastal road that showed in Google maps didn't exist but the hill I was trying to avoid was pretty easy. Although I had no time to look around Gibson's I did get the obligatory Beachcomber shots.   The ferry ride from Langdale to Horseshoe Bay was really beautiful. I missed part of it while getting some well earned Belgian waffles. I took some pictures but you never get the same feeling as when you see the islands sliding past each other.  Next came the Sea-to-Sky Highway which sounded like it would be the most hazardous part of the trip. It really wasn't too bad. I only met a couple construction delays, there were no road ragers, and only one time did I get forced onto the gravel by an ultrawide construction vehicle. I took over the lane a couple times due to lack of room and stood aside to let cars past sometimes. There were a few bone-rattling sections adding up to maybe a kilometer. You can see more examples of road conditions by going to my Flickrstream.   I took a long break at Murrin Park south of Squamish and had a dip in the lake. Just after that I had a flat which turned out to be a large glass shard. Easy fix, right? I spent over an hour changing the inner tube three times and putting on two patches before something worked. *&^&*^%$%! On the bright side, it made me stop and look up at Shannon Falls. Murrin Park (Browning Lake)  Shannon Falls  I spent the night at the Squamish Innon the water which was really nice with cheap dorm rooms and an awesome view of "The Chief". I met some Japanese rockclimbers there and chatted a little bit. They were all staying a week or two just in Squamish for climbing. The photo I wish I got came around 9pm as I was sitting on the patio and a bear came running by a couple meters away along a path just belong me. No time to grab my camera because it didn't stop. I made sure I had my whistle ready for the ride up to Whistler. "The Chief"  Lastly, a little video from south of Squamish: |
| Wednesday, July 2nd, 2008 | |
| 9:14 pm | Canada Day: Egmont to Sechelt  There was an extra low tide in the morning so I went back out to Skookumchuck Narrows to see the whirlpools. They kept forming and drifting away rather than being a stationary feature. Worth the second trip out. The ride to Sechelt was pretty straightforward, just follow Hsy 101. Traffic wasn't too heavy and there was a decent shoulder most of the time. I took two detours to get away from the highway. The first was a little flatter but nothing interesting. The second may have had less elevation gain but it was steep in places. I was feeling pretty tired by the end of the day and had to walk a couple hills. O_O In Sechelt I passed a Canada Day event in a park on my way to the hostel but between making dinner and a couple other things I didn't get back there until the event was over. Oh well. I got to enjoy lots of Canadian natural beauty and that's good enough. The Upper Deck  |
| Monday, June 30th, 2008 | |
| 8:34 pm | June 30: Comox to Egmont Breakfast at the Levenvale B&B in Comox was excellent. Enjoyed chatting with a group of four cyclists who were doing a short trip from Parksville and back for the weekend. Caught the 10:10 ferry from Little River over to Powell River. The original schedule said it took 50 minutes but there was a sign on the ticket booth which said 80 minutes which turned out to be more accurate. I guess they are slowing down to conserve fuel. Yeah! I was surprised at how warm the breeze was even in the middle of the Strait. The view was nice but changed very slowly so I was a little disappointed by some enthusiasticcomments in route guides. Fortunately I had double checked the Saltery Bay/Earl's Cove schedule beause it seems to have been substantially changed from what I had picked up two weeks ago. Now I had to be in Saltery Bay before 2pm instead of 3:25 like before. Now there was no time to stop in Powel River and I could be in trouble if I had a flat. The ride went smoothly though including a very steep slope down to Saltery where I hit 61.7km/h despite applying my brakes (a bit). The ferry ride to Earl's Cove was really gorgeous. Today was my shortest ride (<50km) with just a short hop from the ferry to Egmont. After checking in I backtracked 1km to the Skookumchuck Trail. It was close to peak tide through the Narrows so started along the trail on bike figuring I would have to lock it up shortly and continue on foot. Fortunately I was able to ride almost the whole way and so I got there in time to see the Rapids at their best. Spectacular! Ferry to Sunshine Coast  Another totem  Saltery Bay  Amazing or what?  More rapids  As always, you can click on any of the pictures to see more info. For anyone who is interested, you can see my route for 6/30 to 7/2 here. Go here for a short article on stay-cations i.e. vacations relatively close to home. No flights, no long drives. I guess my trip is at the extreme end of stay-cations. :) |
| 8:06 pm | June 29:Qualicum to Comox I set off relatively early (9am) today to beat the heat. When I got to Buckley Bay I saw the Denman ferry and thought I might pop over since I had lots of time but it turned I had just missed it so I continued on. Today's route was super easy. Just follow Hwy 19A. The shoulder was a decent width and traffic wasn't much at all. My only stop in my ride was a brief lunch and photo stop in Union Bay. In Courtney I followed a sign for the Riverway went out into the Courtney River estuary which was nicer than going by the big box stores. I arrived around 2pm at my B&B so I took a nap and then went walking in a nearby conservation park and visited the Filberg heritage park. Union Bay historic post office  Comox Glacier  Blue Heron in the estuary  Driftwood sculpture in Filberg Park  |
| Saturday, June 28th, 2008 | |
| 10:00 pm | After breakfast I went over to the Buttertubs Marsh wish my parents have contributed to preserving. Blue skies and bird song were delightful. Loud traffic noise was the only spoiler.   Next, I headed over to Bowen Park to follow beside the Millstone River. Lots of beautiful waterfalls and little potholes.  After discovering my hand pump was not working properly yesterday I wanted to get a new one and went to a bike shop after checking out of the hostel. I found the bike shop and went to get out my wallet and it wasn't in my backpack. O_o I searched through everything in a bit of a panic. Nothing. >_< I went back to the hostel hoping it was there and discovered that I had forgotten that I hid it yesterday while making supper. It was still where I hid it. Relief! I suppose Nanaimo would have been the best place to lose my wallet because at least I could ride back to Victoria without needing to spend any money. The ride up to Qualicum had one flat tire and a lot of headwind so I ended up skipping my planned sidetrip to Coombs. I saw one sign that said it was 33 degrees. I sometimes rode on the left side of the road just to get some shade. The sideroads were pretty good. I didn't take many pictures because there was usually something blocking part of the view but just the blue sky and green trees alone always put me in a good mood. At my B&B it has waterfront but you have to go down a steep switchback a long way to get to a rocky beach and it was already in the shade so I didn't around there.I did stick my feet in the water to see if it was warm and was surprised a couple minutes later feel nibbles on my feet. I was surrounded by little crabs that were scraping off bits of skin to eat. O_O I went to grab my camera and very quickly the crabs came back. Up to 13 of them. Obviously I'm delicious. I have some video that I will put up later. That's all for now folks. |
| Friday, June 27th, 2008 | |
| 1:10 pm | June 27: Duncan to Nanaimo Regina's German student was heading home this morning. Only two suitcases for a whole year of stuff and memories. Urgh. I took a totem tour this morning. The bright sunshine was behind most of the poles which made it hard to take pictures. I wish I had taken a few yesterday when it was cloudy. Shou ga nai. (It can't be helped.) I was reminded again how little connection to First Nations we seem to have in Victoria. On to the pole pics:    ( More poles under the cut ) Today was one of those perfect days for riding.Amazingly blue skies, green scenery, and a mostly quiet route.  The bridge on Chemainus Rd is now finished  ... unlike last year. I had a flat just before Chemainus but fortunately near a repair shop so I could use their air hose:  I did just a quick loop through the murals since I had been there just last summer:  South of Ladysmith I ran into some road construction which gave me visions of more flat tires but I made it through:  I love the less hurried view you get from a bike:  My home for the night, Nanaimo:  |
| Thursday, June 26th, 2008 | |
| 8:35 pm | June 26: Victoria to Duncan I got off rather later than intended because I couldn't find my other pannier. Made very good time out to Brentwood Bay but just missed the ferry and had to wait over an hour. :( Thank goodness for my iPod. The rest of the ride into Duncan was uneventful except that I was once again exasperated by lack of street signs. I hate how you can go for kilometers on a road without once seeing a sign that tells you the name of the road you are on. Finally when I got to a four way stop there was sign saying my road's name but then no indication of the other road so I couldn't tell if this was where I wanted to turn or not. >_< (Click on any picture to go to a larger version) Brentwood Bay  Heading across Saanich Inlet  Mill Bay: A tomb with a view  Roadside sweaters  Today's recomended reading: CIBC report predicts gas will be close to $2/L by 2010 It wouldn't surprise me if we hit that price even sooner. I was gagging a little when I realized how much this trip would cost just for accomodation since I'm not splitting room costs. At least I'm not paying $100 for gas plus another $100 for taking a car on all the ferry rides. |
| 3:23 pm | Here be the trip log for my trip around the Georgia Strait. Interactive map outline can be found here. |