Prince Rupert

Hi,

The Cassier Stewart highway turned out to be better than I expected.  It had some spectacular scenery combined with a nice riding experience, including decent roads, good grades, and fairly light traffic.

I'd planned to spend some time in Dease Lake resting, but the there wasn't much there to keep me interested so I set out in the afternoon heading South.  I stayed in a combination of provincial parks, recreation sites, and a few stealth camps along the road.

There is not much in between Dease Lake and the next town with a general store in Kitwanga.  I met a few cyclists along the way so always had a pretty good idea what was available to me for the next day or two.

Since the riding was so good, I continued to put in some reasonably big days.  It gave me the opportunity to have an extra day to ride into Stewart, passing a number of glaciers and spectacular peaks along the way, although it rained a lot and some of the peaks were shrouded.  My plan was to hitch a ride back (62km), but after 90 minutes of trying and only 10 cars passing I decided to just ride back.  It turned out to be an amazing evening with clearing skies and great views, so probably worth the 120km on my rest day!

I continue to see a fair number of black bears.  I've had a couple that refused to get off the road and in one case a guy in a jeep ended up herding it off the road so I could pass by safely.

I have definitely answered the question "Do bears poo on the road?"  I counted 16 bear poos on one 5 km stretch heading to Stewart.  If I extrapolate that out to the 780 km I did on the Cassier highway, that around 2500 bear poos I passed, and I didn't run over any of them!  Most are just filled with berries, a few are fur of some sort, and about 1 in 50 is full of lycra.

I have a theory that bears are just the opposite of us.  When we need to go, we wander into the woods to get away from other people.  When bears have to go, they wander onto the road to get away from other bears.  Or maybe I'm just spending too much time by myself!

I've run into a fair bit of rain over the last few days, and gear and clothes are starting to get a bit wet.  I've booked a room in a hostel here in Prince Rupert for a couple nights to get everything clean and dry before I get on the Ferry on the 16th.

I set out about 7 p.m.  last night to do part of the 160 km to Prince Rupert.  I rode until about 9:30 and it started getting dark enough I was worried about see bears ahead of me, so I called it a night.  It was the first time I've needed to use a light around camp.  It was also the worst night for mosquitos, nearly covering any bit of bare skin available.  I was up again and 5 a.m. and cruised the last 90 km into Prince Rupert, arriving nearly dry, so I count that as a win!

Thanks for the comments and notes of support!

Bruce