August 25
49mi/79km
2800ft/853m elevation gain
The thing about bad days is, they make the good days that much sweeter. However down we were feeling on BC the past day or two, today certainly reversed that sentiment. It was a beautiful day, with beautiful scenery. We talked to some friendly folks. And the road was a little wider and a little straighter today, so the drivers seemed less like homicidal maniacs compared to yesterday.
The big disappointment of the day was that the RV campground at the lodge was actually closed, so no showers for us. Or laundry. But we did get a hot meal, so it wasn’t a total bust. And got a bit of internet which allowed us to secure a room in Stewart on Thursday, which we were worried could be full by the weekend. While we were eating, we talked for a long time to a man named George from Oregon. He’s been on the road for three months, camping across Alaska and Canada. He’s in a tent too, which is a bit of a rarity in this land of vans and RVs. We commiserated over the misery of packing up a wet tent.
Then, we saw one of the wellness walkers we met at the Stikine River a couple days ago, as well as a nice couple we saw yesterday who saw a grizzly bear on the road, and turned around to warn us, then drove ahead of us to make sure it had gone. Then as we were leaving the lodge, we met a man from the Netherlands in an overlander vehicle. He told us about a journey he and his wife did in 2008, riding bikes from Amsterdam to Beijing. He also mentioned packing up a wet tent, because on their 100 day journey, they got 70 days of rain.
Although it was cloudy in the morning, by the afternoon the sun was shining and we could finally see the mountains properly. The trees seem to be getting bigger and bigger. We took some time to air out at least some of our soggy gear. We saw a Black Bear bear, and Canada Geese, and Black-capped Chickadees, Northern Flickers, and ducks (maybe Lesser Scaup?) that are hard to identify because there are never any males around.
The riding was easy today, and we’ll be in Stewart Thursday even if we take it easy today and tomorrow, so we took our time finding a decent spot to set up camp. Some areas are still muddy from yesterday’s rain, but we found a nice pullout with some mossy ground. The tent is still slightly damp, but it’s not supposed to rain tonight thankfully, so we should be dry enough in the morning.
Megan: One current events correction. Since orangeman renamed Lake Ontario to Lake America, the Canadians have decided to rename the Canada Goose the Donald Duck.