August 29
39mi/63km
2300ft/701m elevation gain
Our hotel room in Stewart is on the third floor, and is quite small, so our bikes have been parked out back in a covered area. So, it took awhile to get all packed up this morning going up and down the stairs. It was a gray morning.
Before leaving, we went to the coffee shop for breakfast, and around 10am we were ready to go.
It was drizzly out as we left town. We both wondered if we should stay in town another day but we decided against it. As they say on the Appalachian Trail, “no pain, no rain, no Maine” – meaning you’ll never make it to Maine if you aren’t willing to get sore and wet. This is the same. If you try and wait out the weather around here, you’ll never make any progress. Besides, it was supposed to clear up later in the day, and there’s only so much to do in a tiny little town.
Stewart is at sea level and we were headed back to the junction with the Cassiar, at roughly 1000ft/305m elevation. But the road isn’t that straightforward, so the actual climbing was more than double that. Still, it wasn’t too difficult, and we got a lot of waves from the drivers today, which keeps the spirits up. We never got too wet, and it did dry up by afternoon.
We arrived at the junction and Meziadin Lake campground by 4, and came to the tenting area to find it completely empty, though eventually a motorcyclist joined. This area has a lot of bear activity so there is a designated tent section behind an electric fence. We overlook all the RVs below. And we have a view of the lake. It is supposed to rain tonight, but also supposed to stop in the morning.
