to
Overview
It's been a while ... lots of things happened in the last time. After Squamish I tried to reach the Rockies. That is a long way trough the interior, a wide and dry area between the coastal mountains and the Rockies. I have heard that it will be quite dry in there, but holly cow ... it was nearly like being in a desert. But let's get there step by step.
First stop after Squamish is Vancouver! It is a wide city ... you can spend have a day just riding through residential areas. Most of the houses are really lovely, a green garden, a wooden veranda and a nice driveway. I ended up in a hostel far away from downtown. There I could spend some time for working, resting and enjoying some parts of the city. But I don’t need a lot of time in a city, so I moved on going east through the Fraser River to Hope. The residential areas continued quite long, after a time it became more a country area with fields. The valley became slimmer and I went on the highway to Hope.
Hope itself is quite boring, another small village. Years ago some U.S. people took ofter the city, made it to an U.S. village for the movie Rambo. The city hasn't changed a lot you still could feel the same flair like in the movie. During my stay I had sunshine, so I couldn't see Hope with the flair of the movie which was in the winter with some snow and fog around. While seeing the Othello tunnels nearby Hope, I saw the connection to the movie. Steep cliffs and rocks, perfect setting. The tunnels are part of an old railway from Hope to the east. It was build in the early 19. century. The reason was to have a Canadian railway connection to the east of Canada before the U.S. people finished their connection to there. The struggle were the hard winters in the mountains where the railway would need to go throw. In the first years there have been several washouts and rock slides so that most of the time in the year the could no train operate. And when it did, they just drove in the night to ensure passengers do not see the steep cliffs near nearby the tunnels.
Nowadays it is hopefully save enough to drive there with my bicycle. During my trip I saw some really big rocks on the trail. I continued riding on the highway after the tunnel, up the valley to a small park on the summit of the pass(the last 5km were really hard ... I ended up in 100 meters driving, 5 mins of resting). On the summit was my next place to stay, I did a hike to the Needle Peak, the highest mountain around. It was a relaxed full day hike through a lot of sub alpine forest and a really amazing view on the top. I was standing on the border between the rainforest area from the coast and the grassland or desert alike areas of the interior, pretty amazing.
From there on the nature became really fast dry and sandy. I continued on the highway and took later on the day the bike trail again. But it was really a big disappointing moment ... that "thing" they called bike trail was on the nicest parts just a back country/ATV trail and had a lot of washboard parts, some slides or complete washouts. And a lot of loose gravel ... to make it short: It was a pain to ride there with my setup. But even with a lighter setup you would have had your problems. On some parts I was really pissed off and the guy at the visitor center can be happy, that I had no cell connection to send him angry emails!
During that trail my trailer got some broken spokes, so once again I needed a mechanic. But nobody could help me in Princeton I ended up with a 2$ spare wheel from a used child bike on the landfill. It kept me riding now for 150km, so I guess it is good enough.
Princeton itself was quite nice, on some places you could see some old buildings or equipment of old railway days. But not nice enough to take a picture off, to bad for you . In a park nearby my campground I could see some owls and a small lake surrounded by grassland. Good for relaxing in the evening with a nice atmosphere.
What really grind my gears in that area was the fact not being able to drink tab water. It was full of a bacteria and so you need to boil it some minutes before drinking. And in a desert a like area riding with bike you need a lot of water. Boiling the tab water took a lot of time and energy ... really bad for doing long bike trips. I ended up with buying a big container of water and so 8 kilos more luggage.
But nevertheless I still could enjoy the trip (most of the moments), it was really nice to ride though the area. My next stop was Penticton where the bike trail was better ... except for a small part with 25% grade downhill in a curve. Nice to see a sign shortly before, but would have been better to use that money to make the trail less steep ^^. I made it through but it killed nearly my brakes. Good that I had some spare break pads.
Around Penticton / Summerland there is a lot of winery, sun and so a lot of rich people. Who probably don’t like tenting people ... I needed to drive to another city to find a campground for tenting which took me two more hours. I found something at 10 pm after visiting 5 campgrounds.
In Penticton I couldn't find a proper new trailer wheel so I ended up riding along the bike trail further to Kelowna on a gravel trail with that old wheel.
The trail was again really nice nearby the city but after the range of the common tourist it became worse. I ended up on the summit of the trail shortly before sunset and found a campground. I expected to be a free recreation side but it was private one and 21$ the night ... on a lawn with geese pop and not drinkable tab water. Definitely not worth 21$ ... on this day I decided to stop being a nice guy and start more wild camping.
The next day I continued on the trail which had again a lot of loose gravel or sand, some big puddles with big rocks underneath the surface and lot of other hard parts. The last 20 km were again really nice. In that area have some ambitious people restored old railway bridges on which the trail continued. The trail was really smooth around there and so again enjoyable. It was a really nice ending of my bike trail trip to Kelowna. But after that trip I decided “never ever” to go back to the bike trail xD At least during this Canada trip or with a touring bike.
Now I ended up in a really lovely hostel in Kelowna. It has a cozy group room, nice seating areas outside, friendly staff, some hanging mattresses and some same aged travelers. And a lot of German ones ... I feel remembered to my trip to New Zealand: half of the people were from Germany.
Nearly every day there is a big group sitting together, eating, talking, laughing and having a nice evening. That is what I really missed on my trip until now. Surprisingly I didn't meet a lot of people on campgrounds until now.
On sunday I will continue my bike ride, next bigger stop will be in Revelstoke. I probably will ride through Golden/Banff/Jasper afterwards. It will be a long time without cities/villages, but a lot of nature, valleys and huge mountains. Exactly what I like, and after I ensured to have enough money for that time, I can ride without worries.
Enjoy your summer, talk to you soon again.
First stop after Squamish is Vancouver! It is a wide city ... you can spend have a day just riding through residential areas. Most of the houses are really lovely, a green garden, a wooden veranda and a nice driveway. I ended up in a hostel far away from downtown. There I could spend some time for working, resting and enjoying some parts of the city. But I don’t need a lot of time in a city, so I moved on going east through the Fraser River to Hope. The residential areas continued quite long, after a time it became more a country area with fields. The valley became slimmer and I went on the highway to Hope.
Hope itself is quite boring, another small village. Years ago some U.S. people took ofter the city, made it to an U.S. village for the movie Rambo. The city hasn't changed a lot you still could feel the same flair like in the movie. During my stay I had sunshine, so I couldn't see Hope with the flair of the movie which was in the winter with some snow and fog around. While seeing the Othello tunnels nearby Hope, I saw the connection to the movie. Steep cliffs and rocks, perfect setting. The tunnels are part of an old railway from Hope to the east. It was build in the early 19. century. The reason was to have a Canadian railway connection to the east of Canada before the U.S. people finished their connection to there. The struggle were the hard winters in the mountains where the railway would need to go throw. In the first years there have been several washouts and rock slides so that most of the time in the year the could no train operate. And when it did, they just drove in the night to ensure passengers do not see the steep cliffs near nearby the tunnels.
Nowadays it is hopefully save enough to drive there with my bicycle. During my trip I saw some really big rocks on the trail. I continued riding on the highway after the tunnel, up the valley to a small park on the summit of the pass(the last 5km were really hard ... I ended up in 100 meters driving, 5 mins of resting). On the summit was my next place to stay, I did a hike to the Needle Peak, the highest mountain around. It was a relaxed full day hike through a lot of sub alpine forest and a really amazing view on the top. I was standing on the border between the rainforest area from the coast and the grassland or desert alike areas of the interior, pretty amazing.
From there on the nature became really fast dry and sandy. I continued on the highway and took later on the day the bike trail again. But it was really a big disappointing moment ... that "thing" they called bike trail was on the nicest parts just a back country/ATV trail and had a lot of washboard parts, some slides or complete washouts. And a lot of loose gravel ... to make it short: It was a pain to ride there with my setup. But even with a lighter setup you would have had your problems. On some parts I was really pissed off and the guy at the visitor center can be happy, that I had no cell connection to send him angry emails!During that trail my trailer got some broken spokes, so once again I needed a mechanic. But nobody could help me in Princeton I ended up with a 2$ spare wheel from a used child bike on the landfill. It kept me riding now for 150km, so I guess it is good enough.
Princeton itself was quite nice, on some places you could see some old buildings or equipment of old railway days. But not nice enough to take a picture off, to bad for you . In a park nearby my campground I could see some owls and a small lake surrounded by grassland. Good for relaxing in the evening with a nice atmosphere.
What really grind my gears in that area was the fact not being able to drink tab water. It was full of a bacteria and so you need to boil it some minutes before drinking. And in a desert a like area riding with bike you need a lot of water. Boiling the tab water took a lot of time and energy ... really bad for doing long bike trips. I ended up with buying a big container of water and so 8 kilos more luggage.
But nevertheless I still could enjoy the trip (most of the moments), it was really nice to ride though the area. My next stop was Penticton where the bike trail was better ... except for a small part with 25% grade downhill in a curve. Nice to see a sign shortly before, but would have been better to use that money to make the trail less steep ^^. I made it through but it killed nearly my brakes. Good that I had some spare break pads.
Around Penticton / Summerland there is a lot of winery, sun and so a lot of rich people. Who probably don’t like tenting people ... I needed to drive to another city to find a campground for tenting which took me two more hours. I found something at 10 pm after visiting 5 campgrounds.
In Penticton I couldn't find a proper new trailer wheel so I ended up riding along the bike trail further to Kelowna on a gravel trail with that old wheel.
The trail was again really nice nearby the city but after the range of the common tourist it became worse. I ended up on the summit of the trail shortly before sunset and found a campground. I expected to be a free recreation side but it was private one and 21$ the night ... on a lawn with geese pop and not drinkable tab water. Definitely not worth 21$ ... on this day I decided to stop being a nice guy and start more wild camping.
The next day I continued on the trail which had again a lot of loose gravel or sand, some big puddles with big rocks underneath the surface and lot of other hard parts. The last 20 km were again really nice. In that area have some ambitious people restored old railway bridges on which the trail continued. The trail was really smooth around there and so again enjoyable. It was a really nice ending of my bike trail trip to Kelowna. But after that trip I decided “never ever” to go back to the bike trail xD At least during this Canada trip or with a touring bike.Now I ended up in a really lovely hostel in Kelowna. It has a cozy group room, nice seating areas outside, friendly staff, some hanging mattresses and some same aged travelers. And a lot of German ones ... I feel remembered to my trip to New Zealand: half of the people were from Germany.
Nearly every day there is a big group sitting together, eating, talking, laughing and having a nice evening. That is what I really missed on my trip until now. Surprisingly I didn't meet a lot of people on campgrounds until now.
On sunday I will continue my bike ride, next bigger stop will be in Revelstoke. I probably will ride through Golden/Banff/Jasper afterwards. It will be a long time without cities/villages, but a lot of nature, valleys and huge mountains. Exactly what I like, and after I ensured to have enough money for that time, I can ride without worries.
Enjoy your summer, talk to you soon again.
