After my time in the Rockies, I should slowly get back to the island ... mmmh it is a long way back. On one morning again a part on my trailer got damaged, that is so frustrating. I really had enough from that cheap stuff the call here bike equipment. My aunt has booked some nights around Jasper National Park and goes after that back to the island by car, perfect opportunity to take the catch-a-ride joker she offered me and enjoy some kilometers with a car. So we did some trips together in Jasper, visited some disappearing lakes, saw the result from a big wildfire and to a nice walk nearby a glacier. That would all have been really hard to do without a car.

After a some days we threw all my stuff in the car and drove along the icefields parkway back to Golden, a route I already know. But it was really nice to see all the places again, with different weather and out of a car. It felt like in a time machine. We will go back in hours wherefore I needed days.
I noticed quite fast the difference from my bike trip to driving with a car, one sees everything in a different way. No need to think about having enough water or food, you just drive to the next town. Will I reach a place to stay, of course ... I can go for hundreds of kilometers. Do I have enough energy, what if I want to make a big hike on the next day, nothing of that matters anymore. I had to think about so many things and that even in an area with not a to great isolation. So good to enjoy it now in a different way.
In Golden I updated my blog, what really takes a lot of time ... so many pictures to edit! But we couldn't do to much else, either way to many mosquitoes or rain crossed our plans. So the next driving day to Lillooet came up. On this route we saw lakes, glaciers and rain in the morning and drove for hours through a desert or grassland alike area. It was nice to see all that, some scenic parts crossed our way, but I couldn't find fast enough a good collection of objects for a nice picture, so I ended up with none ... maybe that is one of the disadvantages when you drive with a car?
The road became steeper and quite narrow. Nice view on a river many meters underneath us, rocks, sand and a lot of turns. Good that I didn't need to cycle here.

In Lillooet I was dropped off to start my ride back to Sooke by bike. I was pretty lightweight now, no more trailer and just the basic equipment (what means no frying pan, which was not a good idea ).
Lillooet itself is small and in a desert alike area. My route follows the Duffy lake road to Pemperton. The road has a lot of 13% ups and downs until it flattens out. The nature will become wetter and one will see more trees, more grass and even glaciers. In the end it has a long 15% downhill part which was a little bit to much for some cars, one will have a lovely smell of overheated engines and brakes.
Down the hills I found myself in a nice valley with lots of Natives houses. Most of them were in a bad shape, I counted 5 rotten cars in one of the backyards. It is a difficult story with the Natives, they got back some land from the government and even some money, because of all the bad treatment in the past. But that is only making everything worse. But that is a long and difficult story I cannot tell, therefore I have to less information.
Next day I rode through Whistler, a now world famous small village in the mountains after the Olympics. One can find more people on a mountain bike then pedestrians and cars together. But I am pretty sure most of them have not really any clue how to use their bikes in a proper way.
I had my next rain and overnight stay in Squamish in the same campground I stayed some month before. I really liked the people there and it was a nice place in the nature.
I followed the Sea to Sky highway, missed the first ferry and got a strange feeling while my ride back to the Island. That is it? That was the mainland? My trip is coming to an end soon, feels strange, and I know there is still a lot to see on the mainland. But that needs to be done some other day. I finished my trip to Sooke where all began, I rode through Port Renfrew, where I was forced to stop my test ride in april (And now one day later that road got closed because of a bushfire!). It was a great feeling to be on the ocean again, even if there were no waves on the water, what was really strange. Therefore I could see two whales only 20 meters off shore – how lucky I am again.
The last day of my trip was pretty easy, 70 km back from Port Renfrew to Sooke – On my test drive it was a big challenge, now it was a relaxing driving (but again, without a big load of luggage!).
Now it is time to enjoy sunsets on the beach, watching the waves and prepare for a last bigger trip.

Hear more about that soon, I should be back after a good week in a multiday hike.