Clay and Wattles

We recorded an interview with Randy Henderson for the Trailbreaker on CBC this morning. We were supposed to be live today, but there were technical difficulties. I think the interview will air tomorrow morning sometime between 6 and 8 am.

Last night we decided to take a little jaunt through the states. We followed the road south from Grand Forks to Curlew, Washington where we camped next to the Kettle River. This morning we’re already back in Midway, BC on our way to Osoyoos. We aren’t in the desert yet, but the landscape has certainly changed. The rocky hills are dry and grassy with scattered pines and shrubs – like something from a western movie.

We have not yet seen one single deer in British Columbia on our trip. At the customs stop at the border, we saw several right next to the building. In one hour of riding last night we saw at least 50 altogether, mostly whitetails but also a couple of mule deer. We also couldn’t believe the variety of birds we saw: quail, eagle, osprey, kingbirds, kingfishers, wrens, hawks, woodpeckers, you name it. This morning we actually saw a flock of wild turkeys! There must be something in the water south of the border.

Three movies in one day is quite a lot, but I managed to squeeze them in. I saw the Simpsons, Hairspray, and I now Pronounce you Chuck and Larry. They were all good. We saw them in Castlegar, but now we’re in Grand Forks. The trail is very dusty.

The Columbia and Western railroad trail turned out to be a lot of fun. We travelled very very slowly upward for 50 kms then back down again almost the same distance to Christina Lake, BC. We rejoined the highway, took a 30 minute trip to Laurier, Washington, for a snack, and are now in Grand Forks, a town which is full of Russian restaurants and names because of the Doukhobor heritage of this region.

We visited the Doukhobour museum in Castlegar a couple of days ago and learned all about the odyssey of these Russian pacifists who lived communally and ate a vegetarian diet. 7000 of them, with the help of Count Leo Tolstoy, emigrated to Canada at the turn of the last century. They settled in Saskatchewan and then most of them moved to the Boundary region of BC. Their leader, Peter Veregin, was murdered in the 1920’s by a bomb that blew up a train on the very Columbia and Western line that we’ve been travelling. We passed a monument at the spot of the bombing last night.

The rail trails have been fun and we’ve made fairly good time on them. Even so, they are very hard on our bikes. I had a flat last night from bumping downhill on the gravelly surface. I think we’ll take the highway for the next while and perhaps rejoin the trail in Princeton. We’re starting to feel like we are in the home stretch now (we’ve travelled over 2500 kms thus far), and we’d like to get the last few hundred kilometres over with. I can almost taste the sushi on Robson Street….

We stayed at a motel in Castlegar last night for a break from the heat. It has been hot, hot, hot this week. We’ve climbed some big hills in 30 degree plus conditions and are still doing fine all things considered. We spent a morning in Nakusp three days ago, then stayed in New Denver where the locals invited us to the opening of an exhibit of photos taken by a fellow cyclist. We ate an entire home-baked peach pie at the farm market the next morning and had a great time.

The Nakusp & Slocan railway trail from Nakusp to New Denver didn’t work out as it was too soft and sandy for our loaded bikes and smooth tires. We did manage to get on the trail again in Slocan and had a very good ride for 40kms or so. The trail is full of grouse and other birds (and bear droppings) and follows the lazy Slocan River most of the way. It was great riding without sharing a road with motorized vehicles. Travelling on the trail was a highlight of a trip that has already had a lot of highlights. Unfortunately, we got caught in the dark and had an hour of dark trail riding to finally reach a camping place next to the river in the hamlet of Crescent Valley.

We’ve only seen one other cyclist since we left Revelstoke, so I guess we’re off the beaten path. From Jasper to Revelstoke we saw at least one or two per day.

Today we’re taking the Kettle Valley Railway trail in the direction of Grand Forks. It will take us a couple of days. This section is true backcountry riding most of the way without a highway or other roads anywhere nearby. I can’t wait!