Telegraph Creek (6/26/23 Mon)

Mountains, rivers, lakes, moose, porkipine, eagle, weasel and finally a real grizzly bear.

I packed up and chatted with Richard again in the morning, but left before him to take his suggested route to Telegraph Creek. Thirty minutes later a wondered if this made any sense. My gps said it was 1h 20m to reach the point I selected that probably wasn't even the real turn around point. This was easily going to take up 3 to 4 hours of my time and I wasn't sure what was at the end. A canyon. That didn't sound as good as it did last night. Especially now while I was getting my gravel legs under me on this curvey freshly graded road. In the packed tire paths you could easily do 50mph on straight sections, just don't wander past that tire width into the deaper gravel. Slowing down was necessary for corners, of which there are many. The road has many steap grades and the down hills are always the tricky bits to control your rolling speed. Worst case those pesky down hill left turns, where the road crown and loose stuff wants to ditch the unwary. Add to that my reflex to snap photos if there is anything interesting, which means riding with one hand.

For some reason I decided this was worth the effort. After and hour of it I came to some amazing canyon views along a river. This was worth the trip in. Then I dropped down into the canyon on switchbacks. That was really amazing. Then it occurred again with larger scale. There was a native fishing village with some amazing lava flow cliffs. All of these canyon decents and accents had switchbacks bairly a car wide, with clear avalanche damage from all directions. I stopped and took phone photos so many places, and snapped many more rolling with the cheap camera. Eventually I reached a town with a gas station/grocery store/PO. I had icecream and bought a drink and water for my hydration pack. If figured I was at the turning point and started back. Stopping to take photos that I had missed, but noted more than worthy on my way in. All of it just as breathtaking on the way out.

On the way in I was coming down a set of switchbacks and saw 3 bikes riding into the canyon below towards my switchbacks. I even snapped a photo of them with the cheap camera. We waved as we passed. On the way out I meet Richard, who told me there was docks and a small town on the river a bit further than I went. He also told me of a short hike to a larger canyon that I would pass on my way out. I never saw the hiking trail, but wasn't too sad because I ended up back where I started the day, but at 1500 to start my days ride. I refueled, cleaned my chain, and ate dinner at the gas stop. The exact same gas stop a refueled at just after leaving my campsite this morning.

I knew there was someplace to camp about 250km away. And that seemed OK. I got to a provincial park a few hours later. It was on a lake with many white marked mountains around it. Very pretty and cheap enough, but no cell signal or wifi. It had been days without service and I really wanted to update photos and talk with Anne. So I pushed on. At Bell 2 there was a lodge, that sounded like it would have wifi and/or cell service. So I set my sights on that. A bad omen was the lodging icon outside of town has a black line through it. I stopped for gas and coffee, and the lodge had a no vacancy sign. It also had a half dozen helicopters in the parking lot. Apparently it's a heli-ski destination all winter and service gold miners now.

So continue on I must. Awhile out of town and nothing showing up for hours I considered wild camping at one of the many pullouts that campers and vans use. Yes I am more of a food offering in my tent than they are, but I hadn't seen a bear in awhile. Then I saw the sign, high bear population next 40km. OK, thanks for the blatent hint that I had a bad idea. So on I pushed. After passing an intersection I was on the lookout for anyplace and saw another provincial park. In I went and quiickly rollwed into an entire loop of motorcyclists. I pulled into a spot, setup and met the neighbors. About 20 minutes later Richard rolled in and setup in the site next to me. Turns out the guys down lower in the park are the 3 bikes I saw coming out of Telegraph Creek on my way in.

While we all talked a guy walking his dog strolled up and said he came our way because a grizzly was walking up the park road from his lower section. So we all went on alert to locate the bear. I looked where the guy came from and others tried to see the area he last saw the bear. I saw it slowly walking past our road and heading out of the park on the paved road. Not a care in the world. After waiting a bit we walked to the intersection, but din't see it again. I walked down below and asked where it came from. A woman said it walked up the creak and onto the road. One guy estimated it was about 3 years old. Not huge, but decent sized. Glad I saw it, wish I got a photo.

I'm the only person out now at 2240. Just me and the bugs. Everyone else is in their tents. It's overcast so it seems dusk like. The moskeetos are enjoying this more than me. So I'm going to bed too. Goodnight oxbow full of bikers.