Day 23 ad 24, Bella Coola
Bella Coola, British Columbia
So As Doug and my trip was winding down we found a little more time to make a run out to the coast at Bella Coola. We had gotten into Williams Lake at around 5pm, and decided to make a Hundred miles of HWY 20 that evening.
You have a tendency to think that once you have left the northern parts of BC and Ak as well as the YT, that the best parts of the country are over for you….But that isn’t true at all. The ride west from Williams Lake is more open country with deep valleys and fast rivers, and tall mtns. Lots of forest that are not obscured by trees along the road.
The bark beetle has killed miles and miles of pine trees, but so far it has only added color to the scenery.
We had passed the last gas station in Williams Lake without realizing it. I knew there was a gas pump/ cafe/convenience store at Hanceville, fifty miles away. The trick was would it be open on this Sunday evening.
As we drove along, I noticed a lot of new signage along route 20 that hadn’t been here last year. There were signs touting gas a places down toward Lillooet (a hundred miles of dirt roads away). They made me wish that we had time to take the bikes of for exploring, but we kept to the plan of a quick trip out to the coast and back.
We arrived in Hanceville 10 minutes before they closed. Gas cost us a few bucks more, but we were happy to get it. Bella Coola is about 275 miles from Williams Lake, so a fillup now was much appreciated. The gal that had the store open was nice enough to make us a sandwich for dinner, and we noted that she held the gas pumps open for a couple of late comers. They are very accommodating out there, in those remote area. A side note is that Hanceville was opened up in the late 19th century and has never been closed. It’s a one building town, but it has loads of personality.
Doug drove us for another 100 miles before we decided to pull off the road for the night. We found a stream to set up by, and we called it quits at about 10pm. We were far enough south by now that there was a dusk at around 10pm.
I had promised Doug a great ride today. We were on the bikes by 8am and headed for the coast. There would be another 205 miles of pavement and then There was 60 miles of dirt, and then 40 more miles of pavement once we hit the valley floor at the bottom of ‘The Hill’.
It was brisk at camp that morning as we were at about 4500 ft, but we were dressed for it. Hwy 20 is a shipping route for that part of BC. Things are shipped in and out, which means there are quite a few semis on that road, and they all know the road very well. It is wise to be ready for them, because they are flying.
But more amazing than that, is ‘the Hill’. It is a 5000ft drop on a sometimes one lane hard surface dirt road with a half dozen switchbacks. The ride has great scenery and it isn’t unusual to encounter bears and other wildlife along there. Of course there is very little traffic on ‘the hill’ so as I went down, I wondered just how fast a fellow could get up that hill….Hummmm
So Doug and I did the 120 miles into Bella Coola by about 11am. We spent an hour down at the harbor and the park at end of road. Saw some falls at a hydro plant out there. We also had lunch in town and talked to some Visitor Center folks.
Near the bottom of the hill are some falls that fall about 500 feet or so. They have a bunch of great pictures of them. The catch is that its about a 12 mile hike to go see them. In my time in town, I only found one person (a gal) who had ever actually seen them. Walking….hummmm…..I don’t know about that.
As I said last year…..
Bella Colla has a 10000 year old history. You would think it was a hundred year old town now, but the indians have been traced back a long time. A funny thing , Captain Vancover arrived there by sea in early June of 1773 and coincidentally Mackenzie arrive there overland, just 6 weeks later, in mid July of the same year. The Indian must have thought, "Holly cow, the neighborhood is really going to hell". Did I say it was a small town? Well it is...500 tops………
So after lunch we were back to the road out of town. Another nice ride to the bottom of ‘the Hill’, then as I planned, I rolled into the corner at the bottom and noted the time on my watch. I had made up my mine to set a record on a climb to the top.
Since the road was a good road and wide if your on a bike, it could be done fairly safely. It’s surface was hard with lite sand most everywhere. There was usually a no sand track along most straight-aways, but the corners and switchbacks were sand cover hard surface. Read slippery as hell in the corners.
It was quite a challenge as the remoteness meant that you couldn’t error. That meant slowing for the corners was tricky and exiting the corners was tricky, especially as you got a little higher and you could see off the guardrail less cliffs.
The road was right at 11 miles to the gate at the top. I don’t know what bike would do the best on that hill. My DR350 was certainly under powered for the task, so it was pretty easy to not 'go too fast' as you might on a sport bike. And accelerating out of the turns was a delicate task. Anyway I checked With Logan who has a resort there on Nimpo Lake, and he said no one else has clocked a time on the hill so I now have the record at 16:18 minutes.
It got my heart started for sure. When you are approaching one of those hairpins at seventy, and you have to do your braking down to 15mph on ballbearing, it will put a lump in your throat.
Ah, it’s nice to be a record holder…and it will probably hold up till someone else tries to do it. That could be years.
We both cleared the top of the hill, and made it to the Van by 3pm. That left us enough time to travel to Williams Lake and much further south for the day. But before we left Hwy 20 we had time to stop at an old native grave yard for a walkabout. This was near the Redstone reservation. The inhabitant’s lives ranged from 1850 to 1950. One of the older and more decorated grave was Chief Charley Boy, who lived from 1873 to 1951. There were lots of Charley Boys in that graveyard. I wondered how they came by that name.
…….and so it was as Doug and I pulled the shade down on another day. We eventually ended up at 100 Mile House for the night in the back of a defunct Husky gas station. I didn’t think that required a picture.
So As Doug and my trip was winding down we found a little more time to make a run out to the coast at Bella Coola. We had gotten into Williams Lake at around 5pm, and decided to make a Hundred miles of HWY 20 that evening.
You have a tendency to think that once you have left the northern parts of BC and Ak as well as the YT, that the best parts of the country are over for you….But that isn’t true at all. The ride west from Williams Lake is more open country with deep valleys and fast rivers, and tall mtns. Lots of forest that are not obscured by trees along the road.
The bark beetle has killed miles and miles of pine trees, but so far it has only added color to the scenery.
We had passed the last gas station in Williams Lake without realizing it. I knew there was a gas pump/ cafe/convenience store at Hanceville, fifty miles away. The trick was would it be open on this Sunday evening.
As we drove along, I noticed a lot of new signage along route 20 that hadn’t been here last year. There were signs touting gas a places down toward Lillooet (a hundred miles of dirt roads away). They made me wish that we had time to take the bikes of for exploring, but we kept to the plan of a quick trip out to the coast and back.
We arrived in Hanceville 10 minutes before they closed. Gas cost us a few bucks more, but we were happy to get it. Bella Coola is about 275 miles from Williams Lake, so a fillup now was much appreciated. The gal that had the store open was nice enough to make us a sandwich for dinner, and we noted that she held the gas pumps open for a couple of late comers. They are very accommodating out there, in those remote area. A side note is that Hanceville was opened up in the late 19th century and has never been closed. It’s a one building town, but it has loads of personality.
Doug drove us for another 100 miles before we decided to pull off the road for the night. We found a stream to set up by, and we called it quits at about 10pm. We were far enough south by now that there was a dusk at around 10pm.
I had promised Doug a great ride today. We were on the bikes by 8am and headed for the coast. There would be another 205 miles of pavement and then There was 60 miles of dirt, and then 40 more miles of pavement once we hit the valley floor at the bottom of ‘The Hill’.
It was brisk at camp that morning as we were at about 4500 ft, but we were dressed for it. Hwy 20 is a shipping route for that part of BC. Things are shipped in and out, which means there are quite a few semis on that road, and they all know the road very well. It is wise to be ready for them, because they are flying.
But more amazing than that, is ‘the Hill’. It is a 5000ft drop on a sometimes one lane hard surface dirt road with a half dozen switchbacks. The ride has great scenery and it isn’t unusual to encounter bears and other wildlife along there. Of course there is very little traffic on ‘the hill’ so as I went down, I wondered just how fast a fellow could get up that hill….Hummmm
So Doug and I did the 120 miles into Bella Coola by about 11am. We spent an hour down at the harbor and the park at end of road. Saw some falls at a hydro plant out there. We also had lunch in town and talked to some Visitor Center folks.
Near the bottom of the hill are some falls that fall about 500 feet or so. They have a bunch of great pictures of them. The catch is that its about a 12 mile hike to go see them. In my time in town, I only found one person (a gal) who had ever actually seen them. Walking….hummmm…..I don’t know about that.
As I said last year…..
Bella Colla has a 10000 year old history. You would think it was a hundred year old town now, but the indians have been traced back a long time. A funny thing , Captain Vancover arrived there by sea in early June of 1773 and coincidentally Mackenzie arrive there overland, just 6 weeks later, in mid July of the same year. The Indian must have thought, "Holly cow, the neighborhood is really going to hell". Did I say it was a small town? Well it is...500 tops………
So after lunch we were back to the road out of town. Another nice ride to the bottom of ‘the Hill’, then as I planned, I rolled into the corner at the bottom and noted the time on my watch. I had made up my mine to set a record on a climb to the top.
Since the road was a good road and wide if your on a bike, it could be done fairly safely. It’s surface was hard with lite sand most everywhere. There was usually a no sand track along most straight-aways, but the corners and switchbacks were sand cover hard surface. Read slippery as hell in the corners.
It was quite a challenge as the remoteness meant that you couldn’t error. That meant slowing for the corners was tricky and exiting the corners was tricky, especially as you got a little higher and you could see off the guardrail less cliffs.
The road was right at 11 miles to the gate at the top. I don’t know what bike would do the best on that hill. My DR350 was certainly under powered for the task, so it was pretty easy to not 'go too fast' as you might on a sport bike. And accelerating out of the turns was a delicate task. Anyway I checked With Logan who has a resort there on Nimpo Lake, and he said no one else has clocked a time on the hill so I now have the record at 16:18 minutes.
It got my heart started for sure. When you are approaching one of those hairpins at seventy, and you have to do your braking down to 15mph on ballbearing, it will put a lump in your throat.
Ah, it’s nice to be a record holder…and it will probably hold up till someone else tries to do it. That could be years.
We both cleared the top of the hill, and made it to the Van by 3pm. That left us enough time to travel to Williams Lake and much further south for the day. But before we left Hwy 20 we had time to stop at an old native grave yard for a walkabout. This was near the Redstone reservation. The inhabitant’s lives ranged from 1850 to 1950. One of the older and more decorated grave was Chief Charley Boy, who lived from 1873 to 1951. There were lots of Charley Boys in that graveyard. I wondered how they came by that name.
…….and so it was as Doug and I pulled the shade down on another day. We eventually ended up at 100 Mile House for the night in the back of a defunct Husky gas station. I didn’t think that required a picture.
posted by Pete | 11:13 AM
|
0 comments
