Wet and cold
It had rained during the night at Mt. Robson Park, but a sliver of sun came out in the morning. Of course everything was soaked as I packed it up, but I was hoping for something drier ahead, so I got to work packing and loading up the bike. It always seems to take so long, but even more so when everything is wet. I got everything loaded, put on my helmet (the inside of which had managed to get wet!) and headed out in the cold.
Bears
The ride was pretty and the first wildlife I saw that I wouldn’t normally see was 3 black bears, a mother and her cubs. They were right near the road, munching away on grasses. There wasn’t any shoulder for me to pull off on, so no photos. Cars stopped like it was Yellowstone, right on the highway, but I didn’t think it’d be too smart for me to try that on a motorcycle.
I was only going about 320 miles today, so I had plenty of time. I know, I say that like it’s not far, but on Kymani, it seemed like 1,000 miles! While she is reliable and decent in the gravel, she is not nearly as comfortable as Lucille! My hips and back were in pain, but it wasn’t anything I couldn’t live with. Also, riding in the cold, fog, and rain made things seem longer. All part of the experience I think.
A lot of the mountains in this part of British Columbia were covered with dead trees. It’s like all the conifers just died. Sadly, I can see why this part of the world is on fire.
Dirt road and drying out
I made it to Heart Lake. I knew there was to be a long dirt road to the campground and of course I worried about it, but the ride was stunning all day and I had seen the bears, so I was happy and encouraged. While the road to the campground was potholed and washboard, it really wasn’t too bad. I got both the best and worst campsite in the campground. The worst because it was on a slant in two directions, and the best because it was the last available site in the campground! It wasn’t raining here, so I was able to hang everything to dry on a railing, Kymani, and my clothesline I strung between a tree and the bike. But, while it wasn’t raining, it was quite smokey from the fires burning nearby.
Because the campsite was on a slant in 2 directions, when I had initially parked Kymani, she was tilted too far down on the kickstand for me to lift her off of it. Of course when I tried to stand her back up, she was fully loaded. I unloaded her and got the campsite set up. I decided to try to push her up off the stand and move her to a better spot. After looking around my site though, there really wasn’t a better spot. I pushed Kymani slightly uphill and decided that’s where she was going to sleep.
Endless day
I had a tough time falling asleep, as it was still daylight at midnight and the sun was up again before 0400. I guess I was in the northern latitudes now! I got up about 0500 and tried to be careful and methodical about packing up, as I kept forgetting to pack one thing or another, which led to unpacking and repacking. However, as careful as I was, it STILL took me 2 hours to get everything put away and back on Kymani. Today would be a pretty long day of about 350 miles, so I needed to get to it!