July 15th, 2015
Facts about Blue River
The forests and mountains around Blue River have plentiful big game such as deer, moose, black bear, grizzly bear, and caribou. Birds include osprey, eagle, woodpecker and raven. The mountain pine beetle has become the area’s most significant insect. Andrew and Amanda saw none of these…not even a pine beetle.
Cycling Stats
Start point: Wire Cache Rest Area, British Columbia, Canada
Destination: Thunder River Rest Area, British Columbia, Canada
48.7km trip, 14.5 km/h average speed, 39.8 km/h maximum speed 3:21 time on bike
AltUP 328m, AltMAX 1344m, AvgClimb 2%, MaxClimb 6%, AltDWN 893m, MaxDown 9%
What happened…
Andrew writes: !!!flash!!!……(one mississippi, two mississippi, three miss)!!!!!!!THUNDER!!!!!!!…!!!flash!!!
The sound and sight of an afternoon storm chased us through the valley, as we soggily pulled into the Thunder River Rest Area just after 1700hrs. Perhaps if we hadn’t dawdled so long at the pub, talking with Thibalt, or if we had stopped at the Blue River Campground 20km earlier. Whatever the case, we made the best of it.
Donning rain gear, Amanda and I used teamwork to put up our two tarps, giving us a sheltered picnic table to cook and eat at. Then Amanda went to work on the tent while I cooked us a wonderful dinner. I have to admit that I had some help from Teresa, who had given us a bowl of penne, and home-made italian seasoned sauce yesterday. I mixed it in with some other pasta we had, and fried up some ground beef. Now here we are at 2030, snug as bugs in our tent, which is being assaulted by mother nature as we speak. But I digress…
The day started out perfectly enough with the sun shining, and the hourly train chugging along on the tracks just across the river from us. The noise wasn’t too bad, I mean, it woke us every time it went by, but it was easy enough to fall back asleep. It just comes with the territory; noise, lights, people..you get what you pay for and when you are free-camping, that really runs the gamut.
Speaking of perfect, Amanda had some sort of sex dream and woke up all rarin’ to go. I had some trouble getting the sleep out of my eyes as she woke me. Then Amanda let out a gasp of surprise!! (disgust??) My bee sting from yesterday had swollen up half of my face so that it looked like I had been in a bar-room brawl. ”We’ll just need to find a bag to put over your head.” Amanda joked, and then she force fed me a benadryl to start working on the swelling. Vito and Teresa stopped by on their way out of the rest area and gave me a bag of ice to put over my eye to help also.
I had hoped to leave right away and ride to nearby Avola, to enjoy breakfast at the pub. I didn’t know if it would be open or not, but though I would give it a shot. Of course, as I started rushing around to pack up, Amanda put everything into slow gear. She started getting upset that I was rushing her, and she didn’t realize we weren’t eating breakfast at the rest area. Words were exchanged, Amanda got upset. Suddenly, I joined in the fun and sent our cooking stove and pots flying off the table. That got her attention, and cooler heads prevailed. We compromised by having some eggs and toast, and decided to head to Avola for coffee and whatever else was available.
The ride to Avola was pretty easy, and we spotted a motel and restaurant right away. I figured that’s where we would find Thibalt, from yesterday. Except the motel was deserted, and the restaurant was closed. So we rode down to the Log Inn Pub, which is a real gem, and I asked the bartender for two cups of coffee (served in beer mugs), and if they had a frenchie staying. Sure enough, he was in a cabin next door. Despite it being 1000hrs, they only had their world famous burgers (and a few other lunch/dinner items) on offer. It started to rain. We just hung out, used some free WiFi, drank coffee, ate burgers, and chatted with Thibalt. He was determined to make the most of his stay in the cabin, and had booked a second night on the spot. After two hours, the sun was out again, and we set off. Hopefully we’ll run into Thibalt again in Valemont.
So riding from Avola to Blue River, it’s up-hill for about 20km, including a steep 2.5km up Messiter Hill. Then it’s down for about 20km. I like this kind of riding. The views were terrific. We saw a sign for “Little Hell’s Gate” and started to check it out, except it was 3km down a dirt road. That’s 6km round trip, on gravel, and uphill half the time. No thanks! As we got closer to Blue River though we were treated to some lovely glacier views of the surrounding Wells Gray Provincial Park.
Blue River had a lot more going for it than I gave it credit for. A couple of gas stations, numerous restaurants, and a grocery store run by the most delightful elderly couple. ”Oh, you’re going to Argentina? That’s nice dearie. I’m pretty excited myself to be going to visit Vancouver. Haven’t been in over 10 years…” this sweet little biddy remarked as she gave me my change. We could have stayed at the campground, but I don’t like to pay $30 for a patch of grass that’s free a little bit further down the road.
So here we are, back at the beginning. A strange pair of ladies turned up at the rest area to spend the night. I’m pretty sure that the tall woman is actually a dude in drag. Hey, different strokes for different folks. I just feel poorly for them because they definitely aren’t prepared for weather like we have right now. I’m sure they’ll make the best of it, or they won’t..life goes on. Since we’re hiding from the world inside our little green dome I wonder what other oddities will we be greeted by in the morning??