September 16th, 2014
Facts about Dease Lake
Dease Lake is a lake in the Stikine Plateau of the Northern Interior of British Columbia, Canada, located at the head of the Dease River, which flows north then northeast from the lake to join the Liard River. The community of Dease Lake, British Columbia, formerly Dease Lake Post, is located at the south end of the lake, straddling a low pass which leads into the basin from the Tanzilla River, a tributary of the Stikine. The area around the lake was the focus of the Cassiar Gold Rush and numerous ghost towns and former settlement sites are scattered around its shores, including Laketon and Centre City.
Today’s Highlights
Andrew writes: More majestic mountain views in every direction…fall colours…an epiphany at lunch…our campsite…
Cycling Stats
Starting point: Highway Near Jade City
End Point: Highway near Dease Lake
66.4 km travelled
15.0 km/h average speed
57.1 km/h maximum speed
4:25 time on the bike
What happened…
Andrew writes:I didn’t feel like I slept very well. I kept hearing noises outside the tent. It was only animals, and small ones at that, but whenever we stay at places like rest areas, I also end up thinking that every noise outside is a rapist, thief or murderer; so much for assuming that all people are good people. Perhaps this was compounded by the carafe of coffee Amanda and I drank at dinner. Amanda woke up a few times to check on the northern lights, and I thought it was the middle of the night but it was all before midnight strangely enough. So I guess I was ready and well-rested when the alarm went off at 6:30.
Chocolate-chip pancakes for breakfast, yay! One of my favourites. Everything about our takedown this morning, as the sun crested the eastern ridge lines was pretty relaxed. Our ride in the morning was relaxed as well. Amanda got her Contour POV camera up and running to take a few pictures while she rode, and I snapped away with our big camera. It was all fun and games until we saw the sign that read, “Dease Lake, 85km”. We knew from prior research that there were some big climbs near the end of the day, and to see that we were still several hours away put a bit of a damper on the ride. Except that it didn’t…
At lunch Amanda and I started talking about how much riding we have been doing. This is our 8th consecutive day riding since leaving Whitehorse, and we seem to be going 80-100km every day. At this rate we’ll be out of Canada in no time. Except that it is so beautiful here. Why should we be in a hurry? The changing weather appears to be the only reason we could come up with, and I’m tired of being ruled by fear. We have clothing and gear for almost any weather that Mother Nature can throw at us, and I want to see what the world has to offer. If this means that I’m a little uncomfortable because of some snow, then so be it. There is no growth in the comfort zone, and I’m eager to grow, and to see what is on tap across this beautiful world we live in. Having said that, Amanda and I agreed to make it an early day today and finish the ride into Dease Lake in the morning, arriving perhaps around lunch. We told one another we would start looking for a good spot to pitch the tent. We saw signs for the Sawmill Point Recreation Site, but balked at having to ride down the hill to get to it.
Then we started climbing a winding road. Somehow though, since we were talking the entire time, the ride was easy. We were just rolling along, having a gay time. I cherish moments with Amanda that are like this. We began a long descent, and saw signs for the Rabid Grizzly rest area, but again we weren’t interested in camping in such a busy spot. Wouldn’t you know it, about 200m down the road were some driveways which lead to private camping spots…this might have been the old Rabid Grizzly rest area, I’m not sure, but it is beautiful. There is a covered area for sitting, and a short, steep path down to the beach. We were all setup by 3:30 I think, which left us time to reorganize our panniers, wash some clothes and read books. What a great end to the day today.
Amanda writes:Today’s riding was really nice. The views again were spectacular and the weather was very cooperative. The terrain was rolling up and down but nothing too difficult. As Andrew said we did discuss at length what our plan is. We set out on this trip to enjoy life and go at our own pace but we have been riding longer than we thought we would be. Or maybe we are riding less; I really am not sure. In previous tours we normally do 100K per day but now that we are not ruled by deadlines, mortgages and jobs; what’s the rush. And so Andrew was so passionate in his discussion about how we need to reassess what we are doing that it was inspiring. We found our great little gem of a camp spot and had such a wonderful afternoon. It’s days like this that I dreamed of. We had a chance to set up in a nice private camp area complete with fire pit and picnic table, lake front view and access where we enjoyed a little picnic and we even did some laundry in the lake. We topped this off with doing a little reorganization of our gear and panniers and considered what food we need to buy for the next week. And the icing on the cake was yet another wonderful dinner along with reading our books. Living the dream.