Journal Stage 4

Riding Injured

I apologize for not getting a newsletter out in nearly a month. As many of you know, I got burned by hot coals on my arm in Whitehorse, Yukon just over four weeks ago. This coupled with very few Internet opportunities over the last few weeks have presented me no good opportunities to send out an update. I will not elaborate on the details of the accident, but you are welcome to click here for my journal entry on the injury. The burn was mainly third degree and required me to stay for ten days in Whitehorse, as there was no way I could possibly ride on it. After getting advice from a couple of doctors I decided to take back to the road on August 1. My route took me down the Alaska Highway for Watson Lake and then due south down the Cassiar Highway, a remote wilderness highway that runs down the western edge of Canada. There were very few towns along the way and even fewer medical clinics. Hospitals were out of the question for the first 800 miles of my route, only a couple of small community clinics existed. The burn required me to carry about six to eight pounds of medical supplies since the wound had to be cleaned and dressed daily, a 45 minute process. Then came the scary part for me, if the wound got infected I would have to somehow get transportation to the nearest medical clinic as quickly as possible. I was carrying a broad spectrum antibiotic but there was no way to know if it would be the right treatment. I cannot thank Marie enough, she has changed the dressing for me everyday for the last month. She will have no problem getting her nursing certification after helping me with my burn. The burn is healing along ever so slowly but it will be at least another month of daily dressings before it will be completely closed. Seeing the faces of the doctors and pharmacists each time I get supplies and then telling them that I have biked across most of Canada with the injury is priceless.

The Cassiar Highway

The Cassiar is defined by the British Columbia Provincial Government as a remote wilderness highway! The road is nearly all paved and is just over 450 miles in length. The largest berry patch in North America runs through the Cassiar mountain valleys. This brings a variety of wildlife and lots of bears! I saw 15 bears along the Cassiar, many of which were walking on the road. Fortunately, we had no problems with the bears along the road which took us nine days to ride. Although chip sealed, many sections of the road have no paint markings and so it seems like a giant bicycle path. We rode beside one another down most of the road since there was only a vehicle about every hour. The trees come right against the edge of the road and serve as a good guardrail since the forest is so thick. As you travel down the road, you feel as if you are the first person to travel its winding route. The streams are perfectly clear, everything is green, and the snow-capped mountains serve as a barrier to keep off the coastal rains.

The Stewart-Hyder Detour

A 38 mile detour off the Cassiar Highway rewards the traveler with the scenery in Stewart, B.C. and Hyder, AK. The two towns are only separated by two miles and there is no U.S. border checkpoint, only one for Canada. Giant mountains are abundant and the glaciers go down to the road, which snakes its way through the valley. It was a 1,500 feet descent into Stewart and the bad news for me was that I knew I would face the same road in the opposite direction in two days time. We took a rest day in Stewart and headed over to Hyder, Alaska for the day. A few miles from Hyder is the Fish Creek bear sanctuary, a reserve managed by the National Park Service. Chum salmon were spawning up Fish Creek and I got to witness the end/beginning of the their amazing life cycles. Thousands of salmon were in the creek spawning while hundreds more lay dead on the sides after completing their three to five year life cycle. In the early morning and late afternoon, the bears would come down to do some fishing on the spawning salmon. The sanctuary has a viewing deck that allows the park's visitors to be less than 50 feet from grizzly and black bears feeding on the salmon. It was interesting to watch the bears fight over their own territory. They would only eat the skin off the salmon and then leave the rest for the birds and other wildlife before moving on to their next catch. After spending a few hours at the bear sanctuary, we decided to take a trip up to Salmon Glacier, the largest glacier in North America accessible by road. The road is only 18 miles in length, but climbs over 4,000 feet , and the surface is dusty gravel. We decided to catch a ride with some people and save our lungs for the road south. Marie and I rode up with a nice couple from Terrace, B.C. We arrived at the top of the marvelous glacier in style, since Ward and Kathy drove a 1984 red velvet Cadillac!

The Sign Forest

Just before leaving the Alaska Highway, I rode into Watson Lake. Watson Lake is a small community of a couple thousand people but has a very interesting feature thats sets it apart from all other towns I have ever visited. Watson Lake has a sign forest that began over twenty years ago. People from all over the World bring signs to hang up on these giant wooden posts in the center of town. The total count is now over 63,000 signs! Nearly all of the signs are official DOT highway signs, I am sure a few are stolen... Dad told me to have a look for the Western Carolina University sign since he knew there was one up there. Talk about looking for a needle in a haystack. I found Waynesville, Franklin, Asheville, Raleigh, Boone, and even Mount Airy but no Cullowhee or Western Carolina University. Maybe next time.

New Friends

I have been fortunate to have the company of some other riders on my ride south. Eric Fiala, from San Francisco has been riding with Marie and I since Whitehorse. He went to UCLA and got his graduate degree in computer science. He graduated in 2004 and worked for Adobe for a couple of years before deciding to take a long ride, much longer than mine! Eric also started in Prudhoe Bay and is riding all the way down to Patagonia, Argentina. It has been great to have him around for the last three weeks. We will have our last meal together here in Prince George before Marie and I head east for Jasper and Eric rides south for Vancouver. A Japanese rider named Hiro rode a few hundred miles with us at the end of the Cassiar. He began in Fairbanks and is also riding south for Patagonia. Hiro speaks very little English and speaks even less Spanish. "Oh Yes," was his favorite thing to say when you asked him something. Hiro decided to take a few rest days in Smithers, B.C. while the three of us pushed on for Prince George.

America!

I am counting the days until I am back into the United States. Canada has been beautiful but I am ready to be back down in the States. The Canadian dollar has been trading nearly even with the U.S. dollar for the last several months. This has made Canada very expensive, even on a bicycle. $8 for a jar of peanut butter and $5 for a loaf of bread would get me a great meal back home. Restaurants do not have free refills and drinks rarely come with ice! Prince George is about 650 miles from the Port of Roosville, which is on the Alberta and Montana border. I plan to cross in Roosville in two weeks! From there I will head south for Bozeman, where I plan to take a few rest days before navigating down through Yellowstone and Teton National Parks.

Riding Strong

Despite my injury, my body is doing incredibly well. I am averaging around 70 miles per day and pedaled two 90 mile days here into Prince George. My odometer for the trip is now over 3,700 miles and I have still only had two flats! Hopefully the healing process will continue on my arm and I will remain healthy as I work towards Cullowhee! I will be sure to keep you updated as to my progress and look for another newsletter soon after I am back home in the Red, White, and Blue!