the Weird and the Wonderful

Not all too surprisingly Canada is lovely in summer too.

Although the extremely brief transition period between winter and summer seems to confuse nature too.

It’s a strange feeling to be sweating and hot and cycle past big lumps of ice.

Or at 27 degrees celsius wanting to jump in the lake,

but the lake having different ideas.

I arrived in ‘Jade City’. Basically a shop in the middle of nowhere. With the most generous and friendly folk you can imagine.

I’d already seen the sign that lured me in a kilometer ago.

And upon my request if I could maybe charge a battery the reply came:

” Sure! And there’s the coffee in the back. You can use the free wi-fi if you like. And should you decide to camp here, there’s no charge! “

I had only 40km and it wasn’t even noon. But how could I refuse that?

So I had a look around,and learned that this family happens to have their own show on TV. (if interested have a look here)

Also, they were about to shut up shop in order to use the sunny weather and have a family BBQ at a nearby lake (one that wasn’t still frozen)

So what else would I do but join in the jolly celebrations of a sunny day.

I couldn’t stretch my stay much longer, even though I would’ve liked too.

With the promise to catch up later I threw myself back onto Stewart.

Stewart Cassiar that is, the road I’ve been cycling for a little while now. And the road threw me back some surprises.Not just the gorgeous scenery and the very pleasant cycling conditions. 

But also a nice variety of wildlife.Like big birds,

And small ones.

A cute little ground squirrel.

And some deer (or maybe caribou?)

Then there were a few encounters of the less innocent type,

I’ve already told you I don’t necessarily want to encounter bears.

And that I am exactly at the wrong place in the wrong time of year for that. 

And so, every time I see one my heart beats a little faster even though I know the chance anything is gonna happen is minimal.

Still.

They are big and scary (sometimes little and scary)

And even though I never sat on their chair, ate their porridge or slept in their bed, they still give me a fright. 

But, at least sometimes, the feeling seems to be mutual.

One day I spotted a small bear in the distance, or so I first thought. It hopped and limped across the road in a very odd way, and when I got closer I noticed the tail.

Most definitely not a bear.

It ran up and down the road in a most erratic fashion for a little while before disappearing into the scrub.

I wasn’t totally sure, but a trapper in the next community confirmed my suspicion. I’ve seen the very elusive Wolverine! And according to this fellow not ‘just’ a wolverine, but judging from my pictures he reckoned it to be a giant one.

Highly unusual and extremely lucky to see one running towards you, take a photo and be able to tell you about it!

Along the stories I’ve hears these beasts are known to attack grizzly’s vehicles and even helicopters. But I think maybe they’re just mis-understood.

With all these strange beast running around I get really good at hearing strange and frightening noises at night while camping. 

Like a weird drumming sound, I later discovered it’s the mating call of the ruffed grouse! Not something to be terribly worried about.

And of course nothing ever happens at night, except for me sleeping and having dreams about wild animals.

Lucky I’m pretty good at finding accommodations.

Here’s Marty

He works at the road camp at Bob Quinn Lake and didn’t mind me crashing in the workers-quarters.

Lovely sunsets out there too.True to their word the Jade-City folk passed me along the way and took me to Prince Rupert for a couple of days break where I encountered a very different sort of lifestyle. Staying on the boat a few nights and visiting a casino at night.

Not my scene at all and I didn’t find all the people staring at screens pushing random buttons very entertaining at all. But Steve pushed 100$ in my hands and told me to try. So I did and never wasted that much money so quickly before. What a terrible thing to do!

He continued feeding the machine, and did walk away with a bit more than I had ever seen in cash.

Still, not my thing. It was good to meet some people out on the boats.and to have glimpse at ‘the others’…

I was rather pleased to be reunited with my bicycle to continue the sort of live I prefer (and can afford 😉 I had decided to take a bit of a detour (surprisingly huh!) through the Nass Valley,

I’d seen it on the map and the volcanic landscape is pretty impressive,(probably even more so if you didn’t just spend four months cycling in Iceland)

It was still sunny and warm but storm clouds were rolling in and I found my self a perfect spot to pitch my tent in Rosswood.My timing was absolutely perfect.

And I spent a lovely morning making new friends and meeting some wonderful characters with great stories.

This is Bob.But you could probably tell.

One of the reasons I came here is to see a kermode bear, also called ‘Spirit Bears’.

These are actually just black bears but with a white coat. So A white black bear. Funny as it may sound.

Of course I ran into your usual black bear, even with cubs, But the one time you actually want to see one. You don’t.

I did hear many stories and even saw footage of people who’ve seen one.

But I saw other things.

Like a pile of shit that might or might not have been from a Kermode Bear.And a few waterfalls where I posed like I am a bicycle-clothing commercial.(which, of course. I am)

Taking a break at a lovely spot at the lake I seemed to have crashed a 6th birthday party. But the birthday boy and his brothers and sisters didn’t seem to mind as they appeared to be a lot more interested in my peanut butter sandwiches than any of the goods stalled out on the other picnic tables.

I didn’t hang around for long as I was on a mission to find a bear and it was already late afternoon.

And I  had places to go, things to see,and people to meet.

A car had pulled over to tell me the restaurant at Nass Camp had opened today.

I needed to go check that out and as it turns out the old workers-camp has been converted in a restaurant & accommodation.

I never planned to stay there as I wanted to get to Dragon lake.

But who am I to deny some amazing hospitality. Thanks to John & Shawn who took the time to drive me around and show me all the things I must not miss while in the area.

Like a small hidden hot spring.

And the search for that bear we just didn’t find.

But here a picture I found just to show you what they look like.

I’ll have to come back and look again one day. But for now I was in a little hurry to move a couple of thousand km south.

So from the turnoff on Highway 16 (the same road I already cycled last winter) I hitch hiked without any trouble to Vancouver.

Where I arrived just in time to welcome mum & dad to Canada.