One of them bridges
My plan yesterday was to leave Dease Lake and make it to Houston, B.C. I checked out early in the morning, and I was on the Cassiar again. This highway makes me think of the Natchez Trace, in that it cuts North to South through a set of amazing forests. The Cassiar definitively left the best for last. From Dease Lake to its intersection with Highway 16 is just impressing. As I rode throughout the day, I felt my hands or feet could touch the rivers that flowed by the edge of the road. Bridges came in multiple styles, especially the most hated type by motorbikers, the steel grate type, which makes you ride really slowly, with your wheels wiggling all over the place. However, more interesting, are the ones made of wooden planks. The feel, as you ride over it, is great, smooth and soft. However, in wet and cold conditions they can be very slippery. So, regardless, you approach these with care.
Snow and ice covered mountains continued to blow my mind at every turn, as I listened to my Voices of Praise playlist. It was hard to choose between Glorious, and Beautiful One, as I looked at the wonders of creation unfolding in front of me. A new scheme of rock and ice was shown to me yesterday, as one of the mountains showed an ice on rock wrap pattern, with the lines flowing horizontally, instead of vertically. In the end, the sounds of Amazing Grace brought it all together for me. After all, my list has three versions of it.
Da Bear
The day also proved to be extraordinary because of bears. On one hand, I was greeted by black bears four different times. On the other, the highlight of the day came from Bear Glacier. One of the recommendations that came from fellow riders was to take a small detour along the way, to go to Stewart-Hyder, a couple of small towns across each other from the Canada Alaska border. As I came to the point of deciding whether a 100 km detour (50 each way) was worth it, I was leaning towards bypassing it. However, a small sign at the intersection talked about bears and glaciers. That sealed the deal. I rolled towards the small towns, hoping for glaciers. However, cross winds tumbling down the mountains started to change my mind. I decided to plow along for a bit more. Just when I was ready to give up, Bear Glacier came into view. Unbelievable. The glacier comes down from the mountain almost to the road side. To top it, I could see waterfalls formed by the ice melt came down on the sides. Wow.
By late afternoon I passed through Smithers, which was too developed for me. A few kilometers later, Telkwa lake was in front of me. On a whim, I checked the local provincial park. The most beautiful campsite I have had. Surrounded by aspens and flowers, my campsite was quiet and perfect.