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Pacific Coast Hwy 101, BC, Canada camping trip
Well, the dust has settled and I finally have time to post this report to the forum,
Decided to head out to Powell River, BC and head south down the coast, as I have lived here for 30 years, and have never ridden that chunk of road. Sent out an offer to Johnny Yukon to join me for 3-4 days to explore, and it didn't take much convincing to get him to go with me. He arrived at my house Friday night, all loaded up with his gear, and we set out on Saturday, June 28th...Happy birthday to ME! Caught the boat at Little River, Comox, set in for the 1hr and 20min crossing time, and headed North when the ferry delivered us to the mainland. I managed to get all the clothes and supplies I needed into my tankbag, along with the tent, new folding cot, and sleeping bag/pillow on the back... All except for raingear... This is the place they call the Sunshine Coast, and it didn't look too bad for weather at all, but that came and went so rapidly I was amazed.
Hooked up on Hwy 101 and headed North to Lund, which is a decent road and takes you as far north as you can go, all of a 20 minute ride, and once there we had lunch... $9.95 for a burger at the Lund hotel, but the waterfront balcony view made up for the expensive meal. Took off south afterwards, and decided on a campsite at Palm Beach Provincial park... The road along the coast here was pretty good, minus the traffic, plenty of twisties to keep you smiling. Got all set up, then went to wash up and John noticed a RESERVED ticket on our site... OOOPS!!! Oh well, I'm here now I said, and am not about to move, so off came the ticket... what ticket...??? lol I didn't see no ticket there! Turns out the people were a no-show anyhow, so it didn't matter at all... Ran to town to get munchies and electrolytes, and set in for the night. The ranger told us that earlier that morning a black bear was taken out in a trap form this area... ok it's been removed so no problems... sitting around the Campfire at about 12:20 AM, and John (nearest the bushes) hears this loud crashing/cracking in the bush not 15 feet from the chairs! We both get up, I grab the biggest stick, and start backing up... about 15 seconds later, more crashing in the bush and whatever was there takes off away from us... Excuse me, I got to go change my shorts now... Scared the hell out of both of us to put it lightly, and we decided it was not a deer or raccoon as the noise was far too loud, as well as the steps it made, which were audible in loud thumps... which leaves a cougar or a bear... most likely the latter, but I wasn't about to go find out... Time to go to sleep now...HA! right, not likely... I decide that if my number is up and I am to die by being eaten by a bear, then so be it... off to bed!
Awoke around 9:30 am, tore down camp, and checked out the map to see where we were about to go... another ferry over from Saltery bay to Earl's cove, 50 mins... Clouds in the sky looked a bit intimidating, but so far we stayed dry. After a wait for the boat, we set sail and with the hills on both sides and huge peaks in the distance, felt like we were in the fjords of Norway, it was beautiful, even though the clouds made it a bit dark out. Just under an hour later, we landed at Earl's Cove, and thankfully were first off the boat, as the upcoming piece of road should have had a toll booth at the beginning. It was so much fun I figure they could charge admission to ride it! For about 30 KM's it was nothing but left after right, left, up, down right,left...etc, etc... What a great hunk of pavement!!! we followed a new Kawasaki 1500 off the boat, and had a fully loaded HD Road King behind us, soon to be WAY behind us. I followed the Kawi, and after the first 5 km's or so had had enough, so we blew past him and took the lead. Most corners, even though posted at 30-50 km's were easily conquered at 60-80, and we just carved our way into Sechelt. Next came the rain! What? It is not supposed to do this to me! We hit the first service station, got under cover, took off the lids, and the grin on our faces lit up the entire area... Unbelievable!!! That was GREAT!!! I could ride that ALL day! Both of us agreed that it was one of the best pieces of roads to ride so far that we had found in the PNW... Only beef is it is too short! Drove south passing Pender Harbor, Half Moon Bay and Smuggler's Cove before arriving in Sechelt. Stood around for the rain to let up, and it did a bit, so we went off again, only to pull in when it started up harder..Whew, another gas station... We parked, I bagged up my sleeping bag, pillow and sheepskin, and after 40 mins or so, took off. Wet roads, but no more rain coming down, and after a brief 10 min ride we found the nights accommodations. Robert's Creek Provincial camp ground... We found a site with great tree cover, and off loaded the bikes fast, as the rains were about to start again. Both of us got set up as quickly as we could, and sat in the tents until the rain decided to stop. Lit the fire, and John ran into town for "stuff" but forgot the cargo net. Upon his return, his inner jacket was stuffed with : 6 wieners, 8 buns, 1 bottle of ketchup, 1 bottle of mustard, and the all important half sack of brew... Looked a bit funny, but it works... Had dinner, lounged, and met the neighbors who were from Hinton, Alberta... sat up with them chatting until around midnight, and headed for bed soon after...
Awoke to the spatter of rain in the am, and the family from Hinton invited us over for coffee, and fed us breakfast too... Super nice bunch... Their little girl wanted to see us the night before, but by the time we got there, she was in bed, so we took her over to the bikes for a look and pictures... Kids just love bikes for some reason don't they??? We headed into Gibson's to check it out, and toolied off on some back roads exploring the coastline, took more pictures, went as far south as we could go before you need to take another ferry to Vancouver, and returned north to the campsite. We decided to go back to Earl's Cove and re-ride that section of wonderful twisties. It began to rain again, but at this point all that got wet on me was from the knees down, and John had his waterproof riding suit on, so after a brief fit on my part about the miserable rain, we took off... Even better riding this road the second time around... until we got stuck behind a bus that would not use the pull-outs to let the 5 cars behind him go by... Once he pulled over to drop off passengers, we were off again, chasing one another until we soon arrived at the end of the road. Hung a left and went for a quick jaunt down to Egmont on the Skookumchuck Narrows, took a quick pic and headed for camp. One thing this section of road does is let you hone your cornering skills, and I quickly learned to look ahead in the turns to see where it is you want to go, and not at the 50 feet of road you are in at that moment, I found this a great help in hitting my apexes, and cutting a cleaner line through the turns. Returned to Gibson's, gassed up, got dinner, and went to camp. Pants and boots dried out mostly by the time we got back to the tents, so we had dinner, and observed our new neighbors with the funkiest music I have ever heard... All I could think is "This is going to be a LONG night! Sounded like they were Russian but were not sure. One of the crew there was dancing around, made for some good entertainment, until she infiltrated our site, and had this surprised look on her face like she didn't even know we were there... UHOH! Time to bail... At that moment one of the other neighbors came over, She was Chinese and did not speak a word of English, but John knew the way she was chirping and pointing at the fire exactly what she wanted, so he bravely grabbed some wood, took a piece out of our fire and ran away with her and it, leaving me with the funky music loving dancer... Thanks bud!!! The Russian bunch tore down camp and she left, and not a moment too soon... Drunk, and yammering about the strangest things... Good riddance! Upon Johns return to camp, the Chinese family came over with an offering of watermelon and beer... a great camping combo!!! We accepted, and went to sit with them for an interesting 2 hours or so... New immigrants, just got their citizenship in Canada, and had a million questions, mostly about Banff and Jasper in Alberta, one of John's favorite places to go... He had all the answers for them. Another great bunch, with the cutest kids... I figured it was only 10 pm so I loaded them up with Wine Gum candies to make their attempt at sleeping later on that night a bit more interesting... We were the last ones up in the area again, seems to be a pattern with us, so at around 1am we crashed out for the night...
Got up at 9am the next morning, tore down camp, loaded up the bikes, and headed for breakfast, and then to get the first of 2 boats to take us back home. Whooohoo!!! Another chance to rip up through those twisties again... Only for the 4th time... Nice weather all the way back to Powell River, where we had a 3 hour wait for the boat, so we gassed up again and went off exploring the area. John went one road I didn't want to go on to get to Haywire Bay, a bit too much gravel for me to subject my bike to, but upon his return, told me it was not too bad at all... He found a great campground there, just a beautiful area, so we stated that one for the next trip here. Boarded the ferry at 5:15, along with a guy on a Wing from Cal. Had a good chat with him during the wait for the boat. Looked at home, the sky was BLACK... Only 10 mins to get in the driveway, so that is ok... let it rain all it wants now!!! Off loaded the boat at Little River, Comox, escorted the Wing to the road to Victoria, and got in at 6:50 pm... tired, dirty, but with a BIG grin on my face that said loud and clear just how much fun I had in the last 4 days... Any more and we would have been thrown in jail... A great trip that is rideable in a day, if you line up your ferries, but more enjoyable for an overnight trip... Until next time, I have lots of pics to look at to remind me of the Coast...
PICTURES available at this link, but I think you need to register and log in to view them... worth the time...;-) www.imagestation.com/members/skinnybiker OR http://www.imagestation.com/album/?id=4289778307
Dennis McLaughlin -aka- Skinny Biker
Courtenay, BC
1981 Yamaha XS1100 Special "Rollin' Thunder"
Decided to head out to Powell River, BC and head south down the coast, as I have lived here for 30 years, and have never ridden that chunk of road. Sent out an offer to Johnny Yukon to join me for 3-4 days to explore, and it didn't take much convincing to get him to go with me. He arrived at my house Friday night, all loaded up with his gear, and we set out on Saturday, June 28th...Happy birthday to ME! Caught the boat at Little River, Comox, set in for the 1hr and 20min crossing time, and headed North when the ferry delivered us to the mainland. I managed to get all the clothes and supplies I needed into my tankbag, along with the tent, new folding cot, and sleeping bag/pillow on the back... All except for raingear... This is the place they call the Sunshine Coast, and it didn't look too bad for weather at all, but that came and went so rapidly I was amazed.
Hooked up on Hwy 101 and headed North to Lund, which is a decent road and takes you as far north as you can go, all of a 20 minute ride, and once there we had lunch... $9.95 for a burger at the Lund hotel, but the waterfront balcony view made up for the expensive meal. Took off south afterwards, and decided on a campsite at Palm Beach Provincial park... The road along the coast here was pretty good, minus the traffic, plenty of twisties to keep you smiling. Got all set up, then went to wash up and John noticed a RESERVED ticket on our site... OOOPS!!! Oh well, I'm here now I said, and am not about to move, so off came the ticket... what ticket...??? lol I didn't see no ticket there! Turns out the people were a no-show anyhow, so it didn't matter at all... Ran to town to get munchies and electrolytes, and set in for the night. The ranger told us that earlier that morning a black bear was taken out in a trap form this area... ok it's been removed so no problems... sitting around the Campfire at about 12:20 AM, and John (nearest the bushes) hears this loud crashing/cracking in the bush not 15 feet from the chairs! We both get up, I grab the biggest stick, and start backing up... about 15 seconds later, more crashing in the bush and whatever was there takes off away from us... Excuse me, I got to go change my shorts now... Scared the hell out of both of us to put it lightly, and we decided it was not a deer or raccoon as the noise was far too loud, as well as the steps it made, which were audible in loud thumps... which leaves a cougar or a bear... most likely the latter, but I wasn't about to go find out... Time to go to sleep now...HA! right, not likely... I decide that if my number is up and I am to die by being eaten by a bear, then so be it... off to bed!
Awoke around 9:30 am, tore down camp, and checked out the map to see where we were about to go... another ferry over from Saltery bay to Earl's cove, 50 mins... Clouds in the sky looked a bit intimidating, but so far we stayed dry. After a wait for the boat, we set sail and with the hills on both sides and huge peaks in the distance, felt like we were in the fjords of Norway, it was beautiful, even though the clouds made it a bit dark out. Just under an hour later, we landed at Earl's Cove, and thankfully were first off the boat, as the upcoming piece of road should have had a toll booth at the beginning. It was so much fun I figure they could charge admission to ride it! For about 30 KM's it was nothing but left after right, left, up, down right,left...etc, etc... What a great hunk of pavement!!! we followed a new Kawasaki 1500 off the boat, and had a fully loaded HD Road King behind us, soon to be WAY behind us. I followed the Kawi, and after the first 5 km's or so had had enough, so we blew past him and took the lead. Most corners, even though posted at 30-50 km's were easily conquered at 60-80, and we just carved our way into Sechelt. Next came the rain! What? It is not supposed to do this to me! We hit the first service station, got under cover, took off the lids, and the grin on our faces lit up the entire area... Unbelievable!!! That was GREAT!!! I could ride that ALL day! Both of us agreed that it was one of the best pieces of roads to ride so far that we had found in the PNW... Only beef is it is too short! Drove south passing Pender Harbor, Half Moon Bay and Smuggler's Cove before arriving in Sechelt. Stood around for the rain to let up, and it did a bit, so we went off again, only to pull in when it started up harder..Whew, another gas station... We parked, I bagged up my sleeping bag, pillow and sheepskin, and after 40 mins or so, took off. Wet roads, but no more rain coming down, and after a brief 10 min ride we found the nights accommodations. Robert's Creek Provincial camp ground... We found a site with great tree cover, and off loaded the bikes fast, as the rains were about to start again. Both of us got set up as quickly as we could, and sat in the tents until the rain decided to stop. Lit the fire, and John ran into town for "stuff" but forgot the cargo net. Upon his return, his inner jacket was stuffed with : 6 wieners, 8 buns, 1 bottle of ketchup, 1 bottle of mustard, and the all important half sack of brew... Looked a bit funny, but it works... Had dinner, lounged, and met the neighbors who were from Hinton, Alberta... sat up with them chatting until around midnight, and headed for bed soon after...
Awoke to the spatter of rain in the am, and the family from Hinton invited us over for coffee, and fed us breakfast too... Super nice bunch... Their little girl wanted to see us the night before, but by the time we got there, she was in bed, so we took her over to the bikes for a look and pictures... Kids just love bikes for some reason don't they??? We headed into Gibson's to check it out, and toolied off on some back roads exploring the coastline, took more pictures, went as far south as we could go before you need to take another ferry to Vancouver, and returned north to the campsite. We decided to go back to Earl's Cove and re-ride that section of wonderful twisties. It began to rain again, but at this point all that got wet on me was from the knees down, and John had his waterproof riding suit on, so after a brief fit on my part about the miserable rain, we took off... Even better riding this road the second time around... until we got stuck behind a bus that would not use the pull-outs to let the 5 cars behind him go by... Once he pulled over to drop off passengers, we were off again, chasing one another until we soon arrived at the end of the road. Hung a left and went for a quick jaunt down to Egmont on the Skookumchuck Narrows, took a quick pic and headed for camp. One thing this section of road does is let you hone your cornering skills, and I quickly learned to look ahead in the turns to see where it is you want to go, and not at the 50 feet of road you are in at that moment, I found this a great help in hitting my apexes, and cutting a cleaner line through the turns. Returned to Gibson's, gassed up, got dinner, and went to camp. Pants and boots dried out mostly by the time we got back to the tents, so we had dinner, and observed our new neighbors with the funkiest music I have ever heard... All I could think is "This is going to be a LONG night! Sounded like they were Russian but were not sure. One of the crew there was dancing around, made for some good entertainment, until she infiltrated our site, and had this surprised look on her face like she didn't even know we were there... UHOH! Time to bail... At that moment one of the other neighbors came over, She was Chinese and did not speak a word of English, but John knew the way she was chirping and pointing at the fire exactly what she wanted, so he bravely grabbed some wood, took a piece out of our fire and ran away with her and it, leaving me with the funky music loving dancer... Thanks bud!!! The Russian bunch tore down camp and she left, and not a moment too soon... Drunk, and yammering about the strangest things... Good riddance! Upon Johns return to camp, the Chinese family came over with an offering of watermelon and beer... a great camping combo!!! We accepted, and went to sit with them for an interesting 2 hours or so... New immigrants, just got their citizenship in Canada, and had a million questions, mostly about Banff and Jasper in Alberta, one of John's favorite places to go... He had all the answers for them. Another great bunch, with the cutest kids... I figured it was only 10 pm so I loaded them up with Wine Gum candies to make their attempt at sleeping later on that night a bit more interesting... We were the last ones up in the area again, seems to be a pattern with us, so at around 1am we crashed out for the night...
Got up at 9am the next morning, tore down camp, loaded up the bikes, and headed for breakfast, and then to get the first of 2 boats to take us back home. Whooohoo!!! Another chance to rip up through those twisties again... Only for the 4th time... Nice weather all the way back to Powell River, where we had a 3 hour wait for the boat, so we gassed up again and went off exploring the area. John went one road I didn't want to go on to get to Haywire Bay, a bit too much gravel for me to subject my bike to, but upon his return, told me it was not too bad at all... He found a great campground there, just a beautiful area, so we stated that one for the next trip here. Boarded the ferry at 5:15, along with a guy on a Wing from Cal. Had a good chat with him during the wait for the boat. Looked at home, the sky was BLACK... Only 10 mins to get in the driveway, so that is ok... let it rain all it wants now!!! Off loaded the boat at Little River, Comox, escorted the Wing to the road to Victoria, and got in at 6:50 pm... tired, dirty, but with a BIG grin on my face that said loud and clear just how much fun I had in the last 4 days... Any more and we would have been thrown in jail... A great trip that is rideable in a day, if you line up your ferries, but more enjoyable for an overnight trip... Until next time, I have lots of pics to look at to remind me of the Coast...
PICTURES available at this link, but I think you need to register and log in to view them... worth the time...;-) www.imagestation.com/members/skinnybiker OR http://www.imagestation.com/album/?id=4289778307
Dennis McLaughlin -aka- Skinny Biker
Courtenay, BC
1981 Yamaha XS1100 Special "Rollin' Thunder"