Summer 1997 - Yukon to California
Journals - 23 July 1997
Day 13
23 July 1997 (sunny; rain; etc.; sometimes very sunny; mileage = 28.2;
Sunshine Coast Salmon Station, B.C.) -- X
- We got up a bit late this morning. The campsite (surprisingly) quieted
down quite nicely in the night and I slept very well. We finally did get
going and it was more of the same like we had yesterday afternoon --
houses, businesses, resorts, etc. We turned off of the main road to head to
Comox-Little River. That was a nice place. We saw more very tame deer. Some
looked like fake deer lawn ornaments. We got to the ferry terminal just as
it was pulling away. This meant a 4-hour wait. This was OK, since the sun
was very bright and it gave us a chance to dry our things some more. April
even washed some clothes in the bathrooms. We made a good lunch of beans
and pasta. We used up 4 hours quite easily. We got on the ferry and tied
our bikes down. We were very warm in the main room of the ferry and went
outside after a while in there. It was warm out there, too, but it was also
over. We rolled off the ferry quickly and stopped at the terminal building
to use the services. I talked to a young German riding an Ortlieb-equipped
bike. He was on a multi-week, not multi-year trip. He said the ride from
Van. was hilly, and as we left, it was very steep! We got to the grocery
store and April bought some food for us. We then went to Robin's Donuts and
bought a dozen. We got going and rode some moderately hilly terrain with a
great view of the ocean. The worst thing was the lack of a shoulder here,
although the traffic was a bit better here. We had only gone about 10 miles
when I noticed an interesting-looking place. I had to pee, so we stopped.
It's a salmon gate and control facility. They catch spawning salmon here
and count them and other stuff. Well, we're about a month early for it, so
we're hoping there won't be any cranky people or bears. There is a nice
grassy area with picnic tables here. This is obviously a public place and
it doesn't say "no camping." I did a GREAT job of hanging the food. The
trees around here are much better suited for it than anywhere else we've
been.
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