CANADA! - 14 bears and heaps of hospitality

Canada! I must admit I was extremely blahzay about the thought of cycling through Canada, with it being a developed country and one that I'd lived in briefly years ago on an exchange year at The University of Toronto. Though I was wrong to think that way.... the remoteness, wildlife - BEARS! weather, sheer size and incredible hospitality of its people took me by surprise. It hadn't occurred to me before that Canada would be by far the largest leg of my trip so far and much bigger than crossing the US.

After leaving White Horse (see my last blog), I remained on the 2237 km long Alaskan Highway (which runs from Fairbanks, Alaska to Dawson Creek, Canada) heading south east in the vague direction of Vancouver. The weather had been much colder in Alaska, though Canada was still freezing and I was still waking up looking like a dead man in my tent with my water bottle frozen solid. It was still hugely remote and signposts which implied towns often led to nothing more than a closed down gas station. Thoughts of a warm coffee and a hot dog indoors after 130 plus freezing miles of seeing nothing but trees and mountains was something I would massively look forward to....and on finding a closed down gas station, having to eat my reserve supply of tinned sardines mashed up with some dry pasta by the roadside just didn't taste as good!

When i did finally reach an open service station the food was often incredible. hardly gourmet fancy french shit but huge hearty breakfasts consisting of inch thick pancakes drowned in maple syrup with eggs and sausages heaped on top. It tasted so good and made the long lonely stretches worthwhile! As well as the food one of my favorite things to do at gas stations was earwig conversations. This was a part of the world where men were men. They talked purely about trucking, hunting, oil, mechanics and sub zero conditions....in fact even the women were like men, often driving trucks..one lady at the cafe I over heard complaining about the inability to service her own car with the introduction of computer diagnostics and large numbers of imported cars - and this wasn't basic servicing she was talking about! I know somebody will accuse me of being sexist for that comment but I don't know many women that talk about adjusting the valve clearances on their car!

One conversation I remember well was about bears. I stopped at a gas station owned by a miserable bloke called Howard to fill my face with burger, fries and a Cherry Pie. Maybe its because being a pro gun old school cowboy sort he doesn't like blond haired men in Lycra, but Jesus was he miserable! Though his cooking was excellent. Shortly after my arrival an even older bloke   hobbled in determined to dominate the place. Howard wasn't impressed. Despite his age, cross eyes and inability to walk, to my amazement he was still hauling huge loads up and down the Alaskan highway in his truck. ....for 46 years, as he told me at least 100 times! Firstly he told everyone (you did not have a choice if you wanted to be involved in his conversation or not) how the treacherous old Alaskan highway had broken fellow truckers and made grown men cry.......followed by one elaborate bear story after another.....such as the one about an Italian cyclist who needed 360 stitches in his face after a bear attacked him. Just as I was beginning to think it was all BS another bloke sitting across the dinner shouted out, "Oh yeah, i remember that guy!" Maybe it wasn't all BS after all! Though I think the macho know it all fat truckers should try riding the Alaskan highway on a bicycle instead of sitting in a cozy warm cabin, that will separate the men from the boys!

Howard in the cowboy hat & Mr 46 years on the Alaskan Highway leaning against the till

As I headed south the cold snow of Alaska and the Yukon was replaced with rain as I approached the province of British Colombia. I preferred the snow, I could find ways of keeping warm...layering my clothes, lighting a fire at night...but with the heavy rain once I was wet I froze to the core. I remember arriving at what I thought would be an open gas station and RV Park, though when I arrived it was still closed for the season. Soaking wet and freezing cold I knocked on the ladies door anyway after noticing smoke coming out of her chimney. She told me that they were still waiting on the gas to arrive and the telephone was down! Pretty archaic in these parts! But I could stay in one of her wooden cabins for free and told me to put a few bits of kindling on the fire and it would soon get warm. Thinking I knew best I used the Axe I found outside the cabin to chop up a few logs to stoke up the fire. To cut a long story short it got so hot in there I thought I was going to burn the cabin down!! I had to leave the cabin door wide open to stop my skin from burning!! I left the next morning toasty dry and set off into the freezing rain, which fell as sleet on the higher passes. I soon became soaked to the core again.. I tried experimenting with washing up gloves over my cotton ones and wrapping my shoe covers - which were on there last legs, in cling film, though nothing seemed to work. Though I was about to be in for a real treat. After 1000's of freezing miles, not showering for weeks with my balls frozen and crushed into a hard plastic seat........I had reached the Liard hot springs! Jumping into that steamy hot water was heavenly.

Liard Hot Springs - completely natural and seriously hot

The wooden cabin I nearly set on fire

After my long soak I got back on my bike and cycled to Muncho Lake where I camped beside the huge frozen emerald green water and continued on to the first sizable town for a long time, Fort Nelson. Hotels were still extremely expensive in this remote part of Canada, though I fancied a night in a bed.I found some WIFI and googled "hostel Fort Nelson" on my phone on the off-chance one existed...and to my sheer amazement it did! I found the wooden hut hostel and knocked on the door. "Can I stay here?" I asked, "Of course you can", the lady replied. On asking how much she said it was free! It then quickly occurred to me this was not a hostel after all, it was a homeless shelter!! I had to sit down with the lady so she could ask me all sorts of questions about alcohol abuse and drug addiction and was showed to my room and told to help myself to any food from the kitchen! They even washed my clothes. I felt pretty guilty about staying in the shelter  as I sat on the sofa watching TV stuffing myself, so I went to the supermarket the next day to donate them some jams and what not! On saying bye bye the lady told me I should stay in the hostel when i arrived in Fort St John!?...which i'll come to later!

One thing I must mention is how incredibly generous the Canadian people were.. After my free night in the cabin and shelter, I cycled towards a place called Pink Mountain. On my way there I saw an enormous luxury camper by the side of the road in the lay-by. I thought I'd pull over to shelter from the pissing rain (yes it did actually rain everyday) and cook some grub, half hoping the people in the camper would invite me in.

As I was opening a can of sardines the couple came out for a chat, they were retired teachers from Maine who had broken down. The axle on there camper had snapped and they were waiting to be rescued. They were was so impressed with my cycle trip they gave me all the food in their fridge.....and then the bloke gave me a 100 dollar US bill! I half heartedly refused to accept it twice until he forced it into my hand and shouted, "take it quick before my wife sees!"
Thinking things couldn't get any better I arrived at pink mountain just as a huge storm was about to hit and walked into the lodge to find an all you can eat buffet being prepared. The lady at the lodge asked if I wanted to stay the night. I explained that I was away for a long time without working and had to watch my pennies. She replied, "for free I meant, i'll ask my manager if you can stay in one of the cabins", and I found myself in my only little porter cabin where the staff stayed and which were also rented out to local oil workers. There were warm communal showers and I definitely wasn't complaining!! I thought I should get breakfast there the next morning after their generosity, though on going to pay for breakfast the lady said, "Breakfast is on us today, and make sure you grab a sandwich from the fridge for the road!" Unbelievable!  My list of generosity cycling through Canada includes:

• 20 Canadian Dollars
• Offers of free weed and beer
• Gloves and a pair of shades from a homeless bloke at the shelter
• a packet of cigarette lighters from a crazy guy that chased after me in his car
• several bottles of mineral water
• A Coat from the lady at the Chinese Restaurant
• 100 dollar US Bill
• Numerous nights and accomodation and dinners cooked for me from people met on the road
• A night in a couples camper parked on their driveway.
• A night on a farm
• Bottlesof camping gas
• Loads of food
• Free Hugs, I met 2 people driving to Alaska on different occasions both from New Mexico who said in the thickest of southern accents, "I don't do handshakes where i'm from.... let me come over and give you a mighty big hug, Gold bless Ya!"

On reaching Fort St John I asked for the whereabouts of the local "hostel" and headed to it. This one was the real deal. Crazy drunks out the front shouting stuff out at me and playing around with my bike. It was the Salvation army Shelter. Fort St John was a much bigger town than Fort Nelson, I knew this could be a bad idea, but went in anyway. Looking at the state of me I think they actually thought I was homeless, and I smelt worse than most of the people in there, if they had any doubt. I was taken in for my brief interview and my bag checked for drugs, I felt like a regular at it by now. I had my excellent free meal and went into my dorm room.

Meal at the Salvation Army Shelter

No more private rooms. I was in a room sharing a bunk with 8 battered up alcoholic looking men! Apart from the guy having a go at me for taking a shower at 5:30 am....."SOME OF US HAVE TO TAKE A F'ING PISS AROUND HERE!!!!!!!!"..everyone was super friendly and they told me not to listen to that grumpy man! We chatted over breakfast and one guy offered me his gloves and shades which was nice, they were pretty manky to say the least but a nice gesture. One of the blokes kept trying to get me to go for free breakfast at another shelter, though as enjoyable as the experience had been, I felt i'd pushed my luck far enough and my homeless shelter days were over!! I went out to load up my bike to find that my speedo had been stolen, which was probably a lesson for staying for free in shelters!! It was a bit annoying as i'd clocked up 6000 miles and wanted a grand total for when I finish my trip. I managed to replace it for a 20 dollar speedo from Walmart.

14 Bears. As well as seeing foxes, wolfs, karibous, moose, elk, deer and numerous other animals, I had seen 14 bears since entering Canada, including 5 on my birthday alone. I was pooing myself a little less every time I saw them. A few of these bears did stand out though. Most of the time I would see them way up ahead by the road and flag someone down so they could drive between me and the bear. Though a couple caught me out by surprise, one right by the edge of the road that eyeballed me as I rode past and another huge one in a tree who climbed down as I rode past! One day I saw one right before I pitched my tent at night and another literally a mile down the road as I set of the next morning. One bloke from Alaska told me not to worry as they would be dozy now but everyone else said I needed to be extremely careful as they had just come out of hibernation and were hungry!!

Wild Bison

Heading south I finally hit Dawson Creek which is the historic "mile zero" of the Alaskan highway, as well as being a TV show I've never watched. I had been on the Alaskan highway since Tok in Alaska, nearly 1500 miles back and it was good to arrive. From Dawson Creek I took the 97 to Prince George where I stayed in a very friendly couples camper on their driveway, I had met them 50 miles earlier at a gas station and they had given me their address and offered to put me up. They fed me, washed my clothes and gave me some of their excellent home brew.

Mile 0 - Alaska Highway - Dawson Creek

Nice people! After endless rain the weather completely changed after Prince George. The Sun finally came out and it was bliss. On reaching a place called Lake La Hache  I was struggling to find a place to camp when I met a lady who said I could stay on her farm. We threw my bike in her pick up and headed off in the direction I had just cycled before heading up a dirt track for several kilometers before arriving at the most incredible farm house building overlooking its own private Lake. I discovered she was a single mum of 3 boys who looked after the farm herself, miking cows, taking care of goats, hunting the lot! Supermum! I knew this sounds like something from a an old school porno movie but it was just purely extremely kind Canadian hospitality! After the best nights sleep and being loaded with all sorts of homemade meats and cheeses I hit the road, and the mum and her boys set out to chop the bollocks off their neighbours one year old bull. It should have been done at birth and so was going to be a painful procedure.

Another's days ride finally  brought me to a junction where I left the 97 and joined the 99 road which took me up some serious 15 degree climbs through hot dusty 1st nations cowboy country, through the ski resort of Whistler and finally downhill and into Vancouver, where I am currently writing this blog and staying with an awesome mate of mine, Traavis, who i went to uni with in Canada. What a city. The 4000 KM from Anchorage took me just shy of a month.My knees have took a bit of a battering with the lack of rest, so some days off were due. Tomorrow i'll be hitting the road and in 30 miles will be in the US and looking forward to meet my good friend Donald.

4000 kms after leaving Freezing Alaska.......Arriving in Beautiful Vancouver in perfect weather - it rains a lot here so people go mental when the sun comes like in England!

Traavis and his wife...who i went to University of  Toronto with on exchange 16 years ago!

One of many beautiful lakes i saw in British Colombia

Lilloet - the hottest town in British Colombia - up to 44 degrees in summer

Sharing my food with a dog whilst taking shelter from the rain on my birthday - jacket is courtesey of the lady at the Chinese Restaurant who saw me soaking wet and freezing!

Trying to make my shoes waterproof

A very wet Dawson Creek

Another Great Breaky

Signpost Forest - Watson Lake

This should keep the bears away!

This closed gas station is all that exists in the town of Fireside!

The farm I stayed with the mum and her 3 boys - the nearest vechile is a machine to turn the lake into a skate arena!

The couple that put me up in there motor home - great home made beer too

Broken spoke, buckled wheel and zero brake pads for too long!

Camping!

Seeing the Ocean again for the first time since leaving Anchorage as I approached Vancouver

ALASKA!

Anchorage, Alaska! I had finally arrived at the starting point for my big 14,000 mile-ish ride from the top of North America to the southernmost tip of  South America.  Though getting here from Bangkok had not been plain sailing...

Flight 1 – Bangkok to Japan – Charged almost the price of my flight ticket to bring my bike on board and had to show my account balance to be able to fly as I had no onward flight booked from Japan.

Flight 2 - Japan – Sydney – Did not have Australian visa and was not able to board plane! My fault....it never even occurred to me.  Checkout guy squeals at me in the highest pitch voice you’ve ever  heard...”no visa no flyyyyyy!” without an ounce of sympathy, reminiscent of the Chinese guy from the film The hangover who shouts, ”suck on my tiny Chinese.....” I walk away in a strop and impulsively start booking a flight on my phone to Kazakhstan, deciding to knock Australia on the head and cycle home from there instead. Mr No fly finds me in the airport 15 minutes later..... “I make special arrangement for youuuuu”. He seems to have pulled some strings, booked me on the evening flight and got me the e-visa sorted  too. Fair play.

Flight 3 Sydney – Hawaii –Get to check in and am told that I can’t board the flight as I don’t have a flight leaving the States! Cycling out doesn’t count. I go off and find the cheapest flight I can, Florida to Colombia for 90n quid, and I’m allowed to fly.

Flight 4 Hawaii – Anchorage, Alaska – plain sailing, they don’t even check the weight of my bike box. Though when I get to check in I realise I’ve left my tent in Hawaii!!!

All that forgotten, I get to arrivals and am relieved to find my big cardboard bike box waiting for me. Assembling my bike at 5am I see another bloke putting his bike together. He’s what they call in Alaska a “snowbird” – someone that has gone down south to escape the harsh winter. I forget his name, but a friendly weathered hick sort of looking bloke who had been working on a chicken farm in Arizona, who kindly offered to show me where my hostel was.  As we leave the airport and cycle into the city, apart from my hands being freezing cold the other thing I notice is there is not a single car insight! On the way to the “Bent prop Inn” where I’m staying we pass a frozen lake runway and the blokes former house where his ex-wife is now living. It now occurs to me that he doesn’t have a home to return to! We grab a coffee while waiting for the Inn to open (things open late in Alaska – they do it their way).  The lady working on the hostel is pretty savage and says he can’t come in, though Anchorage is a small town and apparently he knew someone else that worked there and was hoping to ask for a job – nice bloke I hope it works out for him.

I grabbed an hours sleep and went to the outdoor shop to replace my lost tent and buy a stove (I wasn’t going to - so glad I did!!) and stocked up on food and bear spray in readiness to hit the  road!! Walking around the town I met a top British bloke who had been living there for many years with his family. His name was Finn and he invited me for breakfast and showed me around the local area. Despite being the capital of the state Anchorage is a very sleepy place with a lawless cowboy feel to it, where people drive Harleys without helmets. The downtown is a bit of a ghost town and has virtually no traffic. A few years back it was apparently full of strip clubs. Apparently things are tightening up now but living in Alaska a few years ago you could do pretty much whatever you wanted. With everything being imported from the states through Canada it is however very expensive, a loaf of bread is 5 bucks.  Homelessness and drugs are a big problem with many native intuits that have moved into the city living permanently drunk on the streets.

Breakfast with Fin

Downtown Anchorage

Anxious to hit the road I left Anchorage the following afternoon and started heading east in the direction of Tok.  I didn’t get on the road till 3pm and did a short 55 mile first day, somewhat nervous yet also excited about camping my first night in Alaska. I spent the first night in a field outside the town of Palmer. I woke up freezing with my water bottle solid but it was a bear free first night!  After Palmer things became extremely remote, though the scenery was spectacular. Alaska was the sort of place that hadn’t seemed to change in years, blokes had big beards (not the manicured pathetic things boys have in east London), really bushy beards and carry guns. Its so remote that many of the tiny villages have runways for light aircraft and its often 150 miles between towns. Well, a town here is a gas station! This is where the gas stove came in handy – looking back I’m not sure if I could have survive without it as cooking pasta with a can of tuna was my staple  diet for many days.  Its by far the most remote place I’ve cycled and you definitely need to plan ahead. I later realised that most people who do this route start a month later when its warmer and the few campsites and service stations you come across are no longer boarded shut for winter.  To get the full Alaskan experience I tuned my radio into the local station where I heard famous classics such as, sound of the seal, the seal song and Ice Alaska.

Meeting Santa

1st Camp in Alaska - just outside Palmer

During my cycle east through Alaska I bought myself an Alaskan number plate from an old guy with a massive beard, who told me he brought up the bear “little Bart” from the film The Revenant – I haven’t seen it and neither has he – well anyone with a beard like that could never admit to watching a Leonardo De Caprio film! In fact all the people I met were very friendly, even the guy who opened the door with a pistol in his hand when I knocked on his caravan to ask for some water! He ended up giving me a sandwich too (I boil lake water for cooking but I didn’t have any purification tablets so try to get tap water for drinking). Another lady who was taking care of her friends lodge invited me in for breakfast after seeing my freeze camping by the roadside. The place was like something from a 70’s movie with Bear skins all over the war and a beautiful stove burning away – it was heaven walking in there after freezing my tits off overnight in the tent. Speaking of tents, its the only thing I’m glad to have lost. The new one I can actually sit up in without hitting my head on the ceiling and raindrops coming in.

Boiling Broccoli - life saving stove

House in Chistochina where i was invited for Breakfast - check out the decor!

Alaska was over too quickly. It would have nice to have seen more of it, the north is apparently more beautiful but cycling north into even colder climates when you have 14,000 miles to do in the opposite direction is hard to do! 500 miles and several freezing nights in a tent took me to the border with Canada (The Yukon). As if to emphasise just how big the place is.....Canada customs is 20 miles away from the US border! I’d already been on the road for 100 mountainous miles at this point, riding an unexpected 20 more to the Canadian border was pretty brutal!!

The Canadian arrival at the extremely remote micro- town of Bever Creek was as friendly as they are renowned for. After the normal formalities the immigration lady takes my photo by the border and, being a keen cyclists herself, asks if there’s anything else I need. I explain that I’m about to run out of cooking gas. She immediately calls her boyfriend who drives to meet me in his pick up and offers me a room in their house for the night. I hadn’t had a shower since leaving Anchorage but took them up on the offer without hesitation. I hadn’t had a shower in nearly a week and must have absolutely stunk! They were legendary, they fed me up, gave me 2 bottles of gas, sun cream, loads of food for the roads...and the shower was heavenly.  They explained to me that because of the difficulty in getting Canadians to work in such a remote inhospitable place (minus 40 in winter and a 500 mile round trip to get groceries from the nearest town, Whitehorse!!!) there million dollar government house is free and their salaries a lot higher.

Canadian Border

Amazing hospitality at Bever Creek - Canadian Border

I hit the road the next morning feeling like a new man! It was about to be an interesting day on the road. Up until now I had seen all sorts of animals on the roads, Caribou, fox, hares but not the legendary Grizzly Bear, until now! There was a huge one right ahead of me crossing the road. Even though I was a way back I could clearly see it cross the road (Its mass occupied half of one carriageway) and sit by the side of it.  I waited until an oncoming truck went past and it ran away...then past it like I was doing a sprint finish.  Around 3 miles up the road an oncoming RV flags me down where an old Alaskan couple – snowbirds I presume – say in a deep Alaskan accent, “there’s a great big grizzly right back there about a mile back!” . Apparently this area of Canada has the highest number of Grizzly Bears anywhere in the world.  They kindly offer to turn around and see me past it. A part of me hopes its still there, but he’s gone.  And again, a mile or so later a bloke passes by in a pickup who slows down grits his teeth and starts peeling his fingers over bear- claw style. Either he believes he’s a bear, or he’s trying to tell me there’s on ahead, though I didn’t see it.

I keep pedalling into the evening, days are long and nightfall isn’t until 10:30pm. As I start to climb up the mountain pass the weather become more and more miserable and freezing rain is coming down. At the top of the pass there is a lay-by with a wooden outhouse. I take shelter there and start cooking some grub, which with methane and what not is probably a bad idea on hindsight. With the rain getting heavy, fresh memories of bears and nightfall coming, I figure it’s better to sleep in the bog than try and pitch my tent somewhere.  I managed to sleep reasonably well considering the cold...but what I didn’t expect to see when I opened the toilet door that morning was a snow storm!! It was coming down thick and fast. I put on all my clothes and was frozen to the core as I left my luxury accommodation.  My hands were in agony, I wore 2 pairs of gloves and tied two knots in the bottom of my over trousers and put them over my hands which helped somewhat but they were still frozen. Around 11am in warmed up a little.

Grizzly Bear on the Highway

Gourmet cooking in a Bog

Waking up to snow

100 miles later and after another big day on the Alaskan Highway I reached the top of the pass 20 miles away from the town of Haines Junction where I saw a cyclist coming towards me. He was a teacher, who immediately offered me a place to stay.  It’s got to me more comfortable than a toilet I thought. His family home was awesome. They had goats, chickens, all sorts. He explained to me he was an “outdoors teacher” and taught kids how to trap animals! I’m not so keen on killing animals myself but it was fascinating stuff. His wife was a former carpenter who had a business selling hand made products from the fur, gloves made from lynx and all sorts.  They fed me up proper, gave me some wild bison sausage for the road and I set goodbye. Nice family.

Awesome Pancake Breakfast

These are Lynx apparently

By now it had been too many 100 plus mile days in a row and my legs were like jelly. A hard 100 mile day took me to my current location of Whitehorse, which is the capital of the Yukon and by far the biggest place in the province. Instead of camping it was the chance to stay in a hostel and chill out a bit.....I say that, I was woken up by my bed being rocked madly at 5:31 this morning by an earthquake which measured 6.3 in the Richter scale!  It was big national news!!! Didn’t expect that one!