We made it to Valdez, AK

It is Sunday morning, June 22, the day after the summer solstice. The solstice is usually not too big a deal for us Texans but up here it is quite different. We went to bed about 11:30 last night and the sun was as bright as it is about 3 or 4 o'clock back home! We are in an RV park near the waterfront and looking out my front window, the clouds and rain have moved on and the sun, mountains and birds are in full glory this morning! But before I go on I need to step back and get you caught up.

Still in Kelowna, BC, Cynthia and I went for a great bike ride on the Kelowna Valley Rail Trail. This section, the Myra Canyon portion, is a 12 mile roundtrip that traverses 18 trestles and 2 tunnels. This rail trail was built on land acquired from the Canadian Pacific Railway and is now a national historic site in Canada. In 2003 a major forest fire swept through the area and destroyed many of the trestles and bridge decks but since then all have been restored. What is great about this ride is that since it is on a railroad bed the gradient is very mild at about 2% thus there was only a 100ft rise in the 6 miles out.

 

Display board showing fire

 

Cynthia heading out

 

You ride in a U shape

 

 

Looking down

 

 

 

 

 

 

Tunnel braceing 12x12s

 

The next morning with Mark back in town, I joined him and Hayley for another ride to the same place Hayley and I went a couple of days earlier. Although we only rode about 6 miles the first 45 minutes or so were up hill so it was a good workout. Of course coming down was fun!

Thursday was time to move on and begin to work our way north with our next destination the Stewat, BC/Hyder, AK area. It was mid day by the time we actually were on the road. The late start kept us from getting too far so we made camp at a nice provincial park at Lac la Hache. Another overnight in Smithers, BC and a long day driving put us in Stewart/Hyder late the next day.

 

Stewart and Hyder in the next post...

 

 

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