Duffy Lake to Merritt BC

I have been riding many of the good motorcycle roads in BC and was happy to share my experience with fellow riders at NAFO.  One of my favorite roads Hwy 8 aka the Nicola Hwy from Merritt to Spences Bridge.  It is a roller coaster road with poor sight lines and is reasonably twisty - in a word or three it is a perfect road for motorcycles.

So as I was sharing this idea with riders I hit upon the idea to make a loop ride from Seattle to Merritt in one weekend.  On the weekend of August 4th I did and here is the ride report.

Here is the route for day one.


View Larger Map

I was on the freeway at 5:00am and buzzed up to I-5 to the border crossing at Blaine where I shot the quickie of the Peace Arch.  With no place to park this was truly a quickie over the shoulder shot with my pocket camera, a Canon S95.

The inscription in the Arch is Brethren Dwelling Together Unity

At 7:00am there was no line to cross the border to get into Canada, not a single car.  If you look closely at the photo above there was a long line of cars from Canada to the US.  Perhaps something to do with the Civic Holiday in Canada.

As it was early I decided to ride though downtown Vancouver to ride a across the Lion's Gate Suspension Bridge built in the mid 1930's.

Once beyond Horseshoe Bay the road gets very scenic.  The Sea to Sky Highway along Howe Sound from Horseshoe Bay to Squamish is carved into the base of mountains that soar as high as 4000 feet above the sea.    Back in the early 1980's I used to ski at Whistler and I will never forget the large well lit signs with advisory warnings to not travel this road during periods of extreme rainfall.  Some of the bridges across the many creek were temporary military type bridges with yellow incandescent 40 watt bulbs strung along the bridge.  If the yellow lights were missing it meant the bridge was washed out.

The Sea to Sky Highway is carved into the base of the mountains.
It is well know for it high rate of accidents.

Along the way I saw four Porches caught speeding on the highway.  As I was working on some research for this post I found this news article in the Vancouver Sun.  In summary they were doing a 130 kph in a 80 kph zone and were issued a $368 tickets and had their cars impound for a week.  Ouch!

Cliff along the Sea to Sky Highway.

Back the 1980's this was a two lane road and the two lanes were not built today's more demanding super highway standards like as in the photo above.

I pulled over for a scenic stop to take some photos.

Scenic pull over along the Sea to Sky Highway

Scenic pull over along the Sea to Sky Highway

Scenic pull over along the Sea to Sky Highway

 At this scenic stop - photos above -  I was surprised to find the access road was a remnant of the Sea to Sky Highway circa 1980. 

Continuing north I see a photo op and pulled over again to make a u-turn.  While waiting along side the road a pickup truck goes by and as I was looking in my mirror I heard a siren.  A cop!  I quickly reflect and thought hey I wasn't speeding as he drove on by to pull over the fellow driving the pickup.

The u-turn was in vein for the scenic photo op was well marked No Parking due to rock fall hazards.  I heeded the warnings, not wanted a ticket along this well patrolled road.

My next stop was at Shannon Falls Provincial Park where I shot this photo from along side the road.  This a hard falls to shoot because you can get close, too close.  So to get a sense of scale and depth I shot this from the road side.

At 1099 feet Shannon Falls is the third highest waterfall in British Columbia.

After gassing up in Squamish, I drive right on by Whistler, then stop for breakfast at the Mt. Currie Coffee Company in Pemberton where I enjoyed a non-heart happy treat, coffee, of course, and a Panini.  Yummie!

The Sea to Sky Highway ends in Pemberton and shortly afterward The Duffy Lake road begins.  I have been along this road once before years ago and as I ride it today the memories of the previous ride slowly return.

Along the Duffy Lake Road

Along the Duffy Lake Road

Along the Duffy Lake Road

Along the Duffy Lake Road

Along the Duffy Lake Road

Along the Duffy Lake Road

Along the Duffy Lake Road

Along the Duffy Lake Road

At the east end of Duffy Lake there is a scenic turn out and boat launch ramp.

Along the Duffy Lake Road

Along the Duffy Lake Road

After the photo op extravaganza it was time to make time heading north to Lillooet.  I was just cruising along about 40 mph and next thing I know deer runs in front of me. Often you hear jokes about shorts getting dirty after a near miss.  Not this time. The near miss scared the deer so bad he was pissin' like a garden hose all the way across the road. Yep that is right. I watched him pee, a heavy stream, as he ran across my path. My shorts remained clean.  It was so close I could see him running and trying to get traction on the pavement and the express of oh shit on his face. I managed to hit the rear brake pedal and barely got my hand on the front brake then the incident was over, a slow reaction time for sure. I may have scrubbed off 5 to 15 mph and, and I also remember thinking at the time I am going slow enough to survive.  This was a good size deer. I was lucky to have missed him and did not have time to get scared or the pissing and lack of traction thing was a huge distraction.  Frickin' frackin' Forest Rats. 

After the deer incident I head south along Highway 12 following the Fraser River to Lytton.  It was getting warm out with temps in the upper 80's and low 90's.

Along the way I saw a sign and decided I had to stop and take a photo the twisty road sign for 50 km, not a great distance but what the heck.

Twisty road next 50 km

The next sign along not long after was really surprising.  Gee I know it is steep and rough out here but mountain goats?  Perhaps the FJR is the wrong bike for this task?

Mountain Goats and FJRs don't mix.

At Lytton I pickup Hwy 1 and resume north taking a few photos along the way.

Big Mountains along Hwy 1

Fraser River along Hwy 1

Finally after plowing heavy traffic I reach Spences Bridge where I find Hwy 8 the main reason for this ride.  My recollection is this is a roller coaster and now I am here to enjoy it.  Yahoo!

Poor site lines make Hwy 8 a great motorcycle road.  What is over the hill?

 Twists and turns to keep most happy and blue skies.

Hwy 8

Pretty good pavement in most place grace Hwy 8

A twist fest along Hwy 8.

A twist fest along Hwy 8.

This bridge is a side road along Hwy 8.

I arrive at Merritt and quickly find my room for the night at the Econo Lodge.  It wasn't much but a three day weekend in Canada left me with little choice of rooms.

Sunday morning dawns and I on the road by 7:00am.  I decide to re-trace Hwy 8 and 1 back to Lytton then follow Hwy 1 along the Fraser River Canyon into Hope.  Here is my route for Sunday.

View Larger Map

Early morning shadow spoiled photography all the way to hope.  Hwy 1 along Fraser River Canyon is very scenic and features 7 tunnels as the topography is so steep it was the only way to get a road through.  Along the way I stop at a restaurant for breakfast.  In the men's room I find this sign......


  

By the time I got to Abbotsford about 11:00am the temps started to rise into the mid 80's.  I head south to Sumas to cross the board to find a 45 minute wait.  Nuts.  I was in full gear. I finally took my helmet off and just pushed the bike in the que. When I did reach the checkpoint I was asked two questions.

1) What where you doing in Canada, response, riding.
2) Where are you going now, response, home.

I passed the test.

All four lines at the boarder crossing where open. Only four? We need 8 or 16. With all the $$$ being spend by Home Land Insecurity you would think the crossing could be improved by now.

Of course it is takes much less time to get in to Canada than back to the US. Grrrrr...... Seems to me Canada is just as secure at the US, no?

Near Sumas I decide to pickup Hwy 547 to Kendall and enjoy some twisty pavement then head south on Hwy 542 to Hwy 9 south to Arlington.  The roads were crowded so I hop on I-5 and head home.

The End.