June 25th, 7:15 AM Kelowna odometer: 2044.2
I'm currently at a fire supression headquarters just north of Kelowna. While I was looking for a camping spot (aren't any campgrounds near here, I think), the person in charge of this group invited me up for the night, which I quickly accepted. Turns out he has done a lot of touring himself, including a ride across New Zealand.
During the summer, there are about 10 student aged kids here who mostly wait for forest fires. When that's not happening, they supervise slash burns, do ground work, and some road work. Good pay - $592 per month with lots of chances for overtime. Time for breakfast. Better get there.
10:15 AM
odometer: 2065.0
I'm just south of Vernon overlooking the Coldstream valley. Yesterday's winds are pretty much gone now, so its pretty easy riding over the rolling mountains here. One of my suspicions appears to be true - the mountains I thought were fading away are actually fading away only distance-wise. I'm by Kalamalka Lake about 700-800 feet above it. The lake surface is almost at 1300 feet, yet there are 7000-9000 foot mountains nearby, some with snow still on them. Vegetation here is a bit mixed up. On this side of the lake its mostly grassland, while on the other side there's a pretty dense forest. Also, as you go higher up the mountains the tree density gets greater. So, I suspect the area here is just on the borderline between grassland and forest, though it might also be from cutting all the trees around here. (Which I doubt - it doesn't look that way.)
Most of the industry around here is orchard. In Washington I think its all apple, while here it's apple, cherry, peach, pear and prunes. There's some farmlands and vinyards, too. Just about the entire area is irrigated, of course, but there's abundant water for it so no problem. In fact, they're probably better off here than in a lot of the U.S. in that respect.
The ranger station I stayed at last night was really neat. Only about half the crew was there, so I got my own room for the night (normally there's 2 to a room) and had a good snack of a couple pieces of pie and lots of milk. Not only did I get breakfast, but the cook also gave me sandwiches, brownies, fruit and orange juice for lunch! Combined with the fruit cocktail I bought expecting to eat last night, I have quite a load today so I've had a couple breaks to nibble away at it already.
Guess I'll get down to Vernon to mail this and continue on. May be up to the Trans-Canada highway by tonight.
June 26th, 9:15 AM
odometer start: 2128.0
now: 2132.1
I'm on the Trans Canada highway in a town called Craigellachie about 25 miles west of Revelstoke. I'm heading up, but following a pretty large river, so its not too hard going. Guess I won't be able to make Rogers Pass tonight, so I'll probably have to camp somewhere in Glacier Natl. Park.
Ran into my first real rain of the trip yesterday evening forcing me to stop a bit sooner than I had wanted. I spent an hour waiting for the storm to come and go in an Esso station and continued for a while longer up to Yard Creek Park where I decided to spend the night because the road surface was wet and was splattering me. Rather neat park - all the camp sites are scattered in the woods so from any site you can only see a couple others. Water, firewood and outhouses are scattered all around, so everything is pretty convienient. The last park I stayed at had sites right by each other and a lot of people had radios - more of a party atmosphere than anything else.
One thing I've been doing all along this trip that really irks me is losing everything in sight. I first lost my pen in San Francisco, then I left my cycling gloves at my second camp (which I finally replaced in Arcata). I almost left a lens by the road in California and my tent poles at the ranger station a couple nights ago. My wash cloth blew away somewhere a couple of days ago and part of the contents of my letter bag started falling away yesterday because I'd forgotten to close the flaps on the Panniers. I thought I had only lost some paper, so I didn't go back looking for it. When I went to mail a couple cards yesterday I found that I hadn't noticed the stamps left too. Oh well.
Better push on to Revelstoke, so that may be the first place I can find a phone to call Intel.
Note that it was only four years before when Yellowstone Park officials shut down the last dump where they let bears feed on garbage and banned people from feeding bears.
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Written 2024 June 16, last updated 2024 June 16.