10, 9, then 8 riders on a really big loop in July.

[04klr]

Left the Loops the morning of July 3 with a plan of intercepting with a group of friends departing from Kelowna. The route laid out by Jack for the next almost week will be on the roads less travelled to Lillooet, then Quesnel, Vanderhoof, Wells, Clearwater then home.
The dirty part of my ride began here at Pennask lk. rd, headed east aimed at the group headed west!



After meeting up with the group of, at this point 6 dudes riding a Ktm blend of 2x690, 950, 2x1190 and a lone Husky 701 or, Bill, Axel, Oliver, John, Jack the ride organizer, and Terry as well as my 690. We all headed down to Merritt then up thru lower Nicola to the Aberdeen, Pimainus fsr's where we had to figure the way thru across towards Sp. Bridge requiring the odd, loop de loo.

Due to things like this.



sometimes causing this,



and a little time out for re-attaching the muffler (with borrowed titanium bolts!) back on to John's 1190. (Sorry for not pointing out that wobbly thing before it fell off).



The ride followed pimainus, to sp br, murray cr. fsr, past onion lake then dropping back down above Lytton before arriving in Lillooet for the night. Our group of 7 has shrunk to 6 with Axel's 690 having an overheating issue requiring him to bail on the ride (after riding in from Edmonton and lending out his Ti bolts). Must have been a fun fast day as I shot an unusually low 5 pictures on day 1.
Now on day 2 with 1 no-show and 2 burly looking vstroms having joined the group, Rick and son Matt from Alberta on a return trip to the north and the Alcan 5000 ride. Our group now totals 8 and have split into 2 lopsided groups for the day with one going over the highline to Pemberton (for apparently the best pizza, ever at the brew pub) then return via the (ug!) Hurley. Terry and myself took the route along the west side of the fraser to Lytton and then followed thru to Boston Bar, a route that ive only looked across the canyon at for years. We will end up riding the route as an out'n back.
wild horses couldn't stop this pic(s) from being taken.


(ok perhaps not actually wild)

Terry's 701.





Moi.



really stellar views along the way.



a coupla terry's



looking down on train bridges that aren't normally seen from the hwy.





Teepee with a view.



In the background is most of what is a ktm 690 and has been described as having the most powerful (pre 2019) single cylindered engine ever built on board. Foreground is a 1936 Indian v-twin powered bike which must surely make by comparison almost no power, but is I'm told, very loud. Perhaps it's a harbinger of todays HD style twins that also make, not much power and a stupid amount of noise.
The bike was in town for the antique bike rally taking place and is a very cool, if a little noisy rattley and awkward to ride.



And that is 2 days of this trip complete. The next segment will be up the east side of the fraser due to high water and no ferry at Big Bar. End of day will be Quesnel and the most expensive fast food-ish meal ever!

thx fer lookin.

hmm, foot clutch and stick shift eh...

 

[04klr]

Day 3 and the 8 of us are headed towards Quesnel. As mentioned the ferry crossing the Fraser isn't running which is a bummer as the West Pavillion fsr is very scenic. Our route will be slab to the pavillion reserve then over the (duh) pavillion mtn. to the Jesmond down the steep highline then back up and north to canoe cr. Dog Creek for fuel then across the river to gang ranch, then up to Quesnel.
I mooved to the Loops in 81 and the hillside in the area of the Fountain reserve was trying desperately to slide into the river, and still is. For about the last year wise guys have been implementing a solution, drive reaally long and large diameter "made in China" steel pipes (why??) into the hillside to give the sliding material something to "lean" against. Time will tell if the engineers can outwit gravity and Ma nature.

Time'll tell,,, under those blocks o concrete are the now quite deep pipes to nowhere.



The Highline rd. is entertaining in each direction, up or down. Here up near the top and as usual much steeper than it looks. That is after all a tight switchback.





Terry and a Kodak moment.



H2O. The most powerful force in the world, as opposed to Trump who may be the most destructive.



fueling up in Dog Creek, where not a single dog was seen,,



poorly stitched handheld action shot on the approach to the bridge crossing the Fraser which will be crossed after fueling at Dog Creek.



the bridge in an out of order pic. crossing the Fraser before climbing up to the Gang Ranch.



,where there are horses just not these horses.




after gassing up I made a wee wrong turn north that put me welll behind my riding partner Terry. Realizing my error I got on the gas to catch up, Terry thinking he was behind was on the gas trying to catch up with me,, who was behind. Now guessing that I must be behind, he stopped at this viewpoint giving time for me to catch up. Not seeing him I was still on the gas and ahead of him, oh well.
I think he is in this picture waving madly at me from the area near the white truck well off in the distance.



End of day in Quesnel, with Terry, Oliver and some Dude named "do not pet" who was very proud of his Royal Enfield. Dinner tonite will be at one of those new an improved Mr. Mikes where, having not brought my glasses to dinner I just ordered what Oliver did, "rib eye please n thanks". Note to self, to perhaps avoid a 65 dollar dinner at a fancy fast food place, next time take my glasses! huh, what, how much??




checking in and only an hour and a beer or 2 away from that stupidly priced meal.



And that quick post for those of you who may see it is Day 3 of this trip. Next we are off to Vanderhoof for another great day of riding and a much better meal!

thx fer lookin.

 

[lagbc]

Nice report!!!

Also today I learned from you there is gas station at Dog Creek (Canoe Creek Co-Op). Thank you!

This would have made our trip so much easier few years ago, as we had to go out to Clinton from the Bridge - didn't have enough range to get back to Lillooet...

 

[04klr]

Day 4, Quesnel to "The Hoof", as the locals likely call it. After our individually bagged continental breaky and a belly still partially full of gold plated rib eye steak, westward ho we go! Terry and I caught up to Bill and Cyril at Blackwater Creek stopped at this bridge where the biggest injury of the trip took place. As Cryil went to step offa his bike the realization that the sidestand wasn't down (oops) happened too late to save it though the urge to try couldn't be stopped, thus tweaking a hamstring muscle. Hard to do the right thing and just let it drop! Though in clear pain he carried on with the day.



not a great pic. of a crane hanging out in this pond.



Oliver left Bill right.



action shot.



Cyril, for obvious reasons choosing to stay on his bike for a rest.




the route had a hard option that we tried but was soo overgrown we bailed on it after maybe 1 Km.



with smelly things hung on the railing to air out we gave the Hotel in vanderhoof a little character for the night.



perhaps for some distancing was in effect as Terry and myself were put in a whole different bldg. than the rest, or maybe We were the smelly things.



And with that, day 4's fairly straight forward flatish though at times muddy FSR riding was done. I need to add though that any rain on the roads in this area turn them to goose poop and not the friendliest of places on a loaded big adventure bike and lately there has been an unreal amount of rain.. At the end of day the feeling that by riding a 690 i had been cheating being aboard perhaps the best bike for the job at hand. Rick and Matt aboard bikes at the other end of the "best tool for the job" spectrum did an amazing job piloting the big vstroms thru the gumbo, both clearly solid riders.
Dinner tonite was a fabulous Indian meal so much tastier and wallet friendly that the previous night.
Need to brave the grocery store here in the Loops now, perhaps the last segment will follow later today, as another 5 day trip starts in the morning.

one more segment to go, and there will be some mud slinging, er flinging.
Thx fer lookin.

just like in Baja parked safely outside the room.

 

[04klr]

Day 5. Vanderhoof thru to Wells. As today July 29th (actually today and the next five days in the Kootenays) are ride days, this post will be like a simplified Beethoven score though instead of fewer notes, there'll be fewer words.

But first, a meeting of the minds along the Blackwater rd.




Thumbs up number 1 for Oliver.




Rick, on 1 of the 2 burly, certainly not "wee" Stroms still wearing the decals from the Alcan 500 ride.




Ricks son Matt surveying his dinged, leaking tubeless front tire that now has a tube in it. (The last day of the ride, must've been nasty as with the assistance of Cyril the large strom rolled into Clearwater at 930 pm after stubborn tire troubles, Buggah!)




Bill on a hands free final approach, this is the first of a series of 5/6 pics. of his ride straight at me standing in the middle of the road, it was perhaps a "trust stop" as I did not move and the last shot is very much a close up!




Brilliant colors along the way. Allotta Orange!



another shot of Terry in action.



shot too soon and missed the money shot of Terry's crossing of this washout in the pouring rain.



first Bill then Oliver.



In Wells. cool old Hotel.



,,and that makes a 2 thumbs up and 1 finger day, aaaaay! (the Fonz)



Dad with dinner and his son on approach. This was taken a couple of hours before Rick put, his chip holding chops to work belting out "Blue on black" while plunking on the decorative guitar he took off the wall. pretty awesome.




Bill and our Stella swilling tour organizer Jack, thanks very much for putting this ride together!



it didn't just threaten rain after we arrived, mother nature was quite successful on that task as she has been for months!



In snow country, small towns are quite reliant in their snow removal infrastructure, er, maybe not so much in Wells.



Oliver has found a new job. And with 340 single malt scotchs to choose from, perhaps he'll settle for a nip or 2 in leiu of wages,,,



And that was a terrific if not a little muddy day 5. 1 more post for this report and that'll be it. (after redoing it several times arghhh!)

thx fer lookin.

 

[04klr]

Last day for Terry and myself with the whole group here at a Likely place to fill up the tanks, pun intended.



a little more mud along the way.



kinda cut this guys head off, whoops.



nice scenery along the way between likely and Clearwater.



last shot of the post. Terry's rear end missing a few bits, but with a newly replaced plate and sole of his boot strapped in place for the ride home.



Terry peeled off headed for Kelowna and I on arrival at clearwater headed for the Loops. Turns out that Matt's front tire was an issue again and with the assistance of a 60k backtracking Cyril the bike was able to make clearwater at 930 pm. thx Cyril! And a big thx to Jack for all the organizing required to assemble this great fun ride!
And that (after many edits!) was our big loop.
Am off to the Kootenays now for another 5 day trip, with perhaps a report to follow.

thx fer lookin.

 

[Rickextreme]

Great summary of a fantastic trip
Look forward to riding with u again Wayne

 

[ktmboy]

stunning pics and story Wayno
wish I was there - oh that right I was
cheers mate

 

[04klr]

haha "stunning pics" says the rider in most of the shots!