3 day ride from the Loops to Braelorne and back 2015 (fixed links)

04klr

Well-known member
A group of us left from the loops last Friday and headed to Lillooet via the Thompson river to the Log Cabin in Spences Br. for food and a beer then up and over to Botanie valley to Lytton then along the Fraser to the end of day at the Mile O.

What you can't see in this pic. where we are waiting to regroup is that there is no countershaft bolt or washer on my Ktm, lucky for me that Reid is on the ride and carries spare parts for me.

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along the grasslands down to the Thompson and on to Spences Bridge.

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after stopping in on the odd occasion over the years this was the first time for lunch and the generous homemade cheeseburger was quite good and the pizza was huge!

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at the dump out point of Botanie valley is Ken Glasgow's place where his imagination plays out in an oversized display of his thoughts.

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that's one big hog!

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rather than waiting for the ferry I crossed the pedestrian bridge in Lytton, and inadvertently got ahead of the pack (who for awhile waited for me, fools!)

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this is the morning of day2, with all the mamby pamby woosies huddled together under cover for fear of melting. shaun and myself headed up the west pavilion fsr normally the most scenic road in BC though today you just had to imagine it as it rained all the way to the 95k mark where the China head FSR begins.

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c'mon lightweights put on your waterproof gear and lets go! At the start of China Head we were completely soaked (with dry gloves waiting in a zip lock)

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once onto the trip across to china head and mud lakes the weather cleared up and was a terrific ride with great traction.

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though they didn't come across the top, the boys did manage to find rain on the trip to Braelorne.

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the washing machine at the mines motel from an overflowing gutter 20' in the air. (which doesn't show up too well)

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an hour after we all arrived the skies cleared and El Sol arrived to cheer us up.

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didja have a good day Mur, yes yes I did! and the wine is pretty good too!

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we happened to be at the pub on it's closing night and it would be a standing room only night (til veery late) and this little gaffer got the best seat in the house to catch the band.

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that's it for day 1 and 2, the return trip to mud lakes and china head tomorrow, thx. fer lookin.
 
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04klr

Well-known member
nope for good. at least for now as Sally is hanging up the towel after 6 years, I've seen the place called many names over the years and hopefully it and the associated restaurant re-opens soon.
 

cactusreid

Active member
it's hard to say what may happen to the pub/motel etc in bralorne. although it's one of the most beautiful areas around and has such a stunning and interesting history, it's also got to be one of the hardest places to carve out a living because of it's proximity to nowhere, and therefore a sporadic existence at best. i'm just repeating what i read online and heard over the weekend we were in the area, but apparently the pub owner who happens to also be a heli pilot made an un-announced stop in the USA, without filing a flight plan and was loading some stuff into a minivan from the chopper when the state troopers showed up to have a chat?
desperate people sometimes make bad decisions? time will tell as to how this all plays out,but being a bit selfish here, i hope Sally's pub and the mines motel, land on their feet and carry on in beautiful downtown Bralorne!
 

04klr

Well-known member
the return trip.
The bulk of the group was up and atem early enuf, so reluctantly I got out of bed and down to the "Pub" for a delicious breaky and then hit the road. The day started off a bit wet and cold! Here's a coupla of locals ding-a-linging their way up the road. Perhaps Sally hired them to roust the locals up for breakfast.

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Sallys Pub and Grub.

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Reid's Austrian hand warmer, a trick that works very well.

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the group of posers at the intersection of the Yalokom and Shwartz/mud lakes.

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the burned out trees makes for a kind of surreal landscape.

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looking SSE towards Yalokom Prov. park and the backside of the coastal range.

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Shaun is such a strong fast rider I got him twice in the same shot. (actually 4 shots)

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Terry dropping down towards the Fraser and to the Big Bar ferry being run by The Gestapo in the form of the ferry operator, what a sour old fart. "slow down" he bellowed at us on approach to the "waiting for the rest of the group" ferry like it was his road and we were on a full on race. Continuing to berate the captive audience aboard the slow moving reaction ferry, he then (without making a request of any sort that I'm aware of) bellowed at us again as we departed because there was more than one bike on the wide exit ramps on the other side (riding slowly). Hey pal, go get a desk job inside a nice warm building in the big city rather than run a reaction ferry on the beautiful Fraser river surrounded with amazing scenery and meeting adventure travelers having a great time.
What a sour jerk.


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Bruno and Rob stopped to look at the large heard of sheep up on the hill beside the High Bar road

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after the high bar we took the Jesmond to Kelly lake and on to food at the Lodge in Clinton. On arrival my hand warmer was making a bad noise so a ride home with a chatty tow truck driver was in order. As it turned out I got the easy way out as the Scotty Cr FSR (that was to be the easy way home) was strewn with dozens of largish trees that needed to be ridden over, and more to be cut out of the way. On top of that Bruno's rattle trap well travelled Honda 450x went KABOOM! near the Savona Hill, now perhaps he'll change the kaboom into a Katoom, as some of the inside parts of the grenaded Honda engine are on the outside, bummer.

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thx fer lookin, Wayne. (on behalf of the group)
 
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Fbomb

Member
Ah, yes, that Happy-go-lucky Goodwill Ambassador for Big Bar! He's been making friends there for many years.
PS Another fine trip report!
 
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joker650

Active member
Looks like a great trip.
Broken hand warmers... shut down a ride?

I think that is the same sour ferry captn as 15 years ago !!
 

broxy

Member
Hey Bruno, I thought I saw a 500 with your name on it. Rest easy, it wasn't wretched orange, it was blue and yellow.

What's the verdict with your bike Wayne?
 

04klr

Well-known member
the verdict is, vroom vroom WHAM!
my trusty 525 did a full on WWF body slam on me this weekend (from a height), some thanks for the new cam bearings I installed. It's once again running terrific and making the usual 525 noises. thx fer askin.
 

markrmark

New member
What an awesome looking adventure!!! :) Do you have GPS tracks you can send? ;-) I didn't know about some of those backroads.

Thanks,
Mark
 

kagia

New member
I also would be interested in tracks if you wouldn't mind sharing. Kamloops to Spences Bridge sounds like one I'd love to try.
 

joker650

Active member
haha...I thought this was a NEW ride they did last weekend. I didn't look at the dates, then I saw MY POST!!
 

KTM-500

New member
Agree that Shaun is such a strong rider....he was a bull earlier this year in Baja and one of the best guys to guide you around.
 

cactusreid

Active member
And my buddy Shaun is an absolute gentleman, when it comes to including everyone in his care on a given ride, and he makes and helps you reach places you never thought you would be able to get to. The world needs more people like him.
 

KTM-500

New member
No argument from me or my buddies cactusreid, I'm glad you hooked us up last year so we could meet down at Kiki's
 

tomcycle

Past President DSBC 2004 -2018
Staff member
September 30 2021, thread has been updated and hopefully all links for pictures have be fixed

Enjoy again
 

04klr

Well-known member
well, thx. for reposting this trip Tom and thx. for reminding me that I've been semi bald for awhile now!
 
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