Day 13 July 12, 2014

Day 13  July 12, 2014

After a quick breakfast, early morning supermarket trip for wilderness provisions, and a few photos of gorgeous and touristy Jasper, I headed north, ever north.   

About 10 miles north of Jasper, with no one else on the road but me, I encountered a very sad sight.  Lying directly on the center double yellow lines was a motionless bear cub.  I stopped on the shoulder of the road and carefully checked the area to ensure that no other bears were in the area before dismounting.  There was fresh, still red blood coming from the cub’s mouth and no sign of breathing or movement and I determined that the animal had been recently hit by a car and was dead.  I decided to pull the bear, probably weighing 60-70 pounds to the side of the road to be less of a hazard to traffic.  I put my gloves back on and grabbed a rear paw, and dragged the unlucky cub to the shoulder of the road and sadly continued north.

It was a very long day of motorcycling, covering close to 600 miles, but the warm, cloudless weather made for great views of the wild and gorgeous mountains and forests.  Crossing into British Columbia, I stopped for obligatory photos in the town of Dawson Creek, the southern terminus of the famous Alaska-Canadian Highway (The Alcan).  There is a well-known marker to delineate the 0 mile marker and I duly recorded the moment in time.

Trying to balance the expense of last night’s hotel stay, I was searching for an appropriate secluded, dry, flat spot to pitch my tent for free along the side of the road for tonight’s stay.  The rest stop at mile post 80 filled the bill- a secluded area out of view near the children’s playground with freshly mowed lawn and a concrete picnic table to boot!  I asked the family picnicking nearby if setting up my tent in the area would be invasive or troublesome to them and they were enthusiastically agreeable, even sending over their son with an offering of pineapple topped pizza as I set up my tent, which I gratefully accepted.  The young husband of the family stopped over to chat and told me that he worked for the railroad and that he had lost his leg in a tragic accident, getting run over by a train.  He survived (obviously) and used the settlement money to recently purchase a house with five acres of land in British Columbia for his pretty wife and three lovely young children. 

A quiet, restful, and FREE overnight stay.