I so wished I would have had a spare clutch cable with me 2 weeks ago. I ended up riding clutch-less over 200 miles. http://advrider.com/forums/showthread.php?t=841561
Hektoglider, great report and pictures.I'm thinking you and I were in the Kootenay area about the same time, going opposite directions. Really enjoying reliving the ride through your pictures. grump
We made it out of the Bull River road via the Hartley Pass. There was a few rough spots along the pass. It was a great backroad route from the hotsprings. We stopped at a freinds place in Fernie who was expecting us and we showed up kinda late. As we arrived, there was a bear in the carport that was cornered by the arriving motorcycles. It was a tense moment before it climbed up a pile of wood, and jumped over a wall. We had a nice dinner, sauna and caught up on some visiting. Crowsnest Pass looking back and saying goodbye to the Rockies.......its been good. Frank who? The famous Frank Slide.... We could feel the summer had faded away during our trip. We were into September and with the change in seasons the temps were not what they used to be.... It was time to head'er home. But not without some more Adventure..... The wind blew real hard until Lethbridge, where we turned off the main highway.We rode #4 southeast, then onto Hwy 61 towards Elkhorn. Big mental note: we should have fueled up in Lethbridge. Sometimes the long range of the KLR gets me caught off-gaurd, overconfident, and this is one of those times. No gas in Elkhorn, we ended up in Orion. Population maybe 6 people But ...they had gas. The guy running the gas "station" was nowhere to be found. We knocked on a few doors, and one lady said Boyd was always home. Well for some reason he was not. Pumps by rail crossing sign..... It was almost supper time. We had food and water, we considered just camping by the baseball feild, and getting gas in the morning. Also we were going to ride to Manyberries, but there was no gas there either. The lady did say that 50kms away at Elkhorn we can get fuel for sure...... We rolled the dice and decided to keep going....towards Elkhorn, the gateway to the Cypruss Hills.... A big part of me wanted to spend the night in Orion. It just seemed like such a cool remote low-key place. Riding the dirt road to Elkhorn. Watch out for the small berms of loose stones.... Its getting late, we stumble upon this reservoir that is stocked for fishing. Camping/ picnic type area. Perfect, well good enough. Free camping. The morning sun took awhile to burn through the fog. Getting ready for another great day........ Wildcat road..... The KLR's made it to the gas station. We did'nt have much left. A quick stop at the visitor center, we get some nice maps and figure some routes out. Aslo we refill all our waterjugs up, as we never know where we will end up. We do a small tour of the local park area..... After seeing a few sights, we head off to the east..... We are up high, much higher than the surrounding plains, theres pine trees along the route. Ridiculous low speed limit though. CYPRESS HILLS This area is certified KLR country, a nice way to travel across the prairies, tying in this section...... You get the idea? Hope the photos helped.......no park fee to pay if you are riding through the road...... Crossing the border into Saskatchewan.... The Gap road....Thorne is getting good at this game. She deciphered it off the map at the Tourist center while I was in the bathroom. Sure enough, its the best way to get to the "other" Cypress Hills in Saskatchewan..... Remote backcountry prairie cruising...... No time crunch, no itinerary, thats what makes it so easy to ride these roads..... The Gap Road......yea..... left & right winding along..... up into some hills.... Arriving at Cypress in Sask Lunch break out comes the stove..... Those tin cups slide over the bottom of a Nalgene bottle when not in use. very compact set-up... and off we go again....
Excellent report! I have an '09 KLR that I love. My KLR buddies kid me about carrying too much stuff, LIKE A SPARE CLUTCH CABLE! I figure it's cheap insurance. The KLR just plugs along, nothing flashy, but at the end of the day you smile... One question though, why didn't you put more aggressive tires on as it seems most of your riding was on gravel/dirt? Darren *It's a KLR, I'll catch up*
I had a spare cable, I thought it was brought along, but it got left at home! As for the tires. The front tire was one that was in my shed, and I thought I might as well use it up before it goes stale. I think it was given to me,but its not the same one ZZrRon gave me this spring(saving that for later) The rear tires, I buy them according to price. The cheaper tires are the ones I use, and seldom knobbies on the back. They wear out too fast. I can handle the back end skipping out a bit......(front not so much)
We left the Cypress and headed south, to connect onto Hwy 13...we had to navigate some zig-zag backroads to get there,well we did'nt have to, but we chose to get there on a shortcut....popped out at Eastend. Starting to get into the Badlands type of geography in Southern Saskatchewan... Apollo 13. No its just a grain bin. We found our way out to the hwy.... someone had pioneered this route before us.... Small town rural saskatchewan.... KLR's rolling east.... Lonely quiet roads with a big sky...... Art..... Bygone times...... We turn south towards Willow Bunch.... shadows getting long...day is fading away.... We will be stopping before the rainclouds, I know just the place..... Groovy gravel roads..... At willow bunch we turn east again.... The large Butte in the center of the photo will be our stopping place for tonight... Just about run out of daylight, but we made it.... How much is a campsite? why its free of course! Thorne gets right onto task with the tent, I get the stove and food going. We got the routine down, no words need to be spoken, it just happens....
The next morning we have the oatmeal and tea and coffee as the sun comes up.A nice big blue sky and we are out in the middle of nowhere so to speak. After breakfast we head out on the backroads......notice the small AM/FM radio...handy for weather info... Instead of riding the pavement we take the gravel route down to Big beaver looking back to the Butte as we exit Big Muddy Valley Rural backroads We stop at the historic general store. Last time I was here it was closed, so it was nice to go inside and talk to the guy who runs it. We bought some food and other stuff at the store, then headed east on highway 18. This is a nice mellow road in this part of Saskatchewan. I used to dread crossing the prairies, but now find it not bad at all. Its part of the journey, and by finding interesting routes to travel it becomes an adventure.....
Very well done. Reminds me to pick up some spare parts over the winter. Clutch lever, spare shifter (already done), and the pesky clutch cable.
yes. next time I go buy your place I will drop in for a visit. I have been wanting to each time but never did......
Love the RR great seeing Canada from the KLR perspective. Makes me want to get our and do it one more time.
We continued on hwy 18......until we got to 6. This is busy part of the country. some yard art. My poor photo does'nt show the Riders flag very well..... We headed north for a bit....then onto 13 hwy This is the flat lands. I spent some time out this way a while ago, when the recession slapped me down. Took a while to get used to the geography here..... Chugging along...thinking about home, the long ride, the places we had been(and are yet to go) and sometimes not thinking at all. Allowing the rythm of the engine to set your mind into a state of just being there, smelling the fresh cut hay, and the cooler fall air against areas of exposed skin....... Stop for a break...Trail ride,,,yea. Thats what this is.... a snack. some crackers & vegetables we got at the store.... We eat good. Life is good on the road..... The grass fires near Winnepeg....
We made it into Winnipeg and stayed at Justins place again, the same place we stopped on our way west a month or so ago. We were going to set up the tent, but it was much cooler with a change in the weather coming so we slept in the house. We could feel the draw of home, and both really wanted to get back after being out on the road. We headed out in the morning up the Whiteshell route, but part ways up we saw the dark rain clouds and decided that we could turn to the south and avoid the rain by taking the main highway. Along the way we saw the unique grain bin home. You now the riding season and summer is winding when you pull into the highway rest stop and Zacks Burger bus is gone for the season. We met some riders out for the day. One of them was on this nice bike. The other bike was having some issues so they pulled in to see what they could do. Just then the clouds were threatening, and If I recall, the reason we pulled in here was to put our rain suits on... We got back on the highway and it began to rain, we rode all the way back to our basecamp in Ontario in the wet(no photos). Its been a good run. Thanks for tuning in, and I hope you("s) enjoyed it.
Wow - What a great ride. I recognized a few pics as I was out there in middle of Aug. You have to love the mountain riding & scenery.
Just finally finished this report. Well done!! All the time I am reading it the voice of that fellow who narrated "Alone in the Wilderness" seemed to be the one in my head. He was a resourceful person also. If you have never seen it, look for it, as I am sure you would appreciate the type of fellow he was. Here is a link to some info http://www.aloneinthewilderness.com/index.html It was funny but we also got caught at that same location looking for gas at Orion. When we were there the fellow was home. From Orion we followed the same route you did on the Wildcat road / Elkhorn / Gap rd etc. Did you do this run in the fall of 2012? We also rode out to BC last week of Aug and forst week of Sept, but did not see a drop of rain
We did the east leg in June. & the West segment in Aug/Sept. I really enjoyed the Cypress- Gap- Big Muddy part on the way home. It's not over just cause you left the mountains eh. The gas seller is always home they said in Orion, but for some reason he was MIA. We got rinsed off pretty good a few times....(test out the rain gear)
It was the fall of 2009 when we went thru Orion. Have made 3 big trips out west in Sept in the last 4 years and have only ridden in rain once and that was going through Rogers Pass for a couple hours this past trip. Just reading your Yukon trip report now and I could almost match all of your pictures perfectly from the Tintina trench to the ferries up the Dempster. We did not spend as much time as you did in places and thinking maybe we should have Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk. Blame spelling mistakes on autocorrect