Canada's Best Kept Secret: 500km from the nearest paved road, solo in Northern BC.

Nudgenudge....

Sorry, been hard at work .








Will be home and back to the grind next week.

What's this man-made object I see...




This is my mail drop off point and the home of Ron and Wanda Steffy.







These are not your ordinary hermits.

From their website.

I had heard a few different things about Ron, but I found him friendly and appreciative for the mail delivery. I didn't get the impression that he was really that into killing things, but outfitting gives him the chance to enjoy the lifestyle he wants, so that's what he does.

Very interesting people!

Yes, very interesting people for sure. Seems like they are living their dream. A lot of hard work, but they are free!! Thank you for the great adventure, very inspiring and what a beautiful place to live around.

Man....and I just drove right on by.....

It's amazing what you miss when driving in a cage rather than experiencing it all from the saddle of an iron steed.....

Learned a lot about the local flora and fauna from Ron, but I'll leave that for you to find out the next time you're in the area.

Here's the creek where Ron does some salmon research for the government.



At this point it's getting quite late and I'm concerned about getting rained on. It's maybe 7 degrees above zero. But before too long we are at the reason this road exists.

Both Cheni and Baker mines existed before Kemess. That road in to that territory was punched in a few years before Kemess ever came into being. The primary use for the Sturdee airstrip was for both Cheni and Baker mine camps and there is STILL lots of stuff to explore up there....

I cannot understate how truly breathtaking this part of the country is. If you like exploring the wilderness and really enjoy remote locations, you owe it to yourself to make a trip up into here at least once.

Good call. I was just speaking in general terms about the road in its present state, but good to know the timeline. Definitely lots more to see up there .

And I just can't wait!!

This is the only area of BC I've never visited, and your slowly developing ride report is feeding this two wheeled travel urge. I'm buying parts and camping gear already.

-Importing myself a Safari will have to wait.

Glad to be of service. Let me know if you make the trip out. Love me those Safaris too though.

The lil bit of Canada that I have seen so far ( a week ) in Thunder bay area before the need of a passport . I would love to ride there more . Shall see what the future brings .

it's about time!! keep em coming

But more on the mine on the way back, because I didn't have time to look then, nor do I have time to write now .

Besides, it's getting dark. And the waters are rising.



I had my head down and didn't even notice the great Thutade Lake until I hit the Finlay River. You can't see it from the road, but Thutade is the ultimate source of the mighty Mackenzie. I was hoping to packraft from here into Fort Ware, but it was not looking good.



The "brightness" is turned up a bit on these next couple, so you can see what was there, but here is a good place to start if you want to canoe to the Arctic. (Note: you probably will not survive the 5 or so canyons on the Finlay...)



But, at last, I arrived at my destination. Only been riding maybe 36 hours on 45 minutes of sleep.

Is it over?

No, I'm sorry. Been a little busy up here.
We are just about half way done... :eek1

While you're waiting, if you need some entertainment, check out some vids on my youtube channel.

Sssesh, excuses excuses...



I already had thank you. Reminded me early this year to put some oven mitts on my bike shopping list. And the alligator hunting video clip was, one of these things is not like the others, a surprise!

Great report so far....just found this thread and love all the info in it. I've been looking at this area for a couple of years and I'm hoping to steal a bit of time near the end of July to get up there. My big question is....can you get all the way to Albert's Hump on a motorcycle or does it get too rough. I'll be on a 650 Dakar (which would be a real beast on a bad trail!). Thanks for all the info and detail you're putting in here. I'm looking forward to the rest of the tale!

Well, you'll see in a bit . You can get 650 Dakar to the moon with the enough time/energy/resources, but I wouldn't say it would easy.