Cougar tracks: The initial pawprints - Page 3

Cowgirl · 03-23-2011, 12:07 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by RoyB

From a fellow Wee Stromer.............You rock!

Nice work with the lens also!

Thank you very much

My camera is just a little Pentax point and shoot but I like it.

durtwurm · 03-23-2011, 01:30 PM

Great ride report! Great photos! You confronted your fears and got on with the tent and all that goes with it!

Cowgirl · 03-23-2011, 01:53 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by truckguy

Beautiful scenery! It was always my dream to go mountain biking in BC, it's said to be the best in the world.

I love living here in BC, there's not many places as beautiful for sure. You need to live that dream!

Cowgirl · 03-23-2011, 03:53 PM

I was feeling pretty good as I left Rathtrevor Beach that morning. I'd successfully spent the night in a tent and lived to tell the tale. As I cruised along I was already planning my next adventure in more spring like temperatures. Long Beach is definitely going to happen in April!

Next stop was 15 minutes down the road in Qualicum Beach where I was to rendezvous with fellow ADVer and Stromtrooper grizzlyone for breakfast. Several months ago I had been checking out who had checked me out on ADV and I noticed that a person from Vancouver Island had looked at my profile. I'd PM'd him and we'd been in contact ever since. He mentioned that he'd been lurking for a couple of years without making a post. Hey buddy, you've been well and truly outed now!

He's a very interesting guy with an adventurous life and great taste in bikes and riding gear

Over breakfast we decided to head inland and slab it north on the four lane to Campbell River then drift back along the coast. It was a fantastic ride! There was almost no traffic and the sun stayed out for most of it. We continued past Campbell River to Seymour Narrows, the northernmost point of the trip.

I apologize for the quality of this picture. I was mucking around with it attempting to remove power lines and inadvertently saved it. Generally I take 4 or 5 shots of the same view in case it comes out blurry or otherwise crappy but for some reason I only took one so I'm stuck with it.

Seymour Narrows is the most dangerous part of the Inside Passage to Alaska. It's only 4 cables wide (700 metres or 2400 feet for non-nautical types) and currents run up to 16 knots (28 kph or 18 mph). From April to October huge cruise ships share the waterway with tugs towing barges, fishboats and numerous pleasure craft. The Canadian Coast Guard provides traffic information to vessels in the area and has specific procedures for vessels making a transit through the Narrows. That's part of what I do

While we were admiring the view it began to rain. We jumped back on the bikes and high-tailed it back to Campbell River. The skies opened up! The rain pelted down and as we approached Campbell River it really started to sting. Then I noticed it was bouncing off the tank - it had turned into hail.

Cowgirl · 03-23-2011, 04:31 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by durtwurm

Great ride report! Great photos! You confronted your fears and got on with the tent and all that goes with it!

Thanks! Now I'm all ready for Colorado

Gale B.T. · 03-23-2011, 04:45 PM

Quote:

Thanks! Now I'm all ready for Colorado

We think, we understand that this RR is covering a previous trip but regardless the above quote really got our attention especially for those of us from Tete Jaune CAche.

grizzlyone · 03-23-2011, 04:49 PM

Hey CG

Great job on the ride report...
Thanks for sharing your ride with me!

Cowgirl · 03-23-2011, 04:59 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Gale B.T.

We think, we understand that this RR is covering a previous trip but regardless the above quote really got our attention especially for those of us from Tete Jaune CAche.

Yep, this RR is for a trip I took last week but I'm heading to CO in June.

Cowgirl · 03-23-2011, 05:01 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by grizzlyone

Hey CG

Great job on the ride report...
Thanks for sharing your ride with me!

Thank you.
Any time, my friend, any time

Gale B.T. · 03-23-2011, 05:48 PM

Quote:

Yep, this RR is for a trip I took last week but I'm heading to CO in June.

Sounds good, keep in touch, we are here in June but early July heading to Queen Charlotte/Haida Gwaii .

http://www.advrider.com/forums/showthread.php?t=572583

OFA · 03-23-2011, 06:36 PM

You need to embrace the camping thing CowGirl. It's not to worry about.
I make my living taking people camping and my only concern when I camp is people.
Besides you get a great feel for the area when you camp, compared to a stuffy motel room.
See you on the road.

smilin jack · 03-23-2011, 08:54 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Cowgirl

I saw it at the Seattle Motorcycle Show in December and had to have it! It's an Olympia Airglide 3 and the colour scheme is called "toxic".

Oh yeah, I do like your jacket. I wear a highway worker vest with reflectors to be seen by the other drivers. Not as nice looking as yours though.

Nice trip. My grandson lives in Quesnel, BC, so hope to visit him this summer.

Dave

Cowgirl · 03-23-2011, 10:57 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by OFA

You need to embrace the camping thing CowGirl. It's not to worry about.
I make my living taking people camping and my only concern when I camp is people.
Besides you get a great feel for the area when you camp, compared to a stuffy motel room.
See you on the road.

I'm getting into the swing of it. Next time it'll be warmer

Cowgirl · 03-24-2011, 11:22 AM

We pulled into Campbell River and quickly found a spot to hole up in until the storm passed. We just had coffee but the food must have been good because the place was full in spite of surly wait staff and glacial service

Once the rain stopped we continued south along the coast road. The wind had really picked up and the sea had gotten quite rough which made for spectacular views.

Cape Mudge Lighthouse at the entrance to Discovery Passage.

This is a cargo barge on it's way to Alaska. The tail end of the tug is barely visible on the far left of the photo. There is a steady stream of these tugs and barges heading to and from Alaska all year round. To get an idea of the size of them those are the same containers that you see towed by semis on the highway and on train cars.

The wind and cloudy skies didn't stop us from having a great ride back down to Qualicum Beach. The coast road was the original highway before the four lane inland highway was built. It winds it's way right along the shoreline and through a few small villages of two or three buildings. As we neared Qualicum we left the main road to stop briefly at Deep Bay.

When we stopped at the turn back onto the highway Grizz said to me "Wanna take a short cut?" and pointed at a narrow road across from us. Although I'm always ready for a new adventure my off pavement experience is next to non-existant, however this was paved so my answer was "You bet!!" and off we went. A hundred feet down the "short cut" the pavement ended. The road turned into gravel and dirt pocked with deep potholes. Well, OK, I can do this. I got up on the pegs a bit and quickly got the hang of it. I was feeling pretty good and thinking this was really fun then we turned a corner and WATER! Lots of it. The potholes extended all the way across the road and were filled with muddy water. To me it looked like a veritable lake. Grizz was quite a way ahead so there was no way I could chicken out, that's not really my nature anyway. Full steam ahead! I met that first puddle square in the middle. It turned out the water was over a foot deep - not much to you guys I'm sure, but remember, I've never done this before. The resulting wave cascaded into my boots and the bike bogged down. I thought "I'm not laying my bike down in this!" and gave her some more throttle - we were through! And on to the next one, and the next, and the next. It was awesome! I felt like a real adventure rider! Now I was focussing on what I was doing and hadn't watched Grizz at all. When I pulled up beside him at the end of the road he looks at me and says "Wow, you went right through the middle of those! I stayed on the edges."

Why didn't I think of that!

Believe me, this felt a whole lot more impressive than it looks. I wish I had a picture of me going through but I did jam out of doing it again just for the photo op

By this time I was feeling the cold and my feet were soaked. Earlier I'd decided to give the camping a miss that night due to the cold and I was now facing a 3 hour ride home at best so when Grizz said to me "You sure you don't want to sleep on the couch?" I jumped at the offer. Before you all go there, he was a perfect gentleman and no sheets were harmed in the course of this ride report.

Thank you so much my new friend!

TallRob · 03-24-2011, 02:42 PM

WOW thats bright!....had to turn the brightness down on the monitor.

Quote:

Originally Posted by Thinc2

And cool jacket - never seen that before

03-23-2011, 01:30 PM	#32
durtwurm Talented Amateur Joined: May 2009 Location: Park City, Utah Oddometer: 4,304	Great ride report! Great photos! You confronted your fears and got on with the tent and all that goes with it! __________________ Go far or stay home.

03-23-2011, 03:53 PM	#34
Cowgirl ^OP Hair on fire! Joined: Sep 2010 Location: Vancouver, BC - for now Oddometer: 3,443	I was feeling pretty good as I left Rathtrevor Beach that morning. I'd successfully spent the night in a tent and lived to tell the tale. As I cruised along I was already planning my next adventure in more spring like temperatures. Long Beach is definitely going to happen in April! Next stop was 15 minutes down the road in Qualicum Beach where I was to rendezvous with fellow ADVer and Stromtrooper grizzlyone for breakfast. Several months ago I had been checking out who had checked me out on ADV and I noticed that a person from Vancouver Island had looked at my profile. I'd PM'd him and we'd been in contact ever since. He mentioned that he'd been lurking for a couple of years without making a post. Hey buddy, you've been well and truly outed now! He's a very interesting guy with an adventurous life and great taste in bikes and riding gear Over breakfast we decided to head inland and slab it north on the four lane to Campbell River then drift back along the coast. It was a fantastic ride! There was almost no traffic and the sun stayed out for most of it. We continued past Campbell River to Seymour Narrows, the northernmost point of the trip. I apologize for the quality of this picture. I was mucking around with it attempting to remove power lines and inadvertently saved it. Generally I take 4 or 5 shots of the same view in case it comes out blurry or otherwise crappy but for some reason I only took one so I'm stuck with it. Seymour Narrows is the most dangerous part of the Inside Passage to Alaska. It's only 4 cables wide (700 metres or 2400 feet for non-nautical types) and currents run up to 16 knots (28 kph or 18 mph). From April to October huge cruise ships share the waterway with tugs towing barges, fishboats and numerous pleasure craft. The Canadian Coast Guard provides traffic information to vessels in the area and has specific procedures for vessels making a transit through the Narrows. That's part of what I do While we were admiring the view it began to rain. We jumped back on the bikes and high-tailed it back to Campbell River. The skies opened up! The rain pelted down and as we approached Campbell River it really started to sting. Then I noticed it was bouncing off the tank - it had turned into hail. __________________ Cougar tracks The initial pawprints The blind date Travels with my wiener Lead me not into temptation ............ just follow me, I know a short-cut. Cowgirl screwed with this post 03-23-2011 at 07:59 PM

03-23-2011, 06:36 PM	#41
OFA Adventure Obsession Joined: Sep 2010 Location: British Columbia & Ontario, Canada Oddometer: 69	Camping is Great! You need to embrace the camping thing CowGirl. It's not to worry about. I make my living taking people camping and my only concern when I camp is people. Besides you get a great feel for the area when you camp, compared to a stuffy motel room. See you on the road. __________________ Just want to ride.

03-24-2011, 11:22 AM	#44
Cowgirl ^OP Hair on fire! Joined: Sep 2010 Location: Vancouver, BC - for now Oddometer: 3,443	We pulled into Campbell River and quickly found a spot to hole up in until the storm passed. We just had coffee but the food must have been good because the place was full in spite of surly wait staff and glacial service Once the rain stopped we continued south along the coast road. The wind had really picked up and the sea had gotten quite rough which made for spectacular views. Cape Mudge Lighthouse at the entrance to Discovery Passage. This is a cargo barge on it's way to Alaska. The tail end of the tug is barely visible on the far left of the photo. There is a steady stream of these tugs and barges heading to and from Alaska all year round. To get an idea of the size of them those are the same containers that you see towed by semis on the highway and on train cars. The wind and cloudy skies didn't stop us from having a great ride back down to Qualicum Beach. The coast road was the original highway before the four lane inland highway was built. It winds it's way right along the shoreline and through a few small villages of two or three buildings. As we neared Qualicum we left the main road to stop briefly at Deep Bay. When we stopped at the turn back onto the highway Grizz said to me "Wanna take a short cut?" and pointed at a narrow road across from us. Although I'm always ready for a new adventure my off pavement experience is next to non-existant, however this was paved so my answer was "You bet!!" and off we went. A hundred feet down the "short cut" the pavement ended. The road turned into gravel and dirt pocked with deep potholes. Well, OK, I can do this. I got up on the pegs a bit and quickly got the hang of it. I was feeling pretty good and thinking this was really fun then we turned a corner and WATER! Lots of it. The potholes extended all the way across the road and were filled with muddy water. To me it looked like a veritable lake. Grizz was quite a way ahead so there was no way I could chicken out, that's not really my nature anyway. Full steam ahead! I met that first puddle square in the middle. It turned out the water was over a foot deep - not much to you guys I'm sure, but remember, I've never done this before. The resulting wave cascaded into my boots and the bike bogged down. I thought "I'm not laying my bike down in this!" and gave her some more throttle - we were through! And on to the next one, and the next, and the next. It was awesome! I felt like a real adventure rider! Now I was focussing on what I was doing and hadn't watched Grizz at all. When I pulled up beside him at the end of the road he looks at me and says "Wow, you went right through the middle of those! I stayed on the edges." Why didn't I think of that! Believe me, this felt a whole lot more impressive than it looks. I wish I had a picture of me going through but I did jam out of doing it again just for the photo op By this time I was feeling the cold and my feet were soaked. Earlier I'd decided to give the camping a miss that night due to the cold and I was now facing a 3 hour ride home at best so when Grizz said to me "You sure you don't want to sleep on the couch?" I jumped at the offer. Before you all go there, he was a perfect gentleman and no sheets were harmed in the course of this ride report. Thank you so much my new friend! __________________ Cougar tracks The initial pawprints The blind date Travels with my wiener Lead me not into temptation ............ just follow me, I know a short-cut. Cowgirl screwed with this post 03-24-2011 at 08:57 PM

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03-23-2011, 04:49 PM	#37
grizzlyone n00b Joined: Mar 2009 Location: Vancouver Island Oddometer: 2	Hey CG Great job on the ride report... Thanks for sharing your ride with me!