Friday 10th June

Yesterday we began our ascent up to the Chinook pass. A gradual gradient up to our basic forestry campsite at Lodgepole. The road says the pass is shut. However at late breakfast stop at a traditional diner, we where told that the road opened at 8am in the morning. The fire and ranger services (or those not eating in the dinner) had been clearing the 40 foot snowdrifts from the side of the road in preparation.
            A very cold night in the tent at over 4000 feet, then an early start to the pass at over 5000 feet.  A LARGE BLACK BEAR RAN ACROSS THE ROAD IN FRONT OF KEITH, he made a quick u turn but the bear was on its way!
       Great views on the pass, but very very cold on the other side. A long steep cycle down. We were then in the Mount Rainier national park. The rain and cloud started so took the main route to Packwood rather than climb through a canyon to another pass. Camping at a much lower level tonight, but it is still raining. Fortunately we are out of the snow.

     

Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

Statistics

Miles. Washington state   With Keith   544 Washington state   On own        570 Idaho                                            72 Montana                                     857 North Dakota                             475 Minnesota                          ...
Read more

Tuesday 15th August

76 miles to Hamilton I visited Niagara falls again. The only way to see these falls, whirl pools, and cliff sides is by cycling. there is a great route. First the parkway with limited (no lorries) vehicle access, and a low speed limit, takes you alongside the Niagara river. The U.S.A. and the city of Buffalo is on the other side. Then there is a cycle /walkway which takes you across small river tributary bridges, and along ramp- ways on the river, giving views of the falls, spray, and eddies. Then you get  the falls themselves which are stunning. On the Canadian side I think the tourism has been well managed. Certainly the crowds must have come a different route from me.      After visiting again  I carried on the cycle path to come out at Lake Ontatio. Continued on the waterways trail to Hamilton. This area has a micro climate, which makes it good for  fruit and vine growing. Lots of stalls, plus larger outlets selling, peaches, apricots, plums, t...
Read more

Thursday the 17th nd Friday 18th In Toronto

No cycling So no cycling so some thoughts on Canada instead. 1. They have a Canadian coffee shop/takeaway chain called Tim Hortons. When I first went into one I thought I was going into a family style dinner. Wrong it is more like a Macdonalds. However, apparently everything about it is Canadian The egg and bacon on an English muffin plus a cup of coffee costs less than 5 Canadian dollars.       On the menu board they give the calorie count of the products. The muffin (as above) has 300 calories apparently I as an average female need 2000 calories a day!  2. The local treat here is a pecan pie. These little pastry tarts have a gooey caramel filling with pecan nuts on the top (no custard of any kind). They are very good  - not sure how many calories. But then maybe I cycle more a day than the average female! 3. I feel very much more at home here than in the USA they even have the Queens head on the bank notes. 4. In the USA senior discount...
Read more