The day started with a quiet run in the neighbourhood and ended with just trying to get home alive. The weather forecast for the weekend is another gift at this time of year when the insurance on the bikes still has a couple of weeks left and we try to take advantage of any good weather. Bit nippy in the morning though, so I did a short run while the day warmed up a bit. At the end of the run I walked my sore legs out a bit around a nearby school field and took a few shots of an abandoned soccer ball. I kinda liked the blurry one and so, despite that day being more about the motorcycle ride, I liked this photo the best of the day’s snaps.
Once that unpleasant business was out of the way, we got on the bikes and headed for Mount Baker for a sunny October ride. Saturday should be fairly pleasant, people should be where they are going for Thanksgiving, right?
Wrong.
It was nuts out there!
We thought, “Let’s take the Barnet highway and then the Lougheed and then up across to SUmas rather than the freeway, that will be a nicer ride.“
Well that was a mistake. The freeway is not pleasant, but it takes about 30-45 minutes to get to the crossing. Lougheed usually takes a little longer, but not that much, and there typically is less bunched up traffic, fewer road warriors. Except none of that was true and it took us over an hour and a half to get to the border.
But across the border, it was a deep breath and the expectation that we would have another one of our ‘hardly any traffic on the back highways and up to Mt. Baker’ that we are used to.
Except…..the traffic!
On the way up we pulled aside a couple of times to try to get out of the traffic so we could get some space for fun in the corners and not be on the bumper of a car braking in the corners where motorcycles have the ‘fun advantage’. We were moderately successful but neither of us could rationalize the lines of vehicles coming down the road towards us.
When we reached the little pullout near the base, there was a group of about six riders from Vancouver pulled in and all taking photos of themselves at the viewpoint. We usually take a few photos there but the sun was in a lousy spot and the contrast was too strong for anything good, so I wasn’t really bothering. But one fellow came over to us and asked if we wanted our photo taken with the mountain in the background, he seemed so excited so we posed and let him take photos with my camera (none turned out well). Kirk offered to reciprocate and they were thrilled. It was their first ever ride up Baker. 😊 It IS and amazing ride, more so when there isn’t so much traffic, but still amazingly scenic.
We left them and continued, knowing the hairpin road to Artist Point would be open.
And it was….but you could only ride about 5kph up it because of the traffic! And the parking lot! It was a gong show….people parking anywhere and everywhere, making up parking spots. Happy to be on the bikes though, we could sneak through and past the line, stick ourselves in a corner where a car couldn’t, spent a few minutes enjoying the rugged scenery, watching a few wedding parties take photos.
I said “WHY is it so busy!?” Kirk said “It’s a long weekend!” But I reminded him that it’s not Thanksgiving in the US…..however, when we started to scan licence plates…..probably more than 50% were from BC.
Cars were parked all along the road where parking normally probably isn’t advisable, but again, the advantage of the bikes is that we could stop right on a couple of the corners, where a car could not, and not be in the way of traffic, to get a few clear shots.
The colours were spectacular. We’ve never come up at this time of year; our rides to Baker have generally been limited to spring and summer, maybe into mid-September. It was beautiful and reminded me of the colours of the Chilcotin at this time of year. Every shade of golden yellow, reds that range into magenta. Just magnificent and the images I did get don’t do it justice.
The ride back down was challenging, the road has so many heaves in it and in all the worst places, like the inside of the hairpin corners. I hit one in an inopportune spot that stood my bike up and sent me towards the edge before I managed to push it back down and safely make the corner. Once we got through that it was a fast ride back into Glacier and a stop at Chair 9 for something to eat and drink.
The place was packed, never seen it that busy! We found a table out on the patio out back and Kirk went inside to grab a menu because there were way too few staff for the number of tables. He came back and said that he overheard the guy at the bar talking to another staff and say “Why is it so crazy busy today!?” and someone answered “Canadian holiday!”
Because everything took longer than we thought it would over the day, we knew we’d be coming home in the dark. The sun was setting as we reached the border, and were slowed down again because the Nexus lane was closed. We’d intended to take Vye road and the Fraser Highway in to avoid the freeway again, but when we turned the corner at Vye we found the road closed so the freeway it would be. I pointed to my mirrored visor and said I’d need to change it out soon.
Kirk thought I said something along the lines of me being able to make it home with this one on, so off he went. Eventually I had to change lanes, hope he saw me missing from behind him (he eventually did), and pull off at the side of the freeway and swap it out so I wasn’t doing the equivalent of driving in the dark with sunglasses on.
Honestly, the sky was spectacular as the last of the day’s light disappeared and it would have been an enjoyable ride if not for the insane road warriors out there, including one dick riding up my back tire in a minivan. Some people treat the HOV lane like it’s supposed to be the autobahn…..with no speed limit. At 25 over the speed limit, riding my ass is not going to make me anything but hostile towards you. It’s not going to intimidate me into going faster, or getting out of the safest lane for a motorcycle to be riding in (because there are fewer vehicles coming at you and they are only coming at you from one lane rather than two), the only thing tailgating me on my bike is going to do is make me slow down and try to control the traffic that is being dangerous to me….which at this moment was an overaggressive minivan driver.
But we got home safe, and and safe arrival means the day was a good ride.
Beautiful day, despite the insanity on the roads.