Equipped with plenty of good wishes from our host family and some delicious homemade cookies from Darah, we left Smithers heading further west towards Prince Rupert. After our longest bike-free time so far, it felt good to be back on the bikes again! On the first kilometers, however, we were slowed down: a sharp metal cramp punctured Philipp’s back tire. This was fixed in a matter of minutes, though. Day by day we are amazed how well our Schwalbe Marathon tires cope with the rough roads. Three flat tires in nearly 6’000 km are an amazing (intermediate) result and we hope that the even rougher roads in Yukon and Alaska won’t change the statistics too much. Our first intended stop was at the aboriginal village and museum "Ksan" in Hazelton. We visited the museum, traditional buildings and totem poles, which were very well displayed and described. We especially liked the art paintings of the Ksan. On our ride to Kitwanga we then got lucky once more with bear sightings: we saw two mother bears with cubs and another (probably male) bear, that had a shiny pitch black fur. In order to reach our campground in Kitwanga, we shortly turned into the famous Cassiar Highway, that leads to Alaska. Following the Skeena River until its stream mouth into the Pacific Ocean in Prince Rupert, we saw many fishers. The majority was of human kind, but also white headed bald eagles were hunting for the salmon which now start to migrate. We were surprised by the various snow-covered mountains along the river; somehow we had expected the landscape to be flatter. Prince Rupert welcomed us with thorough rain showers... nothing unusual in this region, where it is raining 220 days a year. Some even call the town "Rinse" Rupert :-)! The day after, the rain ceased and even the sun was shining occasionally, so we could enjoy a stroll through the town’s pretty centre and along the waterfront. As Fabienne's parents, who were on a two weeks Canada vacation tour, were stopping by in Prince Rupert, we were waiting for them to meet and enjoyed the reunion! Tomorrow, we will board our ferry to Skagway (with plenty of goodies from Switzerland!) from where we will cycle on through Yukon and Alaska.
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Blog Archive
September 2016
CountersKilometers pedalled
Hours on the bike
Meters cycled uphill
Flat tires
Burgers eaten
Bears sighted
Day by day statisticsFor those interested in our day by day activities and statistics, please download the following document.
World Clock
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