Valemount to Sheridan Lake (and Bears)
A direct route from Valemount (which was a bit further than I’d planned on going the day before) to my next stop in Sheridan Lake was only about 170 miles (274km) on main roads, so I spent some time the night before mapping out a route that used forest service and other unpaved roads where I could. Even still, it was likely to be a short day and I took my time in the morning again, setting off around 9:40am.
Shortly into the morning I hit a patch of sand while taking a tight turn on the unpaved road out of the AirBNB and tucked the front wheel, dropping the Norden for the first time. Sadly, I didn’t stop to take a photo to commemorate the occasion. It was a low-speed drop in soft sand, so no harm was done and I got the first drop out of the way.
After I hit pavement I continued pretty much due South for an hour and a half. The views of the mountains were nice, but there were relatively few places to stop and appreciate them from anywhere but the road. I kept going until I hit my first forest service road in the interlakes region. The road wasn’t anything spectacular, and in a problem I would soon find is common in BC, most of the lake and riverfront areas were private property. I eventually found a nice little creek side spot that’s seen regular use as a campsite to have a snack and take a bit of a break.
I’d noticed before my break that a side road had details posted for the river ferry I was on my way to, and was a little confused why the sign was there. A little further along the route and I figured it out — the road Garmin had pointed me down was properly closed and barricaded with a dirt mound. I backtracked to the side road I passed and headed for the first of several ferry rides of this trip.
The ferry was a small, two-car sized wooden platform with a speedboat motor to go back and forth across the river. I arrived just in time for someone coming the other way to load up and head across. Shortly after crossing I hit the next stretch of unpaved road and was blown away. While the morning’s track was corrugated and potholed dirt road (better than main roads but still not the best), this was a fast, flowy dirt track following a creek bed. It had great traction, just enough rocky hill climbs to keep it interesting, and kept going on and on through the woods.
I was loving the riding when I turned a corner to see a big brown mama bear (grizzly if I had to bed, but not totally sure). and her two cubs barreling down the track (thankfully going the same way I was). While the kiddos jumped into a tree just beside me, mama continued running down the road, looking over her shoulder a few times to make sure the cubs were safe. I didn’t feel safe turning my back to go the other way since the cubs were right next to me, so I did the only thing I could think to do: get on the gas, honk the horn, and try to just blow past her. Since the cubs were safe in the tree I figured she’d let me pass and go back for them.
The route ended with a few rock falls (where large boulders were helpfully spray painted bright colors) and a lake I could finally stop at. Shortly after the lake, I rejoined the pavement and stopped for a late lunch / early dinner at a local diner called the Sweet Ash Cafe in Lone Butte before heading to my motel room for the evening.
Sheridan Lake to McLeese Lake
The forecast looked gloomy but with little chance of rain when I took off around 10am for McLeese Lake. My route had about 300km planned with a decent chunk of it on unpaved forest service roads. Before leaving Sheridan Lake, I managed to find an access road that let me sneak between houses and actually see the lake itself. The rest of the morning was on wide, well groomed forest service roads with some washboard and potholes but nothing bad. There were a few sections where kids had built up little offroad tracks and couple of cool abandoned farm/ranch buildings.
At one point I came around a corner to a herd of cattle and stopped to take a photo. I guess there were some calves in the herd, and after a few seconds of assessing me the entire herd charged forward and formed a wall next to me, staring me down. This felt like a more intimidating reaction than the bear had the previous day, but I guess there’s a strength in numbers.
Being the interlakes district of BC, the routes naturally followed along and between a series of lakes as I continued south and west to the bottom corner of my planned diversion into the central plateau of British Columbia. For the most part the lakes were still bordered by private property, but I eventually found a marked & signed off-road route between two of the lakes and stopped for a coffee & protein bar after some fun off-roading and one or two water crossings on the trail.
After lunch the route hit pavement and then turned left into a bog. I could see the road on the other side and could make out some tire tracks through the grass and what looked life firm ground. Against what was probably my better judgement, I decide to go for it since the tracks on the other side looked dry (and pretty fun). The road continued on as a fast, flowing set of two-track abutting a ranch fence for about 15km, with some fun hill climbs and whoops but nothing too daunting. I was loving blasting down the little road until about kilometer 6 when I hit the next bog.
I was stopped almost in my tracks, but was able to chug through and continue. The road dried entirely for a while, and other than another bear sighting (this one definitely a lone black bear far up the road) there wasn’t anything concerning until about kilometer 9, when I hit a bigger, even nastier-looking section of bog. Figuring if I hit mud twice so far it was pretty likely I’d hit it again, so just like the snow in Idaho I decided the wise move was to turn around.
Unfortunately, the way back through the muck was harder than the first time through it and I ended up burying my wheel up to the axle in mud when crossing the deepest section — exactly what I was trying to avoid. It took about 15-20 minutes to drag the bike out of the mud, wheel by wheel, before I was on firm enough ground to ride out. After this excitement I decided to just route to the pavement and head to the campsite, which was now about 2 hours away on the main road.
Other than a stop at a car wash to spray the very stinky bog mud off as much of the bike as I could, I kept it pretty much pinned until I got to camp and set up. Camp is a private campground mostly tailored for RVs, but the crowd has been pretty quiet so far and there’s 5G and wi-fi so I was able to get this written up. There’s a chance of rain overnight and some scattered thunderstorms starting tomorrow, but I’m hoping I can stay dry enough and pack up between rain systems to make it to my AirBNB and next rest day in Prince George tomorrow. It’s a short ride and should be pretty unremarkable, so I probably won’t do too much in terms of videos or photos.
