British Columbia
This is where I started my journey across Canada. Leaving from Horse Shoe Bay, Vancouver, BC I travelled along Highway 1 (Transcanada) to Hope. From Hope I took highway 3. This led inevitably to Hope Slide, which is a mountain pass, and although it is the smallest of the passes that need to be crossed in BC, it is definitely the most eye-opening. Once I climbed that pass I knew that I would be able to handle the rest of the journey, no matter what lay ahead.
Finishing the Hope Slide, I came to Manning Park. There are two mountains in this park, the first one is Alison Pass, the second is Sunday Pass. Since I only did one pass per day, I would have to say that Alison Pass was definitely the harder of the two. There is a resort at the top of Alison pass, which charged me $96.00 (2002) for the room for the night. There is also a campground but I was too tired to be even remotely able to set up my tent.
Continuing along highway 3 got me to Keremeos. There is a lot of fruit grown here; take advantage of that if you're in the area. From Keremeos there is a fairly straightforward climb up Richter Pass, then on to Osoyoos. Leaving Osoyoos, there is a murderous climb up Anarchist Pass which was very challenging, I ran out of water a quarter of the way up. Continuing along there were plenty of towns to rest at before attempting the relatively straightforward Pheonix Pass. At the far base of Pheonix pass, was Grand Forks. This town has an interesting geological aspect to it; the water is flowing the wrong way (to the East).
Christina Lake was the next town on the route, I stayed in a back yard here, there was a hot tub and delicious breakfast waiting in the morning. Further along, there is the Blueberry-Paulson Pass which is a really significant climb. I would recommend that anyone who bikes this route bring a lot of water along just for this mountain, because, as usual I ran out before I was even close to the top. The ride down from this pass is very nice though, and brought me to the small city of Castlegar.
From Castlegar there are two ways to continue across Canada. The first (known as the Salmo-Creston Pass) is shorter but very difficult. The second is a long round about route around Kootenay Lake. I took the easier route and visited Nelson BC on the way. The ride was very straightforward with nothing particularly ardous to overcome. Eventually I arrived in Creston (Home of Kokanee Beer) then continued on to Yak, and then to Cranbrook. Cranbrook is a fairly major center and I was able to get resupplied with just about everything I needed to continue my adventure.
During my trip from Cranbrook to Fernie, my bike Odometer hit 1000 KM. Also there is a tunnel just before Fernie that has a lot of gravel in it. The small rocks caused my bike to slip out from underneath me and I fell over just as a Semi-Truck rushed past me... Very Dangerous. Leaving Fernie, there is a slow gradual climb up to the Crowsnest Pass. Along the way is the worlds largest truck (In Sparwood) and some spectacular scenery.
As Crowsnest Pass fell behind me, I crossed into Alberta and onto the next leg of the journey.
Next Province - Alberta