Day 46

We left Vancouver towards Mission for a night of rest and relaxation at Beth and Greg's place (Harrison's aunt and uncle). The route was relatively flat, but we got to see the beginnings of the Rocky Mountains. It gave us a glimpse of the amazing scenery to come. When we arrived in Mission we were greeted by Beth, Greg and Lindsay and had a great streak dinner. That night we caught the final game of the Stanley Cup which was a nice treat.
When we left Mission we were excited to start biking into the Rockies, and we after much deliberation and consulting countless experts and after doing science, we made the decision to take the Fraser Canyon (Highway 1) as opposed to the Coquihalla (Highway 5). The Frasier Canyon had fewer summits and better scenery but 70 extra kms. When we arrived in the town of Yale we were assured that we made the right decision as the view was unbelievable. We biked another 15 km and set up our tent near what appeared to be an abandoned house. About 2 hours after setting up our tent the owner of the house came by with a report of someone on his property. He was a nice guy though and didn't mind us camping on his property.

Check out the scenic Fraser Canyon River:  http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4sycwQ1oztc&feature=youtu.be

The road along the canyon has a few tunnels. Cool!

After we left our campsite we started to get a taste of the mountains that were to come. We had a few 2-3 km hills, but nothing too major. We also had the wind at our back which was a huge help for the first day of serious hills. We met our first serious BC hill, one that many had warned us about, and we met it with ease because we happened to have heavy winds at our back. Here we are after accomplishing that first big hill: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Uc3NIqxel68&feature=plcp.
Unfortunately the camera was turned off right before we were presented with the most prestigious award ever, in front of everyone, for biking up that hill.We graciously turned the award down though, because we're not done yet, and will bike up atleast one other hill as we cross the Rockies.

 Not a word of a lie. This is the name of the hill we biked. Pretty harsh.

That night we camped just outside of Spence's Bridge.

When we left our campsite we had about 1 bottle of water each knowing that in Spence's Bridge we would be able to fill them up. However, when we arrived every single shop/cafe/motel was out of business. Our next stop was about 50 km away and so we had to stretch the one bottle each for around 3 hours of biking. We managed, mostly because the sun went away and it started to rain. The rain wasn't terrible and after a quick stop in Cache Creek we set up camp close to Savona. Video of the campsite to be added later.

 Harry biked right by this gem-like scenery without even stopping to look at it. Thankfully Will is better than Harry at some things.

The last video depicts one of the more interesting aspects of our trek along the Fraser Canyon, the vegetation changes drastically, and the change is not subtle at all. it goes from a lush green rainforesty vegetation and climate to a more arid and desert-like setting. It's really a quick transition, and we've been told it changes back shortly after Kamloops.

Just can't get that timer function on the camera right

The next day we arrived in Kamloops. With pretty harsh head-winds, we were reminded just how difficult the hills can be when the wind doesn't go our way. But it was a sunny day and a relatively short day distance-whise so we would be able to arrive in Kamloops without too much of a problem. We also met 4 other cyclists that were touring across Canada. Cool. They were Swiss. Interesting.

Up next we head north to Jasper so that we can take the road along the Columbia Icefields from Jasper through Lake Louise to Banff. We could cut through from Kamloops to Lake Louise, but we think the detour up to Jasper will be worth it. We're pretty excited for it. Thank you again to Sarah and Josh for the amazing hospitality, a welcome change from the camping over the past 3 nights!