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Randy Bishop's Ride from Hyder, Alaska, to Littleton, Colorado, May 31 - June 5, 2004

Part one of this story told about an Iron Butt Association SaddleSore 2000 ride my friend Terry Todd and I took from Littleton, Colorado, to Hyder, Alaska. With Terry on a BMW R1150RT and me on a Kawasaki Concours it covered about 2100 miles in 42 hours and took us through Wyoming, Montana, Alberta, and British Columbia. The ride included wide-open spaces, wind, rain, hockey celebrations, Canadian Rockies, empty roads, bears, sunshine, forests, big rivers, a glacier, and snow capped mountain peaks.

The route home covered about 3200 miles in 6 days and took us through British Columbia, Idaho, Montana, Wyoming, Utah, and Colorado. Stops for the night were at Prince Rupert, 100 Mile House, and Creston, British Columbia, Missoula, Montana, and Montpelier, Idaho. Highlights of the ride included a side trip to Prince Rupert, some of the best winding roads in North America, a couple of ferry boat rides, and lots of beautiful scenery.

After a leisurely departure from the Sealaska Inn, we bought a few souvenirs, took some photos at the Canada-USA border, and began a slower paced ride back south on the Cassiar Highway. At Kitwanga Junction we turned toward the Pacific coast on CN-16, a road highly recommended by Dave Owen, a COG member that lives in Prince George. The highway sweeps alongside the Skeena River, a river so large and full that it makes the Colorado River back home look like a creek. Forested mountains were on either side of us and traffic was very light. After 60 miles we arrived at Terrace and were surprised to see such a large town, complete with import car dealerships. (On maps of the North country, it doesn't take much to be marked as a "town", so a "real" town is out of the ordinary.) West of Terrace the Skeena becomes a wide channel off the ocean and was on our left. Snow capped mountains were across the channel and also on our right. The road was in great shape with sweeping turns and almost no traffic for 90 (NINETY) miles. What a great, great road to experience on a motorcycle! As we neared the coast we ran into rain again, but it cleared up in time to do some exploring around the scenic seaport town of Prince Rupert, and for me to buy something nice for my lovely wife. We had a good, relaxing meal at a restaurant, stayed the night, and then enjoyed the 150-mile trip back to Kitwanga Junction in the morning. We sure were glad we had taken the time for the side trip. The road, the scenery, and the town were definitely worth it.

A second road that Dave recommended was the very curvy BC-3A from Balfour to Creston, one that he calls the "giggle road of BC". We got off the ferryboat, and after passing one car, had 30 miles of tight twisties all to ourselves. When there was a break in the trees we could sneak a quick look at big, beautiful Kootenay Lake (which is about 64 miles long and 7 miles wide) with tall, snow capped mountains on the other side. It was like Deer Creek Canyon Road back home, except it was much longer, there was no traffic, and there were postcard-like views of a big lake along the way. In other words, it was a road that could easily reduce your opinion of any other twisty road you've ridden. At the end of the tight stuff, Terry was sitting on his BMW and proudly announced that he had been waiting for me for quite a while. And I had done a good job of rounding off the side of my tires. It was a road that brought smiles to our faces for sure.

After crossing back into the USA, we turned east at Bonners Ferry, Idaho, for a big loop into Montana to ride another of the best winding roads around. Last year Terry had ridden along the east side of Lake Koocanusa and wanted to ride the road he had seen that ran along the west side of the lake. We turned north on MT-508 and discovered 30 miles of fairly new pavement with lots of sweeping turns and wide shoulders. I'm not sure why it was there, maybe something a Congressman got for his constituents, but it's a great motorcycle road with - surprise - no traffic. More grins in helmets. That came to a halt as the road went back to being a very tight, very narrow forest road that was covered in places by gravel that would tend to lift our tires off the ground on the corners. As Terry went through one turn there was dust flying everywhere. I hoped he hadn't gone down. I slowed appropriately, made the turn, and was glad to see him still on two wheels. Likewise, after checking his mirrors, he was glad to see me upright too. No grins. But the grins returned after we turned onto the road that ran along the west side of the lake. Another 50 (fifty!) miles of medium speed turns, one right after another, with no (NO) traffic, and views of the large lake on our left. We stopped when we reached the main highway, high-fived, and laughed out loud.

Next on our agenda of winding roads was in Idaho, the famous road up to Lolo Pass. After a long and increasingly hot ride from Bonners Ferry we stopped at the Nez Perce National Historic Park to get my NPS passport book stamped and followed that up with a quick dinner at Becky's Burgers in Onofrio. (If you're in the area, don't miss this eatery. Just watch out for the rubber chickens that drop from the ceiling and for the statue of a little boy that may get you wet. It's a fun place to eat.) We left Onofrio about 6pm after most folks were home for the day and headed toward Lolo Pass, riding in very light traffic. We were on the road with the famous "Winding Road, Next 77 Miles" sign, a sign could be moved downstream quite a ways because we were winding alongside the Clearwater and Lochea Rivers for 100 (one hundred!) miles between Onofrio and Lolo Pass. Mountain scenery, rushing whitewater on one side, rock walls and trees on the other, and one curve after another. It's hard to describe how much fun it was to ride a road like that.

In addition to the enjoyment of riding curvy roads, another highlight of the trip south was taking a couple of relaxing ferryboat rides across some huge lakes in BC. After riding in heavy traffic and construction zones on CN-1 between Kamloops and Revelstoke, we took a fairly fast, fun cruise on BC-23 along the northwest side of Upper Arrow Lake (it's about 80 miles long and 4 miles wide) and arrived at the dock just in time to zoom aboard. After the frustration of the first heavy traffic in 3000 miles, it sure was easy to stand on the boat and watch the beautiful scenery go by during the 20 minute crossing between Shelter Bay and Galena Bay. We continued on south on some entertaining roads (BC-23, 31A, and 31) eventually reaching Balfour where we had to wait more than an hour for the next ferry. Even though we were still basically in zoom mode, the wait was relaxing instead of irritating. We bought snacks at the bakery, wrote postcards, visited with bicyclists that were on long rides, and got acquainted with a local GSX-R rider. This ferryboat ride took 35 minutes to cross the narrow part of Lake Kootenay. Very cool indeed.

So, how do I summarize a 3200-mile motorcycle ride from Hyder, Alaska, to Littleton, Colorado? Lots of grins, wide rivers, empty sweeping roads, lush seacoast scenery, some rain, snowy mountains, forests, lakes, empty roads with twisties, relaxing ferryboat rides, border crossings, big skies, little towns, two-lane roads, Nez Perce history, wide open spaces, Tetons, mountain passes, white-water streams, red rocks, and blue skies. We had gone to Alaska to ride, and ride we did. It was a trip that will be remembered for years.

-- Randy Bishop, Littleton Colorado