Why not expand my horizons a little 1111km trip, and attend this HU gathering in Nakusp, with approx. 140 riders attending, from quite literally all over the world.
From the Loops I went up the mabel lk. three valley FSR, to Shelter bay then hung a right to travel the Fsr down the southside of arrow lake to the arrow park ferry, which I had all to myself.
Arriving a day early with most people still to arrive, the camp slowly filled with virtually all riders in a tent
the large yellow tents have garages and at least close to stand up interiors (flat screen, lazy boys, fridge etc.) in the tents for seriously pampered and pimped out GS's
taking advantege of my early arrival I headed off in search of elevation along the backside of Trout Lk. a 280k out'n back, aiming for the 2600m Silvercup ridge above the lake which looked accesable via. Rady cr. and trout lk fsr's ,thinking ONE of them would be the preferred route.
This warning sign was, sewww yesterday.
The first FSR ridden was Rady cr.,
a bakers dozen (more?) switchback riddled road that has it's first payback view down on trout lk. after the 4th switchback.
which is also where it morphs from an easy "B" to a "B+" or better, not KLR friendly but doable, switchback 5 is the game changer, time for Momma boys to turn around.
the views from the top were fair impressive and the alpine flowers were plentiful and brilliant
, but clearly this was not the preferred (read, easy) route to the top, "Hey Cactusreid!, here's one more place you shouldn't outta take a KLR".
Back on down Rady, then on to trout lk. american cr. fsr.
THIS is the preferred route to the ridge, a C+ ride to 2600m.! the first 1k is no worse than the next 15 so make your choice to continue at the first switchback (the first of lots!) a crazy easy road considering the elevation gained and the payback views.
how was the view from the top?, over 100 pics. were shot over the next hour and 10 pana pics. assembled, here's 1
maybe one more, though some Yahoo went and parked his bike in the shot.
(there's a dozen pics. right there). This would make a great base camp for a few days of hanging out above the tree line, and while exploring (by yourself 15 km up and away from the closest lightly travelled road), keep an eye out for (appearently) really big camoflaged (sp?) skiplate ripping "rocks on road", which may also blow your foot clean offa the footpeg, if you're lucky the footpeg and shifter will remain. (whew)
at least a little common sense stopped me from crossing this, yes it's very steep to the right
not sure whats up with the purple snow but it's not the cameras fault, the snow really does have something purple on it, pollution? or maybe some sorta algae?
maybe just one more pana. taken from the KLR stopping snowdrift
on my next visit even close to this area, this 32k out/back fsr. detour will be taken.
Back in Nakusp the HU people were putting on demos (here with low speed, up on the pegs riding skills), and just seconds from now many of these people were sent scrambling from the path of the slo-mo Weestrom.
there were also many audio video, presentations with info as to how to ship bikes, how to be bear savy, and stories from world travellers like the 2 that managed a twin GS800 and X5 SUV BMW sponsored trek to Tuktoyuktuk,, in the winter! on the above Inuvik ice road at -45c! and to be purists they did it without electrics, now that just plumb crazy.
This global wanderer had a waaay high tech GPS "ram mount", consisting of Duct taped wrapped foam and elastic bands.
and a "Huggy Bear" of Starsky and Hutch fame approved pimp daddy Sheepskin seat cover, sweeet.
prior commitments made me leave a day early and twist my way back along the cherryville rd. to OK lake for a fud/wine fest, but the next HU meeting will be attended to the end as there is heaps of solid info available for armchair and real live world travellers alike.
Now to replace the tire/chain/sprockets and prep for the next adventure.
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