Days 22-23 (July
21-22, 2013)
After a good night sleep in Watson lake, I took off
toward the Hwy 37, the Cassiar Hwy. Just
outside of Watson Lake I nearly hit a young bear, maybe 100 yards from the Sign
Post Forest. The bear ran unexpectedly out in front of me and darted back into the
bush. Undaunted, this bear started feeding on the side of the road. So I put my
GoPro Camera to use and attempted to get my camera out for some more video. Unfortunately
for me, the creature ran when the next pickup truck drove by and I was unable
to get even a picture of this cute little creature. Shortly there after the sky
opened up and it began pouring rain. It poured and poured until I got to Good
Hope Lake. From there, Jade City wasn’t too far and I stopped in to say hi to
my friend Kendra and a new employee there, named Jessica. I wanted to dry off a
bit and they always have free coffee and cocoa. So I stayed a bit to chat They told
me that they may be opening a restaurant across the road from the store. I told
them tha tit would probably do good business in the summer and that I look
forward to having a burger there on my next visit. I said my goodbyes and took
off, only to be created by more rain showers. Form here on, all the way to
Dease Lake I would be in and out of the rain. Once at Dease Lake I grabbed some
lunch and the weather began to show signs of improvement.
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| Leaving the Air Force Lodge at Watson Lake |
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| A break in the rain at Good Hope Lake |
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| Jade City, free coffee and good company |
It was still heavily overcast when I left, but as I go toward
the native village known as Iskut, I could tell that I was out of the rain for
good this day as I could see blue skies of in the south.
It was pretty uneventful, save for the few times I
stopped to take some pictures and film some video. I happen to play leap frog
with a couple that each had their own motorcycles. The lady had a lowered F650
GS while her husband had a big Harley and a tent trailer.
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| The Cassiar Hwy...somewhere near Kinaskat Lake |
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| My overloaded steed |
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| This rock looked a bit phallic (strange) |
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| My arrival near Bell II Lodge |
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| My camp at Mezidain Lake |
Later that evening, I met up with them again at Mezidain
Lake Provincial Park. Camping was tough there as the campground was nearly
full. I happened to run into the couple and they invited me over to their spot.
I said I’ll have a look around and eventually found a spot with a view… one of
the last 2 campsites left. After dinner and some visiting it was off to bed.
But I found it hard to sleep. All the light coming into my tent was keeping me
awake. This time, it wasn’t sunlight. No, no, it was nearly a full moon and the
moonlight was brilliant and lit up the lake and the sky and reflected off the
midnight clouds. It looked like I had a fluorescent lamp on outside my tent.
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| Earl and an apprentice carving a totem pole out of Cedar |
The next morning, I quickly packed up and headed to
Gitanyow (A Ksan village near Hazelton). They have very old totem poles. Some over
200 years old. There happened to be two wood carvers working on a big cedar Totem
Pole. While younger of the two men worked, the older gentleman introduced himself
to me. He told me they were replacing totem poles as the older ones rot and
fall over. They also introduce new ones. He briefly gave me a quick lesson on
how to read totems, and discover the meanings and symbolisms of the poles. One
thing he mentioned to me, something that
I would never forget is how, the white man came and initially destroyed
and/or burned the totem poles when the first white men arrived in their
country. These folks he told me were missionaries and they viewed the totems as
statues to gods. Nothing could be farther from the truth he told me. The totems,
tell a story, each of them unique. The most important figure in a totem is the
individual sitting on the ground, holding all the others up on their hands,
shoulder hands/or head. The least important person would be placed on top. In
many totems, one sees the white ma at the top. As the white man was the least
important person to them. White people thought they were being honored as they were at the top of the totems. In any
event, the elder gentleman’s name was Earl. He asked me where I was from and I
told him Seattle. He told me he helped
carve and oversee the totem pole found at the Seattle center. It was carved in
1970. The Seattle Totem features from top to bottom a hawk, bear (holding a
salmon), raven and killer whale. Earl was rather proud of that carving and told
me he likes Seattle very much and l had lived there for many years. I asked
about the carving they were currently working on. He said they have been working
on it for 5 months. The artwork was fantastic and I watched as the younger
gentlemen took Earls instruction to make the finer details seen on totem poles,
like feathers and how to make the character look like it was in motion. I found
it odd that I run into Earl out in the bush. Of all the people I could have run
into, Earl was the man for that day. I felt honored that he even gave me the time
of day. After talking shop about the totems, he told me about the sacred
headwaters of the Stikine, where the Nass, the Stikine, and Skeena rivers start
flowing, all within 300 yards of each other. These are large rivers of the
north, the lifeblood for many of the natives that live up there. He told me
that I should make it a point to go back there and see the place for myself. Something
I plan to do soemtiem. Ealr also told stories of how they battled Shell Oil and
the Canadian Gov’t to stop mining on their lands and prevented them from building
a dam on the Stikine River Canyon. This was incredible canyon Johann and I had
ridden down to the town of Telegraph Creek a couple of weeks earlier. Earl
finally told me, that he didn’t much care for the white man and their ways. I
think I surprised him, when I told him that I agree completely. There are some sacred
places that we should let be. The Stikine region is one of those sacred places.
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Earl stated that they have been working
on the totem for nearly 5 months |
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| The village of Gitanyow the community of the Gitxsan people |
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| Some of thee totems date back well over 100 years or more. |
I parted ways with
Earl and shortly after getting back onto the Cassiar hwy, another little bear
darted in front of me. This time, the bear startled me and I nearly dumped my
bike. The little black bear just sat
there staring at me a bit while I struggled to get my camera out for some more bear
footage. However, just as I was nearly ready, the bear took off for the forest,
disappearing as fast as it appeared.
At the junction of the Cassiar and Yellowhead Highways, I
gassed up and headed toward Smithers. From there it was long slog to Prince
George… about 5.5 hours later. As I was gassing up, I inspected my tires,
particularly my rear tire. Back in Watson Lake I made a mental note of how much
tread I had left. I was carrying more with now as I had some of Johanns’ gear
with me. I noticed that my cleat was nearly gone and that some cracks were forming
in the rubber. I was a bit uncomfortable going the last 1000 miles or so home
on this tire. It happened to be Sunday Evening and all the bike shops are usually
closed on Sundays and Mondays.
Instead of camping, I got motel and wi-fi to begin my
search for a bike shop that would a) be open on a Monday and b) would have a tire
for my bike.
Stay tuned to see what the next 2 days had in store for
me.
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