May 11, 2025
Mother’s Day, Kitwanga to Bonus Lake
British Columbia’s history, politics, economy, and culture are so different from the Northwest states and the U.S. for that matter. B.C. is roughly equivalent in land area to California, Washington and Oregon combined. Might as well throw in Idaho for good measure! It is larger than all U.S. states except Alaska. With a population of 5 million people, it has 3 million fewer people than Washington state alone. They have many public services which are owned by the Crown corporation, the term used in Canada for organizations that are structured like private companies, but are directly and wholly owned by the B.C. government. There’s only one power entity; one public transit entity; one property assessment entity, and so on. Of course, you hear folks talk about their “free” health care system. However, the woman I met at Woss Lake said it took three years for her knee replacement surgery to get scheduled.
I turned off the Cassiar and rode into Gitanyow to see how their little community was adapting to outside changes. Years ago, they erected a series of totem poles which today serve as a visitor attraction. I didn’t take pictures, but instead ate my lunch at the base of the poles. There was active construction of new homes, centers, and potentially commerce. In 2022, the Gitanyow Nation Chiefs unilaterally declared the establishment of the Meziadin Indigenous Protected Area without B.C. government approval. (I will travel to Meziadin Junction tomorrow and stay in their project crew bunkhouse.) Basically, the Chiefs got tired of waiting for B.C. officials to work with them on an agreement and went ahead and did it themselves. Their actions drew David Suzuki to the second anniversary of the declaration to make remarks about the importance of their sovereign right to control their land. It’s remarkable that the B.C. government is still on the fence.
Once I returned to the Cassiar Highway, I passed Tea Creek Farms, a small, prosperous, food growing and processing operation. I wanted to take another detour and find out how this Gitanyow effort was working. However, there are just too many places to stop and visit and learn from people who are doing good work. I had to keep moving.
The nice weather turned into showers half-way into the ride, then into a consistent rain. At one point, I looked up the road and thought I saw a bear attempting to cross the road. Instead, it was a bicyclist going in the opposite direction from me. He crossed over and we chatted for longer than he probably preferred.
Nathan or Nate had just come from Hyder, Alaska, the only “town” in SE Alaska that you can drive to. It’s just off of the road to Stewart, B.C. He was on the last leg of his around-the-world ride and wanted to start in Alaska (we both got a kick out his Alaska starting point) and end in Rio de Janeiro. A Welshman, he had been on the road for 15 months! He started in the UK, rode through Europe, south through Africa to Johannesburg. He flew to the Middle East and continued on into China, down to Australia, and then he flew to B.C. arriving a few days ago. His plans included the West Coast Route and I was able to share with him a few things I learned on my trip last year. (Like he really needed help.) You can imagine the two of us standing over our bikes in the pouring rain on the side of the road talking like we were old school buds. He was covering ground, 150-200 KM a day, not like my 80-90 KM a day.
After meeting and talking with Nate, I was invigorated and pedaled to my campsite faster than I thought I could where I immediately made hot cocoa and set up my tent in the rain. Of course, after everything was in order, the rain stopped, the sun started to burn through the clouds. Just like that, life was good again.
Today's ride: 49 miles (79 km)
Total: 538 miles (866 km)
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