May 12, 2025

Bonus Lake to Meziadin Junction

What a morning! A thin fog covered Bonus Lake and quickly dissipated as the sun got above the treetops. I grabbed all my wet gear and hung it out on bare bushes like a yard sale. Within 45 minutes, everything was dry again and I was back in business.

Boy, was I back in business. The sky was bluer-than-blue and looking into the heavens, no clouds could be found. The temperature seemed to increase rapidly and dramatically. By the time I left the campground, I was wearing shorts, a short-sleeved shirt and swatting black flies. It was already in the upper 50s. As the snowboarders say, I was stoked!

I don’t recall when in the ride I started to struggle. Maybe after my lunch break. It was too warm (70º) for me and to compound the discomfort of the heat, a dry north wind started to punch me in the face. It was okay for a while. Until it wasn’t. Be careful what you wish for. The last 20 miles were not fun.

I arrived to Meziadin Junction at my normal time of about 4 pm. The Junction is an intersection of the Cassiar and the Stewart Highways. I think Stewart B.C. is about 30 miles from the Junction, and is situated at the end of Portland Canal, a fjord featuring the Canadian and U.S. border. Meziadin Junction boasts a gas/diesel station, a small store, and a series of ACCO trailers reminiscent of a project crew camp. My guess is the Gitanyow bought the equipment used from a remote project to use as a hotel and restaurant. It was fine for me. I paid the day rate which included Internet, dinner, breakfast and a take-along lunch tomorrow morning. Evidently a sow and three spring cubs were making the rounds just outside and had the employees on high alert. I didn’t see the bears and never bothered to ask if they were a black or a grizzly family. Early in the year like this, all the animals are out trying to find food and some food is easier to find than food in their natural diet. I figured there was still plenty of time for me to see bears along the road … eating their natural diet.

Mountains delineating the Pacific from the northern interior of B.C.

Today's ride: 47 miles (76 km)
Total: 585 miles (941 km)

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Lou JurcikGotta thank you again for your efforts to document all this. Loving life as it is for me. But it sure is nice to enrich it with a little side-saddle living!
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3 weeks ago