Day 12: To Hazelton

July 11, 2007

I saw two bears today along the side of the road. I also saw two westbound touring cyclists today.

I got up at 8 and got on the road at 9:30 under sunny skies. It was much too warm for me to cover up in raingear. The mosquitos weren't bad when I was moving but they would swarm around me 20 seconds after I stop. I ended up with many welts on my face, neck, and legs, presumably from black flies. Black fly season is usually over by now but this year's season lasted longer than usual due to massive spring rains. The mosquitos are the "worst in memory" according to several locals I spoke to.

Turnoff for the Cassiar highway, the "back road" to Alaska.

I stopped for lunch at the Petro Canada station at the Cassiar highway intersection. The restaurant was packed with people going to and from Alaska on the Cassiar highway. It was interesting to see all the clean vehicles going north and dusty vehicles going south. The hills are getting bigger but the total climbing is still reasonable.

Clean motorcycles obviously going TO Alaska.

I pedaled a short distance on the Cassiar highway to see the views from the bridge crossing the Skeena river.

Skeena river upstream from the Cassiar highway bridge.

Skeena river looking downstream from the Cassiar highway bridge.

Today is MUCH warmer. High of about 30C/87F. Locals said this was the first hot day of the summer. Fortunately there are a few lakes for swimming (the Skeena river is much too cold for swimming). Seavy lake provincial park was especially nice.

Cool lake on the first hot day of summer at Seavy Lake provincial park near Hazelton.

I guess Canadian loggers don't wear hard hats.

I got a motel room in Hazelton because I had so many insect bites and was in no mood to get even more. I found a room for only $52 with a kitchenette. Arriving at 5PM gave me plenty of daylight to spare after an easy day of only 68.6 km. So I did laundry at a laundromat.

The motel room didn't have air conditioning so the room was quite warm until I opened the window at 9PM after the temperature finally got cooler outside. At least the room is free of mosquitoes and black flies.

Hazelton is the northernmost point of this tour. 55 degrees north latitude, about the same latitude as Ketchikan, Alaska.

Distance: 68.6 km / 42.9 mi

Climbing: 470 m / 1550 ft

Average speed: 14.4 km/h / 9.0 mph

Maximum speed: 55.3 km/h / 34.6 mph

Today's ride: 69 km (43 miles)
Total: 891 km (553 miles)

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