2008 WR250R Rider -- A Long Way from Home Takes a Respite

Well Medski... you rode within about a kilometer of my northern hovel before turning off up the St Mary's Forest Service Road heading over the Grey Creek Pass. And my phone says nobody called; my email is empty.

You could have slept in a normal bed, with a down comforter, and the fireplace in the guest room burning if you so chose. Had a cold beer and a hot elk steak, from the latest victim that fell two days before. Right up Redding Creek, as it happens. Washed down with quantities of fine scotch or cold beer, your choice, and a big bowl of huckleberries that would make you look down at blueberries with disdain for the rest of your life.

But instead, you chose to ride the Pass as darkness approached, and freeze your ass off all night at the top (hint: generally in the mountains, when one has a choice, it is better to sleep in the valley than at the top). Of course, you did thereby save the hour it would have taken you in the morning to ride from my place to the summit of the pass (not calculating in the time to pack up and break camp, of course). Along with eating a rudimentary breakfast instead of eggs bennie and fresh fruit from Creston. Spared yourself that as well!

God, I love it that we still have men of iron out there! I'd have opted for me sleeping in a bed and the bike sleeping in a garage any time (not to mention the steak, booze, and huckleberries). Of course, I am getting old and soft, and shamelessly prefer comfort to discomfort these days, as long as the objective is met.

Glad you enjoyed your taste of my back yard. I'll help you out a bit.

That city you turned off up the pass from? Well it's MARYSVILLE, not Kimberley. Yes, yes, officially it is Kimberley now, since that contemptible city forced amalgamation on Marysville after our parents had figured out how to pave most of the roads, build an arena with artificial ice, etc. But to those of us who grew up there, it is MARYSVILLE. Make sure you get that straight in your blog.

The road is the St Marys Forest Service Road. The creek you described riding along is the lower St Mary's River, the lake St Mary's Lake, and above that (of course) the Upper St Mary's River. If you had stopped to fish the pools at the bridge where you turned off the St Mary's FSR to head up Grey Creek, you would have found that the Westslope cutties are real suckers for just about anything pale blue or olive right now.

The creek you followed most of the way up the east side of the pass is Redding Creek - which is why most of us not from the Weird Kootenays on the other side call it Redding Creek, not Grey Creek Pass. Just before the last bit to the top, where you dogleg to the right instead of turning off to the left, you lose Redding Creek and are now riding beside Baker Creek. It is only just after you crest the summit and head downwards the relatively short distance to the highway in the Weird Kootenays that you are riding beside Grey Creek.

It's like everything else in the Kootenays - the government put most of the government orifices in Nelson (yep, the Weird Kootenays again), so they're the ones who put up the government signs and names, etc. So we get local names from Weird Kootenays orificials. But, I digress...

You did catch a bit of a break on the weather (although not that much). Like I wrote in that email about a week ago, winter can come fast up here in this country. You could have just as easily have woken up in two feet of snow the following day, and in temperatures well below zero. Seriously, at this time of the year, don't be dual sport camping on the tops of moutains and passes around here without being fully prepared to deal with A LOT of snow. It doesn't happen very often, but it happens often enough that with anything less than clear skies, sleep in the valley bottoms. View ain't nearly as good, but it beats trying to ride single track on a mountain side in two feet of snow. Or just freezing to death.

Sorry I missed you for the ride over Grey Creek. But on the upside, the big rainbows at the mouth of the St Marys are all schooling up there with the Dollies, and I had a pretty nice day of it - caught two that went well over 10 lbs. If you stopped on that bridge right at the Grey Creek turnoff and looked down into those pools, you would have noticed red fish everywhere. Those are the Kokanee on their way up to spawn, and the big Rainbows and Dolly's are feasting on them. Which makes them very vulnerable to a bright red zonker with flashibou on a fast sinking line...

I digress again...

If you come this way again, don't do the slab route south when you hit Radium. Instead, turn off while you're still in the Park at Settler's Road, about 20 minutes out of Radium. Ride Settler's Road through the Palliser and down into the White Swan. Go over the Lussier/Ram Creek into Premier Lake, then ride the east side of Premier Ridge down to Wasa. From there you can do the 20 minutes of slab to Marysville and gas up before heading for the St Marys and Redding Creek.

Enjoy the views, maybe our universes will collide on your way back if you still do the Glacier thing. But it is hunting season, and the fly fishing is pretty damned good as well.

Hey Jager, I tought you were in Whitefish! But eitherways. From Vernon, I plan on on going your way wichever way it is, it's east of me and I need to go east from now on. You plan on being in the Kootenays or around Montana? I do really look foward to meeting you, if only for thanking you for the support you've been willing to provide me along the journey. So I will be heading your way. I'll leave Vernon Saturday Morning.

I've never fly fished, and if that's possible It'd be fun to try that out!

Let me know if timing works for you, and what's the cool route to get around there! Email or forum works, wichever you prefer. I'll also PM you my phone number.

:)

Get a bloody Magic Eraser and get rid of those hideous skid marks on your plastics...

Hi She Wolf:

Did you get some pics with your encounter with the "Medski" today???

Is he staying with you tonight? Somebody else? Somewhere else?

Mederac, I updated the thread on CleanMPG late last night with your latest so hopefully you are a bit warmer now than you were two nights ago?

One thing that scares the crap out of me when camping is cold beyond my gear. You are just plain Screwed and it sounded like you reached that point two nights back???

Keep us posted and Good Luck

Wayne

xcel wrote:

One thing that scares the crap out of me when camping is cold beyond my gear. You are just plain Screwed and it sounded like you reached that point two nights back???

Yeah sort of did, but not totally, the trick when it's really cold is to be insulated from the ground. That's why I slept on my raincoat, wich was on the polar blanket, wich was on my mat, wich was on my dry bags (with a wee bit of air in them). That and being fully dressed with my riding jacket inside the sleeping bad. I just had cold feet. I should have put on more pair of socks, but I had them inside the bag still on the bike outside. Oh well!

I've camped in a tent in middle of winter before it's just that this cold sort of took me by surprise, but It came, I knew how to get through it. It's just annoying that my cold feet kept waking me up haha. Had I have had my shoes in the tent or more socks, i'd have been better but I didn't wanna get out the sleeping bag at that point. hehe.

I didn't have my cam with me Wayne, but Med had his funky wafer iPhone. Got just shy of 180 km's on my tank and i was just a bit below half tank when i topped it off to head back home. I just love his accent.

Yeah, Gray Creek Pass can be cold in the wrong weather. I remember one time camped up there when we took the frying pan off the stove and put it on the picnic table to eat. It was frozen down when we were done!

In the warm weather the flies try to eat you alive. If you catch it in between it's quite nice, but all the time it's a nice 'short cut'.

Medski wrote:

Hey Jager, I tought you were in Whitefish! But eitherways. From Vernon, I plan on on going your way wichever way it is, it's east of me and I need to go east from now on. You plan on being in the Kootenays or around Montana? I do really look foward to meeting you, if only for thanking you for the support you've been willing to provide me along the journey. So I will be heading your way. I'll leave Vernon Saturday Morning.

I've never fly fished, and if that's possible It'd be fun to try that out!

Let me know if timing works for you, and what's the cool route to get around there! Email or forum works, wichever you prefer. I'll also PM you my phone number.

Ehhh... kind of bagged... the new CO likes his scotch...

I can't help you with route planning from Vernon; never went there except via the slab.

My schedule is still watch and shoot. General idea is gone to the coast running an annual qualification range until Sunday, travel Monday. Whether I travel to BC or Montana remains to be seen. Weather is supposed to be cloudy and heavy rain through Tuesday, which will probably be true for both this area in BC and Montana. So if you found other pursuits until Wednesday (like the Kettle Valley Railroad track? I dunno) in some place with better weather, that would not be a bad thing. I may be stuck up in BC all next week.

Best I can do for best guessing my immediate future. If that works for your travel plans, great. If not, to worry, I've enjoyed your travel blog and hope you're having a great time.

Time to go to ground...

SheWolf wrote:

I didn't have my cam with me Wayne, but Med had his funky wafer iPhone. Got just shy of 180 km's on my tank and i was just a bit below half tank when i topped it off to head back home. I just love his accent.

At 5pm I was all grumpy that I couldn't go with you two
I wish there was less work involved in my job, would have been fun to ride with a couple of other WR's

Medski, who is your Yamaha dealer back home?

0007onWR wrote:

Medski, who is your Yamaha dealer back home?

Hard question. As I bought the bike barely used (with 400km on it). It came from Nadon Sport, I haven't been there although I plan to when I get back. I went to Alex Berthiaume mostly for filters and oil and stuff because it's 5 blocks from my house.

I'm stil around tonight, gonna be leaving vernon tomorrow morning!

I still have 1 fear: The Fuel pump going dead on me, as I have one of the really early 2008 one.

I have a very early 2008 with over 15,000km. No problems with the fuel pump here. I don't think they all had an issue.

Jäger wrote:

Weather is supposed to be cloudy and heavy rain through Tuesday, which will probably be true for both this area in BC and Montana. So if you found other pursuits until Wednesday (like the Kettle Valley Railroad track? I dunno) in some place with better weather, that would not be a bad thing.

Aaaaannnndddd... how prophetic was that of me?

Medski looked a little damp around the edges yesterday afternoon when he lucked out and caught me in the Weird Kootenays in between moves. As chance would have it, he needed some rerouting from the ferry, so I directed him down the lake run. I was still in town when he hit town, and as luck would have it again, he picked a motel walking distance from the military facility I was visiting/working at.

So, we visited a bit, talked a bit, planned a bit, munched at a not bad Chinese smorg, etc. Told him he could have a wonderful career in the military as an Imagery Tech, etc. Talked about life in the mountains, the craziness of Montreal, and stuck up Montreal women (no skin off my nose; I'm married).

And warned him that the weather looked like it was going to go Delta Sierra even worse.

So I woke up today. The clouds are so far down you can barely see the town, heavy fog on the river, and the rain was just HAMMERING down. And it did all day. Still is, in fact, including 300 kilometers to the east. Thought of Medski, peering out the window this morning as he dressed to leave... sometimes it really sucks to be "that guy". Didn't bother me in the least that my WR was sitting at home inside a dry garage.

Anyways, unless riding south got him out of that weather system, he spent today resembling a well-drowned rat.

I did give him a ration pack with a heater bag, however, so if he's freezing his ass off, he should have no problem finding enough rain water runoff to fire up the heater bag and have a hot meal. If I'd have known it was going to be this ugly today, I'd have given him a couple of dozen heater bags.

Old Airborne tip for Medski: once the heater bag is activated, put it inside your jacket like you would a hot water bottle. It will keep you nicely warmed for a good hour anyways, and once it starts to cool down, then retrieve your meal and eat it.

Yeah today was even wetter than yesterday. I started out checking the radar forecast and found that I could plan a route to skip most of the rain. I think I have ran out of good luck karma though as I had blue skies to my left and in front but had a huge pounding rain cloud on top of my head that was following me the whole way... :/

I arrived at my destination even more soaked than last night and tomorrow supposed to be not raining in the kootenays... But here rain followed me it looks like...

Oh crap, Med...that stinks! It pounded here too, we had hail and a decent t-storm at that time too. My back yard looks like a lake. How much water did you dump out of your boots this time?

They were filled up to my ankle when my feet were in there. Haha

Gaiters! yeah I dunno if those would really even help in a torrential downpour. Ewwww.... Glad you're still riding rubber side down.

Medski wrote:

They were filled up to my ankle when my feet were in there. Haha

And you're in Kalispell tonight - once again, within spitting distance of one of my hovels. The wife is home; if you'd have called, your WR could have shacked up with mine for the night in the garage. I assume you came from Idaho by way of Coeur d'Alene, Libby, etc?

When you take off in the morning, go down Flathead Lake on the east side - a log more picturesque.

Are you headed for Pocatello tomorrow?

Jäger wrote:

Are you headed for Pocatello tomorrow?

Yep, came by Libby and yep, taking the side of the lake route indeed. Though I hope I can make it to Idaho falls or slightly more south.

Medski wrote:

Jäger wrote:

Are you headed for Pocatello tomorrow?

Yep, came by Libby and yep, taking the side of the lake route indeed. Though I hope I can make it to Idaho falls or slightly more south.

Probably too late, but... you have to take the lake route no matter which way you go. The high speed slab is the west side, the picturesque, twisty road is the east side. Which is why I said EAST side.

But you won't suffer for a view on either route.

Don't have wifi tonight and USA roaming fees for mobile 3G are a pain so blog will wait. Just wanted to say I'm ok and I made it just south of salt lake city. So even if schedule is tight I should be able to visit arches. :)

Stay tuned!!

Looking forward to more, med! Wow you cover a lot of ground!

Medski wrote:

Don't have wifi tonight and USA roaming fees for mobile 3G are a pain so blog will wait. Just wanted to say I'm ok and I made it just south of salt lake city. So even if schedule is tight I should be able to visit arches.

Alright. I am now officially impressed.

I took notice when you slept at the top of Redding Creek in weather that threatened winter.

But the drive from Whitefish to Salt Lake City is one I did many a time when the Residential Sergeant Major was doing her graduate degree in Logan. I did it in a Dodge 2500 diesel with cruise control and air conditioning, and it was a shitty trip no matter how you sliced it. Made for a very, very long trip, worse when I was pulling the trailer. About 700 miles, much of it just straight arrow crap.

And you, my titanium-assed friend, did the same haul on a WR, flapping in the breeze. Jay-zus. I should have taken a closer look at your bike's seat...

Frack, I'd rather be water-boarded.

It's official. You're hard.

BTW, I assume it is nice and warm for you down where you are right now - seeing as how a little machine gun fire started a fire that had people worrying it might burn Provo.

Take pictures!

Wow.... Big wow.... Very impressive. I'm not sure I have this mucho gusto to do this.

I love to ride, but I love to sit and take it all in afterwards on a daily basis.

We (the girl and I) can entertain anyone who has this much "enthusiasm" though. ...either here at home or out in the desert.

Good on ya Medski... Clear skies and safe rides to ya bro. Rubber side down.

Blog updated! Oh my what a day!!! :O

Smile!!!

OMG love the hair, dude!! Looks like a great spot you're in. Wished I could ride it with ya. Oh and Mark calls you Mr. Iron Ass...or something like that. Hey I recognize those tires!!