Dualsporting north of Squamish

Bill and I got out for the first time this year. The weather was cool and it was supposed to rain "less than a millimetre".

I had to test some new bags and settings. Right at the start of the ride, my shock preload adjuster broke, with it set to max. Not ideal, the bike would be too stiff, but what are you going to do. Also I didn't have the correct connector for the gopro video camera, so that stayed in the bag. Video next time.

Instead of heading into the Elaho valley we took Squamish river.

The Squamish River stretch is much smaller and less travelled than the Elaho.


And there is still a lot of water coming down everywhere (with the washouts to go along with it)

Beautiful


Bill had been in there and said that we could get up to the clouds. Though the "road" got a bit narrow. After almost breaking off a mirror (twice) I said "enough". Here is Bill ahead of me on the way back down...

Yeah, I know, I couldn't see him either. It was just a touch tight.

We did find another way up, and man it was worth it!

On the other side of that mountain is Pemberton


The happy riders

Aside: The moisture on my visor is not from rain by the way. That's from the branches hitting me in the helmet on the way out just before :D


We kept taking off-shoots to see if we could get higher. This road looked very promising until we saw the washout. But then again, the water was only 2 or 3 feet deep, with some sections looking shallower and rideable.


I went across first, got a bit wet, but kept moving. Bill was ready to assist and helped me get the bike positioned for the second bit of water.

Here is Bill setting up for the second bit of water I looked on. He didn't need any help :)


If you look carefully you'll see my track, to the right was the safest (i.e. shallowest) place to cross.

Unfortunately, shortly after the road was blocked by a very large tree and we got to do the water crossing again.

Then the rain started and we were in for a wet ride all the way back. One milimetre turned into many. It was a fun ride back and we didn't really need to back off. Just kept a nice steady pace and after the 80 km trip back found some lunch.

It was a great day dualsporting and I can't wait to do it again soon. My new waterproof luggage did great and is ready for the long road trip in August :D

Hope you had a great weekend as well.

Bjorn

P.S.: We attracted some odd people at lunch. Here is one exchange Bill had:

Some guy: Great bikes. So that KTM, how big is the motor?
Bill: 620
(note that is says so with big numbers on the side)
Some guy: So who makes that KTM.
Bill: Umm, KTM?!
Some guy: Oh, so they make them?
(I just shook my head :D )