The Camping Trip that Wasn't ... (almost)

[SilvrT]

So we've been planning this biking/camping trip since last spring. Bought a trailer, bought all the camping gear we'd need, made our plans and a few reservations, checked the weather forecast, loaded up and headed out Sep 4th early AM.

 

First stop Osoyoos, BC for 3 nights/2 days of camping in one of BC's "hot spots". Booked a spot right next to the lake. Planned to soak up the sun, swimming, rent a sea-doo, go trail riding... blah blah.... and it all went downhill from here. The wind was so bad we could barely pitch our tent. Sand was blowing into everything. We slept overnight and in the morning the wind was still blowing and picking up so down came the tent and we headed out.

 

Rode into Trail and stayed a night in a motel, visited some relatives and headed out the next morning. Weather wasn't too bad up to this point but that would be the last we'd see of the sun and any warmth for the next several days.

 

We were bundled up pretty good to keep warm and dry and rode the Nelson, Balfour ferry, Creston route in cloudy, cool, and some rain ending up in Cranbrook, BC. Original plan was to camp over here for a couple nights but, no such luck as it was still cloudy, a bit of rain, and quite cool so, another night in a motel.

 

Left Cranbrook the next morning and headed north to Radium, thru the park to Banff and on to Calgary. Again, the weather just wasn't with us so into a motel we go and stayed over a couple nights to visit friends. Poured rain the first night and all the next day so we decided to rent a car to get around .... just our crappy luck all they had was a Mustang convertible...oh well lol.

 

Original plan was to ride to Biggar Sask to visit Nina's mom, stopping over at Drumheller but considering the weather forecast, we elected to leave the bike and trailer in Calgary and take the rented car. Due to this added cost, we also shortened our trip there and went straight to biggar, only stopping there for 2 nights, then back to Calgary. For most of that leg of the trip it was cloudy, rainy and quite cool although we did hit a bit of sun on the way back to Calgary and enjoyed riding with the top down on the car (for about an hour).

 

Back in Calgary we stayed another night in the motel and lit out the next morning, heading south to Fort MacLeod and then west towards Cranbrook, ending up in Creston for the night. This had to be the worst part of the trip and probably the worst riding I've ever experienced. From Ft MacLeod onwards thru to Pincher Creek and Coleman, the wind was so bad I could barely keep the bike in my own lane of the highway. At one point we dropped down into a gully and across a bridge and as we were going down the hill, the sign said "Caution - Extreme Wind gusts". Now, I've ridden this route many times and have never hit wind like this and when we crossed that bridge, a gust of wind nearly knocked us right off the road. It was about all I could do to maintain some level of control over the bike.... totally scared the crap out of both of us.

 

Left Creston the next morning and headed for Osoyoos once again, the plan being that if we didn't have some nice weather, we'd just continue on home. If we did, we'd look for a place to camp.

 

Luck was with us as most of that ride was in nice weather. We were finally able to shed some of our several layers of clothing and get back to just jeans and riding jacket. The weather in Osoyoos was great! Mostly sunny and fairly warm so we started looking for a suitable camping spot, finally finding a great little government camp ground (8 camping spots) along side of a lake (Vaseau Lake sp? for those who know the area) and just one spot was left...and it had our name on it.

 

So finally we got to utilize all our camping gear and the weather held out for us for a few days and we got to kick back and relax. We decided to head for home on Thursday (yesterday) as according to the forecast, it would be the last relatively nice day and we didn't want to be riding home in crappy weather.

 

The ride home was great until about an hour away ... then we hit rain and by the time we got to our doorstep, it was coming down pretty good. Since we were so close, we didn't even bother to put our raingear on... just decided to keep on going even if we did get wet. Surprisingly, we barely got wet at all...just a little dampness on our knees and shins.

 

All-in-all it was quite the memorable trip and Nina & I are still married! LOL

 

here's some pics for ya'll to view...(they appear to be in either reverse or random order)

 

http://s393.photobucket.com/albums/pp16/SilvrT/Holidays%202010/

[cecdoo]

Great pics, Thanks:thumbsup: Cant do much about the weather. Hope next years trip is better. Craig

[mini-muffin]

Can't always count on the weather, but looks like you had a good time anyway. Nice pics. Oh and the tragedy of having to ride around in a mustang convertible, I feel for ya.

 

Margaret

[LilBeaver]

Sounds like ya'll made the best of it.

As said, not much one can do about the weather - but so it goes.

 

Glad you guys were safe and had a decent trip anyways! At least you got a few days of camping in.

 

By the way, that trailer looked pretty full - how did it pull? What was your fuel economy like with the trailer? (Just curious here)

 

As for the high winds go - sadly, I am all too familiar with that crap. Seems that the weather people here don't consider it to be 'windy' unless we have more than 20 mph winds; which is quite often.

 

Thanks for the report! And GREAT pictures!

[SilvrT]

By the way, that trailer looked pretty full - how did it pull? What was your fuel economy like with the trailer? (Just curious here)

 

 

The trailer pulled really good. Seemed as tho it stabilized the bike some even. Handled the twisties with ease although I did take them a bit slower and even at 100 mph (160 km/h) it was no problem (hit that while passing a string of RV's)

 

I never checked fuel mileage but we seemed to do pretty good most of the time. The added weight was noticeable tho when cranking it on or pulling the hills.

 

Yes, even tho the weather wasn't what we'd hoped for, we still made the best of it and enjoyed ourselves. Heck, I even got "overserved" a few times LOL. The pics of us clinking the wine glasses was at a Keg restaurant in Calgary (great place for steak dinner). We blew $100 that evening wining and dining on steak and lobster and shrimp! I didn't post the pic Nina took of me passed out on the bed afterwards LOL (the rum was very smooth)!

[1sttenor]

I had a trip like that a couple of years ago. Rained so hard for 2 days that when I finally decided to leave the water was standing 6 inches deep on the main drag in Hot Springs, AR. NO FUN!