68km +875m↑

Sunshine Valley, BC to Similkameen River, BC

Got on the road for around 9:45 listening to Men I Trust. It was a sunny day in the valley, the winds were slightly in my face, but overall still very lucky with the weather. Only a few minutes into my ride, I spotted the fellow on the skateboard who I saw yesterday! He was riding east, and I overtook him on the road. Crazy to think how he must handle the climbs and descents on that thing.

The rest of the morning had some breathtaking views through the very famous Manning Park, and I got a good look at some pretty big birds. It was another big climb up towards the summit of Alisson pass (1342m). Despite the road’s shoulder quickly disappearing, I moseyed along uphill at my own slow pace.

I soon got to the top to find an odd surprise… A sticker from my local bike shop! On the summit sign, there was a single sticker: Golden Cycles. I have been going to see them for small services and parts for the past 8 years! Absolutely wild. The shop is only a 5-minute ride from my home in Montreal, and it reminded me that, although I’m in a completely different time zone, I am still never too far from home. It gave me strength to persevere.

The only sign of infrastructure on the ride would be a rest stop around halfway. I was eager to regain phone service! As I rode in, I was astounded by the number of people there. It was a Sunday, and people were driving home to Vancouver from their vacations. The parking lot was full, and so many people were walking around this rest stop, making it seem almost like a town. I locked up my bike, went into the lodge, and sat down for lunch outside. I then got to talking with this lady who lived in Montreal for 2 years for her studies! She paid for my lunch in full. Kindness, compassion, and generosity still exist in this country. I learnt that people have a desire to push another’s soul forward, especially when one can’t do it themselves.

After lunch and a few pictures, I set off towards a campsite on the Similkameen River. I only reached it after an hour and a bit. It is hard to capture the essence of this place in words, but it felt very old-school. Almost like it was the one place I had been to so far that actually belonged. The following picture is the sign I was greeted with. To my left, there was a big house I found it extremely funny that I could, in fact, not honk. I decided to shout “Hello!?”. No response. I walked near the house, but no one seemed to be around. I then ventured down into the small campground, full of amazing red cedar trees.

Along the river, I saw smoke. I followed it down the campground to where I heard voices. All of a sudden, through the bushes, I found a large black dog and 3 guys who were building a garden! At the time, it felt like something out of Trailer Park Boys. They offered me a joint. One of the guys, Chris, owned the campground. I spent around an hour chatting with these guys. One of them was a much older man, who seemed like he had seen it all. Chatted with Chris about how he came across the place, and our lives.

The campground was abandoned in the 70s, and bought out by a millionaire as a second home property. He built a large house on it and decided to sell during COVID. Long story short, the real-estate agent did not list the proprety very well, and Chris got it at a good price, after his deployment in Afghanistan. He pointed me to a lookout point just through the forest, which overlooked a waterfall and where once stood a bridge of the old engineers road, an old 1860s wagon route. Felt like Red Dead Redemption 2!

Overall, I paid 20$ for a powered site. I was the only one there, and got to shower and clip my nails at the house there. As I was making dinner, a small surprise thunderstorm hit! I quickly scurried everything into my tent and set up a tarp over it to be safe.