I seem to have unintentionally established a tradition of completing one ‘large’ motorcycle road trip each year. COVID put a stop to that for several years, and various other factors mostly relating to the deterioration of my ancient body have kept the trips fairly compact since then. But I decided to ‘stretch my wings’ a bit for 2024 and combine a longer road trip with a visit to friends and family in my birthplace: Edmonton, Alberta.

I’ve decided to separate this road trip into two posts on the premise that brevity is the soul of wit… or at least makes the posts a little easier to digest. This first one details the outbound trip from home in Castlegar to Edmonton. My route to the Big E took me through Clearwater, Jasper and Hinton.

Castlegar to Clearwater

My first day of riding on September 11 took me from home to Clearwater. Good old Clearwater: one of two towns my family used as summer vacation meeting places between our West Coast B.C. and Central Alberta chapters, the other being Blue River. I have a lot of happy feelings about both towns although my recollection of details is rather spotty. I recall a cold, glacier fed lake, and a swimming pool at a hotel, and I think some paddleboats- but I can’t remember which memory is from which town.

In any case, on this trip Clearwater was just a waypoint. About nine hours of riding and almost 600 kilometres from my home in Castlegar, it was also one of the longest days of travelling during the trip. It might not sound like much, but nine hours on a motorcycle is quite a lot- especially for me. The weather was perfect for riding: mostly overcast and mid-20s, with no real rain. Cool and comfortable makes the ride pleasant when wearing full gear, and the high overcast means less eyestrain.

Waiting for the Ferry

The route I took was very scenic, starting with a beautiful ride through Nakusp via Highway 6. I crossed via ferry from Galena Bay to Shelter Bay, then up Highway 23 towards Revelstoke. I had a really nice chat with a couple with a trailer while waiting in line. The fellow had never ridden a bike so he was curious about the controls. Note to self: do not demonstrate the clutch while the bike is stopped in gear on a slope. No catastrophes, but a bit of a rush as 900 pounds of bike tries to roll off its kick stand.

I also chatted with another biker riding a BMW dual sport. He stopped off the ferry ramp because the downward slope was a bit worrisome on his more upright bike. I’ve never ridden a dual sport or adventure touring bike, but they are ‘taller’ with a higher centre of gravity for off-road riding, and he told me they don’t like being on a slope. The whole ‘leave the bike in gear’ trick works fairly well on downward slopes on touring bikes due to their lower centre of gravity. As long as you don’t stupidly pull in the clutch.

Fond memories of a wrong turn

A turn West on the #1 took me past the infamous Three Valley Lake Chateau aka Three Valley Gap- infamous from a previous road trip as the place which two red-headed brothers ended up not getting to due to turning the wrong direction. Remember: turn West at the Highway 23/1 intersection to get to the Three Valley Lake Chateau. Then on through Sicamous and Salmon Arm before cutting through the outskirts of Kamloops and joining Highway 5.

The road from Salmon Arm to Kamloops had a lot of construction: they were twinning (two lanes each direction) that stretch, so quite an upgrade. And Salmon Arm is much bigger than I remember it. There were several Tim Hortons, not just one!

My room in Clearwater at the Quality Inn and Suites was fantastic: nicely organized, modern, and with a full-sized fridge and a cook top. Out the back was a lovely courtyard area, and I even had a little balcony to sit on. I didn’t use most of the features, but the place also has a good restaurant- the Gateway Grill: that I definitely used. After a day of riding, having a comfy bed and a good meal are greatly appreciated.

Clearwater to Hinton

I started my second day on September 12 a little later as my route covered a bit less riding: about 400 km and maybe 6 hours. The route stayed on Highway 5 before turning on to Highway 16, and passed through a lot of little towns. Blue River I mentioned earlier, but I also travelled through others like Avola, Canoe River, and Valemount. I actually think Valemount might be the biggest town on that list with a population of around 1,000. I should mention that I always seem to mis-spell Valemount as ‘Valemont’, dropping that ‘U’ without proper consideration. The big sign in the town corrected my error… hopefully I’ll remember

The route also passed through both Mount Robson and Jasper Parks. Both are amongst my favourite parks, but on this trip I was seeing Jasper after the horrible forest fire that went through the area just a month or so earlier. The park had only opened for through-traffic a couple weeks before my trip, and the Jasper township had only opened with limited visitor services a few days earlier.

Jasper devastation

There is already a post I wrote covering a bit about my thoughts on passing through Jasper after the fire on my other blog (Ubergeek Kelly’s World), so I won’t repeat all of that here. I will add this: although I was saddened by what I saw in Jasper, I also sensed rebirth and regrowth already under way. I am hopeful that the town will get what it needs to rebuild the homes and businesses that were lost, and I could already see greenery coming up in the burned-out forest areas.

My stop for the night was in Hinton, and the room there was the most expensive I stayed in during my entire trip at well over $300. I understand that all the hotels in Hinton raised their prices after the Jasper fire- hopefully the displaced people and fire crews got some kind of discount. The Days Inn in Hinton was a fairly tired and worn out place as well, with none of the simple charm of the Quality Inn I stayed in the night previous. There was, however, a Ricky’s restaurant next door, so at least I could get a good meal and a tasty beer.

Hinton to Edmonton

My third and final day of outbound travel was arguably the most boring for me, but I was at least able to start the day fairly late as I only had about 300 km to cover. I’ve travelled on Highway 16 between Hinton and Edmonton quite a few times, so it suffers from familiarity. It is also mostly flat, pretty much straight, and worst of all has no mountains.

On the plus side, this part of Highway 16 is fast and fairly easy with stretches at 110 km/h. The road quality itself was a big drop down from the rest of my trip, however. Lots of frost heave damage, low-quality repairs, ruts and cracks- the kind of thing that makes a motorcycle ride much less enjoyable. It is definitely in need of resurfacing for much of its length.

Arriving in Edmonton

I made it in to Edmonton and to my hotel there with no problems at all. I wrote about my ‘surprise’ at the interesting changes I observed in my old home as I entered the city that day on my other blog. It is nice to see how much Edmonton has progressed since I last saw it, and I am happy that my route to my selected hotel took me through so much of the city.

In an upcoming post I’ll document my return trip from Edmonton. Not to worry: it follows a completely different route!