Day 19, July 25th, 65km and 365m climb, Night Sky to Christina Lake.
Today was a day of two halves. We left just before 8, stopped for a quick coffee and to pick up some lunch then headed out on the trail. A 17km climb found us at the high point of today's ride. Here we met a group of 4 blokes being dropped off to ride down to Grand Forks. They assured us it was all down hill which sounded promising so after a quick snack we headed off. 2 minutes into the downhill and we met a rider coming up who flagged us down for a chat. He was on a 2 month loop from Ontario and we covered just about every topic under the sun in our 15 minute chat including religion, politics and Trump. Really nice guy but we could feel the day hotting up so we pushed on.
While we had been chatting, our 4 mates had zoomed past so we weren't sure if we'd see them again but sure enough we leap frogged with them all the way down. And down it was, 25km of beautiful, smooth, fast downhill. So much fun and amazing views plus a couple of tunnels to keep us honest.
The blokes were off to the pub and invited us to join them. We decided this was a good idea and set aside our lunch sandwiches for dinner. The pub was lovely and cool and we had delicious hamburgers and a good chat mostly about motorbikes! At the end we thought we'd better head off and they insisted on paying. People are so kind and generous, some more wonderful trail angels.
We left the pub and were slammed by the heat. The next 20km was undulating and there was almost no shade. A river was tantalizingly close but no access! Our Garmin were reading over 40 degrees and I was cooking. Gordon handled it way better than me. Eventually we found an access point to the river and I immediately ran down and dunked my head under! From here we made our way to the Christina Pines RV park which has a specific area set aside for bikepackers. They have done it so well with power for charging, a sink for washing, a bear box for food and a gazebo for shade. There is a swimming pool, hot showers and a laundry. All we could ask for. Well done Christina Pines!
Mind you, it's now 8pm and it is still 30 degrees. There is a heat wave arriving tomorrow with temperatures expected around 39 degrees. It will be a super early start tomorrow and we will finish by lunchtime.
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Hello you two adventurers! I’ve just had a big catch up on your blog. What an incredible journey and so wonderful that human beings are proving themselves to be a special part of it! I feel exhausted reading it though. Wow you’ve done some hard yards. Well done. Murray and I are off to Vanuatu for a week. It won’t be as hot and we will be virtually stationary the whole time lol. Proud of you two! Hope the adventure continues to provide wonderful experiences and memories. Jo