I traveled north on Saturday, September 27th, with Will to visit a part of British Columbia I’ve never seen. The loop was 635 miles and we took two days, staying overnight in Cache Creek. The weather was beautiful, with temperatures in the 60’s during the peak of the day with the skies mostly clear.

We departed Saturday at 7:30am and crossed into Canada at the border in Blaine by 9:30am after topping off our bikes with fuel. Traffic was heavy in and around Vancouver and it took an extra 30 minutes or so to get through town. We did see a number of other motorcyclists out enjoying a beautiful Autumn day.

We stopped in Squamish to eat before continuing north. The warmer temperature allowed us both to remove a layer from under our jackets before heading out again. Yes, Mickey D’s !!  LOL

Green Lake was our next photo stop.

The color of the water that comes from nearby snow melts is very distinct, a clear pale green that almost glows in the sunlight.

At this point, I took lead. There was still quite a bit of traffic and we mostly just followed the line of cars in front of us. The speed limits in this area seemed very conservative and largely ignored by local drivers. Eventually, most of the traffic vanished and at a point north of Duffy Lake, we stopped to set up the GoPro to record some video.

This video is another single-scene (uncut), single perspective (helmet) contemplative video with a Mia Doi Todd song that I really enjoy contributing the soundtrack.  Hope you do, too!

The scenery was dramatic and the road challenging through this part near Lillooet.

After arriving in Cache Creek, our day’s destination, we filled up with fuel ($1.52 CAD per liter) and grabbed some pizza at a local bakery/pizza parlor. It was good, once it finally arrived at our table. We didn’t realize at first the large volume of pizzas that were being made for take-out and delivery. Obviously the locals call ahead.

Most city dwellers would not consider Cache Creek to be “polished”. This is a rural village – one with an interesting history. Here is a photo of what was one of our motel choices, the Castle Inn. We checked in to the Tumbleweed Inn up the street and after having them fix some plumbing issues, it was time to crash. I would NOT recommend the Tumbleweed Inn if you have other options.

We woke up early and left town without coffee or breakfast. The local restaurant was closed and the coffee provided in the motel was instant – which 60 minutes after our leaving I regretted not having. It definitely felt like Autumn as the sun seemed low in the sky the whole day.

We rode to Boston Bar before stopping at Fat Jack’s for breakfast. Good latte. The food was not as good, but plentiful and satisfying.

As we approached Fraser Valley, we entered the fog.

I didn’t take any further pictures once we entered the foggy Fraser Valley.  We rode through Hope and jumped on the freeway towards Abbotsford. Crossing the border took about 20 minutes once we were in line.

One the US side of the border, we encountered more motorcycles on the road than I’ve personally seen before. The Oyster Run, an annual motorcycle rally was taking place in nearby Anacortes, WA. It was cool to see bikes of all kinds out and about.

This was a good weekend trip – nice distance each day, good roads for the most part (there was one gravel stretch), and interesting scenery. I would like to return to parts of this area again. I would consider traveling the loop in the opposite direction and staying in Vancouver, which is more interesting during evening hours and good food perhaps easier to find.