BC Big Trailie Ride 3

Everybody re-grouped for the early 8:00am start of Day 2 of the BC Big Trailie Ride 3.

We took a short ride on Hwy 97C East before taking the Kane Valley Road south towards Brookmere. The Kane Valley Road is a beautiful dirt road, winding through trees and alongside several small lakes.

The Kane Valley Road

dr650bc motoring along

Ronyx on a nice GSA

Cooler gives a thumbs-up

Bora20 at speed

PacWestGS is catching up

Farmerger on a red GS

Here she comes (Strompette)

There she goes

That's me!

We started gathering at the water tower in Brookmere. The water tower once served the steam locomotives that ran along the now abandoned Kettle Valley Railway.

The bikes lining up near the water tower

Manxman is walking the line of bikes to see who's missing

Here comes IslandR

Followed by Farmerger

Ronyx shows up

Night Wolf with another AdvRider salute

Here's Cam

And here's Cooler on another blue V-Strom

Strompette's arrived

And finally PacWestGS, who rode sweep to make sure we have everybody

Meanwhile, my red GS has been resting

From Brookmere, we split into two groups. One group took the dirt road that heads into the hills, and then meets with the Tulameen-Otter Valley Road. And the second group took the Kettle Valley Railway (KVR). I'm with the KVR group.

The KVR is a really fun ride, and we ended up taking it all the way to Princeton.

One of our first rest stops on the KVR

The KVR group already discussing how much fun we're having

The red GS's - the best color to have

JR Larry and Bora20 crossing a washed-out area along the KVR

Bora20 having a little fun

Here I am coming through the wash-out

Bora20 crossing the bridge at Otter Lake

Here I am exiting the bridge

JR Larry on his non-red GS followed by Bora20

Bora20 likes the dirt!

Farmerger coming through

Another rest stop - and time for some water and some pictures

My GS is loving the scenery

Stopping at one of the bridges along the KVR

We made it to a little rock slide that was covering the KVR, but Farmerger and JR Larry were missing. PacWestGS and Bora20 had already crossed over the rock slide, so I rode back to find out what happened.

A rock had apparently bent the shift lever on Farmerger's bike, and by the time I had backtracked to reach them, he and JR Larry already had the tools out and fixing the problem. So I took off down the trail to let PacWestGS and Bora20 know. I think I had them a little worried that something serious was wrong as I was blasting down the trail at a pretty fast pace, so they were relieved to hear it was just a small technical problem.

My GS at the rock slide before backtracking to find Farmerger and JR larry

JR Larry and Farmerger catching back up

Here I am crossing the rock slide

Farmerger took a little slip going over the rock slide

As I was crossing the rock slide, I was trying to go quick enough to maybe catch a little air going over the top, so when I cam down on the other side I grabbed a handful of brake. Of course, stupid me had forgotten to turn the ABS off, so the ABS got confused and didn't give be any brakes at all. Luckily, I stopped just in time before crashing into the other bikes, with my front left turn signal kissing the right rear turn signal on Randle's bike.

Just after one of the tunnels on the KVR

PacWestGS getting ready to ride some more

And the rest of the group is getting ready to re-mount

JR Larry

Farmerger

Bora20

PacWestGS

JR Larry exiting one of the KVR tunnels

Getting close to Princeton

We finally made it to Princeton and met up with the other group. They had arrived earlier, and finished lunch. So we let them ride ahead, while we hit Quizno's for lunch.

After lunch, we took the Old Hedley Road east, and then it was up the Nickel Plate Road. The Nickel Plate is a great winding dirt road, with plenty of switchbacks as it heads towards the Nickel Plate Mine, and then on to the Apex Mountain Ski area. I had ridden down the Nickel Plate a few days earlier (see the Pre-Ride).

A view of part of the Nickel Plate Road

The Nickel Plate Road from above

Farmerger on the Nickel Plate

Near the top of the Nickel Plate, dr650bc was waiting for us. The first group, which had left Princeton before us, had passed through about 5 minutes earlier; so I motored on to catch up with them at the Apex Mountain Ski Area. I caught up with them, and told them to continue on to Keremous, and waited for the rest of our group to arrive.

My bike is eyeing the ski runs at Apex Mountain - looks like fun

Randle coming into the Apex Mountain Ski Area

Farmerger rolls in

Bora20 just starting a little skid slide

JR Larry on the yellow GS

dr650bc and PacWestGS

Everbody's accounted for again, so it's on to Keremous

From Apex Mountain, we headed down the Green Valley Road, which is a fun, paved road with a lot of tight twisty turns. Then it was into Keremous to stay for the night.

We stayed at the Elks Motel in Keremous. Beer and pizza for dinner, with a lot of BS about the day's ride.