7-19-08 Monument 83

Good night sleep. Ate breakfast and hit the road for some riding. No concrete plan but heard of some good places to ride in southeast BC from various people including but not limited to man at bike shop in Banff, AB, woman at Visitor Center in Golden, BC, woman at Visitor Center in Princeton, BC. Canada is big on advertising its outdoor activities and mountain biking is one of the headliners. We have a book specifically dedicated to mountain biking in southeast BC. Drive is interesting. We’re moving west from the Canadian Rockies/Kootenay Mountains on our way to an area near the North Cascades of Washington (staying in Canada)…so we’re in a valley of sorts with rolling hills and dry terrain…reminds me a bit of Colorado. Passing Okanogan Lake to our left…its impressively large at about 100km long. Tons of people…appears to be a big vacation hotspot. Actually woman at first BC Visitor Center said people from Alberta flock to British Columbia for summer vacations. There are more fruit stands than you can shake a stick at…stop at Bear’s Fruit Stand and bought some peaches and plums. After about 3 hours of driving we arrive at the E.C. Manning Provincial Park and get a spot at Mule Deer Campground. Gear up and drive 4km to the trailhead.

We decided to do Monument 83 trail. Its an out-and-back with a terminus at the U.S.-Canada border. According to the book, the first half of the trail fairly gradual and then steep climb for the second half. Started at elevation 1200m going to elevation 2000m. Our legs definitely feeling the effects of the trip. My legs were past the burning stage and on to the just plain hurting. I popped a link in my chain and had to stop for 10 mins to fix. Then we forgot to feed the chain through the front derailleur and wasted another 10mins. Good rest though… The whole climb was in the trees until the very end where the trees broke and we stumble upon the actual monument no. 83, a silver colored spire. This was one of my favorite surprises on the trip. The monument does denote a survey point of the border between U.S and Canada so we effectively crossed the border without our passports. One thing I did not know was that there is a swath about 20’ wide cut in the trees along the entire border…at least what we could see with our eyes. You can see in the pictures. There was also a 4-story wooden lookout tower on the U.S. side that we climbed to the top. Our comfort level was low at the top… On the Canadian side there was a hut open to anyone passing through. On the inside there markings from many of the past travelers…notes, initials, and dates all the way back to the late 1800’s. About 10 yards outside the hut was grave and headstone made from wood with a name that we could make out as Pasayten Pete who apparently was shot by Leanord or Lionel or someone in 1926. On the U.S. side there was an old sign that called the forest beyond the Pasayten Wilderness. Interesting… Next stop we’re going to do some Google action.

The ride down was fun and fast. It has been customary in bear country that the lead rider cough or whistles around corners as to not surprise the bears. We were also in cougar country…we did our homework and read just about every safety tip ever written. If you stumble upon a bear talk in a low calming voice as you walk slowly backwards facing the bear but without eye contact. If you are unfortunate to be stuck between the bear and her cubs and she attacks, curl up a ball protecting internal organs and cover face and neck with arms and don’t fight back. Bear spray is a last resort. If you stumble upon a cougar, look as large and as intimidating as possible and if it attacks fight back with all your might…no joke. I’ve had a lot of coffee this morning…

Back to campsite for soup, hotdogs, and chips. Yum.