Cross Canada Ride – Destination Salty Fog

Introduction

For several years I had been following the escapades of the Salty Fog Riding Rally (SFFR) in Nova Scotia/Cape Breton via the awesome ride reports written to the forum by Bob and Mary (tourunigo) from their home in Larrys River NS. The uniqueness of the Riders Rally really hit a chord with me. I had committed to making the trip a few years ago and was forced to cancel due to health reasons but when I saw this year was to be the final time the rally was offered I just had to go.

While Nova Scotia/Cape Breton was the destination, this report is also very much about the journey across Canada experiencing the heritage of each region first hand – something I had not done on two wheels since most of my riding to date had been in the western US. This was also an opportunity to take my first significant solo ride which covers a three week time period from August 27 to September 17, 2015.

I refer readers to the following link to read Bobs excellent account of this years SFFR for the majority of the Nova Scotia portion of the ride: http://forums.bmwmoa.org/showthread.php?82849-Salty-Fog-Riders-Rally-2015-A-Final-Ride-Report

Preparation

The day before leaving Calgary AB, I took a short 120 Km shakedown ride into the foothills visiting Forgetmenot Pond to check weight distribution, gear and ride-ability of my setup.

Forgetmenot is a small gem located alongside the Elbow River and is easily accessible off the Cowboy Trail (Highway 22) to Highway 66 westward from the village of Bragg Creek to the Kananaskis Park. The mountain in the background of the picture below is Forgetmenot Mountain, which features several scramble routes for hikers to ascend its slopes.

Day One greets me with smoke-filled skies…

I left as I normally do, slipping away early at first light to get out of town before the city rush hours began. I put my back to the Rocky Mountains and rolled east on the Trans Canada Highway. I was forced to stop in the first hour to don my heated vest (yikes it was still August!) as the temperature had dropped to a cool 3C at sunrise on the open prairie. By this time I was heading directly east into an orange smoke-obscured sun caused by massive wildfires in Washington State.



After a stop for gas in Medicine Hat AB, I paused to get a shot of this giant steel Saamis Teepee which was originally built to celebrate Canada’s native heritage during the 1988 Calgary Winter Olympics. The word ‘saamis’ is loosely translated from Blackfoot to English as meaning ‘Holy Bonnet’ or ‘Medicine Hat’ which gave the wearer special powers such as those of a Medicine Man. The teepee is built on an archaeological dig of a native Blackfoot Buffalo hunting camp. Note: ‘Blackfoot’ is the English translation of the word siksika, which means ‘black foot’ and the Blackfoot tribe in Alberta are the same tribe in the US but called Blackfeet in Idaho, Wyoming, and Montana as their original territory was on both sides of the 49th parallel.



I entered Saskatchewan after four hours of slab I was determined to get off the Trans Canada highway finding plenty of two lane and no line asphalt/oil roads heading north and generally east. It was truly worth doing since southern SK had been flat and largely featureless to that point and this allowed me to wiggle my way in and out of the Qu'Appelle Valley. The valley’s name comes from "Kâ-têpwêt?", "who calls?", or "qui appelle?", "Who Calls" in Cree, English, and French. I guess I was one those ‘who was called’ since I had wanted go back there since I first visited there as a child. The valley was drier than I remembered it before the damming of the Qu’Appelle River in the 1960’s to create Diefenbaker Lake. The river runs between the lake and the Assiniboine River in Manitoba. I was surprised by all the 'Prairie Schooners' as I filtered down into the entrance of Qu' Appelle Valley on the eastern extremities of Diefenbaker Lake. The heavy smoke continued to follow me east really washing out the pictures though.

I plan to camp and motel this trip and decided to stop for the day in Regina Saskatchewan and find an inexpensive motel at the eastern outskirts of Emerald Park.

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Day Two

This day was dedicated to riding to the region in eastern Saskatchewan which was the birthplace of both my parents and the general area where they grew up, met and were married. I have fond memories of hot, lazy days at the beach and playing games of horseshoes in the sand as a kid visiting my grandparents near Round Lake (Division No. 5 in Google Maps) on SK Highway 247. Notably the lake is not round has a beach area at west end, steep banks on the north and south with a reed bed hosting all kinds of waterfowl at the east end.





Once I filtered my way back to the town of Whitewood on the Trans Canada via SK Highway 9 I set my sights for Winnipeg on the southeastern edge of Manitoba. I had planned my route to visit with my youngest son for a weekend layover before crossing the Canadian Shield in Ontario. I parked the bike and did not ride it for a couple days, however did have to clean the radiator since it was totally jammed with bodies of white butterflies and grasshoppers before I set out again. The sheer number of grasshoppers got so thick in the Portage La Prairie area that heard a constant cacophony of them hitting my windscreen and face shield was tiring even though I was wearing earplugs.



Time for some relaxation, visiting and father/son bonding.

On the weekend we took a drive north to one of the Lake Winnipeg’s Beaches where a surprising number of families were enjoying the sand and water in spite of the heavy smoke saturating the air.

My son is a huge sports fan and lives only 6 Km from the local stadium so Sunday found us taking in a Blue Bombers (CFL) football game.





The ‘Big Blue’ were getting thrashed once again this season so thankfully our seats were less than forty steps from the Rum Hut so we could take solace.

Day Five on the road again..

The following morning found me back on the bike again with a delayed start to let three thunderstorms play out in and east of Winnipeg. You know why if you have ever ridden through the storm fronts of these beasts on the wide open prairie. Once I did get going it turned to be a typical day on the Canadian Shield - crazy beautiful lakes surrounded by granite and trees for hundreds of kilometres as I passed through Kenora and on to Thunder Bay Ontario.

Looks like the start of a great trip Ken. Can't wait for retirement so I can do this sort of longer trips.

You're off on a great adventure Ken. Looking forward to reading more.

And thanks for taking the time to write it up. I know how much effort it takes.

Looking forward to more installments.

Thanks for your kind responses everyone, I shall press on.

Day Six

This day, planned to be an easy jaunt from Thunder Bay to Sault Ste. Marie started with temperatures hovering in the single digits (C) while riding in light to medium fog for the first six hours. It was possible to find spots where I was alone on the highway for periods of time if I set my speed to do so – which I tend to like to do. The sun did cut through the fog to break out in the late afternoon and crank the heat rapidly up to 32C. Wonderfully, somewhere around Wawa and after ~2600 km the skies returned to blue with no sign of smoke! The day was only slightly marred by construction along the route. I captured a few scenic views of Lake Superior along the way.

I couldn’t resist stopping to snap a few pictures of the RT dwarfed by a giant baseball at my arrival in Sault Ste. Marie ON.

Day Seven

Well it was fog, construction and thunderstorms this day until late afternoon which meant I had cameras tucked away to stay dry for much of the time. I was the only bike on the road and the only person dumb enough to keep riding but traffic was not too bad so I continued even though it was a torrential downpour near Petawawa. The sun finally broke out near Ottawa ON so I dried off as I rode on and managed to get a few shots of the lakefronts visible from the road – sure are some nice spots to build a cabin retreat.

Upon arrival in Ottawa I decided to go downtown and ring up PM Harper (Prime Minister) for an election discussion but the drapes were clearly drawn closed at home and he didn't come out at work. (I guess this post is now moot since this government has a new PM in Vogue). I arrived at the tail end of rush hour with zero downtown parking so had to quickly stop and grab a few shots of the downtown of Canada’s capital city featuring the Parliament and Supreme Court buildings.







I didn’t stay long and proceeded to find a motel and somewhere to clean up since someone turned up the heat and humidity inside my riding suit in the downtown low speed streets. Time for a shower!

Day 8 - Quebec

I have been looking forward to this day travelling through Quebec for a while planning to take two lane roads only up the St. Lawrence River and enjoy the slower pace of rural QC. I was able to do so as I made my run up QC highway 132 (highly recommend this route). It was so nice to toddle along at whatever the local speed recommended (which was widely varying BTW) and truly enjoy the area. For the first time I saw a large number or motorcyclists on the roads with me who were also joined by an equal number of Can-am machines as well as Mazda Miata’s. Beautiful day.