Hixon

Go placidly amid the noise and haste and remember what peace there is in silence

Cache Creek –> Hixon (318 miles)

I had hoped that the mountain hills east of me would block the sun from waking me up too early, but I hadn’t considered the horses naying at 7:30am. I felt gross from the sweating all day, but luckily the ranch had hot showers. After getting my campsite and bike packed, I went up to the ranch house and grabbed a hearty breakfast while a bus of tourists filed in and took pictures with a guy dressed as a blacksmith.

Instead of heading north towards Prince George, I made a slight detour south to Cache Creek to check out the Cariboo Jade Shop. They had a huge (read 2,850 lb) piece of jade sitting in front of their shop and I purchased a jade Inukshuk. It felt like an appropriate souvenir for this trip.

After grabbing gas I continued up towards Prince George. I had by far the best riding weather since I started the trip, but the road was kind of boring. There wasn’t much to see and I was driving straight for most of the morning. I took a look at my map and decided to take a detour down some local roads that took me for a ride along Green Lake. The air along the lake was cooler than before, but dry. I didn’t realize how dehydrated I was getting until I stopped for a picture. I really enjoyed this part of the ride because there was no one else on the road and I got to see some deer in the meadows.

I met back up with the highway and stopped for gas at 100 Mile House. Now riddle me this, if everything is metric why are all these cities called XXX Mile House? Apparently, they were given their names during the gold rush, was before metrication in the 1970s.

Riding on the highway got better past 100 Mile House with lots of great scenery by Lac La Hache, but it started straighten out again. I was looking to take some local roads from Quesnol up to Hixen, but after riding on 20 for about 20 minutes I knew I missed the turnoff. Nonethless, the ride was fun going along the of hill side with a deep ravine and running river. I ended up stopping at Riske Creek for fear I may not make it back to Quesnol before running out of gas. It wasn’t until I got off my bike that I realized how hot it had gotten.

I had said I wasn’t going to stop at any national chains on this trip but I had seen an A&W at every town I stopped at. The food was alright but I liked that they gave you a cold mug for your root beer and they had free wifi. Now I know where I can go in the future to submit my blog posts.

I reached Hixon around 5pm and could’ve ridden on for another few hours, but The Mile Post had recommended camping at Canyon Creek Campground. I’m glad I didn’t pass it up. As I was getting off my bike at the office there were a bunch of people on the porch and a man, Merv, grilling sausages. They all welcomed me and the first thing Merv said was “Have a smokie and a beer!” After setting up my campsite I walked back and had dinner with everyone. Apparently, they were all family and some were visiting from Calgary. The campground was a retirement project for Merv and his wife Kim. They were excited to exchange stories of their trips up to Alaska and gave me some advice for my ride up.

I had set up my tent right along the creek in the shade of the trees, which was great as it had gotten hot towards the end of the day. I spent the rest of the night relaxing in my tent reading Zen And The Art of Motorcycle Maintenance, a gift from Dr. Hayashi.