Mission to Hope, 92km

Day 2 of my cross Canada adventure, and oh there were highlights :D

Right when we got out of camp the sun was lighting up a mountain and to my eyes it did not look real. It appeared as if the mountain had been painted in the sky. I felt incredibly small but also excited and mesmerized by the mountains, I was awe struck. 

We cycled along the Fraser River which was quite peaceful. And I remained awe struck throughout the day because there were mountains all around me, with trees along its side making it look like a massive green mound on the earth. 

I cycled down an 11% hill which was exhilarating but scary. I was a chicken and held onto my brakes because if you go down those hills at full speed and hit a rock or a small pot hole in the road you could seriously hurt yourself. However, others in the crew took the risk of going quite fast. One individual went 82km/hr down that hill which was absolutely insane! 

While cycling down route 7 I was split from Neil and Eric because they were going a bit faster than myself, Louise, and Jackie. But we met up with Fred, Bob and Irene who we cycled with for the remainder of the day. We stopped in the town of Hope for a drink at a cafe called the Blue Moose. It was a lovely cafe, quite unique, and it was fun to stop for a drink and just relax for a bit. I enjoy going to local cafes because of their unique characteristics. While sitting on the patio of the cafe I became jealous of the town of Hope because they had mountains right in their back yard which was absolutely awesome! 

After we finished our drinks we cycled on the Kettle Valley Railway path which was spectacular. The path follows the old Kettle Valley Railway line through the Othello tunnels. Cycling on the path was a bit difficult because it was not paved nor was it covered in limestone gravel. Rather, it was full of pine needles and roots sticking up so I had to be careful, especially on my road bike with my 700x25 wheels. At one point so many needles got stuck between my tire and fender that the tire no longer moved so I had to remove all the needles to keep going. But it was so much fun :D It felt as if I was cycling through a jungle as the trees had moss dangling from its branches and there was a pounding river making its way through the land. 

I cycled through 3 tunnels and at some point in each of them I could not see what was in front of me which was a bit scary because I did not know if I was going to hit a rock, pot hole, or an innocent child, but I cycled through them anyway :D Once we made it through the Kettle Valley Railway path we were very close to camp.

It turned out to be such a great day, I witnessed so much beauty that I just couldn’t stop smiling :D