Spirit bears and Bannock as a fast food

Three bicycle riders does not make for an easy relay. Last year we used an overlap system of riding bikes and moving the car ahead that worked but was a little confusing. I remember at one stop thinking it was my turn to move the car and if I had done that the last rider would have wondered where the heck the car had gone.

This year we used a simpler system. On the first day Helen and Alan were the bike riders and David was going the van moving and logistics. This worked very well and allowed the riders to enjoy the ride with logistics taken care of. Later in the day David would ride his bike back to meet Helen and ride with her and that started "Munsch miles". The system worked so good that we decided to ride farther than Terrace BC and keep going to Kitwanga. Alan and Helen keep riding in almost equal 20 km intervals and David rode the last interval into Kitwanga. At the end of this interval 5 km from Kitwanga Helen and David saw a rare sight. They were able to see a spirit bear. This white coat bear are rare and we were delighted to have this experience on our trip. The bear was busy eating berries along the creek until it disappeared into the bush.

The campground at Kitwanga was nice and we recommend it to all. We had a surprising early morning wake up call when the van alarm went off at 4am. We were still learning about the van and the alarm going off tested our ability to find a key while still in deep sleep!

At 6 am the forest mill across the street started up so it was time to get up and start our day too!

Since we were not scheduled to read at the Kitwanga School until Wednesday we decided to ride ahead and then travel back to the school the next morning. So our bike relay began again and we rode to Smithers and stayed over night at Telkwa Provincial Park. Another nice place to stay.

The next morning we drove back to Kitwanga and did our first school presentation at the Kitwanga Elementary School.

Thanks to the students for being our first group. We were a little nervous and messed up up a little but we were deeply honoured to be allowed to interact with the students and staff. David also wanted to join the grade seven basketball team because the loops were low enough for him to "dunk the ball".

After Kitwanga we jumped back in the van and drive up the highway over miles we had already cycled to Lady Kathryn School in Smithers. But first we had to stop along the highway and stuff ourselves with "hot off the grill" bannock served with honey and jam. It was a treat!!