From Anchorage to Ushuaia by Bike

When you think of the big American national parks, the first ones that come to mind are Yellowstone National Park and the Grand Canyon Park, but actually there are lots of parks in the States, and they each have something special to offer. Each one is criss-crossed by trails allowing even the uninitiated to discover their secrets.

Along with Yellowstone and Grand Teton, we also got to visit four other parks: Capitol Reef, Bryce Canyon, Zion, and Grand Canyon. And in each park the fault lines, plateaus and valleys were a wonderful demonstration of the seismic shifts going on under the ground. Certainly enough to make one feel very small in comparison to the massive power of the earth.

Unfortunately we didn’t get spend as much time as we would have liked in each of the parks: we had some car trouble. The breaks had been whistling for a couple of days, and then the car started to make some really strange noises. So in Loa, Utah, right in the middle of nowhere, we decided we should stop and take a look at the wheel and found that the brake pads were totally shot! It was a small town, but fortunately they had a garage. The mechanic only confirmed what we thought: the brake pads were entirely worn through – it was metal against metal and we were stuck there. We called the car rental agency, and only 6 hours later (and 1½ spent on the phone!) they sent us a new car... a little (or a lot!) more cramped and with well worn tires.

Even though we’ve parked the bikes for a couple of weeks, we’re keeping in shape by going on hikes through the parks and by doing a little attitude acclimatization. Since we left Lake Tahoe two weeks ago, we haven’t gone below 1500 meters above sea level and we’ve actually climbed up to almost 3000 meters. It’s practice for when we get to the Andes!

Sara

Our road trip is separate from the Association Planète Durable et Solidaire, but don’t worry, we are still going to post our adventures on the website to keep you all updated.

We saw Salt Lake City in a snow storm. The city itself is nestled in between the big salt water lake and the mountains. All of Utah, but particularly Salt Lake City, had been settled by the Mormons in the second half of the 19th century.

After visiting the city, we headed back in the direction of Yellowstone National Park. On the way we stopped in Mendon, where, because we had changed our itinerary, Jean and John were waiting impatiently for us and had almost given up hope of ever seeing us. We had met them in Anchorage, Alaska, in the Bed & Breakfast we were staying. Five minutes into our first conversation, they had invited us to stay with them.

From there we went up the Logan Canyon, bordered by Bear Lake, and arrived at Grand Teton National Park. We found out there that we could only get to Yellowstone in a vehicle with snow tires or chains. Since our little Californian car was lacking in that department, we visited Grand Teton National Park while we waited for more favourable weather conditions.

Grand Teton National Park was spectacular, with its mountain ranges and abundant wild animals. We saw elk, deer, bison, moose and pronghorn antelope.

You could tell we really wanted to get into Yellowstone! We spent the night in the car, at  -5°C, but tuesday morning the park was still inaccessible without snow tires. We seriously considered whether it was worth it, but to be so close and to turn around was just not an option. So we rented a 4x4 for the day, equipped with all-terrain tires… and we made into Yellowstone! It was the first national park created in the United States. You can really see the earth at her most primal: the geysers (Old Faithful is the most famous geyser in the world), the pools of boiling water and boiling mud, and or course of the wildlife. There were bison who migrate to warmer climates in the winter, stags, doe, pronghorn antelopes, elk, and we even saw a coyote. No bears though, although the bear population in Yellowstone is actually pretty large.

After having rubbed elbows with winter, we’re now headed south towards warmer climes. Coming up next: Bryce Canyon National Park, Zion National Park, Grand Canyon National Park...

Sara & Sébastien

Our road trip is separate from the Association Planète Durable et Solidaire, but don’t worry, we are still going to post our adventures on the website to keep you all updated.

After picking up our rental car at the San José Airport, we went to Aptos to visit Thea. We had met Thea in Alaska, about a week after leaving Anchorage. She wasn’t there, and neither was her roommate, so a neighbour let us into Thea’s house. We were once again astounded by people’s hospitality and trust, especially people we met for only an hour 3½ months ago. Our bikes are resting in a warm garage, and now we are setting off for three weeks and a couple thousand kilometres.

First stage: After leaving Santa Cruz and their famous surfers, crossing San Francisco and the Golden Gate bridge at sunset (this time in a car), and a wine-tasting in the Napa Valley, we found ourselves in Strawberry, a little town in the California Mountains near Take Tahoe. Thea lives here 2 weeks out of every month in a lovely little cabin in the middle of the forest. The first thing that she said to us when we arrived was “Take everything out of your car, especially anything that smells. There are bears that have smashed cars and broken into cabins to get to food.” And we thought we were finished with bears!

We stayed two days in Strawberry with Thea, and we learned a little more about life in this small town, and especially about how hard their winters are: they have to be prepared for anything since they can get up to 3 metres of snow!

We saw Lake Tahoe, Lake Angora, the Carson Pass where the leaves had turned red and yellow, Lover’s Leap, where two lovers from different tribes had jumped off because they couldn’t get married, and Wright Lake. We spent two wonderful days in this touristy region. We were lucky to get beautiful sun and not much wind, which helped a little with the chilly temperatures.

We left Thea Wednesday morning and drove through the deserts of Nevada and then Idaho to get to a place about 200 km outside of Yellowstone. We had been sleeping in the little one-box car we’d rented, but yesterday we looked for a camp site to spend the night, and especially to take a shower! The receptionist wouldn’t hear of us sleeping in the car and set us up in a rustic cabin for the same price as pitching a tent – with a little space heater that was on all night long!

Since we left Strawberry, the temperature seems to be in freefall, and doesn’t even get above 5°C during the day. Snow warnings are everywhere, especially around Yellowstone. And the police in the United States are really strict about the snow: you can’t drive around without snow tires or chains on the tires and not get stuck going up a hill. Naturally, we don’t have either snow tires or chains…

So when we found ourselves in the middle of a snow storm this morning, we decided to postpone our visit to Yellowstone (temperatures there where in the negative numbers and they were calling for snow) and we went south instead, towards Salt Lake City.

We hope to get back to Yellowstone on Monday, when they’re predicting a little warm spell.

Sara & Sébastien

Our road trip is separate from the Association Planète Durable et Solidaire, but don’t worry, we are still going to post our adventures on the website to keep you all updated.

San Francisco enjoys a very particular weather pattern: a Mediterranean climate where the temperature stays between 17°C and 25°C all year. And it never rains between the end of the April and the beginning of November. Well, almost never. We were privileged to experience the first rains of the season this evening.

San Francisco is a wonderful city to walk around in – so long as you are in good shape to get up all those unbelievably steep hills! We were super glad we had left our loaded down bikes behind!

Yes, it’s true: after about 4 months of biking astride our reliable steeds, we have decided to grant them a few days of rest, warm and snug in Thea’s garage near Santa Cruz. We’re going to rent a car and drive to Yellowstone National Park, Salt Lake City, Las Vegas, Yosemite National Park, and who knows where else! We’re even taking a break from the official “Association Planete Durable et Solidaire” trip, but don’t worry, we’ll keep you all updated by posting pictures and blogs about our awesome “road trip”!

Sara

Travelling on a bike means living simply.  And the little things that you might consider insignificant become important and can change the tone of the day:

1 –Homemade Jam

Since we left Vancouver travelling on Route 1, there have been huge bushes of ripe blackberries beside the road, and they have been calling out to us. A couple of weeks ago we finally gave in and we made several batches of jam. We taught Ben and Nathan our recipe, and we all picked the blackberries together one night, with only our bike lamps for light. We also make apple sauce, thanks to the apple tree we discovered at one of our camping sites.

2- Celebratory cakes

One night, with the raccoons prowling around our campsite, we assumed that Ben and Nathan had gone off to make sure their food was secure. Imagine our surprise when they came back to the table with a wonderful surprise: two cakes with candles! We took a closer look at these “cakes,” each made up of three chocolate chip cookies, and noticed that each had a significant number on them: 5,000 and 71.4. Our friends wanted to help us celebrate our journey so far – 5,000 km travelled since Anchorage and a new speed record (set by Sara!) 71.4 km/h.

3 – Coincidences

While Sebastien was off in the grocery store getting the supplies for that night’s dinner, Sara was outside watching the bikes. A man and an older woman came up to her. The man asked her all the standard questions, the questions that we answer at least ten times every day: where are you from? Where are you going? How long will it take you? How far is it? How much weight are you carrying on the bikes? Where do you sleep at night? Etc. At the end of the interrogation – in which microfinance did not come up once – Sara gave him the internet address of their site. The man asked what she meant by the terms “planete,” “durable,” and “solidaire”. And when Sara explained about the microfinance project, the man stopped short: he knew all about microfinance and in fact his wife worked in the field as a consultant! So now we have an invitation to spend some time with Zeus and Kelly talking about microfinance when we get down around San Francisco.

4 – The Golden Gate Bridge

We came into in San Francisco on the American own version of the Royal Mile: the famous Golden Gate Bridge. We were able to bike across it in a bike lane. The bridge is often shrouded in fog, but we were just lucky enough to cross it under brilliant sunshine. We had a beautiful view of the city!

5 – The reunion

We’re now staying with Jack, a cyclo-tourist that we met in the Yukon. He was travelling in the direction of Prudhoe Bay (in the very North of Alaska). And he lives in El Cerrito, in San Francisco Bay.

Sara & Sébastien