Konkering the Forestry Trunk Road in Alberta

[yamasoccer]

Hello All. First post, very belated. Picked up the last rack that Crazy Carl had last year and promised that I would do a write-up about our summer 2010 trip up the Forestry Trunk Road in western Alberta. Here it is with a few pics, including our geared up Konkers (200sm).

*Equipment

The racks – my husband’s bike was equipped with the proper rack to handle the bulkier load. My bike was rigged up using a steel barbecue rack, some U-bolts and galvanized pipe over the pipe insulation-protected, passenger grab rails. Worked great; sacrificed the finish on the grab rails.

The luggage - Rubbermaid “Action Packers” as our topcases. We experienced a lot of rain – no leaks. Dual purpose: lockable with keyed padlocks – kept things secure and hung our helmets at the same time! Large, soft-sided luggage by Gears. The exhaust cover did partially melt one of the bags when we weren’t cautious enough in loading the last day – in a hurry to outrun a massive Alberta summer storm. The small bags on my bike are ATV tank bags (modified a little) from our local Canadian Tire. I preferred to sit on them to give my knees room when standing; helped keep the extra, albeit minor, weight down low.

Carrying capacity - My husband was carrying about an extra 35 pounds on his bike (camping gear, clothing), and mine had about 25 or 30 extra (food, rainwear, emergency tools, medical stuff). He’s 6’ 2” and slim, and I’m… well let’s just say we didn’t have to worry about the bike, ha ha. The bikes performed great; gas mileage was terrific. I averaged 94 Imperial mpg and hubby made 89. He was riding with the enduro kit, and I was on the supermoto set-up.

Who we are as riders – sport tourers who love the outdoors and being in the mountains. We wanted to take the riding experience to the outdoors we love, so this was our virgin, dualsport adventure. We spent the spring months reading about dirt techniques and then practising on all the dirt roads (occasionally snowy and muddy) that we could find, trying to mimic the experience we were likely to face. With age comes wisdom goes the saying: our trips are always about getting there safely – no matter how long it takes. And, hey… we get to spend more time in the mountains!

The trip – Day 1, July 6. We left our home in Olds, Alberta, and headed SW on secondary roads to the intersection of Hwy 1A and 40 (known as the Forestry Trunk Road). The ultimate goal - 630 km (394 miles) to Hinton, Alberta on Hwy 16, where we arrived safe and sound on Day 4, having camped along the way. Alberta weather, especially in the Rocky Mountain foothills, is always changeable, so be prepared for everything nature can throw at you, regardless of season (layer, layer, layer). First day example – rain, hail, more rain, sun; temperatures of 12 Celsius or so, to 25 Celsius when finally the sun appeared mid-afternoon (for all you Fahrenheit folk, 54 degrees to 70). The scenery compensates for the weather, though. The Forestry Trunk Road is paved for the first 30 km (20 miles) or so, and then you are on varying types of gravel/dirt surface until the last 25 or 30 km. The dirt can be slick as oil when wet, the gravel can be freshly graded and 4 inches or more deep, and you can also find “gravel” like large, jagged rocks. Logging activity through the area of the first leg is diminishing due to dwindling stocks, so companies have slowed, and in some cases, stopped harvesting – result: during the first leg we had no significant meetings with large trucks, although there were dualie pickups towing stock trailers on occasion.

The 2010 summer in Alberta was the summer that wasn’t – cool and wet, rather than warm and dry. We loved our trip, but it was cut short due to a bad forecast for temperature highs of 12 C (54 F) with rain. We had a number of options, 2 of which were stick to the plan or bee-line it home to avoid the on-coming storm. I don’t think any tent could have withstood the hail storm and cold front that fell into Alberta on July 12 – the wind alone would have ruined our tent, which is a Hardwear, 3-person Drifter model. The temperatures were below zero C in the mountains overnight, and only 7 C highs in the day-time. Some might thrive on this adventure – we weren’t prepared to do so on our first trip. So we bee-lined it home. Sadly. We were in no way ready to leave the mountains and return to the prairie environment where Olds is found.

What to see/expect

The roads - The first leg to Nordegg is the more scenic with mountain vistas, meadows, and the Clearwater and Ram Rivers. Head down the stairs in the Ram Falls Provincial Park for a great view of the cascading waters as they drop through a black shale ravine; you can’t help but know that there’s coal in them thar hills. This leg has less traffic than the next leg. The camping areas are pleasant, and mid-week they are practically deserted. The Provincial Recreation Area (PRA) campgrounds have outhouse facilities and most do not have a potable water source; some have firewood available. (The PRA camping facilities are maintained by private contractors. Don’t rely on the Alberta government website information as to services available; we found it wasn’t always accurate.) Mountain Aire Lodge has washroom and shower facilities for the public and a small store, restaurant, and gas pumps. Nordegg, an historic mining town, has services with camping nearby and motel/hotel accommodations. Robb has services, but the day we stopped, the only gas we could get was a cold beer – the pumps had an issue. The next day, we made Hinton with about 3 litres of gas each to spare, having last filled up at Mountain Aire Lodge. (We travelled an average of 70 km/h (45 mph) on the dirt portion of the trip.)

The scenery on the second leg isn’t as spectacular from a mountain vista standpoint, as once you leave Nordegg, the Rocky Mountains head northwest into British Columbia and the trunk road heads north away from them. Enjoy, as we did, a nice sun bath on a large flat rock next to the Blackstone Creek – NOT a bubbling creek, in my opinion, but a fully-fledged river. From Nordegg to Hinton you will encounter a lot of oil industry and coal industry traffic. The company trucks, both large and small, own the road, it would seem, so KEEP RIGHT! Be prepared for dusty roads, and roads being treated with calcium chloride for dust control – that stuff will eat through metal in a minute if it is still wet. (The exhaust on my poor brand new FZ6 found that out a couple of years ago.) Stop in at Robb for a cold one at the hotel, be it alcoholic or no, and a little something to eat. Stop also at Cadomin and visit the general store, liquor store, post office, bakery, and coffee shop – Jacoby’s. Have a chat with the owner – a character.

Animals – we saw a lot of black-tailed, white-tailed and mule deer; some elk; small rodents and jackrabbits; mountain sheep; and 2 grizzly cubs. I’m no expert, but they were perhaps 2 years old. We didn’t see mama. Or, rather, was she coming up behind us as we looked the other way intrigued by her cubs? We also didn’t see any black bears, nor any cougars – be aware they are there, though. A big thing to watch for is free-ranging livestock. A calf’s eye is huge when it is afraid and only 2 feet off your front tire! I’m writing this, so survived the incident. Some of those deer like to play chicken, too, so watch for that.

It was a great trip, and we can’t wait to head that way again. Give it a go – just be prepared, self-sufficient. By the way, cellphone service is practically nil, except near Nordegg and Robb. We ride with GMRS/FRS radio communication, so have those handy if we need to try to reach someone.

A final thanks to Carl for the rack. It fit the bill for sure, and handled the footprint of the larger Action Packer without issue.