by Bill Gedye
Motorcycle Friendly: What does that mean to you?…that your bike wags its tail whenever someone walks by? Obviously not. Here, it refers to people and places that are receptive to motorcycles and their riders.
In order to explore this phenomenon, I packed my ride down with camping gear and headed east from Victoria into the Kooteneys, specifically to TOAD ROCK Motorcycle Campground. My wife observed that my bike had so much stuff on it, it looked like a wedding cake.
Right off the bat, while sitting at the ferry, I realized that BC Ferries itself was motorcycle friendly with their first-on policy. Thanks to BCCOM, it makes perfect sense, since a bike takes up half the space of a car and they can be crammed into every available nook and cranny. Not so with the Balfour ferry I took earlier this summer, where that crew apparently took it upon themselves to instruct the bikes to wait in line like everyone else then loaded them exactly like a car, taking up an entire parking space on the boat. Since they don’t take fares, I guess there is no economic incentive to load as many paying fares on board as possible.
PASTA TRADING POST– KEREMEOS
Once through Manning Park and down into the August blast furnace heat of Princeton, I was running ahead of gathering storm clouds and rumbles of thunder that I could hear above the passing traffic. This was going to be a dandy, so I wasn’t going any farther than Keremeos and I wasn’t camping in that either. Pulling up to the PASTA TRADING POST on the main street, I looked over the inviting façade which housed a restaurant, antique store and B&B upstairs in the updated, former hotel rooms. There was an inviting dining patio off to the side and hidden way in the back corner was a waterfall which, on closer inspection, fell into a hot tub sized pool. This, in fact, was the hot tub for the use of the guests when the patio closed at 9:00PM and the diners had departed. I certainly hoped this place was motorcycle friendly as the storm struck with such fury that it blew the tablecloths off the patio tables and caused a huge mudslide, closing the highway west of Keremeos and stranding several people in town who were headed west. Then I met France, the owner. She is a smiling French Canadian ex-Quebec civil servant who used to be an industrial designer in her former life. She embodies motorcycle friendly. After a sumptuous but simple chicken dinner prepared by Chef Rose, France directed me to park my bike in a small, gated courtyard off the back alley so it wouldn’t stay on the street overnight.
Everyone in the place was motorcycle friendly, and was as interested to hear of my experiences as I was to hear their versions of the slide’s effect on their travel plans.
Bill, the aircraft broker from Seattle, here to meet a client. Another Bill (the Pub Guy), apparently well known in Ontario for his Guide to Ontario Pubs, here to research locations for a Canadian Pub Guide. Bill actually saw the slide and, with eyes like saucers, told me of someone actually trying to drive through the moving mudslide with a Jeep. A retired investment banker from Toronto and a couple from Quebec who wanted to see ranches and horses rounded out my conversations, giving texture to the evening’s social fabric. That seems to be the beauty of the B&B experience.
Jim and Shirley’s INDIAN CHIEF
Jim and Shirley were passing through and stopped on their new Indian Chief wet and dirty from the fresh sealcoat they had passed through around Christina Lake. With this in mind, I decided to head north through the Okanagan and cross over through the Monashee to Nakusp and down in to the Kootenays and TOAD ROCK.
The room was surprisingly stylish, furnished with antiques around the inviting bed..a fan in the room provided a pleasant breeze not unlike you would get through the tent flap on a warm night. There was a new shower bathroom in one corner, though it was small, it was newly updated and a great start for the next morning.
As warm as it was through Princeton, it was hotter through the Okanagan, and the lineup for the floating bridge in the mid afternoon heat was awesome. Now I know what a chicken feels like in a frypan. Funny thing about a bike, everyone thinks that bikes are cooler running in the hot air but its really more like turning up a hair dryer…the faster you go, the stronger that hot wind blows in your face.
East from Vernon, through Cherryville, and a stop at the GOLD PAN CAFÉ. These people are not just motorcycle friendly, they are everyone friendly. The communal dining bench inside the log restaurant means most people share their meals elbow to elbow. A unique dining experience made greater by huge slices of home baked pies and aromatic buns to go with your coffee.
The Monashee summit, at 1241m, meant that the temperature cooled off about 10 degrees to 22C.
All my efforts to avoid the fresh sealcoating around Christina Lake were dashed when the last 15 Km into Nakusp was through fresh sealcoat gravel, which covered the bike and eveyrthing else in sight with a layer of dirt. So much for arriving with a clean bike, and the joy of riding on loose, fresh gravel made me wish I had more experience on a dirt bike.
That night, at the Nakusp Municipal Campground, I set up on a dirt square just inside the main gate. It was dirty. I hate dirty. It was so far from the cool, grassy, cherry orchard sites in Osoyoos at Walton’s Mountain campground, my favourite so far. The showers, however, made up for things somewhat as they were large, relatively clean and gave you lots of time for your buck. Two other bikes were there, Kelly on a Gold Wing, doing business in town , and Tim from Australia, on his V-Strom, making a long bow from local wood before he had to fly home in 3 days. Cleaning up as best I could the next morning, I carried on south toward New Denver.
Two km south of Nakusp, I caught what looked like a giant motorcycle yard sale out of the corner of my eye. Mark Veilleux’s yard is home to some 20 bikes, spread out over a half acre. I had to check this out and found a couple of jems. I didn’t know that HONDA even made a 350-4 but here was one sitting there next to a 400-4 and a BSA 650 Scrambler. That 350 motor was so small that the 4 exhaust pipes looked like spaghetti and you probably needed jeweller’s tools to work on it. Mark is the epitomy of motorcycle friendly and had heard of TOAD ROCK, planning to start his own campground in the 12 acres at the rear of his property.
Coffee at the Slocan Golf Club clubhouse was necessary to drink in the vistas of Slocan Lake from the back veranda. The restaurant help rode a bike so I was welcomed with a warmth not shared by the playing clientele, who viewed me warily.
A little jewel of a HONDA 350-4
Hwy 31A from New Denver to Kaslo ran through some of the most historic mining areas of the Kootenays. Evidence of old mine entrances, tailings, abandoned rail rights of way, concrete mine footings, jumbled piles of lumber which were once mine buildings, dotted both sides of the roadway. The road itself was patched and broken in parts but got better as you got closer to Kaslo.
Kaslo remains the emerald of the Kooteneys. The restored, original downtown buildings, and the paddlewheeler MOYIE pulled up on shore as a museum—all are tribute to an age where the Arrow, Slocan and Kooteney Lakes were the highways and a rare motorcycle may have come in as deck cargo. Kaslo is also home to the very motorcycle friendly Laddie Malik and his SILVER SPOON CAFÉ.
Laddie, a refugee from North York, has excellent Eggs Florentine, an airy patio for those campers among us and a covered porch in case its raining. He will also engage you in interesting conversation, since he just plain likes people. The help is also friendly instead of the usual standoffishness of upscale cafes in busier parts of the country where they tend to process us customers like bottom line numbers, and I’m thinking of the Kamloops Starbucks I went to the other morning. I’ve had some looks like I’ve just run over their cat.
Just 2 km down the road from Kaslo, is the MIRROR LAKE CAMPGROUND.
I’ve stayed here before, though I won’t be on this trip, but a visit with Terry at the front counter confirms my earlier impressions that this place is a, clean, well run campground with large, terraced, grassy sites leading down to a sandy beach to the aptly named Mirror Lake. Boat and canoe rentals combined with a lake full of fish means that you and your kids would have a ball here. This is more of a family campsite, however, and the sound of a old panhead warming up for 10 minutes at 600 in the morning would probably not be appreciated. This is not really a motorcycle campground, although Terry made it clear that we are welcome and it is a beautiful setting.
Finally, I arrive at TOAD ROCK Motorcycle Campground. The approach signs are hard to spot unless you are looking for them, and after a short ride up the packed dirt road, I pulled into the common area by the pavilion. There was Mary coming toward me with a square of plywood to put under my kickstand so the bike wouldn’t fall over in the wet grass after the rains. If you’re extremely fortunate, “Aunty Em” will meet you in her red slippers. I was blown away by Mary Laird’s concern for my bike and the open air pavilion, supported on all four corners by live trees. First impressions are powerful. Mary, and her partner Steve Ramsbottom, have transformed 34 acres of bush into their vision of what the perfect campground for motorcyclists should be…and it is. “It’s not a bar.” says Mary, as we sit on stools at the large curved kitchen counter in the pavilion. This is the community center, complete with eating area, wet sink, pool table, fridge and freezer, two sets of drums, and Mary’s old Honda cruiser. If you need to put something in the fridge or freezer, that’s what it’s there for. There is another cooler for beverages and if you take one, just put your money in the jar. A recently completed shower and toilet building makes this the nicest place to have a camp shower in BC…better than Bridal Falls Camperland, which until now, had been tops. Better yet, the showers are free…included in the $15.00 camping fee. Its soon obvious that this will be unlike any camping experience I have ever had. The honour system is alive and well here, as Mary reflected “ …this is based on trust, honour, and respect.” Free showers, free pool, new flush toilets, community coolers.
This pavilion, the new outbuildings, the burn out pit, complete with a burnt out Road King…this place is funky and cool—everything other commercial campsites are not. Maybe you’d be thinking that this is a raucous place but there are limits on acceptable and non acceptable noise. The old panhead warming up for 10 minutes in the morning is acceptable noise whereas AC/DC at full volume after 11:00 pm is not. Mary and Steve actually sleep out under the stars in a 4 poster bed, rather than hidden away in their rustic log cabin, so that if party noise is keeping you awake at night, it’s keeping them awake too and they’ll have a gentle word with the partiers to consider others. This is a work in progress. The vision is unique and grand. Pure B.C., pure Kooteneys, and pure motorcycle. They don’t care what you ride as long as you ride. My open armed acceptance as I rode in on my Aspencade was living proof of that as the place has a definite Harley theme.
The burnout pit deserves further mention. It is indeed both a place for burnouts, should the need overcome you, but it is also the fire pit where you can gather on a warm Kooteney night .
As cool a piece of sculpture as you’ll find anywhere, resulting from a neighbour’s winter storage shed fire, the Road King was enshrined on a stone mantle overlooking the lake. Residents and visitors at TOAD ROCK took up a collection the following year and presented the uninsured owner with $7000.00 toward a new ride.
There’s a different set of rules here—fewer rules—all based on trust, respect and acceptance…something we could all live by. This is also a new benchmark from which I will compare any future campground and, believe me, they are going to work awfully hard to met this new standard set by TOAD ROCK.
Email: info@toadrockcampground.com
HOW TO GET THERE:
TOAD ROCK Motorcycle Campground
2865 Toad Rock Rd.,
Hwy 31 (between Balfour and Ainsworth)
Phone: 250-229-5448
Toll free phone: 1-877-229-5448
Email: info@toadrockcampground.com
PASTA TRADING POST RESTAURANT/B&B
Keremeos, B.C.,
Phone: 250-499-2933
Email:PastaTradingPost.com
THE SILVER SPOON BAKERY CAFÉ
301 Front St.,
Kaslo, B.C.,
Phone:250-3532808
MARK’S MINI EXCAVATING &
Motorcycle campground
Nakusp B.C.,
Phone: 250-2653782
GOLD PAN CAFÉ
Hwy. 6 East of Cherryville
MIRROR LAKE CAMPGROUND
Hwy 31, 2 km south of Kaslo.
Phone: 250-3537102.
Bill Gedye
Two Wheel Tales
