MCRIDER007
Well-known member
I just returned from a 5 day "dash" to Bella Coola, BC. If you are not familiar with Bella Coola, the "Hill," and Highway 20 to the Chilcotin Coast, there is a lot of information on the Internet. I wanted to ride the "Hill", an engineering marvel built by non-engineers (local residents) with bulldozers about 50 years ago so the residents of Bella Coola could have highway access to the rest of the world. The Hill is a dirt road that descends several thousand feet on grades as steep as 18 percent.
The ride on Highway 20 reminded me of the Klondike Highway in the Yukon in that the map showed several small towns that were not towns at all. The availability of gas and cafes was very inconsistent. We made good time until we ran into a 50 mile road construction project that was resurfacing an existing road with lots of gravel which in turn created a lot of dust. We only had one long delay and had to follow a pilot car about 10 miles but it put us about 2 hours behind schedule. I was expecting paved road from Anahim Lake to Tweedsmuir Provincial Park but it was hardpan dirt instead. It was a good dirt road but a bit slick from an earlier rain. The Hill was also hardpan dirt with a very good gravel base but it had rained there also. We went slow on the downhills and didn't have any problems but I could see that the Hill could be a real handful in the rain. It was one lane in places but even full size buses are able to travel over the hill, they must make it around some of the hairpins with inches to spare.
Bella Coola was a quaint and very beautiful place that unfortunately has fallen on some hard economic times. It was smaller than I expected, both in size and population, but everyone was very friendly and I wished I could have stayed longer. We spent a couple of hours one evening watching the bald eagles soar up and down the river. The trip up the hill was nothing but fun. The very steep grades seemed to disappear and the switchbacks didn't seem nearly as tight. The dirt road to Anahim Lake was totally dry and we ran almost normal highway speeds on the long straights. We did about 1800 miles in 4 days (one day of recovery in Bella Coola) and it was a very memorable trip -- especially the Hill.
The ride on Highway 20 reminded me of the Klondike Highway in the Yukon in that the map showed several small towns that were not towns at all. The availability of gas and cafes was very inconsistent. We made good time until we ran into a 50 mile road construction project that was resurfacing an existing road with lots of gravel which in turn created a lot of dust. We only had one long delay and had to follow a pilot car about 10 miles but it put us about 2 hours behind schedule. I was expecting paved road from Anahim Lake to Tweedsmuir Provincial Park but it was hardpan dirt instead. It was a good dirt road but a bit slick from an earlier rain. The Hill was also hardpan dirt with a very good gravel base but it had rained there also. We went slow on the downhills and didn't have any problems but I could see that the Hill could be a real handful in the rain. It was one lane in places but even full size buses are able to travel over the hill, they must make it around some of the hairpins with inches to spare.
Bella Coola was a quaint and very beautiful place that unfortunately has fallen on some hard economic times. It was smaller than I expected, both in size and population, but everyone was very friendly and I wished I could have stayed longer. We spent a couple of hours one evening watching the bald eagles soar up and down the river. The trip up the hill was nothing but fun. The very steep grades seemed to disappear and the switchbacks didn't seem nearly as tight. The dirt road to Anahim Lake was totally dry and we ran almost normal highway speeds on the long straights. We did about 1800 miles in 4 days (one day of recovery in Bella Coola) and it was a very memorable trip -- especially the Hill.
