Birthday Buffalo

The Stewart-Cassiar Highway has intrigued me for the last five years. Running south from Watson Lake into central British Columbia, the Cassiar provides an alternate route to the Alaska Highway. I wanted to take this road when I visited five years ago, but two things convinced me otherwise:

1) While at the summer camping trip for the then-active Anchorage Hash House Harriers, one person told me about their experience on the road. While driving at a reportedly-reasonable speed, she ran over an aggressive frost heave, causing her to break an axel and lose two hubcaps. At a standstill, she also was visited by a bear. My takeaway was that the road is spooky.

2) The front drive shaft on my 4-wheel drive RV was rattling something fierce and I sensed that my miles were limited.

So I whimped out and boarded the ferry from Haines to Prince Rupert (and then had the front drive shaft removed a few days later).

On my way up north three weeks ago, I planned to take a ferry to Prince Rupert and then ride up the Cassiar, but as you may recall there was a road wash-out that caused me to re-route my trip.

My next chance to take the road was today. But alas this darn rain will not let up. And having heard that the Cassiar has some significant dirt sections, I opted out. I don’t mind gravel and I don’t mind dirt. But when deep dirt turns to deep mud, I mind a lot.

So dammit, that highway remains untraveled, at least by me. Perhaps one day I will return with a hardy riding pal and conquer the roads that have recently confounded me.

But this birthday was not without event. In the morning, Elizabeth and Michael, the owners of Watson Lake’s Air Force Lodge recognized my birthday with a nice card and candle (which at first I welcomed as food, only to realize that breakfast would be best found down the road).

My second-choice route proved to be rainy and chilly. But my rain gear works well. As does my heated jacket. And this road was paved. And my MP3 player played only the best randomly-selected songs. So all was well.

There were a number of animal sightings including caribou and deer. And the there was a most interesting encounter with some buffalo and a semi truck. Want to hear about that? No matter, because I’m going to tell you.

From about a quarter mile, I saw two formidable specs of brown on the road ahead of me. I slowed. And hen slowed some more, stopping about thirty yards from two enormous buffalo who seemed in no hurry to leave their lane, which also happened to be my lane.

A car approached from the other direction and stopped on the other side of the two roadblocks. I decided to pull over to the shoulder of the oncoming lane in case someone pulled up behind me and noticed the animals more than they noticed me. Other vehicles did indeed arrive from both directions. Two queues were formed, both waiting on two disinterested buffalo.

After a couple minutes, a car or two approaching from the other direction decided to ease forward and pass. They were successful, passing between me and the buffalo. The buffalo stayed put. Approaching next from the oncoming lane was an eighteen-wheeler. Because I’m smart, I recognized opportunity. If I were to advance past the buffalo in the oncoming lane’s shoulder while the very long truck also moved, the truck would provide a barrier between me and the animals while I passed. No time to think; time to act!

As the truck approached, I pulled forward. I did notice that one of the buffalo was heading toward the truck, which meant that I had better move quickly or the truck would be gone before mr. buffalo and I would be quite close to each other. So I pulled the throttle. A lot. With a nice spray of mud and rocks, I passed by the truck with a foot or two between us.

By the time I reached the end of he oncoming truck, I saw the buffalo also rounding the truck’s backside. While I pulled the throttle, sprayed rocks and listened to REO Speedwagon, the buffalo galloped and snorted, both of us about twelve feet apart. I looked in my mirror to see one dejected buffalo. He wanted my bike, I just know it.

Remember how I described myself as smart a moment ago? I might also describe myself as sarcastic. I’ve created a little graphic to help explain the spacing and timing.

It’s now 8:30PM in Fort Nelson and I’m going out to grab a bite to eat. If a buffalo burger is to be had, I’m all over it.