The Duffey Lake Road is the part of British Columbia's Highway 99 that nobody forgets. It leaves Pemberton, in a flat green valley of farms and potato fields, and in less than an hour climbs into the Coast Mountains and drops into the dry interior, one of the sharpest changes of landscape in Canada. The road crosses Cayoosh Pass, a little over a thousand metres, and passes the shores of Duffey Lake, a long, green, glacier-fed water beneath towering peaks, and the trailheads for Joffre Lakes, three tiers of turquoise lakes beneath a glacier that have become some of the most popular walks in the province.
The riding is serious. From Pemberton the road rises through dense rainforest along the Lillooet River in a series of bends and straights, then climbs steeply in hairpins over Mount Currie, with gradients up to thirteen per cent in places. The descent on the east side, down Cayoosh Creek toward Lillooet, is even more demanding, with tight bends, loose gravel in places and long drops without guardrails. The road is paved but narrow, and logging trucks, RVs and tour coaches share it, so overtaking is hard and the pace is set by the slowest vehicle. Braking is the thing to watch on the long downhill, so use engine braking. The pavement can be damp or icy in shaded corners, even in summer in the early morning.
The scenery changes as you cross. West of the pass the forest is wet, with ferns and moss, while the east side is dry, with ponderosa pine, sagebrush and red rock, a rain-shadow landscape. Lillooet, at the end of the road, was the starting point, Mile 0, of the Cariboo Wagon Road in the gold-rush years of the 1860s, and the dry hills above the Fraser River hold some of the hottest weather in Canada in summer.
Fuel is the point to plan. There are no stations between Pemberton and Lillooet, a distance of around a hundred and thirty kilometres, and the road is slow, so fill the tank in Pemberton. Black bears and mountain goats are often seen, and there are few places to stop. The road can close for snow or slides in winter, and the pass can be icy from October. The best time is July to September, when the road is dry, but go early to avoid the crowds at Joffre Lakes.