CURVESCOUT / MOTORCYCLE RIDE
Ordered leg totals agree within rounding. Stop distances are approximate sums of rounded legs. Stops, delays, approach and any separate return travel add time. Basis: producer-declared routed record.
Reading history stays on this device. My road watch requires a separate selection; opening it does not subscribe this ride.
Named-road itinerary record.
Distance and riding time are measured on the routed road. Check local closures and conditions before you ride.
581 km round from West End - plan on about 9 h 23 of riding. The stops in between: Whistler, Pemberton, Lillooet and Fraser Canyon. The stored terrain estimate reaches about 1,500 m; a measured road-elevation profile is not available. It suits an unhurried touring pace.
Expect company on a summer weekend. Early is better than fast. For about 33 km this is Sea-to-Sky Highway, a road with a name of its own and a reason for it.
Vancouver is a city that sits between mountains and sea, so closely that you can ski in the morning and sail in the afternoon, as the local line goes. Glass towers crowd a peninsula with the North Shore peaks rising directly behind, and Stanley Park, a huge, forested park on the tip of the peninsula, wraps around the downtown with a seawall path and old-growth cedar. Gastown, the historic quarter, takes its name from a talkative saloon keeper, Gassy Jack Deighton, whose statue stands in the square.
Read the complete Vancouver write-up.
May refer to an earlier itinerary; verify against your selected route before riding.
Vancouver is where the day begins. Next is Whistler.
Whistler began as an idea in the 1960s, when a group of Vancouver businessmen decided that a mountain north of the city might host an Olympic ski area, and it ended as one of the largest winter resorts in North America. The village itself is purpose built, a pedestrian maze of shops, bars and hotels at the foot of two mountains, Whistler and Blackcomb, joined by a gondola called Peak 2 Peak that spans a huge gap between the summits. The name comes from the hoary marmots that whistle from the rockfalls, and the surrounding land is the shared territory of the Squamish and Lil'wat peoples, whose cultural centre in the village is worth an hour.
Read the complete Whistler write-up.
May refer to an earlier itinerary; verify against your selected route before riding.
Whistler comes up about 122 km into the recorded legs. Next is Pemberton.
Pemberton sits in a flat, green valley surrounded by high, jagged mountains, a short distance north of Whistler, and it feels like a different world from the resort next door. Mount Currie, a rugged peak with a grey crest, towers over the farmland, and the Lillooet River winds across the valley floor. Farmers here grow seed potatoes, which are prized for their disease-free quality, and the fields with their neat rows are the first thing you see on arrival. The town has about two thousand people, a few cafes, a brewery and a laid-back air.
Read the complete Pemberton write-up.
May refer to an earlier itinerary; verify against your selected route before riding.
about 155 km into the recorded legs you reach Pemberton. Next is Lillooet.
Lillooet announces itself as a change of climate. You come down from the mountains of the Duffey Lake road, with their dark spruce and old snow, and within an hour the land has turned to sage, dry benches and bare golden slopes above the Fraser River. The town sits right on that river, in one of the hottest and driest corners of British Columbia, and a summer afternoon here can feel like Spain has been dropped into the Rockies.
Read the complete Lillooet write-up.
May refer to an earlier itinerary; verify against your selected route before riding.
Lillooet, about halfway. Next is Fraser Canyon.
When the Fraser River squeezes through the Coast Mountains between Hope and Lytton, it makes a canyon so narrow and steep that the railways, the highway and the river have to share it. This is the end of the ride, and it is a worthy one. The road clings to cliffs above the water, plunges through tunnels, and crosses the river on bridges with views straight down.
Read the complete Fraser Canyon write-up.
May refer to an earlier itinerary; verify against your selected route before riding.
Fraser Canyon sits at 343 km, late in the day. Next is Vancouver.
Return visit. Read the place description above.
Read the complete Vancouver write-up.
May refer to an earlier itinerary; verify against your selected route before riding.
The route ends here after 581 km.
Vancouver → Whistler is 122 km of getting across. Ride it tidily and keep the enthusiasm for what comes after.
Whistler → Pemberton is 33 km of rhythm rather than effort. Let it flow and let the view breathe.
Pemberton → Lillooet is 99 km of getting across. Ride it tidily and keep the enthusiasm for what comes after.
Lillooet → Fraser Canyon is 112 km of getting across. Ride it tidily and keep the enthusiasm for what comes after.
Fraser Canyon → Vancouver is 215 km of getting across. Ride it tidily and keep the enthusiasm for what comes after.