CURVESCOUT / MOTORCYCLE RIDE
The recorded total and the leg detail need reconciliation. Inspect the leg notes before using this record for timing or navigation. 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.
Distance and riding time are measured on the routed road. Check local closures and conditions before you ride.
Out of Richmond, one way: 294 km, roughly 6 h 17 in the saddle. On the way it passes West End, Scenic stretch near Lions Bay, near Squamish and Aldergrove. The climbs: Richmond and Near Aldergrove, on the way back. It tops out at about 1,200 m. It crosses from Canada into United States - carry ID and check the toll rules.
Expect company on a summer weekend. Early is better than fast. For 51 km this is Sea-to-Sky Highway, a road with a name of its own and a reason for it.
Richmond is built on mud, and proud of it. The city occupies Lulu Island and neighbouring islands in the delta of the Fraser River, just south of Vancouver, land so flat and so low that much of it sits barely above sea level behind a ring of dykes. Vancouver's airport takes up Sea Island to the west, the North Shore mountains rise beyond the city skyline, and on a clear day Mount Baker floats above the delta to the southeast, a white volcano across the border in Washington.
Read the complete Richmond write-up.
May refer to an earlier itinerary; verify against your selected route before riding.
Mount Baker Cross-Border Loop is where the day begins. Next is Mount Baker Cross-Border Loop high point.
Return visit. Read the place description above.
Read the complete Richmond write-up.
May refer to an earlier itinerary; verify against your selected route before riding.
You top out here; the road stops climbing. Next is Mount Baker Cross-Border Loop checkpoint 8.
Vancouver's West End is one of the densest neighbourhoods in North America, a grid of apartment towers and old wooden houses squeezed between downtown, Stanley Park and English Bay, and yet it feels oddly relaxed. People walk everywhere, the streets are lined with trees, and at the end of every road, it seems, there is water or mountains or both. As the finish of a ride, it is hard to beat for atmosphere.
Read the complete Near West End write-up.
May refer to an earlier itinerary; verify against your selected route before riding.
The route ends here after 292 km. Next is Scenic stretch near Lions Bay.
Above Lions Bay stand the two granite peaks that gave the village its name, The Lions, visible from much of Vancouver and known to the Squamish people as the Twin Sisters. The village itself clings to steep slopes above Howe Sound, a scatter of houses among cedars and firs, with a small beach and a marina far below. It is a residential community rather than a stop with services, but the setting is spectacular.
Read the complete Scenic stretch near Lions Bay write-up.
May refer to an earlier itinerary; verify against your selected route before riding.
Scenic stretch near Lions Bay, about halfway. Next is Photo stop near Squamish.
Squamish sits at the head of Howe Sound, about an hour north of Vancouver along the Sea-to-Sky Highway, and the first thing that hits you is the Stawamus Chief. This massive granite monolith rises sheer above the town and the highway, one of the largest granite formations in the world, and on any fine day you will see climbers inching up its faces.
Read the complete Photo stop near Squamish write-up.
May refer to an earlier itinerary; verify against your selected route before riding.
Photo stop near Squamish sits at 195 km, about halfway. Next is Vancouver / British Columbia return.
Mount Baker owns the skyline here. On a clear day the volcano rises white and enormous above the Fraser Valley, across the border in Washington State, and it seems much closer than it is. This stop lies in the farmland east of Aldergrove, between Langley and Abbotsford, a landscape of berry fields, dairy farms and horse paddocks, with the Fraser River to the north and the border just a few kilometres south.
Read the complete Near Aldergrove, on the way back write-up.
May refer to an earlier itinerary; verify against your selected route before riding.
Vancouver / British Columbia return is the summit of this stretch. Next is Food stop near Birch Bay.
Birch Bay is a wide, shallow, crescent-shaped bay on the coast of Whatcom County, just south of the Canadian border, and at low tide the water retreats a long way, exposing vast flats of sand where children dig for clams and look for sand dollars. In summer, the incoming tide flows over the sun-warmed sand and the water becomes noticeably warmer than elsewhere in the area, making it one of the more pleasant places to swim in the chilly waters of the Salish Sea.
Read the complete Birch Bay write-up.
May refer to an earlier itinerary; verify against your selected route before riding.
Food stop near Birch Bay closes the day.
Scenic stretch near Lions Bay → Photo stop near Squamish is 21 km of rhythm rather than effort. Let it flow and let the view breathe.
Photo stop near Squamish → Near Aldergrove, on the way back is 97 km of getting across. Ride it tidily and keep the enthusiasm for what comes after.