Day 6 - Busses, Boat, and Busted Knees

With the business of westerly points concluded I had the easy decision of backtracking back to Nanaimo by bus for $45. No way I was riding that crazy road a second time. Especially when I found my left knee was screaming at me on every rotation. I had done some damage it seemed.

The bus ride was uneventful but let me get that crappy sleep you can only get on a bus. I once shared a sleeping space with Cal, who is made of spikes and magnesium, in Thailand and the sleep was comparable.

This left me once again in Nanaimo where I caught a $17 ferry to Horseshoe bay. By the time I got there it was getting to be sunset, and North Vancouver is full of people that looked like they didn't make the cut for Jersey shore. Just terrible phonies everywhere. This was not ideal quiet camping territory at all.

Lions Gate Bridge

The traffic on the bridge was intense

I painfully pedaled my way out of the burbs and over the TCH bridge near Vancouver and Burnaby and fumbled my way east, trying desperately to get out of the city to a quiet place to lick my wounds.

I found my way through confederation park where mobs of teenagers asked me, a guy on a loaded touring bike, if I had any zig zags. Nope, shag camping here. There were signs about bears and coyotes frequenting the area as well, so I figured I'd let them all sort each other out and go elsewhere.

The eerie Chevron plant

This lead me up Penzance drive above Scenic park, which in the darkness to me was just a giant hill of trees. To the left was a big Chevron plant with humming and smoke and even pillars of fire. Reminded me of the big city sky-net had constructed in Terminator. I'll sleep around here I figured, I'm part cyborg anyways.

At the end of the road and bottom of the hill I found a stretch of gravel road east of the plant that lead across some train tracks and about 3km to a dock up the shore. Piles of dirt had been stacked up close to the river banks so I put my tent up there out of sight of any random trucks.

Ended up being a decent enough spot all things considered. I had the eerie glow of the Chevron plant, the bonk of a log on the water as waves from distant shipping vessels drove it ashore, and the CNR trains that passed in both directions about 50 m from my tent, sounding their horns which echoed for miles and shaking the ground under me. Oddly it was very comforting, nothing bothered me here.