2009-10-11 49 -122

Sun 11 Oct 2009 in 49,-122: 49.0091162, -122.7777181 geohashing.info google osm bing/os kml crox

Location

About 300m off the coast of the Semiahmoo Reserve (in between White Rock and the Peace Arch). Possibly land-accessible during low tide? Will be at high tide around 13:00 and stay high for the afternoon & evening [1].

Participants

• Elbie

Expedition

Biking to the Semiahmoo Reserve

I'd been meaning to find an excuse to ride the Canada Line for the first time and this seemed like a good one. I biked out to the Broadway stop and boarded the SkyTrain as it was being repaired... perhaps not the best first impression of the newest SkyTrain line. But anyway, we were eventually off, and had a smooth ride to Bridgeport Station.

Now, the Canada Line stations seem to have this habit of having two levels of elevators -- you take one down to an intermediate level, walk out to the next elevator, and take that down to the ground level. Also, the signs and buttons are incredibly confusing. So, of course, muddling along with the elevators and my bike, I got to the bus loop just in time to have missed the 601 and the 620, the two buses that go to Ladner.

I wound up standing around for 20 minutes awkwardly between the stops for the two buses, hoping that no more than one other cyclist would come along and compete for my chances of being one of the two on the bike rack. I lucked out -- only one other cyclist came around, and eventually the two of us were being shuttled across the George Massey Tunnel.

I got off at Ladner and set out on Ladner Trunk Road, heading along at a good pace. At such a good pace, in fact, I did not see the turnoff to the Boundary Bay dyke. Before I knew it, I was at an intersection with Highway-99, and for all directions other than the way I'd came, foreboding signs were posted about how vehicles not capable of 60 kph were not allowed there. Uh-oh.

The intersection did have one more aspect -- a bus stop for the 351 which appeared to be some stop in the middle of nowhere. Apparently I am far from the first cyclist to wind up there and not know how to get back to their bike route. As I was debating whether to turn around, another cyclist came by -- I asked him for directions -- he told me to take the 351.

So, I waited around and then took the 351 Bus Ride of Shame over to the South Surrey Park-n-Ride, where I got my bearings and headed off on the King George Highway. I got to the Canada-US border (well, the Duty-Free Store by the border) around 16:30 and took a right onto Exit 1 -- passing by Peach Arch Provincial Park and heading into the Semiahmoo Reserve.

Photos

Pending

Achievements

Pending