Chilliwack to Hope

Despite the light rain that we faced during much of today’s ride, it turned out to be a pretty great route, with one small unavoidable exception.

First, as we started out from the south part of Chilliwack, we probably went seven or eight miles before finally leaving the town. Despite a lot of urban riding, we were almost continually on cycling trails or streets with cycling lanes. The only road without a cycling lane was Chilliwack Central Road, but it had sufficiently light traffic and was wide enough that this was not a problem.

The one unavoidable exception was the bridge crossing the Fraser River on Highway 9. While the highway itself had excellent shoulder for bicycles, the bridge was clearly constructed well prior to today’s wider automobiles and any desire to provide room for pedestrians or bicycles. Despite that, there were (fortunately) signs warning drivers that bicycles and pedestrians have a right to the bridge as well.

Getting onto Highway 7, we found a great relatively low-trafficked road with excellent shoulder and some nice scenery. It was an easy, mostly flat ride to the Highway 1 bridge into Hope.