NeverComingBack
Member
After visiting with friends in Mission, BC my travel partner ditched me, spending the last of his money on a bus ticket home. Probably for the best after he polished off my 15 pack while I was out gathering firewood the previous night. I spent the next day walking and busing into the lower mainland after sleeping under a severely overgrown bridge in Burnaby and another two nights on a homies couch. It was time for me to head back east as heavy rain was expected in Vancouver the next day. The homie dropped me at the catch out after lunch at Bon's Off Broadway (Cheap food definitely recommended). Stocked up with food and cold beer I only waited 3 or 4 hours before an empty potash rolled up and within another hour I was off. The sun set and we rolled out of the city and into the mountains and as i lay in my bivy the roar of the steel dragon rocked me to sleep.
The sunrise woke me just as we were pulling into Kamloops where the CN and CPKC main lines split with CN line going north east to Edmonton and the CPKC line going straight east to Calgary and I needed to ride the CPKC line to Calgary. My train came to a stop in a big yard outside of the city. After waiting on the train for half an hour I bailed out of the yard over a barbed farm fence. It was getting to sketch to chill on an exposed hopper porch with work vehicles and this blacked out F-150 on the yard road beside the train. Assuming the worst after the black truck second pass i grabbed my shit and got the fuck outta there. After making some breakfast and smoking a joint in the woods beside the yard I started a long walk to the front of the yard in hopes to find something on the main road getting ready to leave. As I neared the end of the yard to my dismay I realised all the power was CN meaning i was on the CN line. Now this all could have been avoided with a quick check on your phone's map app but I have been rocking this flip phone for the last year and a bit the thing has no maps. But after some back and forth with a buddy in Calgary I now had a vague idea of where to go and started the even longer walk to the other side of the yard and into town. 6 kilometers to the end of the yard and a few more into town where I stopped at Timmies to charge my phone and scanner. Now all charged up I made my way to the CPKC catch out, scoring some handouts on the way as my own supply of food and money was running out. The fruit and sandwich were a blessing. But the best was the hot soup as during my walk the weather turned foul with a strong wind and rain on the horizon. It looked like the weather I escaped in Vancouver was catching up to me. As I made it to the catch out spot an eastbound began to depart, by the time I made it through the fence it was rolling too fast to catch on the fly with my bag. So I hunkered down under the bridge chatting with this junkie chick trying to keep a fire alive. I dozed off after she went to go "look for some dope" and was awakened a few hours later by the rumble of a locomotive. I jump out my sleeping bag, stomp the fire and stuff everything in my. bag as fast as I can and start looking for a ride on this IM that just pulled in to cc. Breathing hard, running on the ballast car after car nothing good. The hiss of the air brakes the train is about to pull. I need to get on this. I'm not spending another night in Kamloops. One last burst of energy I ran but to the only half decent ride I saw. Exposed but a bit of overhang from the top container This will have to do I thought as i crawled into my sleeping bag too tired to pull out my bivy bag(Big Mistake) I passed out as we rolled further into the mountains.
Sleeping soundly through First Rogers pass tunnel sheltered from the wind and warmed pleasantly by the diesel engines I drift deeper into sleep...
Wake up in my sleeping bag. Why am I cold? Reach my arm out of my sleeping bag. Why am I wet? I fly out my sleeping bag. It's snowing…
After shaking off the snow and pulling out my bivy I hopped back in my sleeping bag, rolled a joint and enjoyed the view. I dozed as we rode through the spiral tunnels and as we exited the tunnel the snow was gone as fast as it appeared. Then It was a smooth and quick downhill ride out of the mountains through the hill and into downtown Calgary where my homie was waiting for me with an ice cold beer.
First post if a few years hope y'all enjoy was a eventful part of the trip this fall.
Ride Hard 👊
The sunrise woke me just as we were pulling into Kamloops where the CN and CPKC main lines split with CN line going north east to Edmonton and the CPKC line going straight east to Calgary and I needed to ride the CPKC line to Calgary. My train came to a stop in a big yard outside of the city. After waiting on the train for half an hour I bailed out of the yard over a barbed farm fence. It was getting to sketch to chill on an exposed hopper porch with work vehicles and this blacked out F-150 on the yard road beside the train. Assuming the worst after the black truck second pass i grabbed my shit and got the fuck outta there. After making some breakfast and smoking a joint in the woods beside the yard I started a long walk to the front of the yard in hopes to find something on the main road getting ready to leave. As I neared the end of the yard to my dismay I realised all the power was CN meaning i was on the CN line. Now this all could have been avoided with a quick check on your phone's map app but I have been rocking this flip phone for the last year and a bit the thing has no maps. But after some back and forth with a buddy in Calgary I now had a vague idea of where to go and started the even longer walk to the other side of the yard and into town. 6 kilometers to the end of the yard and a few more into town where I stopped at Timmies to charge my phone and scanner. Now all charged up I made my way to the CPKC catch out, scoring some handouts on the way as my own supply of food and money was running out. The fruit and sandwich were a blessing. But the best was the hot soup as during my walk the weather turned foul with a strong wind and rain on the horizon. It looked like the weather I escaped in Vancouver was catching up to me. As I made it to the catch out spot an eastbound began to depart, by the time I made it through the fence it was rolling too fast to catch on the fly with my bag. So I hunkered down under the bridge chatting with this junkie chick trying to keep a fire alive. I dozed off after she went to go "look for some dope" and was awakened a few hours later by the rumble of a locomotive. I jump out my sleeping bag, stomp the fire and stuff everything in my. bag as fast as I can and start looking for a ride on this IM that just pulled in to cc. Breathing hard, running on the ballast car after car nothing good. The hiss of the air brakes the train is about to pull. I need to get on this. I'm not spending another night in Kamloops. One last burst of energy I ran but to the only half decent ride I saw. Exposed but a bit of overhang from the top container This will have to do I thought as i crawled into my sleeping bag too tired to pull out my bivy bag(Big Mistake) I passed out as we rolled further into the mountains.
Sleeping soundly through First Rogers pass tunnel sheltered from the wind and warmed pleasantly by the diesel engines I drift deeper into sleep...
Wake up in my sleeping bag. Why am I cold? Reach my arm out of my sleeping bag. Why am I wet? I fly out my sleeping bag. It's snowing…
After shaking off the snow and pulling out my bivy I hopped back in my sleeping bag, rolled a joint and enjoyed the view. I dozed as we rode through the spiral tunnels and as we exited the tunnel the snow was gone as fast as it appeared. Then It was a smooth and quick downhill ride out of the mountains through the hill and into downtown Calgary where my homie was waiting for me with an ice cold beer.
First post if a few years hope y'all enjoy was a eventful part of the trip this fall.
Ride Hard 👊
