The morning mission is clear! The mud clogging up the disc brakes combined with the many steep downhills yesterday made some brake maintenance inevitable. After more than 5000km this is totally fine. It's the first time Klaus is really longing for some attention.

I decide to take the maintence break about 30km down the road at a lake where I am rather close to the town Williams Lake [hope to have cell service there to look up things in the internet or worst case ride to town and find a bike shop]. But as it is on the back roads, the 30km don't come easy but with unexpected 720m of climbing instead. It takes me almost 3 hours to get there.

I would say I know a thing or two about bike repairs, but Klaus certainly comes with a few parts that I don't have any experience with [and also failed to gain experience with beforehand]. After another 2 hours and without the desired cell service for external help I get the brakes properly working again myself. Now we are all set to disappear in the Chilcotins!

To make good on some time I decide to cheat using the Chilcotin-Bella-Coola highway for 13km as a connection to my next off road section. Back on the forest service road I am confronted with a quite drastic change in scenery after just a few kilometers. I leave the forest and enter the semi-deserted Junction Sheep Range. First I pass some enormous free range cattle ranches. Cows and rather dry looking grassland as far as I can see. Then descending down into the Farewell Canyon, dry bushes, sand grey mountains, a dusty road made out of very loose gravel. While I still can appreciate the forest, it also became somewhat montonous in the past weeks. I am incredibly excited about the change in scenery.

The 10km steep descent into the canyon is a blast. The loose gravel does not allow for super high speed but on the windy road I have to stop for pictures after every corner anyway. It is also a fairly good reassurance that the high priority I gave to maintaining my brakes before entering these area was 100% justified.