BIKEPACKING
Solo Miles, Big Smiles
Solo Bikepacking: 2,920 km of Freedom, Grit, and No Regrets
Photos & visuals: Charlotte Hamel
It’s not every day you decide to take a vacation… to bike solo across a part of Canada. For Charlotte, it’s her way to unplug, recentre, and push her own limits.
Earlier this season, she’d already conquered Unbound XL, a 560 km gravel race through the Kansas plains. But this time, she wasn’t chasing a podium. She was chasing quiet. Solitude. Something harder to find than finish lines.
THE SETUP: BUILT FOR MORE THAN MILES
Her bike
Charlotte rides the Hatchet Pro Apex 12s — a light and versatile bike, ready for any kind of adventure.
Her bags
She outfitted it with several Arkel bikepacking bags:
- 18L saddle bag
- 12L handlebar bag
- Frame bag
- Top tube bag
Repair kit
- CO₂ cartridges
- Spare tubes
- Chain links
- Brake pads
- Tubeless plugs
- Spare spokes
- Essential tools
Camping gear
- One-person tent
- Sleeping pad
- Sleeping bag
- Clothes as a pillow
- Cookset and stove
Other essentials
- 2 battery packs
- Front light
- Camera
PART 1 — The Rockies and the Prairies
📊 8 days — 1,156 km — 8,742 m elevation gain
Charlotte’s first stretch cut straight through the Old Grey Creek Pass, a rugged route slicing through the mountains of British Columbia. She expected challenge. What she got was a masterclass in humility.
Gradients of up to 32% turned pedals into dead weight. She hiked her bike for nearly five kilometres — one slow, stubborn step at a time.
No regrets! The view from the top was breathtaking, and the descent — simply epic!
After that came the prairies — a different kind of battle. The climbs were gone, replaced by wind. Relentless, invisible, personal.
For four days across Alberta and Saskatchewan, she pedalled against gusts that seemed to come from every direction — except behind.
When wildfires closed in and her schedule tightened, Charlotte adapted — hopping on a train to Winnipeg. No shame in changing the route when the mission stays the same.
PART 2 — The Great Northern Bikepacking Route
📊 14 days — 1,764 km — 7,622 m elevation gain
Into the North: Gravel, Mosquitoes, and Mind Games
The Great Northern Bikepacking Route is both stunning and brutal — gravel roads stretching through lakes, forests, and the kind of quiet that makes you talk to yourself out loud.
Fourteen days. No rest. Just the rhythm of tires, breath, and thought.
Wild camping added its own flavor of adventure — sometimes peaceful, sometimes “questionable.” Mosquitoes that felt more like small birds. Cold mornings that tested her resolve. Yet, no mechanicals, no real mishaps — just miles of raw, uninterrupted riding.
Since I rode for 14 days without a break, fatigue really set in, and I had some morning meltdowns.
On August 15, after 1764 km (55% of it on gravel) and 14 days on the road, Charlotte finally reached Sault Ste. Marie, Ontario. Her route? Flat on paper, but far from monotonous. Even though she was technically “closer” to home, the experience felt completely otherworldly.
The Takeaway
Charlotte’s story isn’t just about crossing Canada. It’s about crossing that invisible line between rider and explorer, comfort and challenge, routine and freedom.
It’s about what happens when you stop waiting for the perfect moment — and ride anyway.
Because in the end, adventure doesn’t build character. It reveals it.
