Hey Kid – A Letter to My Younger Self

Created in partnership with Vahna.

Steve Milum never set out to be a biker, but one ride north on his “Freedom Machine” changed everything. 

What follows is his story, in his own words:

Before we ride too far together in this blog post, I would like to disclose that although I have owned and ridden various bikes since I was 9 years old (dirt, street, retro/classic, and adventure), it would be a stretch to call myself a biker or avid motorcyclist. I like riding my motorcycle, but I don’t love it like many readers here likely do. I love the outdoors. And my motorcycle gets me there. It is my freedom machine. It takes me to the places I want to be. Into nature. It takes me there fast, flowy, and cheap. One of my biggest pleasures when I lived in Vancouver 20 years ago was showing up to the ferry a few minutes before its departure and getting waved aboard while lines of cars were left waiting until the next sailing. I felt like I beat the system for once. My ferry ticket cost 1/2 the price of a car. They would squeeze me onto the back of the ferry, and we would sail off into the sunset, leaving the city, the smog, the crowds of people, and the matrix of lanes and cars behind. Then I would take the winding road to Tofino, where I had a surfboard stashed at a friend’s house, stay the weekend and return to the city refreshed for another week of work (well, not really wanting to go back). I worked at MEC back then, helping others get outdoors, but I struggled to find the time to get outdoors myself. Damn the city. But my 1978 Honda CB-400 could get me out.

More context: I had quick and easy access to the vast outdoors when I was a kid and took it for granted (of course), not realizing its value or importance to me until it was out of reach. I was raised on 35 acres of farm and forest located 12km from a small town in the Okanagan. My brother and I had a whole mountain behind our house that we considered our backyard, and we could ride our XR-80’s for 60km along old logging roads in multiple directions. We had access to creeks, mountainsides, and forests. I remember being asked in my interview for MEC if I hiked? I answered, “No, but my brother and I would walk up the mountain behind our house and camp out lots with our dog…does that count?”

I have great memories of my brother and I climbing trees, building forts and Tarzan swings, and playing in the small creek that ran through our farm every spring. We could explore and adventure beyond where we could see, and we did so frequently. Hiking, camping, and adventure were simply “playing” for us. What a great childhood.

I didn’t realize how much I valued nature and the freedom it gave me until I moved to the city in my early 20s. The closest thing to the outdoors was the parks. But they were full of people. I remember sitting on a park bench after a breakup once and wanting to cry, but strangers kept walking by, so I kept myself together. But I felt trapped with my emotions, unable to express them honestly and fully. Nature was where I would normally go to heal, to sit with myself and process difficult things without being judged or accommodated by others. I didn’t realize that many people have never had this privilege.

Nature is not just a place for healing or processing, though; it is a place for inspiration, exploration, and adventure. I think most people see it in this sense and seek it for these reasons. Historically, our ancestors from every corner of the planet relied on nature for survival, feared her raw power, and found peace, purpose and perspective through our necessary connection to it. Only in recent generations have we humans put more importance on ourselves than on our reliance on nature. The humbleness I feel when I am on a high mountain top or in the vast ocean – where I realize my trivial size, insignificant power, and the relative unimportance of things in my personal/work life that have me worried and stressed – this humbleness simply engulfs anything and everything that feeds my ego.

Adventure. Exploration. Beauty. Peacefulness. Perspective. Connection. Healing. Freedom. Nature. It’s all here.

So there lies the importance and connection that nature and the outdoors represent to me…which brings me to Prince Rupert. In short, I first came to Prince Rupert on my motorcycle (aka. my Freedom Machine) in 2005 for a 10-day round-trip. Following a few surf sessions in Tofino, I rode up Vancouver Island and caught the ferry North from Port Hardy. If you have taken this route, needless to say, you probably live in the North now, too. I had never seen so many miles of raw nature in my life. I was mesmerized. What an amazing, powerful coastline! I spent 3 days in Prince Rupert before continuing my road trip along Highway 16. As I left town, I put an offer on a small war-timer house on a hill overlooking the harbour. A Rupert classic. Calling the Realtor a few days later from a pay phone, the offer had been accepted. Besides buying that motorcycle, purchasing this house was the best decision of my life (yes, I still live in it and love it). The town and the community continue to inspire me… nature is still raw, wild, beautiful, unexplored, and unexploited. I have found what I was seeking in this small north coast town.

So, with this backstory in mind, let me share some of my must-do activities for when you come to Prince Rupert. Of course, getting to most of these locations is most freeing by motorcycle!