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What started as a simple trip to visit his brother’s newborn in Jasper, morphed into Squamish local, Cameron Dare, planning his first bikepacking trip, where he’ll travel over 800 km, completely unassisted, to raise money for the Sea to Sky Hospice Society.
Dare is hoping to raise $3 000 as part of the 20th annual Hike for Hospice campaign, which started in May.
“Originally, I was just going to have a fairly chill bike ride back. I was going to do it in like six or seven days,” he said. Then he read an article about Meaghan Hackinen setting the women’s record time on the Tour de Divide, the roughly 4,400 kilometre bikepacking race from Banff to New Mexico. “That inspired me because I read her article. And she talked about how she got into bikepacking, that sparked a bit of interest for me.”
Now Dare hopes to complete his own grueling journey with roughly 8800m of elevation in under four days, or he’ll donate an extra $500.
Cam has almost no bikepacking experience. Aside from a couple of childhood trips with his parents on Galiano Island and the Kettle Valley Trail, this will be his first real attempt. He is planning to ride around 200 kilometres a day, on roughly five hours of sleep a night, carrying all his own food, water and gear.
“Just some rough napkin math. I was thinking roughly 14 ish hours a day,” he said of his riding time, adding that he still needs to test how his pace changes once he is carrying a full load.
To top this off, Dare is also coming off a torn ACL and surgery last October, and has been steadily rebuilding his fitness since. “Rehab’s been going very well though,” he said. “Biking on the knee feels great.” He is holding off on rugby and soccer with the Axemen and Garibaldi Athletic for now, but says his physiotherapist is fully behind the ride. “She’s very supportive of this and loves that I chose to do something super ambitious.”
Cam has no personal connection to Sea to Sky Hospice Society. He chose it because he wanted his fundraising to matter locally. “I was mainly looking for a local charity because I thought it would have a bit more of an impact,” he said. “I chose a good organization, the people up there, they’ve been so generous.”
Dare made his fundraising page public only yesterday in an Instagram post, and the response caught him off guard. He already raised $2,200.00 of his goal of $3,000.00 as of time of writing.
“In the last like 12, 15 hours we’ve been getting great support. A lot of friends and family have been donating, and people, even that I graduated from high school back in 2014, I haven’t really talked to them and they’ve thrown out nice little donations. It’s been super supportive and everything. It’s been great.”
Chris Wrightson, the society’s Executive Director, said meeting Dare has been one of the highlights of this year’s campaign. “It was just so cool because he really doesn’t have a strong connection to the hospice,” she said. “It’s really inspiring when someone decides to turn something into good like that.”
Dare’s fundraiser lands as the wider Hike for Hospice campaign has already surpassed its $55,000 goal for the year, something Wrightson credits to the whole community. Capra Running took on a vert challenge, a group of swimmers held a swim-a-thon in Alice Lake, and Wrightson herself completed her own pledge to walk 100 kilometres over the month. “I finished right on the dot, on the line,” she said. “It really made me get out and walk. And I’ve kept walking since, actually, because it’s really good for my health.”
With the funds raised, Wrightson said the society is now turning its attention to its fall programming, including a new format for its Parents in Grief program in Squamish, a book circle, and the memory tree events in November. “We just encourage everyone to take a look,” she said, “in case them or someone that they know could benefit from them.”
As for Dare, he is not thinking too far past the ride itself. When asked what he would say to people following along, he said “Just try new things, set big goals. Get out of your comfort zone, set bigger goals than you think, your friends and family will hopefully support you.”
Dare said he was grateful to everyone who already donated or sent him messages of support. You can donate to Dare’s bikepacking fundraiser here, he sets off on August 7, 2026.
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