Golden to Calgary

We woke up late in Golden and left by 1 pm (which is very late), but it was a nice day. Normally we are up by 9 or 10 and out before 11, but it still varies a lot. Everyone else we've run into leaves much earlier 8 or 9 am. We are lazy, but we still get there. The path through Kicking Horse Pass feels much more like a pass since it is narrow and winding. On one side is cliff and on the other canyon with a muddy river running far below. We ran into a deer quietly standing beside the road. Very exciting as it didn't move much, but soon we noticed that one of its back legs was broken, so it couldn't move. Not so exciting. No cellphone coverage for Mike or Pat so we couldn't call the humane society anywhere. It was still extremely hot and we were progressing very slowly through the shallow climbs. We saw some white water rafters deep below in the river when we stopped for lunch. Eventually we made it to Field, the next decent sized town with an info centre. Once you get into Field, you have ascended or descended into a valley, I don't know how it works on the pass but you are beside the river. Here's some scenic shots.

Field in all its glory

At this point we had entered Yoho National Park. We bugged the people at the info centre for a bit, then decided to find a campsite as it was 7 pm. It was late enough that we didn't want to push it, even though we had only done 60 km for the day. We stopped at the Monarch Campground, just 3 km up the road from Field. Quiet little spot, no registration desk, self pay. We hadn't had an early day in awhile so it was nice to be able to read and chill. I had a nice spill along the way that added to the gashes on my left foot to be seen later. We ran into a French girl hitchiking across Canada. We slept among the mountains.


Next day we began the final ascent of Kicking Horse Pass, 15 km away. Similiar to the Rogers Pass encounter, but a much further early trek. The climb wasn't too bad. All of Kicking Horse is mostly a gentle incline, as opposed to a few brutal hills. We passed by lake O'Hara and the top of the pass. This one was much less spectacular, with no signs saying you were at the summit. At this point we also crossed into Alberta, so we stopped for shots with the sign.

From then it was all downhill... technically all the way to Ontario. No sharp decent like in Roger's Pass, but you slowly lose elevation as you descend into the flat part of Alberta. We made it to Lake Louise for lunch. Pricey town, but scenic. We wanted to keep moving to make it to Banff for Canada Day business so we didn't have a chance to check out the hotel on the lake. But we did chat to some recreational cyclists going from Canmore to Lake Louise and back. They seemed pretty pro. We took the less travelled Bow Valley parkway to get to Banff, not much traffic. The road is nestled tightly in between treelines, so it wasn't as open, but still a nice ride, especially with the sparse traffic. We got some good racing in. We stopped to view Storm mountain for another break. There we ran into an older cyclist who we met in Golden. He was also carrying a huge trailer like Mike so he found the climbs tough. That's one thing we noticed, panniers are much more suitably to climbing. The trailer is more convenient, especially if you have a racing bike (which Mike does), but also a bit pricey. We made it into Banff and bought groceries just in time to see part of the parade. Our campsite was all uphill, and farther away than expected, but we ran into Derek again there. He had some troubles with his bike, otherwise he would have been much further ahead of us. Spectacular dinner that night, pork chops, salad, soup. Full multi-course meal. Also beer, tried the local-ish Grasshopper from the Big Rock brewery in Calgary. Also tried bow valley beer, the local bottom of the barrel, it wasn't that bad, much better than lucky. Eventually we took a bus and made it out to Banff from our site for the fireworks. They were fireworks. We met up with Derek at this point and followed the receding crowds to a local drink spot. The local irish pub was empty, had a few drinks, left to find a more exciting place. Got to the Rose and Crown, more entertaining. Much later, around 2 am we walked for an hour and a half to get home, it was a bitch.

Next day we explored Banff for a bit. I checked out the Whyte Museum which had an exhibition with some Group of Seven art. It was mainly artists who tought out west, and not focused on the Group of Seven, but still very relaxing. After that, quickly went to see the Banff Springs hotel which is pretty sick. Looks like a castle. Then randezvoued with Mike and Pat. The plan was to go to Canmore and stick it out for a day there, but Mike wanted to meet up with some people in Calgary. Had a big arguement, couldn't decide what to do, so I downgraded to just spending a few hours in Canmore and not climbing the local peek so we could push a bit further for the day. So we did the short ride to Canmore, bought some food there and got on much better from the compromise.

We began by going down the mainstreet of Calgary, stopped at the fudge shop where my sister worked, bought a few postcards. Then we sampled some beer at the local Grizzley Paw Brewery. Spent a good bit of time relaxing to some music there. Beer was pretty good, they had a interesting raspberry beer. We then purchased memorabiliar in the form of stickers from the brewery. They had a luring buy 3 get one free deal that Mike and I couldn't resist. Along the way we've taken to buying stickers and patches everywhere, Mike and Pat much more hardcore than me. I have just bought 2 patches so far that I liked, those two buy most of what they find that has the name of a place we've been to. It's a good side hobby, they're bikes are well stickered already. I've sewn my two patches on, one on my backpack, one over the ugly MEC logo on my pannier. My goal is to buy a few more to at least be able to cover all the MEC logos on my panniers. Anyways, after that we attempted to find the elusive chocolate factory in the industrial area of town to get cheap sweets, but it was closed. Bastards. So we kept going down highway 1a, the less busy, more scenic alternative to the main highway. This took us through the booming gas station and convenience store that is Exshaw. We stopped just outside of town where we found a spot to pull off the road out of sight and backcountry camp. Lots of mosquitoes so we ate quickly and retreated to tents. Nice night out, late sunset as we had just crossed the border.

Next day we were up and off toward Calgary. We joined up with the main highway again and made our way down. Stopped at Olympic Park, which is a mountain biking spot in the summer. Lots of Stampede ads everywhere. Talked to my friend from Explore program Mark with whom we were to stay in Calgary. Everything was set, we biked into town via the scenic river route, then down Kensingto to Mark's place. Good times, went out for food at a local pub. Pat went to his cousins, Mike met up with friends of his own, so Mark and I wandered downtown. We were lured into the movie theatre to watch Mongol, a sweet asian produciton about Genghis Kahn. Very epic movie, It satisfied my need for ridiculousness. Went back home via Subway, where we saw some mean looking cops brutalize a local punk for swearing. Police brutality at its finest. Got home, Mark went with his roommate to pick up Lisa who had flowin in that night.