Day 15: Lake Louise to Rampart Creek

I met Wilma at the gate to the campsite after a rather cold and slow start.
It got as low as 3 degrees last night! That's a touch chilly.

Peyto Lake

Wilma and I rode up the Icefields Parkway, her telling me the names of all the mountains on the way. The road was steadily climbing, but wasn't anything too strenuous. With all this climbing I was sure to warm up. Pah!

I was still cold when we reached Bow Summit, 35km into the ride, and also the highest point on the road with a height of 2135m.
We rode up to the top parking lot to beat the majority of the crowds, and looked down on a beautifully blue Peyto Lake, and up the valley to Peyto Glacier.

On the way to the summit we passed Hector, Lake, Bow Lake as well as the associated mountains and glaciers. The scenery was (once again) outstanding, every corner held another more spectacular view.
We had lunch in the sun in the parking lot at Bow Summit. How good that sun felt on my still-cold body.

I said goodbye to Wilma as she went back to Lake Louise, I was headed north to Rampart Creek campsite, another 50km up the road.
It was mostly downhill to the campsite, the only slight uphill being at the Saskatchewan River Crossing.
I made the campsite in good time and setup camp.

Bighorn sheep

I noticed that the mozzies had a copy of my travel schedule and had arrived to throw me a surprise party!
I cooked dinner in the cookhouse tonight, away from the little biters, and close to a warm fire.

I saw a couple of mountain goats on the cliffs opposite the campsite, and a few bighorn sheep opposite the campsite, but no other wildlife.
A bear was spotted in the campsite that evening though!

 Distance: 96.8 km
Time: 5:05:10
Height gained/lost: 1055m /-1183m
Calories: 3182

Saskatchewan River crossing