Day 17: Beauty Creek to Jasper

I wanted to be out of the door before the Saski crew this morning as they only had a short day. My day was 30km longer.

It was rather nippy and grey this morning with low cloud, all my winter gear was having a hard time keeping me warm on the bike.

I kept passing a Canada Parks van on the road, the occupants doing work on all of the road signs that were not quite standing up straight. On one meeting they warned me that a grizzly bear had been spotted a little way up the road.
I kept me eyes peeled but only saw a few deer.

Johno and me

I pulled in at the Sunwapta Falls for a hot chocolate and bite to eat; I still wasn't warm 90 minutes into my ride.
There was another touring bike parked outside, the rider inside having a coffee.
We got chatting and I soon realised he had an English accent with a twist, much like mine.
I asked him where he was from, he said South Africa.
I asked where in South Africa, he said Cape Town.
"Where in Cape Town?"
"Fish Hoek" he replied.
"Ha, me too."

Small world eh?

Athabasca

Dag's tailfeathers

He nearly choked as he jumped up and hugged me, before quickly running out to his bike and fetching some biltong his dad had posted him from Florida.
We chatted for ages before heading off to look at the Falls. His name is Johno and is quite a character.
After viewing the Falls I decided it was my turn to share with him. I was carrying 2 spare South African flags with me, so gave him one to attach to his bike.
He was over the moon and attached it to his bike there and then!

We parted ways, him going south to Lake Louise, me heading north to Jasper.

I had a tailwind blowing me downhill today, I was flying. I passed Dag, from Norway, coming the other way, moaning about the headwind. Ha!

Athabasca

Athabasca Falls were next on the list of places to stop today. They are quite impressive, a calm river carving its way through some pretty hard bedrock, potholes and canyons evidence of a strong river.

Rolling into Jasper that evening, the Canada Parks van drove past me, hooted and waved, then drove on. Nice of them!

The weather wasn't improving, so I checked into the local hostel in Jasper for 2 nights. Tomorrow would be a day spent exploring the town, weather permitting.

Distance: 91.4 km
Time: 3:58:06
Height gained/lost: 469m /-1000m
Calories: 2812