Day 14: Lake Louise

It is freezing cold this morning. I have been awake since 0530.
More clothes applied to body in attempt to warm up.
Did the trick. Slept some more.

Wilma had arranged to fetch me at 0830 this morning. We were going for a hike above Lake Louise and had to be out early to beat the crowds.
I met her at the gate at 0830 sharp and we headed up to the parking area at the lake.

"We'll be out for about 6 hours, that ok?"

Sure. A change of muscle groups would do my legs good.

We headed up past the hotel and towards the Beehive, a walk/climb that passed a tea-house and a few (frozen) lakes. It was cold, but the climb up soon had us puffing and working up a little sweat. My lungs seemed to be OK from all the biking and my legs soon took to the new motion.

Past Mirror Lake, which was still partially frozen, and up the zig-zag path that would take us up the Beehive and to the shelter at the top. The path was still quiet with only a few people out. As a result there was no noise and the silence, apart from our breathing, was beautiful.

The clouds were still low on the mountains, but were slowly lifting, giving us a glimpse of the valley below. Following a contour around and down the side of the Beehive, we entered the valley behind the lake and headed up towards the Valley of Six Glaciers, where there was another tea-house.

Avalanches had obscured some of the paths, so a little creative walking was employed to get through these sections. The lateral and terminal moraines were massive, just looking up the valley made me feel so small and insignificant. Glaciers hung from rock lips high above us, seemingly ready to tumble down on us at any moment. The weather cooled the higher we went, and once at the upper tea house, it had closed in and was trying really hard to snow. It did rain though. Big, wet rain.

A gunshot-like sound echoed down the valley as a plume of snow dropped from above, the avalanche hanging in the air for what seemed like ages.
And that was a small one!

A quick bite to eat and we headed back down the trail. It would be trickier going down, the compacted snow a nightmare to walk on. A few slips and slides later we reached solid ground, and warmer air. It was balmy down here in the valley. Outer layers were stripped off as the sun burst through the clouds. We managed to get a few great photos of us on the snow and slopes.

Before heading back to the car and escaping the crowds we took a quick detour through the Fairmont Chateau, to the lobby, admiring the interior.

We popped in at Moraine Lake on the way back to the campsite, but the cloud cover meant that is wasn't as blue as it could have been.

Oh well, I was still a rather grand day out.

Wilma expressed an interest in riding to Bow Summit and Peyto Lake with me tomorrow. It would be nice to have some company on the road, so said yes.

See you in the morning.

Day 11: Revelstoke to Rogers Pass (to Golden)

It is very seldom that I have a truly bad day on the bike. Today should have been a beautiful, and easy day, but instead turned into a rather bad day.

Being a thorough person when it comes to route planning and research, I knew there was to be 'a little bit' of road going uphill today. The road out of Revelstoke is uphill and gentle, nothing too severe, and when surrounded by spectacular mountains, you hardly notice the gradient.

The road gently works it's way up a valley towards Rogers Pass, following Highway 1, passing Canyon Hot Springs and entering the Glacier National Park.

I stopped at a beautiful waterfall for lunch, where Curtis, a guy going to Vancouver Island to paddle, was also stopped. He warned me of a grizzly bear mother and cub a little further up the road. I thanked him and we parted ways.

The bears were seen about 10-15 km up the road from where I was, so I kept a beady eye out in case they were still in the area.
(Un)fortunately I didn't see them and proceeded up Rogers Pass, stopping at the top to admire the spectacular views.

From my planning, the campsite was right here, so I only had a few more k's to go before the day was over.
I hadn't really felt the climbing today, legs are feeling stronger, but my bum is still sore from the saddle. Knowing I only had a little way to go, I spent a lot longer at the top of the Pass, enjoying the sunshine and chatting to other tourists who had seen me cycle up the Pass.

Time to move, Kevin. Go and setup camp!

Rogers Pass

The assistant at the information centre told me that the Illecillewaet campsite was in fact closed, and the next available option was in Golden, 75km away!
I had already done 70km and had mentally switched off for the day, now I had to reengage and do another days riding in an afternoon!

Guns used for avalanche control

My head dropped!

Oh well, there is no point in hanging about then. I jumped on the bike after refilling all my water bottles, filled my cheeks with Clif Bar (peanut butter flavour) and sped off down the mountain.
Snow sheds, looming mountains, speeding trucks all whizzed by me as I made my way down the road.

Snow shed

I could feel that fatigue setting in. Roads that appeared to be sloping downhill weren't. If I stopped pedalling I would slow down. Why wasn't I speeding up?
Was Gravity broken or a Gravity bill not been paid?
Then a sneaky little headwind arrived and slowed me down even more. Drat!

Happy at the top

Finding a downhill that was actually going downhill, I managed to gain some momentum heading towards Donald, but that was short-lived.
I coasted into a rest area and devoured a can of peaches in syrup, they should have been for dessert tonight. Too bad, I needed the fuel.
To add to the misery, the mozzies had ascended from hell and were eating me alive! I couldn't stay still for a second, and they were biting me through my cycling gear! Vicious little guys they are!

Donald soon went by, not at a fast pace, but it went by, I was in the Golden valley and only had about 25km to go. Easy.

Brain: "You've got this Kev!"
Kevin: Shhh...

I was trying to distract myself and not think about how far I still had to go. I was frustrated and getting cranky. The false flats had me shouting at them!
Then the horizon turned black!

Not happy

Rain. Lots of it.

I got caught in a torrential rain shower 13km outside Golden and was instantly soaked and, with the accompanying head wind, was getting cold too!
I was having a nightmare on the bike; my Garmin was running out of power as fast as me, I just wanted to stop and hitch a ride into town.
At a rest area I tried to flag down a car for a ride. Nobody stopped. Nobody even slowed down!

"I am done. Why am I doing this?"

Ten minutes later, with my little tantrum over, I got back on the bike and pedalled slowly towards Golden. With each pedal stroke it got closer, and soon after 9 pm I rolled into town, soaked and cold.
I checked into the Municipal campsite and went to my allocated site to setup.

Mozzie-free dinner

It was still raining and the Mosquitoes from Hell had apparently checked into the same site as me. They were eating me alive as I frantically tried to get my tent setup, but the ground had joined the torment as well. The soil must have been made of concrete, with an extra layer of reinforcement about 5cm underneath that!
A few bent tent pegs later, the tent was up with my bags inside.

Shower time.
No hot water! Really?

I finally got to bed at midnight, cold and wet and grumpy, but fed. I had managed to outsmart the mozzies and cooked dinner at the Reception building, mozzie free...

Tomorrow will be a rest day. My body insisted, I didn't argue.

Distance: 144 km (Garmin went flat, probably a 150 km day)
Time: 7:48:44
Height gained/lost: 1799m /-1536m
Calories: 4891

The Storm