Familiar roads seen anew from the seat of a bike. 700km, 7 days, plus a day hanging with Gilles at his cabin in Sundre. Only a few drops of rain and lots of tailwinds :)
Escape from the city of now 1.8 million. How did that happen? Was 700,000 in the early 80's. Human overshoot just keeps on rolling....
Watch for deer.....
Ooops....I should have slowed down. 😟Sorry Buddy.
Watch for Stoney reservation horses on the loose too.
The mighty Mt. Fable. Been there, climbed that. (BTCT)
The mighty Mt. Bogart. BTCT
The mighty Devil's Head. BTCT
The mighty Yam. BTCT. Ramon climbed it yesterday for his 6th time. I've been up maybe 10 times? Once up the vertical face. Yikes.
The lovely Heart Mtn. BTCT
The mighty.......BTCT about 5 times.
Pidgeon Mtn. BTCT. Camped at Gap Lake. Was a bit windy and.......
cold.
Yup that's me. Barely cranking any wattage. I like to putter.
The mighty Cascade. BTCT. X3 I think. The new Banff ave?? Free of tourists! As long as you don't mind a garbage truck or two.
The mighty Inglismaldie. BTCT. Once was enuf.
Enuf mtns for a bit. Time for some wildlife.
Or their artistic representations....
This guy looks like he could use a burger and fries.
This guy was huge. Saw a couple of real ones, but didn't get photos in time.
Lake Louise hostel. All to myself.
The Irish must think we Canucks don't know how to make beds from all our wood and that selling us metal is the way to go. Apparently these metal bunks come with the risk of hanging ourselves during a bad nightmare. Sleep tight in the beds for a hostile, I mean hostel environment. I kept my meat hook in my pannier. (Studley: re-write this for me with your unique humour. I tried.)
Love the perks of staying in a hostel :)
The LL hostel is also the Alpine Centre, which hosts a small collection of historical books in their library. Much to my surprise, I found an article in the Canadian Alpine Journal that I had written in 2002.
Great place to chill.
...and enjoy a free porridge with maple syrup in the morning.
Mts. St Piran, Whyte, Niblock and Narao. BTC Those. Reflected in Herbert Lake.
Warming the toes at Mosquito Creek hostel and avoiding a few drops of rain.
Another relic from the past in the small hostel library. Al's original guide book, which I first discovered in the old Banff book and art den in 1990. That was my inspiration for the 6 years (minus a year in Colombia) it took me to complete all 100 pks. The other guide book that influenced me greatly was, "Cycling the Pacific Coast" by Spring/Kirkendall, which I came across in the Banff Library in 1984. Couldn't believe you could bike the nearly 3,000kms from Vancouver to Tijuana in around 2months. I thought something like that would take 2 years!!! Have yet to complete the California section. Kinda got distracted with other countries😂 and over 50,000kms.
Crowsnest Pk North and Centre. BTCT. Bow lake still frozen over in late May.
Observation Pk at Bow summit. BTCT.
Friendly Czech Republic dude who has ridden across Africa, plied me with some drinks. He works on container ships out of Iceland and had a week off to tour the Rockies with a rental car.
The mighty Mt. Chephren. BTCT.
Says who?
Tour bus at Saskatchewan River Crossing. I have not climbed any of these! Mt. Wilson above the bus, and some peaks around Maligne Lake Jasper.
My loop...excluding Red Neck/Deer.
Water makes it's own sauce n'est pas? ....I'll make my own thanks.
Was so hungry I could eat all 4. Only $100 or so.
I'll have the can of beans for $8? Did I really pay that? and not even real Colombian coffee....just that weak BC Columbian type. Enviro fee? But I'm riding a bike!
Flying east with the wind out of Sask River xing. Getting away from those high prices as fast as my wheels will turn.
A pay phone in the middle of nowhere, with a dial tone! But who carries a quarter these days😂Well...good to know I can call a tow truck collect if I get a flat.
Chillin' at Preacher's south campground. Free, rustic camping.
Its gossling time of the year.
Mt. Michener. BTCT....not.
This store had just what I was looking for....
A big, sharp knife to open my can of beans.
Everybody gotta go sometime....
Chamber's creek...
...another free campsite, next to Chamber's creek.
I did not indulge, but now wish I had.
So they say....
My new business venture.
Apparently we have a referendum coming up, sung to a tune by the Clash: "Should I stay or should I go?"
That's more like it. These country folks are willing to trade in their F150 4x4's for bikes :)
Kind gentleman would not take my money for a motel room in Caroline and 'sponcered' me instead :)
I thus I got to watch the hockey game😉
Still rockin' the crocs!
The mighty Alberta foothills.
Who can name this cloud phenomena?
Just like Chinese food; sweet and sour.😆
Full circle. That's the mighty Devil's Head again.
100 years ago!
You know you are in Sundre when....
Wonder which way they will vote on the referendum?
...and this one too.
Meet Gilles Mossiere of Lyon, my French prof at MRC (now MRU) way back in 91. He climbed mtns back then...so we climbed the The Fist and then he blew his knee on a wet floor and retired from scrambling.
The road into his cabin....I'm not 65 yet!
Gilles has been the host of the program 'Transe en Danse' at the U of C radio station for over 30 years.
Cruising through his back 40.
Fine French cuisine. Perogies😂 Yum!
He cut, I carried.
Checking out the Red Deer River.
Gille's soon to be roomates.
Catch him live on CJSW.😉
Morning cuppa....before I set off for home. Proudly sporting the jacket that Lucho in Pasto Colombia made for me :)
Well...are we still buddies? We don't want Canada, but it would seem the Yanks are willing to have us.
Back into the city....1.8 million plus one.
The End.
(Fine art work as seen in Gille's outhouse)
Until the next bike adventure!
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