We were met off the plane at Calgary airport by a distant Artindale, Doug, who has spent a great deal of time in the National Parks of the Rockies acting as a guide to tourists and photographing the wildlife.
Doug kidly acted as our private tour guide for a day and a half in the Banff and Jasper National Parks. Highlights included:-
- close-up encounters with 'round-horned' Mountain sheep and elks with huge antlers
- walking on the toe of the Athabasca glacier
- the spectacular views of the mountains
- waterfalls galore
- a night at the 'Mosquito Creek Hilton' as Doug called it. i.e. a night in sleeping bags in the back of Doug's pick up truck in the Mosquito Creek campground!!
Our thanks to Doug. We managed to cram in sights in parts of the country that otherwise we wouldn't have been able to do. He dropped us off In Lake Louise and, after about two weeks without cycling, we were keen to get back on the bikes and continue the tour!
THE ROCKIES: Part 2 - Lake Louise to Golden
Our first couple of days cycling the Rockies were pretty simple. We went up to the Lake itself which was a pretty stunning sight. We also visited the vast ski resort - minus the snow, but with the electric fences to keep out the bears!! We also bumped into an organised cycling tour who kindly asked us if we wished to join them for an afternoon side trip to the Takakkaw Falls (second highest waterfalls in Canada). It was good to talk 'bikes' to 'others in the know'!!
Our first serious hills were encountered on the trip from Field to Golden:
Extract from CB Diary:
" the day started out OK - flat roads, wide paved shoulder(i.e hard shoulder as we would know it) cold but dry. There was an excellent downhill coming out of Field - I got up to 52km/hr. The scenery was magnificent, I felt like I was in a movie and was waiting on Indians to jump out of the bushes!! The paved shoulder got progressively narrower, the roads hillier and it started raining. At one point we had such a huge hill to climb, in the rain - I could hardly see and had to stop three times. Oh, I forgot to mention the wind, it was against us. We came down a long, narrow winding hill ending up on a bridge through a valley. Half way across the bridge, the wind was so strong we couldn't pedal at all and had to stop. A huge lorry was behind me waiting to get past and a trail of traffic behind him. It was even difficult pushing the bike the few yards to the end of the bridge!!"
Some of Dave's thoughts on this days' cycling:
- don't know which was worst - the uphill sections where we encountered road works, sharp bends, bridges where the shoulder disappeared, or the downhills which were steep and the road was very wet and the wind blew you all over the place!
- at various points along the way the valleys got very steep. 300 ft. drops on one side, vertical cliffs on the other. (Being scared of heights, cycling close to the road edge at one of these drops wasn't my idea of fun! )
- there was constant heavy lorry traffic passing close by - they create a huge draught making the bike wobble about. Close to the steep edges or on the bridges..........!!!!!!
Other thoughts:
- relief: when there was nothing in the rear view mirror!
- pleasure: when the road levelled out and a wide paved section re-appeared
- horror: on the steep downhill, where the shoulder ran out and the rain and wind were viscious (Somehow, Caroline appeared to enjoy these bits!!)
- disappointment: no time for wildlife spotting (apart from dodging the 'roadkill')
- achievement: having arrived safely(!) in Golden 35 miles later