Tag: British Columbia

Northern Rockies Tour – Summing Up

Posted on August 18, 2017June 22, 2018 by Rich

How does one sum up this Northern Rockies tour? Difficult, breathtaking (in more ways than one), stunning, magnificent. Words fail. The true highlights for me: Logan Pass, Sunwampta Pass and Columbia Icefields, Bow Lake, Lake Louise, riding through fires, the moose(!). I truly LOVED every bit of the camping – 12 nights in a tent at great campsites. My tent is now rolled up in my garage wondering why it’s not being used. The bike and gear really served me great. Each tour I think I realize this more. For the future, I need a new camp pillow (or maybe

NR09: Crowsnest Pass

Posted on August 11, 2017October 7, 2017 by Rich

I meet Phil and Jack at the continental breakfast this morning and Phil’s twittering about something. He’s gotten Facebook-messaged by the girl that beckoned to us to have a beer at The Bull Run pub 2 days ago. Something about how she wants to hook up with him. Phil investigates and surmises that she is a working girl. Wow. Phil decides the only way she could have gotten his contact information is through the credit card transaction. Jack and I convene this morning to examine our ride plan. The original plan has us riding 15 straight days but we

NR08: The Elk River

Posted on August 10, 2017September 13, 2017 by Rich

A great sleep here by Lake Koocanusa. Chipmunks are buzzing outside our tents in the morning. Breakfast of champions – Starbucks coffee and Pop Tarts. It’s 2.5 miles up to exit the park, but nothing too bad. Jack wonders aloud what the word Ponderosa means. We know it as a type of pine, oh yeah, and that ranch in Bonanza. [I later looked it up – it means “heavy” in Italian, as in strong and powerful.] Out onto Kikomun Newgate Road and we find a not-so-subtle headwind. We plow straight into it, adding in some hills. Maybe 15 mph in the

NR07: Christmas Lights

Posted on August 9, 2017September 24, 2017 by Rich

Today was simply a great day on the bike all day. Snack breakfast in camp, iced coffee from the c-store. Fifteen miles down the road we stop in Skookumchuck at its lone store. A pretty Scandanavian blond all dressed in black sells me 2 candy bars, and we end up playing with a cat out front for a while. We decide to ride 11.5 miles further to Wasa for lunch. Nope. Both restaurants there are closed. The pub there is supposed to open at 11am but the hour comes and goes and no one shows up. A c-store is the

NR06: Columbia River Valley

Posted on August 8, 2017September 11, 2017 by Rich

After settling in last night, adjacent campers arrived who were, you know, the kind of neighbors you pray you don’t get. Nit-wit noisy novice inexperienced. Fussing with every little article, bleating out endless stupid questions and banal answers. “Where did you put the ketchup?” “Didn’t we bring toilet paper?” “How does this table work?” “I can’t find the water.” They complained that Jack’s tent, located well off their setup, possibly encroached their campsite, that their boundary was defined by a tree they arbitrarily selected, so he shouldn’t be there. They played bad music. Quiet hour at this campground didn’t start until

NR05: Smoky Kootenay NP

Posted on August 7, 2017September 12, 2017 by Rich

As planned, up early, and out by 7:15AM. I’m running slowly this morning. I slept well, but once up, I just felt sluggish. Sluggish packing up. Sluggish on the bike. Jack and Phil are soon far ahead of me. No worries. In those situations I just relax, relish where I am and make sure to enjoy the roll. A sign for Numa Falls had me pull over to examine, but the site is closed due to renovation of a bridge. I dilly-dally anyway, taking photos, stretching out the morning. We all knew we’d encounter smoke today and had talked about

NR04: Change of Plans

Posted on August 6, 2017September 10, 2017 by Rich

Awoke about 6AM and connected to the bcdrive website. 93 is still closed but an updated report is due at 6:27AM. Lo and behold when the report was issued, they’d opened up the road on an hour-by-hour basis. Hmmm… Eggs, potatoes, sausage, toast, and coffee at the cafe. Alpine Centre hostel is a very fine place to stay when you’re in town. At breakfast we set our day’s plan: . take the Bow Valley Parkway out-and-back to Banff, as originally planned, but… . take a look at the entrance to 93 at Castle Junction to see if it was open