Canadian Chapter – Days 0 to 7

What an adventure! Hard to believe that only 7 days passed by, so many things happened and so many places we saw already.

The flight and transfer to Banff went smoothly, the bikes arrived in one piece and although Calgary welcomed us with clouds and rain (back to Scotland we thought?) we have been really lucky with the weather so far, probably too lucky.

We spent the first 2 days exploring Banff and its surroundings. First day was a trek up the Sleeping Buffalo viewpoint, and the day after a cycle up the Miniwanka Lake and then a trek there around. It’s incredible how wildlife is everywhere. On a wood track close to Banff we saw a huge Mule Deer, deers are everywhere, and cycling up the lake 3 wild goats were eating by the road, I think we also pissed them off… Red squirrels, foxes and….bears!

We knew about bears and were prepared with all the kit (bell, spray, whistle) but we never really thought we would meet one. Then on this narrow path on our trek around Miniwanka Lake, round the corner was this black bear 7m from us. Paul prepared the spray, we started talking to him in a firm tone while turning back and slowly walked back "Hi bear, we are humans and not tasty" "is he still there?" "damit!" When I checked if he was following us, he was! Again and again. He was not aggressive, probably just curious, but he scared the hell out of us! We warned the people we met and the path got close. We were told bears usually leave you alone but this one was a ‘naughty’ one. Anyway, we were quite happy to have spotted one!

Pre bear

After bear

Finally the big day arrived, we had a huge breakfast, prepared all the stuff (we got around 7kg of food on top of the usual gears) and got ready to start day 1 of the Great Divide route. After the picture at the starting point by the Hotel / Castle out of Banff, we entered the wood. The first 10k were a dream. Good terrain, pleasant, sunny, but after that it was a nightmare. The terrain got rougher, and steeper, and rougher and steeper for the next 10 km. Then it joined what’s a main road. This was Saturday and the road was busy with pickups and RVs, which means tons of dust on us. I found the gravel road difficult too, especially downhill with the dust it was easy to lose balance. That said, the landscapes made up for all the dust. We were surrounded all the time by majestic mountains which filled us with joy. After 70+km we reached the Boltone Creek Trading Post, to found out all the campsites were full. We wild camped close by and tried out the wood stove, the noodles never tasted so gnammy.

Finally starting the Great Divide - km 0

...lovely gravel

We spent the next 2 days trekking around the area, again, stunning landscapes and amazing weather. Everybody told us this is unluckily for this time of year as there should still be snow, we just hope it will last!

Wood stove sucks, we would later get rid of it and get a gas one

Paul using the lake to find the hole in his mat (he found it)

In the campsite we were well looked after by Butch who came regularly to take away and return our food. A few grizzlies were spotted around and in the campsite so that we had to be extremely cautious. We never saw them though, just a lot of bear shit but that was it. Quite disappointed we got ready for cycling day 2.

Now, this was the best cycling day of my life! The first 8k were hard and we had some pushing to do but it was all worth it. We arrived on top of the first continental Pass, the Elk Pass, all in the wood and with kind of decent track conditions too. The following 70km were a long descent (more like an up and down with more down than up) until Elkford. No cars, no people, only the 2 of us in the wood and in the middle of the mountains.

Elk Pass

An elk welcomed us to Elkford

In Elkford we spoiled ourselves staying at the Hi Rock Motel, very nice and looked after, went for dinner in a pizza place to recover energy.

This morning was an easy 36km ride on tarmac to Sparwood, which boasts the biggest truck in the world (true enough, it’s huge – here we find everything bigger, even distances seems bigger!) and enjoining a sunny lunch break. 

We are heading to Fernie now, and tomorrow we will leave Canada. Canada, we love you!!!

The route is much harder than what we expected, but we are loving it, and we can’t wait to get closer to the Glacier National Park…which will be in the next chapter!