Day 12 – Lake Louise to Kananaskis County (T.D.: 114km; S.T.: 5h56min)

So maybe I’m getting a bit carried away with this whole blog thing. That last entry was pretty long. I’ll try to keep things concise from here on out. As we enter the prairies, I may not have a choice.

But first, our day of days in the Rocky Mountains. Day 12 was the highlight of the trip so far. So wonderful. My Uncle Ken will be pleased to know that after 11 days in BC, one day in Wild Rose Country blew everything else out of the water. It was that good.

We awoke to blue sky made interesting by dramatic blooms of clouds around the snow-capped mountaintops. Had our usual breakfast of instant oatmeal and got on the Bow Valley Trail, a low-traffic scenic route that parallels the TCH to Banff. It was absolutely beautiful. Fantastic terrain, amazing scenery, and perfect weather. I would recommend it heartily. We had a picnic lunch under the formidable peaks of Castle Mountain, overlooking Bow River to the aptly named Storm Mountain, where dark clouds hovered ominously. Carried on through to Banff, but not before coming across some majestic antlered thing – either a male deer or an elk. It was probably an elk. Either way, it was awesome. Right by the road. A cracking tree scared it off – which is a good thing, because it would have been a bit scary having to ride by it on our bikes. Or maybe I’m just a wimp.

After a second lunch stop in Banff, we were happy to get on a freshly completed paved bike path that runs all the way to Canmore alongside the TCH. If only it ran all the way to Fredericton! Here, we were free to play a game we invented called “Ground Squirrel!”, the rules of which are as follows: 1. Look for ground squirrels, 2. When you see a ground squirrel, yell “Ground Squirrel!”, 3. Whoever yells Ground Squirrel first gets a point, 4. The person with the most points wins. The score is currently 17 to 9 in favour of yours truly.

We had planned to stop in Canmore for the night, but decided, after visiting the Tourist Information Centre there, to press on a bit farther. The ride so far had been most pleasant and rewarding, our legs still felt relatively fresh, the ride would be mostly downhill, we had a considerable tailwind, and the setting sun behind the mountains would make for some more spectacular scenery. All good reasons to press on. So, after a delicious dinner at Craig’s Family Restaurant in Canmore, we did just that. We rode an extra 30 kilometres, the highlight of which was being startled by a big-horned sheep just a few feet away from us on a cliffside, who ran with us for a few seconds before disappearing into the brush. We set up camp near Bow Valley Provincial Park, amidst a stunning western landscape.

Oh, and our odometers clicked off 1000km somewhere in that homestretch. Only 5200 to go. Next stop Calgary.

Stats:

Av. Spd.: 19.1km/h

Mx. Spd.: 54.6km/h

Cumulative Distance: 1008.9km

Having a big-horned sheep startle you as the sun sets behind the Rockies and you just clocked 1000km on your cross-Canada bike tour: Priceless