The day really didn't dawn as this *is* up in the mountains and it was socked in with cloud. Not too cold though. This was my view from the room.
I took a quick tour of downtown Revelstoke - quite quaint!
Then it was off along the Trans Canada Highway. My first big stop would be Golden, then Lake Louise. But first - a coffee break by the road. The sound of the river was quite nice. These scenes of road/river/rail repeat themselves countless times. Some are more spectacular than others - most of the real nice shots have no lookout. There was an old train tunnel still in place (I noticed a few as I traveled along). This train showed up just as I was leaving.
I crossed Roger's Pass just before noon, local time. Still chilly. The crows and marmets ruled the rest area. The crows looked bigger than chickens. A Dad correction - ravens not crows.
Along the way, there were many breathtaking scenes. Again, pictures don't do them justice. Suffice it to say, if feels like you have to look almost straight up to take it all in. This is on either side of the highway around the same spot.
OK, what are these things? I saw two of them at lookouts, they look like drainage ditches but circular. The other one I almost ran into had another ditch coming off at an angle into the trees.
Note: Another Dad update - they are the spots where the howitzers go in the winter time to initiate a controlled avalanche.
I did a quick stop in Golden and, other than the river, not much going on there...
Lots of different passes to ride through. Your neck gets a crick in it from gazing too and fro.
This is the new Park Bridge in Kicking Horse Canyon. The little smudge near the bottom of the cut is a transport truck.
After many more miles, I got to the Lake Louise area. I thought I'd go down to the lake and probably Moraine Lake but skip Lake Louise Village. I did the typical poses - quite busy there and warming up a bit. Note: most of the tourists were in shorts and short-sleeves but I was still working off the chill of the morning.
In hindsight, going to Moraine Lake was a mistake. It was a long 11km getting in and it was a mad house when I got there. Traffic had overflowed out of the parking lot by nearly a km. If they made me park there, I probably would have turned around but since I was on the bike, she let me go find a spot. I took a quick picture, got a postcard or two and left.
I eventually left the vistas of the mountains behind me but not before getting at least one shot of a river alongside the road. This on was a particularly milky turquoise - beautiful.
The mural in Cochrane was a bit of a disappointment. There was just the one mural in the community centre. I thought the artisans would be there working away on their next amazing mural. Instead, there was a girl cleaning a window and a guy carrying tools. http://www.muralmosaic.com/Cochrane.html
But at least I got to meet Chris "Sage" McVean. We had a nice chat in the local saloon/hotel - I had a Kokonee since the real local was on tap and was skunky. Thanks for the beer, Chris! He then escorted me around the southwest corner of Calgary. The menfolk there thank him for escorting me out of the area before anything was tarnished. Thanks, fellow VROCer!
While talking with Chris and examining a map, it became readily apparent that I was running out of time. Chris has some experience with riding south of the border and even with hard riding, it would be tight to get to Chicago by a reasonable time on Sunday. So I continued to motor south, going through Lethbridge (and yes, there is a big bridge in Lethbridge - look it up). I crossed the border around 8:30 PM and decided to head for Shelby as it was the first place with any accommodations. Unfortunately, there was no room at the inn and I had to carry on to Conrad.
Shelby - Conrad? Hmmm....
The sunset lasted forever way out here in the open. I see where "Big Sky" came from.
I chatted with some parents from up Alberta way who were in town for a baseball tournament. I then grabbed a coffee and sampled my Grand Marnier which I had picked up at the Duty Free (no beer!?) Caught up a bit on blogs and had a nap.
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