Day 14, Monday, July 30, 2012, Pincher Creek to Waterton Village, Waterton National Park, AB

Day 14, Monday, July 30, 2012, Pincher Creek to Waterton Village, Waterton National Park, AB

Pictures below taken looking back at Pincher Creek.

Pincher Creek in the foreground.

 Good night's sleep. Up and ready to go. Breakfast deal: $7 Canadian got you 2 pancakes of an acceptable size, 2 bacon, 2 sausage and 2 eggs over medium. One of the cheapest breakfasts we have gotten so far.

The day was bright and sunny. I wore no arm warmers, no leg warmers, or vest. 

The ride to Waterton was an up and down course. We crossed many creek drainages requiring a descent to the creek and an up out of the creek.    

 

Last looks at the Alberta high prairie. 

Waterton National Park straight ahead between the break in the mountain ranges.

A little over half-way we stopped at Twin Butte Country Store and Restaurant. Their menu was primarily Mexican, somethingI thought was unique being out in the middle of high prairie Alberta nowhere. 

The ride from Twin Butte was a bit more of the same, with our denizens of the prairies thrown in for good measure. Mike and Frank went searching for the White Buffalo and Mike says they saw it. : > ) I have no documentation of such a sighting though as one can see below.

 

No white buffaloe.

The three of us arrived in Waterton National Park in time to see the other four ride off toward town on the other side of the park payment station. We queued up behind the cars and RVs to wait our turn when we were pulled out of line by a young lady who believed we had been paid for by the first group of cyclists. She doubled checked and was confirmed in her belief. I spied the bike trail as soon as we cleared the payment station and directed Mike and Frank to follow me. The bike trail turned out to be one of the more challenging routes with some steep pitches to horse our bikes up. They were short pitches but well over 15% on some of the two or three we attempted. I looked back in my rear view mirror and saw Mike and Frank conferring. The next thing I knew Mike is riding by me on the road. I could see another dip and climb coming up soon. I looked back on the road and could see Frank but no cars so crossed the grassy median separating the bike path from the highway to be between Mike and Frank. It was five miles from the junction with Highway 6 and the road to Waterton and none of the highway short climbs were anywhere as steep as the bike path climbs. The bike path was not designed by a cyclist. That's my opinion and I'm sticking to it.

Our camp site was on the far side of town. they only allowed 2 tents per campsite so we paid for 3 reserving a fourth in case Mike decided to do camping instead of moteling. Yes, folks, we really were going to camp, i.e. sleep in sleeping bags inside our tents. No TV, no wifi, no bathrooms or showers a few steps away. We were really roughing it. : > )

I elected to forgo a shower along with the rest to find some lunch and explore the town. The place we chose had food and wifi, but seemed to me to be on the spendy side. I chose to eat two cookies, washed down with lemon tea. I drank two more cups of the lemon tree obviously being more thirsty than hungry. The wifi signal was weak at this establishment and I was feeling rather languorous. 

The rest of the gang took off to explore the town on foot. I still had some ice tea to finish and was thinking about finishing this blog entry, but it was beginning to feel hot in the restaurant and my gumption for writing was not very strong.

I got on the bike and rode around the block to the other main street. Several of the gang had found an ice cream shoppe and had queued up; this was obviously a popular place on a hot day in Waterton.  I found a place to sit and soon found myself wanting to fall asleep. I imagined finding a shaded place down by the lake front and laying down to take a nap. When the others had finished their ice cream and were going to go back to the restaurant where they had left their bikes, I decided to pursue my dream. I found a narrow asphalt path paralleling the lake front. I pedaled along until I found a shaded spot of grass. Immediately I recognized the spot as being my dream. I dismounted the Rex, putting it on its kickstand, and lay down. I didn't sleep but the cool breeze off the lake did wonders for my disposition. All the images below were taken from my resting place.

 

 

 

After sufficient cooling I rode the Rex back to camp. The campsite was totally exposed to the sun and my tent was broiling. The closest shower, Mike had scouted the locations of all the shower possibilities, was a single being used by Bob at the time. I found some shade and waited my turn. The Cetafil bar soap I use for my face had begun to melt being inside the tent during the time I was away. It worked anyway and I finished the shower refreshed.

Herb and I gathered dirty clothes together for a laundry run and off we went to wash clothes. We met the others for dinner after the washing had finished and the hang dry had been separated out and the clothes for the dryer were placed in it and sufficient quarters had been fed into the machine.    

Dinner was at Zum's who were famous for their deep fried chicken. Surely you have heard of it! (Mike W.: a note for your future deep fried chicken, to copy the Zum recipe add more pepper to your coating.) It was a spicy outside coating and very, very, crispy, one could say crunchy, even. Their wild berry pie was very good and appeared homemade.

Back at camp the temperature had dropped very nicely and the tent was quite comfortable. We did have to chase the flies off the space between the fly and the tent just because we didn't want to deal with them in the morning when the sun hit the tent. I read for a while then slept solidly. I got up for a pee break just before the sun came up over the mountains.  The full moon had already set. When I crawled back into the sleeping bag the next thing I remember was awaking at 8 AM because it was hot in the tent. 

Stats: T= 3:03, Mx= 36.8, Av= 11.7, El Gain= 1741, Max Alt= 4536, ODO= 3578, D= 35.9.

Day 13, July 29, 2012, Coleman, AB to Pincher Creek, AB

Day 13, July 29, 2012, Coleman, AB to Pincher Creek, AB

I tried to sleep in this morning having fallen asleep around 2 AM. The bar just below us had some people playing with the instruments. They had the electronic drum set and bass turned up LOUD. It started around 11. We were able to watch the Olympics until 11:30. Once we turned the TV off the bass was pretty dominant. It vibrated my bed pretty good. Somehow I was able to fall asleep, because I awoke when my text message signal was going off. My son, Jaxom, was out at Mehama and wanted to know where some stuff was. I texted back with an answer, but intuited he would probably text me back, so lay there waiting. I think I dozed off again, because I heard it go off and thought I could just leave it then remembered it would go off again and people may wake up. I had forgotten both Frank and Mike had ear plugs due to the ongoing loud music from below. Now I was awake and dinner wanted to come back up so I grabbed the iPad and played solitaire until I thought the stomach was settled. I fell asleep quickly but Mike was up early as is his want. Frank followed shortly and the rustling around was enough to keep me from passing out, although I badly wanted to. Mike tried to get up and going, but I reminded him nothing could happen until 8 AM. The person who could unlock the bikes wouldn't arrive until 8 and Chris' Restaurant would not open until 8. After Mike and Frank had trundled off with their panniers and Frank returned for the room key to see if one of the keys would open the door to the bikes, I made myself get up.

By the time I arrived down stairs with my panniers, Frank was just loading his bike. The person with the correct key had arrived and unlocked the door. When I went down to retrieve the Rex all our bikes were still down there. Frank and I parked our loaded bikes in front of Chris.' We were chastised by Amanda for being the sleepy heads, although Frank really didn't fit the description, he was just more determined to get his bike out of storage.

Both of us, Frank and I, went for 2 pancakes with eggs or ham. We were warned vociferously about the size of the pancakes and urged to get just 1. Not just Amanda warned us, but Mike and Geno too who had learned about the size of the pancakes last night at dinner by a couple locals. We stuck to our guns and ended up being able to only eat one apiece.

Where we stayed in Coleman.

We left Coleman in two groups. One group went to check out a coffee house. The other group rode out on the local scenic route to connect with the 3 and head out for Pincher Creek. 

 

Looking back at Coleman and the mountains towering over the Crowsnest.

 

From the same view point above.

 

Each picture has moved of the Rockies has moved south. They are probably the Flathead Range.

First thing I noticed was how tightly grouped the several small communities were. We no sooner left Coleman than we were riding by Blairmore, then Frank, quickly followed by Bellevue. All 4 of these towns are part of the Crowsnest Pass.

Frank has some interesting history. Named for the Montana man who financed the local Gebo coal mine. Shortly after the mine opened they experienced a massive land slide. The local name for the mountain is Turtle Mountain, "The Mountain Who Moves Slowly." The Indians would not camp near it.

 

Turtle Mountain with the upper slide area on the left.

 

Close-up of the upper portion of the Frank Slide.

I was hoping this could be read.

 

Looking south at the mass, but this doesn't show effectively how big the slide was.

 

Looking back at the slide mass.

Not very far down the road was our turn off the 3 onto the 507 or Lee's Lake Road. A much more lightly traveled road. It rolled up and down and the picture below was after one of the roll ups displaying a vista of the high Alberta plains.

Day 12, July 29, 2012, Coleman, AB to Pincher Creek, AB 

The Rockies in the background.

Our road made a turn a sharp turn toward the east at a junction with a road to a place called Beaver Mines. Several campgrounds and lakes were on our road and the road to Beaver Mines. Sunday traffic home intensified and the road was not so lightly traveled anymore. 

Geno needed an A&W root beer float fix, so lunch was at the A&W located on the edge of Pincher Creek. We located a motel from the A&W. Bob and I went to the WalMart close by. The others headed into town. We are now in our rooms at the Parkway Motel in Pincher Creek. I am, of course, writing this. Mike has just finished napping. The Olympics are on the telly.

Stats: D= 34.2, T= 2:56, Av= 11.6, El Gain= 1282, ODO= 3542

Day 12, Saturday, July 28, 2012, Fernie to Coleman

Day 12, Saturday, July 28, 2012, Fernie to Coleman

The hostel provided the batter and you could cook your own pancakes for breakfast. I was the last one up and therefore the last to breakfast. I was attempting to get more shut eye, but with everyone else in the room stirring around it was difficult to fall back asleep.

Some of the other folks began to take an interest in the big screen TV. Why? The Olympic road race was being broadcast. I went in to watch. A little later Herb comes in and says 'let's go, guys.' I wondered what the rush was. It turned out they all wanted to go watch the start of the mountain bike race time trial. I opted to sit, drink my second cup of coffee swill, sweetened, of course, and watch the road race. I got to see the crash taking out Cancellera and others, then Vinokurov's move and tactics to set up his gold medal win. It seemed a nice way to cap an illustrious career.

I left the hostel and hit the road after the road race ended. I thought the others might be ahead of me or they could still be behind. I texted Herb to let him know. 

The issue for me was whether my butt would be OK or I would be riding in discomfort for approximately 37-39 miles. Our first stop was Sparwood, about 17-19 miles down the road. Still riding the 3, so there was lots of traffic. Bob called me when they were leaving Fernie wondering where I was. We agreed to meet in Sparwood. 

I pulled into Sparwood taking the first exit to a frontage road looking for a restaurant. What I saw were lots of industrial stores. Primarily dealing in hydraulics and related items. Approximately a mile along this frontage road of very similar businesses. 

No eateries until the road turned back to the 3 when I spotted a restaurant. I pulled in circling the parking lot when I saw a young lady walking around as if she were waiting. I asked if she was waiting to go in. She was, but she was starting her first day of work. She has just moved to Sparwood from a small town just over the border from Colville, Washington.   She didn't know anyone here and as stated had just been hired to work at this restaurant. Her boss showed up to begin training. I waited. Geno showed up. The boss came out to explain on Saturdays the restaurant does not open until noon instead of 11. She sent us off to A&W.

Outside the A&W was the picture below.

The boys gather in front of the 'World's Largest Truck."

Our next stop was Coleman but on the way I encountered these pictures below which in turn set off the song in my head.

Daddy won't you take me

back to Mulenberg County?

Down by the Green River

Where Paradise lay.

  

I'm sorry my son 

but you're too late in askin.'

Mr. Peabody's coal train

Done hauled it away.

 

We summited at Crows Nest Pass. My altimeter was within 7 feet of agreeing with the maps elevation of the pass.

From the pass we were treated to a strong tailwind and a fast descent to Coleman.

I elected to take the first exit into old Coleman. I asked a couple people where I might find a restaurant and the second person was able to give me specific directions to Chris' restaurant. On the way there I came to an intersection giving me a good view of the main highway.  Just as I arrived at the intersection Bob whizzed by. I yelled, but I don't think he heard me (later confirmed by Bob he did not). Herb rolled by a minute or so later and he saw me waving. Then Jay, followed by Mike, then Geno, then Frank. Shortly thereafter Bob returned to the group. They were all able to quickly find their way down to me. Then we began the search. Geno went one way, Mike and I went another. Herb and the rest stopped at a hotel to check on lodging. Mike and I found Chris.' I went in to secure a table for 7. Mike rounded up the others only a block away at the hotel.   

We elected to have a snack, banana cream pie for several of us, and I went for chocolate cream pie and a chocolate milkshake. No regrets and the dinner menu was affordable and plenty to choose from.  We told them we would be back for dinner.

Herb had discovered the hotel was set up like a hostel and the rooms were cheap. We opted to stay there for the night. Wifi is spotty this evening for an unapparent reason so I will not be able to post my blogs this eve.

Dinner has come and gone. We are stuffed and looking forward to a good night's rest and breakfast at Chris'.

Did I mention we had a very cute, attractive, young lady, named Amanda for our waitress? Not only was she easy on the eyes, but she was a very competent waitress. She promised she would be working tomorrow morning at 8 AM. Not her normal shift, but her boss, Chris, is laid up after a heart attack/stroke.

Stats: D= 40.7, T= 3:30, Max= 37.7, Av= 11.6, El Gain= 1721, Max Alt= 4466, ODO= 3508, 

Day 11, Friday, July 27, 2012, Fort Steele to Fernie, BC

Day 11, Friday, July 27, 2012, Fort Steele to Fernie, BC 

My day started with a "murmph." I just want a good nights sleep. There was no restaurant to get a good breakfast and a good cup of coffee. Instead the camp store opened at 7 serving coffee and other goodies. I had purchased the night before 2 cinnamon rolls. I poured myself a cup of their 'gourmet' coffee, adding cream and sugar to make it palatable. The cinnamon rolls disappeared in good order and eventually so did the coffee.  

The lady behind the counter told us about the alternative route starting right in front of the store. It turned out to be the route recommended by Adventure Cycling Association. Quiet low traveled and very pretty. A few miles out of town we surprised a buck, doe and  fawn. They skedaddled when they heard the snap on my handlebar bag pop. I was opening it to take out the camera. The picture below was an attempt to show the mountains in silhouette, but as you can see the sun dominates the picture.

I saw this doe and decided to capture her digitally. When I stopped though she was not to be seen. I rolled a few feet further and there she was.   

Eventually we merged back on to Highway 3/93 and had to put up with fast moving cars and loud trucks. The shoulder is OK, but the density is not. Fortunately we climbed an easy ascent in order to descend into Jaffrey.  Mike had gone ahead and found a breakfast spot. Good coffee and good food, but we did have to wait a while for the food. They had wifi so several of us stayed entertained.

Next stop was Elko, which amounted to a quick food stop providing hamburgers, french fries, ice cream and assorted drinks. Most of us were still full from breakfast as it was not to far down the road from Jaffrey. I was thirsty and so was Bob so we had large strawberry and lemon slushes.

Fernie was a short, steep, climb out of Elko and an incredibly long, long descent, but not a fast descent to Fernie. My bottom was getting sore and I stopped at the informational pull out to take the two pictures below.

The Elk River, a huge portion of land in this area was donated by Shell for conservation.

 

Looking the other way.

 

A fisherman down below me.

 

Fishing from a boat in the Elk River downstream from the fisherman above.

Bob and I maintained a pretty fast pace into Fernie, arriving 15 or more minutes ahead of Geno. We found the hostel just as he arrived. Fernie is laid out with numbered streets and numbered avenues. I was looking for the hostel on 6th street when it turned out to be on 6th Avenue.

No one was in the office to check us in. They would not be on duty until 4 PM. Geno and I opted to check out downtown Fernie. A pleasant place. They were also preparing for the TransRockies mountain bike race. A seven day stage race starting Saturday morning. Many of the people staying at the hostel were racing.

Dinner was Chinese buffet. And then a stroll through the mountain bike race mechanical support supplied by area bike shops, but the support is not free.

Wifi at the hostel was weak so I wasn't able to post this blog or yesterday's blog.

Stats: T= 4:39, Mx= 32, Av= 12.2, El Gain= 1688, Max Alt= 3321, ODO= 3468, D= 57.

Day 10, July 26, 2012, Fairmount Hot Springs to Fort Steele Resort and R.V. Park

 Day 10, July 26, 2012, Fairmount Hot Springs to Fort Steele Resort and R.V. Park

Awake at 6 AM to turn off the iPhone alarm, crawl back in bed, then get back out and turn on the coffee pot to make hot water, then I go back to bed and lay there listening to Frank take a shower. When Frank finished I decided to get out of bed and begin packing. We had a 7:30 breakfast appointment with the boys in cabin 34 at the Smoking Waters Cafe and Coffee shop. Turns out our cabin was way faster than those in 34. 

Smoking Waters is a very nice cafe with good food and good coffee. The layout had 3 and 4 person tables surrounding in a horseshoe fashion a round table accommodating 6 to 8 people. The open end of the horseshoe was toward a large stone fireplace with nice, comfortable looking, arm chairs. The bathroom was bright and cheery with posters from the 50's touting Fairmount's entertainment venues, i.e. all the outdoorsy stuff one could do year round.

We left full on a good bacon and/or sausage, eggs, and hash browns' breakfast. We rode, perhaps 3-5 miles, on the busy 93 then got the opportunity to ride on a side road, Columbia Lake Road. A nice, quiet road with a few locals running or biking. The sun was bright and warm.

Columbia Lake

 

Looking the other way.

When Columbia Lake Road came back to 93 we started out as a group and pretty much stayed that way into Wasa, 14 miles from Fairmount. It was time for a break. We rode in to Canal Flats and when the road we were riding on T-boned with another street there was Steve's Cafe. We decided to give the cafe a shot. No sooner than we pulled up and out rushed Diane to greet and welcome us in.

 

Is Pancho Villa guarding my bike, checking it out or thinking about taking it for a ride?

Diane is a talkative lady who makes good pies. Several of us sampled her lemon meringue. It was tasty. Good crust and I have been told the secret to a good pie is a good crust. I have never made a pie so I don't really know. Just passin' along kitchen lore.

 

Log loader has lifted the trailer on to the log truck.

Day 9, July 26, 2012, Fairmount Hot Springs to Fort Steele Resort and R.V. Park 

City boys have never seen a log loader do its thing. Would have been better if they could have seen it take the logs off the truck.

When we left Canal Flats it was warmer. After climbing an easy hill I sped ahead to the top and pulled off my leg warmers and vest. Everyone passed me. The terrain favored me to chase everyone down. I caught and passed Mike, Frank, Jay, and Herb, but Bob and Geno had pulled away quite a distance. I settled into a pace I thought would eventually close the gap and not wear me out. then I began to notice they were changing off pulls. Were they out to make me work to catch them? There came a minor hill and it seemed they were slowing, so I decided to put on a burst and see if I could close out the final few meters to catch on. I did and I needed to sit back in third place for a while to recover and also make them work a little longer. There came a time when l felt it was time for me to take a pull. I pulled out and passed them with some effort and slowed to let them catch on. I pulled us to the top of the descent into Skookumchuck, which was our next designated rest stop. 

There was a store, but no restaurant. They did make grilled cheese sandwiches. I stood out front to flag down the rest of the gang. After a few minutes Jay came down the hill and I waved him in. He relieved me from watch duty. I went in and ordered a grilled cheese. What we got was cheese grilled between two pieces of bread.    

Herb, Frank and Mike showed up about 30 to 45 minutes later. Herb had a flat tire. Obviously they were hungry. Mike asked for a grilled cheese then wondered if he could have some fresh tomatoes with his grilled cheese. What the three of them received were three grilled cheese and ham sandwiches with tomatoes and lettuce. The waitress who did all the above joined in our frivolity, givin' as good as she got, but she didn't get too much since she was cute, friendly and makin' the sandwiches.

After Skookumchuck we headed for Wasa, which had a real restaurant. I pooped out on the way to Wasa. I was last in to Wasa. There I ate chili and fruit bowl, although I could not finish the fruit bowl.

Our last stop for the day and night was Fort Steele RV Park and Campground. I led the group out of Wasa, eventually I tired out and gave way to Geno. I slipped into the fourth place back and motored along. Soon the last climb of the day became apparent. The road was straight and you could look up the road and see the climb stair casing its way up. At the bottom of the climb Geno began to attack. Herb was behind him. Later he explained he knew what Geno was doing, having ridden with him for many years, so he pulled off leaving Bob to hang on to Geno's wheel. Bob began to tucker and a gap was created. The pace got my blood flowing and soon I decided to catch Geno. I pulled out and passed Bob in hot pursuit of Geno. It took quite a bit of effort and soon I was sitting on Geno's wheel gasping. We motored along until the descent into Fort Steele. The RV campground was on our left on the east side of Fort Steele.

We spent the night in a small one room cabin. It had one double bed, no bedding, and one double bed bunk bed with no bedding. I decided to sleep in the top bunk sharing the space with Jay. I spent the worst night of our trip, so far. It was hot, a few mosquitoes had made it inside, my butt was sore and the sleeping bag was too hot to crawl into. No one else's snoring or moving around kept me awake just my own discomfort. As far as I can tell I did not sleep. If I did it was not deep, refreshing, sleep.

Stats:4:20, Mx= 32.2, Av= 13.2, El Gain= 1250, Mx Alt= 2846, ODO= 3410, D= 57.5

Day 9, Wednesday, July 25, 2012, Radium Hot Springs to Fairmount Hot Springs

Day 9, Wednesday, July 25, 2012, Radium Hot Springs to Fairmount Hot Springs

Very relaxed start to the day. We anticipated a 28 mile ride to Fairmount with no major climbs. I actually do not know what time we rolled out. It may have been around 10 AM or even 11. When we awoke there was a marine layer of clouds and by the time we hit the road it was clearing nicely.

There was a long, easy climb out of Radium Hot Springs and then the terrain rolled gently up and down nine miles to Inverness where we found a bakery for coffee and a pastry.

Out of Inverness we traveled a lightly used road on the west side of Windemere Lake.  It was very nice not to have high speed cars whizzing by going one direction or the other. 

The only wild life I saw was what appeared to be a young coyote. He ran across the road, my right to left, then quickly returned, left to right. I stopped to snap a picture as the coyote had stopped 20 meters away, but I believe the sound of my snaps on my handlebar bag unnerved the animal and the coyote bound off deeper into the brush. No picture for you, human!

Once we reached the end of West Side Road where it t-boned with highway 93/95 it was necessary to double back into Fairmount to find the Mountaineer Bungalows. It required a complete traverse of this village stretched out along the main highway. There are many golf courses here, condos, summer homes, and resorts. The main attraction is Fairmount Hot Spring's Resort, but the actual hot springs are closed due to an earlier mud slide. They are now hot mud springs.

The Mountaineer Bungalows are cabins. Our cabin has two bedrooms, one bedroom has two queen beds with its own bathroom, the other bedroom has one queen and its own bathroom, a combination living room and dining room with a hide a bed sofa and a six chair dining room table. It is spacious. Oh yes, a flat screen TV.

When will we camp? When the mosquitos are a minor nuisance and not a major difficulty. And when the weather is fair and not threatening. And even then one or two may not camp, anyway. 

We are in the Columbia River Valley. Somewhere south of Fairmount the 

head waters of the Columbia form and begin its long, majestic, flow to the Pacific Ocean. Draining a huge land mass as it flows along. This has been a wet summer here in this part of Canada. The tributaries are full.

Tomorrow will be our longest day on the bikes since we started, 50 plus miles. The terrain will be moderate and the elevation staying around 3000 feet.

My pictures today are of vistas, no animals.

This would be a nice picture of the Purcells' Mountain Range, but somebody put that tree in the way. Taken on our way out of Radium Hot Springs.

The background are the Purcells and the foreground is the Columbia and slough.

 

Same as above.

 

Windemere Lake(the Columbia) taken from West Side Road.

 

Indian Head Mountain. It is in the picture above to the left of center and flat topped.

 

Mountains above Fairmount.

 

Me looking at Indian Head. Photo by Geno. Taken with his iPhone.

Day 8, Tuesday, July 24, 2012, Day 8, Kootenay Lodge to Radium Hot Springs, Gateway Lodge

Day 8, Tuesday, July 24, 2012, Kootenay Lodge to Radium Hot Springs, Gateway Lodge

Rained all night and when we woke up it was overcast, looking very threatening, and it wasn't raining. We had a complimentary continental breakfast. Me? I had a bowl of raisin bran and two pieces of cinnamon raisin bread slathered with peanut butter and strawberry jam. Canadians like their peanut butter in the morning.

It was cold, low 40's would be my guess. I started out with my Showers Pass rain jacket as my primary protection against the cold otherwise I was dressed normally for cool mornings. About a mile down the rode I pulled over and pulled out my marino wool long finger gloves and head gaiter, Christmas gifts from Dameon and Michelle. This would be the first time I used the head gaiter. It worked great! Bundled up and miles behind the group I set out to catch up. 

The road was mostly down. The sky was overcast with two layers of clouds. The lower level obscured all the peaks on either side of the valley (and the upper layer of clouds, for that matter). 

Unknown peak peeking through the clouds.

 I caught up with the group when they stopped to unbundle. The stop was near the top of our first climb of the day, a minor hill. I took off the rain jacket and the long fingered gloves, but left the head gaiter on. I caught and passed the group. Spied a deer buck and possibly a doe, but could not see the second beast clearly as they were back in the trees grazing. About a 100 meters down the road a doe was standing at an entrance to a side road, looking very anxious. I imagined she might be wondering where am I? What should I do now? What are these fast, loud, things (cars not bikes, of course)?  No picture as I have seen plenty of deer in my life time. Moose or a Caribou? Now, I would stop and take a picture. The young lady deer did have a fine looking coat though. Very reddish with a touch of gold. 

A little later Jay and I were riding along when we came upon a white pickup parked down in the large, wide, parallel, drainage ditch. Fifty meters on at the edge of the woods was a man on one knee with a tool in his right hand chopping and digging something in the dirt at the bottom of a tree. He looked up as we passed and impressed us both as being a bit nervous or anxious. He acknowledged me with a wave and went back to chopping ad digging. We wondered out loud what he was doing? Jay wondered if he might be burying a body? I added there was an empty tarp in the back of his truck. Then continued on with he had to be desperate or stupid as he parked his vehicle where everyone and his dog could see it. Jay said he should have gone back farther in the woods if he really wanted to get away with it.

I saw two more deer, a buck and a doe, grazing about 50 meters off the road. 

The long climb for the day was over Sinclair Pass at 4875 feet. Mike was stopped at the bottom of the climb eating something. Geno and Bob stopped at a road entrance to eat. I kept going. I met a couple descending as I went up. I began to overheat and started looking for a place to pull over. I needed to pull the head gaiter off and replace it with a cap. I had been climbing in my middle chain ring and was feeling like the granny gear was calling me strongly. I shifted up in the rear and down to the granny and brought the Rex to a stop. Off came the gaiter, on went the cap, and off I powered to go up and around a few more curves when I realized I needed to stop and remove the vest or at least unzip it and my jersey and pull the arm warmers down. Now as I remember I may have done the unzipping and pulling before I switched out the head gaiter. Anyway with air being able to cool me I continued up to the summit. There was a scenic overlook and a parking areas on both sides of the road. I decided to pull over and take a look. As I disembarked from the bike I looked at the road going forward and thought to myself it looks like it is going down. I may be at the summit! The altimeter indicated I was about 400 feet short though. I ate a pb&j sandwich, drank a little water, and snapped some pictures. And stood around waiting for the others to arrive. After about 15 minutes i was getting chilled so I decided to roll on.

Kooteney Valley looking northward.

 

Kooteney Valley looking southward.

Sinclair Mountain, really, it's there!

I rolled out of the parking area starting to coast. After about 50 meters of coasting I found myself having to pedal then I realized I needed to shift down to the granny gear again. I had zipped up the jersey and vest and pulled the arm warmers up so I was sweating pretty good. I actually reached the summit and my altimeter indicated I had ascended the appropriate amount of feet and there was a sign warning trucks an 8% descent was ahead and they should stop and check their brakes. A chip truck who had passed me on the ascent pulled out at the far end of the brake check area just as I began to descend. I let her roll. Very quickly I caught up to the chip truck. Decision time; do I pass the truck or brake to control my speed and let the chip truck roll away when it could. I chose to do the latter. On the descent there were three signs informing truckers of 8% gradients ahead. By the time I reached the third 8% sign I had lost 500 feet of elevation. In time it was less than five minutes. 

It wasn't long before I reached the sign saying 'Welcome to Radium Hot Springs.' Through the tunnel and ba-boom there is the sign saying this way to the hot springs pool. I looked up and there was the Radium Hot Springs Lodge. "I believe that is where we are staying," I thinks to myself. I pull into the parking lot and spy the road up to the lodge. It looks steep so I drop it into the granny. Half a dozen pedal strokes and I realize it is too steep so I stop the bike but can't get my right leg over the top tube. Also as I am stopping the bike I hear a feminine voice saying, "Hey we're right here. Stop, we're right here." I turn to see if she is really talking to me. She was, but I'm not who she thought I was. I get off the bike by swinging my left leg over the whole bike, then walk around to the left side to push the bike up the hill. The road to the lodge flattens to make a turn to the right and has a cable across it with a sign saying 'no vehicle access.' I spy a way around the cable gate and keep on pushing the bike. When I reach the lodge rooms I notice there are no cars around, but of course not, the cars are all down in the parking lot. I ride the bike toward the office and notice a large plate glass window to the left of the office doors is broken out. "Oh, oh, and look the glass in the office doors is broken too. This place is abandoned." I retrace my steps, roll the bike around the cable gate ride it down through the parking lot and on to the highway headed for the village of Radium Hot Springs. On the way down is another sign for truckers to be aware of an 11% gradient. "No way am I going to ride back up an 11% grade just to soak in a hot springs!" There is no shoulder on my side so I take the lane confident I can stay ahead of the traffic on an 11% descent. Around the corner we roll and bazinga!! Here is the village of Radium Hot Springs and all I see are motel/hotel choices. I do not know which one we are booked to stay in tonight. There is a small grassy park right there and I park the bike in plain view so the gang will see it as soon as they come around the corner. They did and I joined them to search for the Gateway Motel. What this town needs is more motels. : > )

We had a very nice dinner at a German/Austrian restaurant just across and down the street a bit. Directly across the street from the restaurant is a wood carver's home. Our waitress told us a bit about "Rolf."

What you see from the main highway and from the restaurant.

 

What you might see driving north on 93.

 

Local street side of Rolf the woodcarver's house.

To the right of the picture above.

 

Purcell Mountains at sunset. Way back there.

 

Doe on hillside across the street from Rolf the woodcarver's house.

Same doe. Rolf spends his winters in Thailand. I thought you needed to know that fact.

Stats: T= 3:09, Max= 38.9 mph, Av= 12.6, El Gain= 1584, Max Alt= 4764 (4875 is Sinclair Pass official elevation), ODO= 3323, D= 40 miles,