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.