Day 7, Monday, July 23, 2012, Day 7, Banff, AB to Kootenay Lodge, BC

Monday, July 23, 2012, Day 7, Banff, AB to Kootenay Lodge, BC

Up at 6 and it was raining steady outside. Thirty minutes later the rain had stopped and the mountains to the west of Banff had clearing skies overhead. 

Breakfast was at the Wild Flower Bakery. Homemade granola, yogurt and a blueberry sauce over all, washed down with a double shot latte. A double because I had the altitude breathing problems last night, but mostly before falling asleep. When I did fall asleep I slept like a log. 

By the time we were rolling the blue sky was really trying hard to move the clouds out of the way. Our first goal was to ride to Johnson Creek Lodge and Restaurant. We left Banff on a very nice bike trail following the Bow River and adjacent wetlands and paralleling the Trans Canada freeway. You have to go through two big gates designed to keep animals from wandering through or jumping over to the Trans Canada. Mike was the last through the last gate. He stopped to make some wardrobe adjustments and we rode on, going under the freeway, to wait on the far side where our road to Johnson's Creek, the 1A, started. We waited 15 or more minutes before Herb decided to go see what was keeping Mike. Another 10 or more minutes passed. Geno tried to raise them on the walkie talkies we brought along to no avail. Jay and Bob decided to ride on. A few minutes later Geno and Frank decided to go. My curiosity got the best of me and I went back to see what was keeping Mike and Herb. As I rounded the corner after the freeway underpass they were just putting Mike's rear wheel on his Bike Friday. Panniers were strewn all over with a couple open. Mike had picked up a tack after just passing through the gate. all the rest of us had missed the tacks. His panniers were open because he needed to find his pump at the bottom of one of them besides having to remove the rear panniers to remove his rear wheel. Once he got his bike squared away off the three of us rolled to catch up with the others.

We saw another bull Elk grazing by the side of the road. I was hoping it was a moose and thoughtt it might be when I viewed the antlers from a certain angle, but I was mistaken. I really want to see a Moose and get a picture. Apparently their numbers are dwindling also.

I thought the rock above may be flipping me off.

 

Nah, it's just a rock.

 

Castle Mountain

Castle Mountain seen from Vermillion Pass.

We had a nice second breakfast at Johnson's Creek served by a young New Zealander lady who was friendly and talkative. She doesn't plan more than six months ahead. She has recently been in England for a year and came back through Canada for a second time. She will probably head for New Zealand after the season here ends.

Our ride route today was a partial backtrack of what we had rode Saturday on our way to Banff. We got onto our route south about 5 miles after Johnson's Creek. 

At Castle Junction we turned west and started climbing to Vermillion Pass. The Adventure Cycling route maps say it is a 7 mile climb from Castle Junction but it seemed about half the distance. I looked at my altimeter which said we were above 5000 feet leaving only 415 feet to climb over 7 miles. I was in my granny gear, the 26 tooth chain ring and the 36 tooth rear cassette cog, which said to me at the rate we were climbing, or going up, we would be at the top real soon. I looked down once and I was doing 7.5 mph in a bigger gear indicating if I could average 7.5 then the climb would be over in an hour. Truth be told in my granny gear I was doing 4 to 5 miles per hour. Anyway the climb was over before we thought it would be and that fact was OK with us.

 

Mike finishes the climb to Vermillion pass even though he thought we were only half way to the top and had another three and a half miles to go to reach the official summit.

 

Herb finishes.

 

Here comes Jay!!

 

Here come Frank and Bob.

  

We stopped at the Continental Divide marker. Not only had we crossed from Atlantic watershed to Pacific we had also crossed into BC and Kootenay National Park. We could look forward to a long descent to our destination.

Looking south from Vermillion Pass. Geno on the left taking a similar picture.

 

Stanley Peak

Looking south from Vermillion Pass. Geno on the left taking a similar picture. 

Dark, ominus clouds to the south.

The clouds over the Vermillion Range were indicating a head wind while descending and an ominous foretelling of the future. Descending with a wind blowing you around makes for interesting times. It was a headwind and it was a side wind. 

Highway 93 makes a 90 degree turn to the south five or six miles from the summit to follow the Vermillion River. The river and road run along the base of Nurma Mountain. The ominous clouds were blocked and I felt warmer air. The light bulb went off in my brain. Warm air meeting cold air means thunder storms. I traveled a few miles further and the gap in the landscape created by the end of Nurma Mountain and the beginning of the Vermillion Range allowed the cold air from the west to come funneling through.  A few miles further and rain was spitting at me. I determined then to race the rain to our destination. There would be moderate descents and minimal wind allowing me shift the chain on the big chain ring and go faster. A rise in the landscape or an increase in wind intensity would indicate shifting to the middle chain ring all to maintain the highest rate of speed I could muster. The uncertainy for me was whether I would bonk before reaching the Kootenay Lodge not knowing exactly where I was in relation to the end. It worked out OK though as the turn off came up faster than I anticipated. 

The rain hit hard just after Jay and Mike arrived. Geno was only a minute behind me. Bob a few minutes after Geno. Geno and I were already sitting at the restaurant table when Bob came in. Herb followed Bob then Jay and Mike and the hard rain. Frank brought up the rear and got wet although he had all his rain gear on. We ate lunch while waiting for our cabins to be ready.

The cabins are logs, 6 inch diameter logs, with a lean to style kitchen and bathroom add on, also 6 inch logs. Funky, warm and dry. I can see outside in a couple places.  

Bob in bed, reading, in our shared log cabin.

 

Front door, the only door in or out.

 

The add on kitchen and bathroom.

Stats:T= 3:56, Mx Spd= 42.5, Av= 12 mph, El Gain= 1849, Mx Alt.= 5774 (one must take the altitude stats with a grain of salt as it is dependent on barometric pressure and resetting to the correct altitude at the beginning of each day is a pain in the keester, not to mention you need to know the correct altitude when you start plus any changes in the barometric pressure while riding will throw things off, too. Vermillion Pass was listed as our highest point today at 5415, so you can see my Mx Alt. was off by 350 feet to the high side. El Gain is pretty accurate as it measures from where you start until you stop for the day.) ODO= 3283, D= 47.4 miles.