Day 17, Thursday, August 2, 2012, Waterton, AB to St. Mary's, MT
I awakened to early morning rain-like sounds. When I got outside there was no evidence of recent rain. It was overcast and threatening, though.
Breakfast for me was a granola, blueberries and yogurt parfait. I have learned something about the use of parfait when describing a granola dish. It seems to mean a parfait glass, like what one would get with sundae, a tall narrow glass. The granola was at the bottom, then the blue berries with the yogurt on top. I wanted to mix them all together and tried in the glass, but it didn't work well at all. I decided to dump it all on the plate. I ended up mixing it with additional fruit on the plate. It worked out great. I would prefer a bowl of granola in the future.
I also bought the cafe's hiker's lunch which was a good deal.
We had a steep little pitch to get out of Waterton and up and down rollers to the main highway and our route back into the USA. We encountered a steady 8% climb to a 5000 foot plus summit. It was cool at 5000 feet and some bundled up for the descent. I chose not to. I was already in arm warmers, leg warmers and vest and decided to hang in there with the same garb. I could not recall the elevation profile of this portion of our journey. I would look down and we had lost 400 to 500 feet in elevation then I would look again later and we were back up to 5000 feet and more. This pattern repeated itself three times more before we got a final descent. Our maximum elevation was 5410 and happened on our last summit. A total of 4 summits all over 5000 feet.
"
Last look at Waterton. Picture taken from first summit view point.
Stats: D= 47.8, T= 4:18, Mx= 37.4, Av= 11, El Gain= 3277, Mx Alt= 5410, ODO= 3626
The US border was on the way up to the second summit. As I got close to the custom's building and could see where I would probably go I was astounded by my perception. I had to climb a 20%(at least) wall. What were they thinking when they designed the entrance?!! Maybe it was to slow potential terrorists down or other people with bad intent toward the USA. I was already in my front granny gear so as I hit this 'wall' I was shifting down preparing to grind it out into the customs stop. Whoa! It's not a wall in fact this is a pretty easy spin in the low gear I was currently in. As I entered the building the custom's agent was directing me, "Right this way."
My response, "OK and you want me to stop when I get to you or just keep going?" : > )
"You should stop when you reach me," he said smiling back.
"Wow way to go and look at you. It's cold outside and you're sweating big time."
I was out of breath and suffering oxygen debt to the brain, so when he asked me where I lived I almost said Sacramento, but caught myself and said Carmichael as he was looking at my passport card and the computer.
Last thing he asked was I bringing any plants or fresh fruit or vegetables with me.
"I have a sandwich." He wasn't interested and gave me back my passport card and waved me on. He advised I had a bit more up to do and his partner said I could look forward to some descent after summiting.
I rode away from the custom's building before I remembered I wanted to make some changes and stopped just out of sight of the building. I hoped they wouldn't think I was up to no good. I made my changes and off I went climbing to the next summit. It was a fairly easy gradient to the top. I pulled off before the descent to change clothing, putting on my Showers Pass rain jacket and discarding my arm warmers and vest.
On this descent I realized I was hungry and it was time to stop and eat lunch. I determined to find some sheltered place to stop. I did find the spot. It was a big sign welcoming people coming from Montana into Waterton National Park or maybe it was Glacier. I can't recall now. I ate my ham sandwich, orange (I was carrying fresh fruit, Oh no!) carrot and celery sticks. By then everyone else had caught up with me and gone on. We rode on to Babb, MT. the descent dropped us far enough the temperature warmed.
Looking south from last summit view point.
Last view point picture, looking south.
A shot at the Glacieer National Park mountains on our last descent. Looking north.
From the same vantage point as the one above.
A humongous peak obscured by clouds.
Stats: D= 47.8, T= 4:18, Mx= 37.4, Av= 11, El Gain= 3277, Mx Alt= 5410, ODO= 3626
We had a snack and coffee in Babb before finishing the last 8 miles to St. Mary.
Dinner was at The Park cafe. We had to wait for a table an hour or longer, but if you took a poll of our sorry seven, it was well worth the wait. Topped off by the best pie we have had so far. Geno's strawberry pie was humongous(my favorite word today). I had a razzzleberry slice of pie. None of the pie eaters were disappointed.
Our accomadations are fantastic. A double wide with 5 beds, a futon and a couch. All kinds of space. Our bicycles are inside out of the rain and not in our way. We are debating staying here for a couple weeks. : > )
No comments:
Post a Comment