Our ride south out of the bustling town of Banff had a lot of just about every type of riding. Double track, single track, gravel roads, tote roads, boulder fields and wash outs. Steep hills, big drops, long inclines and pushes up rock gullies. There was a 20 mile section of a very wide hard pan dry gravel road over which I ate so much dust I didn’t need dinner.
One thing that was consistent was the scenery. It is picture book beautiful. Inspiring. We have been biking primarily in provincial parks. Today we left the park to enter Elkwood and now we are spending tonight in a municipal park along a hard charging river. Delightful sound for our sleep. Nice to replenish in a supermarket and have a real shower. In two days we may be at the US border.
We are now meeting other cyclists. Two 60 something American guys who are on their first long biking journey. One is pulling a bike trailer. Overall they are carrying too much weight but are very game. A young Dutch couple rode with us a short while today. He works for the Red Cross and she is very afraid of bears. A single rider who is biking north to start riding south at Banff chatted with us briefly. I think he has been biking alone too long. A little incoherent.
Internet is not available over much of our route. It is also difficult to keep our phones and GPS units charged up. You may not hear from me for several days at times but I will try to post when I can. Thanks for following along.