The trail to Fernie from Elkwood is relatively short – just 52 miles. However, there is a lot of single track riding involved which just plain takes a lot of energy when you’re riding a bike laden down with food, water and gear. Single track bike trails are narrow like hiking trails, In fact many of them serve both purposes. They are designed to include a lot of varied topography which means being a lot of fun to ride. The trails we rode this morning are great trails but really wore us out. When we did get off the trails and on the road we were hit by headwind. It was a relief to arrive at Fernie’s campground.

Prior to the trip, I packed a variety of dinners and breakfasts which require only hot water to prepare. Most of the ingredients can be found at the Coop in Grand Marais. One breakfast is mainly oatmeal with dried buttermilk, dried wild blueberries, chia seeds and hemp seeds. Another has dried refried beans, dried hummus, dried eggs, and dried potatoes. An easy dinner is a combo of dried lentil soup and dried pea soup. I also purchased various Mountain House freeze dried dinners. Lonnie Dupre gave me his recipe for energy bbars so I made two batches (about 60) for the trip. These bars have about 400 calories each and store very well. We carry 3 to four days worth of foods on our bikes. I mailed out 4 restock boxes to locations along our route addressed to General Delivery. We also eat in restaurants when available and purchase foods at groceries and convenience stores. We just got back from the grocery in Fernie ready for tomorrow.

Tomorrow we will be back in the US, crossing the border at Roosville, Montana then riding on to Eureka for the night. Other than passing a hot springs on the trail today and meeting some fun folks at a restaurant tonight, it was a quiet day here on the Continental Divide.