Day 6, The Icefields Parkway

After camping out the day in Valemount we woke up and, while the rain was gone, we were really socked in with low-hanging clouds -- we couldn't see a thing!  But weather.com said the next 4 days were going to be sun-filled and warm, so after another nice java wake-up at the Swiss Bakery Scott and I were on the road.

Mount Robson, elevation 12,972 ft?

Under thick cloud cover we turned off Hwy 5 north of Valemount and headed east onto Hwy 6, the Yellowhead Highway.  We soon entered Mount Robson Provincial Park, home of the highest peak in the Canadian Rockies.  Even though the peak of Mount Robson, aka "The Mountain of the Spiral Road", is lower than some other Rocky Mountain peaks (a number in Colorado are above 14,000 ft) it has the biggest "prominence" of all the Rocky Mountains -- its base-to-peak vertical distance is 9,843 ft.  Unfortunately all we got to see of the mountain was a sign in the park pointing to soup-thick clouds.  Oh, well.

After stretching our visit to the park headquarters as long as possible to (hopefully) allow the clouds to clear and the day to heat up we were back on the road heading east, crossing the border into Alberta's Jasper National Park.  Almost immediately the clouds burned off and soon we were guiding our bikes through a fantastic mountain day -- just what we'd been eagerly anticipating!

Scott nearly cracks a smile thinking of the road ahead.

We rolled in to the community of Jasper around Noon, just in time to catch some lunch and a couple beers at Jasper Pizza.  The town was very nice:  attractive, and to my relief not quite as touristy as I was afraid it might be.  The mountains to the northeast looked very peculiar, almost like they were covered in a coating of gray ash, but I've been unable to figure out what that's all about (I didn't get a very good picture of it myself, but you can view a good public domain image of the mountains' coloring here.)

After a couple slices of 'za we made our way up to the Jasper Tramway, hoping to take a ride to a high vantage point atop Whistler's Peak, but our plans were foiled as they had just shut it down when we arrived to fix some electrical problems.  So it was back on the road for us...the Icefields Parkway (Hwy 93), which runs basically northwest-to-southeast through the hearts of Jasper and Banff National Parks.

The views from the Icefields Parkway were breathtaking.

Travelling along the parkway was what I'd been waiting years to do, and I wasn't disappointed!  Thankfully Scott was very patient with me stopping often to snap a picture or five, as every turn in the road opened up a spectacular new view.  After travelling a little over 100km south we came to the Athabasca Glacier, one of the six fingers of the Columbia Icefield that runs darned near down to the Icefields Parkway.  We spent a good hour and a half at the Interpretive Center, warming up and learning, then were back on our way.

A panoramic view of the Athabasca Glacier, taken from
the deck of the Icefield Interpretive Centre.

We continued south, soaking up the beautiful day and spectacular views, until we entered Banff National Park and it was time to refill the tanks at basically the only gas station along the way, at Saskatchewan River Crossing, where you can catch Hwy 11 (David Thompson Hwy) and head east towards Edmonton.  After filling up we ambled in to the store, where we hoped to find food to fix later for dinner.  Unfortunately all we found were some chips, trail mix, and a surprisingly well-stocked small selection of wine.  Although for the life of us we couldn't find a corkscrew, we departed with a good bottle of vino snuggled away in Scott's saddlebag.  It would later be put to good use.

Scott enjoys a beautiful day travelling the Icefields Parkway
(photo captured by my ride-along monkey, not by me riding
no-hands, looking backwards over my rear fender).

The picturesque motel at our gas stop in Saskatchewan
River Crossing almost made us want to stay...

Back on the road we kept our eyes peeled for a campground.  Apparently nearly all the campgrounds had just been shut down for the winter season only the day before, so the pickings were slim; there was only one tent facility open before Lake Louise, Mosquito Creek, nestled between the Icefields Pkwy and the Bow River.  We pulled in just after sunset, eager to warm up by a nice camp fire.

After pulling in, selecting our site, and parking the bikes, I walked back to  the park entrance to pay our site and firewood fees at the self-serve kiosk.  As I approached, another rider had apparently just pulled up on a pretty ratty old BMW F650GS, and still wearing his helmet, looked to be cold and trying to figure the situation out.  Since Scott and I had actually claimed a double camp site (where I'd hoped to make prodigious use of the 50ft between my sleep location and Scott's snoring) I turned to the rider and offered to let him share the site and split the fees with us.  Low and behold a young female voice answered, saying that her boyfriend was out walking around looking for a site.  Already feeling like some sort of creeper I backtracked, quickly paying my fee and reiterating the offer as a scurried off into the darkness.

Surprisingly, only 5 minutes later the couple came idling up to our site.  Long story short, they were a mid-20's couple, named Colin and Heidi, and they were returning from a round-trip ride out to Edmonton from Vancouver for a wedding -- a long, cold trip on what was basically a glamorized dirtbike with turn signals, a headlight and a couple small hard saddlebags.  A very miniature and underpowered version of what I was riding, alone.  Colin was from Vancouver and Heidi was from Sweden.  They were real friendly and it was great to have their company!  After proper introductions we set about scrounging some soggy kindling and a couple armfuls of firewood, which was provided by the campground.  Unfortunately while the wood cutting area was in a pavilion under shelter, all the wood was stacked outside of it, where it had been exposed to days of rain.  After literally two to three hours of Colin, Heidi, and I trying to get the completely soaked wood to light (during which time Scott and I put away the bottle of wine plus a flask of whiskey he'd toted along) Scott finally jumped in and got it going in about five minutes.  I knew I'd brought him along for something!  The temperature quickly plummeted, and after burning through about 30 lbs of kindling and 20 lbs of firewood, we all went our separate ways to snuggle up for a good night's sleep.

Day 5 mileage:  210 mi / 338 km

Total mileage:  1,102 mi / 1,775 km

Day 5, Lost One...Another Day in Valemount

I missed posting yesterday, so since I'm up early (my iPod battery ran out overnight, and it's my only line of defense against Scott's snoring!) I figured I might as well tap something out.  Not a lot to say about yesterday, or at least not a lot of great pictures to put up; we woke up to rain, low-hanging clouds, and a forecast for a day full of the same, particularly east of us where we'd be riding.  Not the kind-of weather you really want when you're driving through national parks that contain some of North America's grandest vistas.  So we, and by "we" I mean Scott and I, made the hard decision to hang out in Valemount for a day and continue our riding Wednesday at the start of a 5-day string of sunny days.  Normally this wouldn't have been such a tough decision, but because we'd already delayed in Revelstoke for the same reason, this put Dave hard up against his schedule and he had to leave for home.  He was a good sport -- he understood that we didn't want to drive through Jasper and Banff and look at nothing but clouds -- but I was pretty sad about having to part ways.  Dave made it nearly 400 miles to Osoyoos, BC, and should be making it home to Waitsburg, Washington today (Wednesday).

Valemount, BC

Scott and I did have an enjoyable day in Valemount.  We started by changing hotels to the Valemount Hotel, then walking to the Swiss Bakery just up the road.  Scott had a drip coffee and I had another fantastic cappuccino, topped with a sprinkling of swiss chocolate, and we split a raspberry strudel.  Life's tough.  As we sat on the covered porch, enjoying the morning's crisp air and view of the surrounding mountains and fall foliage, the rain started coming down again.  After a quick walk back to the hotel to cover the bikes we turned around and headed back downtown to the local hardware store for some odds and ends.

We basically spent the rest of the day in the restaurant and bar attached to our hotel, sitting on a couple couches in front of a window that had a great view.  I pulled out the laptop and did some work while Scott made fun of me for doing it.  The highlight for sure, however, was when the owner (who we'd met in the morning, when we changed hotels and checked in) came and sat down next to us to say hi.  Turned into a great 3- or 4-hour conversation and we soon knew his life story.  After he heard that we'd been looking for some Cuban cigars, but had been balked by the price of them, he told us to wait a minute, disappeared, then reappeared with a box of 4 Cohibas that he said he'd been saving for a while.  I think I may have mentioned it before, but to a man and woman, every single person we've met since crossing the border has been over-the-top friendly and interesting, and Peter was no exception.

As the sun was setting and the clouds clearing, we enjoyed two of our four Cohibas, made it back for (a lighter) dinner at the Caribou Grill, then called it a night.

Day 5 mileage:  0 mi / 0 km

Total mileage:  892 mi / 1,436 km

Day 4, Revelstoke to Valemount

We meandered out of Revelstoke this morning around 10 o'clock, heading west on the Trans-Canada Highway.  This beautiful section of the highway meandered along the Eagle River, and we basically rode alongside one body of water or another all day.  In Sicamous the River empties into Shuswap Lake, which we had great views of off to our right until we made our first stop in Salmon Arm, where we picked up a nice rain suit for Scott from the local Honda dealer, then ate breakfast.


While at Salmon Arm Honda I inquired to a couple of the locals guys about a combination of what looked to be dirt roads that cut a good chunk of (relatively) boring highway miles off our route, and also allowed us to bypass the city of Kamloops.  While Dave's BMW and mine are designed to go off-pavement, Scott's Valkyrie is decidedly not, and so we'd decided at the outset of our trip that we wouldn't knowingly route ourselves over any gravel or dirt roads.  But the guys at the shop assured us that while about 10 miles of the cutoff was in fact dirt, it was in great shape and wouldn't be too challenging for Scott and his bike.  They said it was extremely scenic to boot, and so soon Scott was raring to get his tires dirty.  We did have to deal with a bit washboard surface in a couple areas, but it really turned out to be one of the best sections of "road" we've hit, with commanding views of Adams Lake from high above its southwestern shore.  I was also happy to discover that the BMW R1200GS Adventure does just great off the pavement, allowing me to have some fun squirting ahead and pulling over to get some good pictures of the guys as they went by.  Never thought I could have so much fun power sliding a 500 lb motorcycle loaded with gear!

Adams Lake

After joining-up with the Southern Yellowhead Highway (Hwy 5) we gassed up in Barrière and then continued-on north, along the North Thompson River.  After one more stop for some caffeine we punched through about an hour of the only rain we've ridden through yet, finishing the day's ride in Valemount.  We spent a few minutes getting checked in to our hotel, unpacking, and cleaning up a bit, then walked about a mile to the Caribou Grill, where we got what I thought was the best food of the trip so far:  Dave a Caesar salad, Scott a prime rib and grilled jumbo prawn combo, and me a grilled top sirloin and pasta with marinara sauce combo.  Awesome!

The Caribou Grill bar

Dave & Scott get ready to damage some food.

Tomorrow we're looking to hit the road an hour or two earlier than we have been (after caffeinated beverage at a coffee shop I spotted), but cover about 50 miles less...we're going to be riding through Mt. Robson Provincial Park, Jasper National Park, and Banff National Park, so we want to leave plenty of time for pictures and to pitch our tents before dark down near the town of Banff.  They actually surround the campsites with electric fences to protect campers from the grizzlies in Banff!  But Scott brought his hatchet, so he promises us we won't get messed with.


Day 4 mileage:  293 mi / 471 km
Total mileage:  892 mi / 1,436 km

Day 3, Rained Out

So, today was full of rain and clouds.  We could've pushed on up north, but since the main point of this whole ride is to see beautiful scenery, with that scenery blocked by low cloud cover we decided to spend a nice day in Revelstoke.  It was a pretty lazy one...we (or at least I) slept in a little, got some breakfast, and walked around the town.  Even found a great little coffee shop called Sangha Bean, where I got a great cappuccino.


When we returned to our hotel (the Monashee Lodge) we found out that today and tomorrow were the two days of the year they closed down to do a major housecleaning of the facilities.  But the owner was so friendly she offered to let us have the run of the place, and even gave us a discount off of our already reasonable rate since there wouldn't be anybody manning the lobby.  After loading us up with rags and towels to wipe our bikes down with, they offered to move some outdoor furniture so that we could pull the bikes under some awnings and get them out of the rain.  To a person, everyone we've met so far has been over-the-top friendly.  Guess that's kind-of the Canadian way.

We finished our evening off we a Sunday special pot roast at a local sport pub, some CFL football on their TV, and some local brew.  Great down day and tomorrow's weather is looking a lot better, so we should be able to make our way most of the way up to Jasper and the high mountains!

Day 3 mileage:  0 mi

Total mileage:  599 mi / 964 km

Day 2, Fun in the Sun

Ready for takeoff!

I have to admit, I never went to sleep Thursday night, the night before we left.  I was far too keyed-up and, in combination with leaving a lot of stuff to do until the last second, it was a zero sleep night for me.  So Dave and Scott endulged me as a slept in a little Saturday morning.  We pushed out right at 10:00 and our first stop was for breakfast at some janky looking place, the Kountry Korner in Springdale, WA.  Turned out to be fantastic!

The Kountry Korner

Scott girds his loins for any
kind of shit those nasty
Canadianswant to throw his way.

We then continued on for over 300 miles of the most scenic single day of travelling I've ever done in my life.  The weather was perfect and I became more and more pleased with my new bike with each mile.  After some nice, scenic miles heading through northeast Washington State we came to  our first challenge:  Canadian Customs.  Those of you who know me know I've had some issues with the Mounties over the past few years, but thankfully this time we made it through smooth as could be.  Here's Scott girding his loins for any kind-of shit those nasty Canadians wanted to send his way:

What followed was just epic.  Miles, 'er, kilometers and kilometers of twisting, rolling, pavement perfection surrounded by unspoilt mountains and lakes in every direction.  Hardly any traffic, and complete sunshine.  We couldn't ask for more!  We stopped for good coffee at a natural foods store in Playmor Junction, then right after getting back on our bikes saw a 400 lb black bear run right across the road in front of us in Crescent Valley!  We spent the last 3 or 4 hours riding up the southeast shore of Upper Arrow Lake, took the (free!) ferry from Galena to Shelter Bay, across the lake at its midpoint over to the western shore, then finished covered our last 40 miles after dark and ended up in Revelstoke, BC.  First good, long, day under our belts!

Upper Arrow Lake

Upper Arrow Lake fm/ferry landing

Upper Arrow Lake ferry

Day 2 mileage:  317 mi / 510 km
Total mileage:  599 mi / 964 km

Day 1, We're off!

Ok, so this is the culmination of a 15 year dream of mine:  ever since I saw pictures of the Canadian Rockies area, when I saw pictures of Banff and Jasper National Parks in one of the first issues of Mountainbiking I ever read, I've dreamt of going there.  Whenever I've seen pictures of the area it's looked like the most beautiful place in the world to me.  To top it off the place looks like it's littered with fantastic roads and trails custom made for bicycle and motorcycle exploration.

I've also pined after the BMW GS-Series motorcycles ever since I became aware of them in the late 1980's, when I got my first motorcycle after years of riding passenger with my grandfather.  A week ago I finally got and received a beautiful 2009 BMW R1200GS Adventure.

Brian picks up his long-awaited GSA -- sihpped from
Arkansas with 1041 miles on the odometer!

First thing I did was drop an e-mail to my buddy Dave, asking him if he wanted to go for a ride.  He immediately responded telling me, "I've put in for leave September 27-30 -- let's go!".  I then set about talking my other buddy, Scott, in to joining us and he was immediately game.  Our destination?  The Canadian Rockies!

So on Friday, September 24, Scott, Dave and I each cut out of work around 'Noon and we all met at Fairchild Air Force Base near Spokane, WA.  Scott and departed on this first leg of our trip from Seattle, and Dave headed up from beautiful Waitsburg, WA.  We had no schedule and no route planned, only the object of making it to Banff and hopefully Jasper.  The weather had been looking real sketchy for those areas earlier in the week (non-stop rain, and even snow -- not the best motorcycling stuff!) but we were bound and determined.  We were rewarded with a revised and much more favorable forecast just a day before leaving!

Day 1 mileage:  282 mi

Total mileage:  282 mi