Days 1-4
Civilization! After 4 days on the road through the woods of Alberta and British Columbia, we arrived yesterday in Elkford, BC, the first place we've had electricity, cell service, or WiFi since we set off from Banff. The warm showers at the municipal campground were wonderful :)
Things are going very well so far. Aside from a bit of drama on day 1, the trip has begun quite smoothly. Here are some highlights of our journey so far:
Day 1:
We hit the trail from Banff. So far so good.
We enjoyed some beautiful scenery on the way.
We encountered several steep hills that required pushing, sometimes with difficulty.
We learned the hard way how ride safely on a gravel highway. Soon after we turned off the trail onto the gravel highway, our need for speed overcame us, and we both fell when we hit a patch of loose gravel.
We sustained minor scrapes and bruises. However, a minor fixable issue with my bike occurred as a result of the fall. I noticed something was off but just ignored it. Bad choice. Right when we arrived at our campsite (and thank God for that timing), catastrophe struck. My rear derailleur got pulled into my spokes, which warped the derailleur hanger so badly that the bike would no longer roll. Unless something could be done about the derailleur, hanger, I would have to convert the bike to single speed and ride to the nearest bike shop then do who knows what. Derailleur hangers are not kept on hand at bike shops because they are unique to each bike.
I became very worried. What if our trip was ruined on day 1 because of my mistakes? Katelyn was less worried than me. The Lord convicted me quickly of my worry and reminded me why were here. We articulated some of these reasons in our first post. While reaching our planned destination would be great, we would not have to do that to have a successful trip. Moreover, the Lord was giving me a chance to practice trusting in him for everything. I forgot that was one of the major lessons we learned on our East Coast bike tour three years ago. It's one thing saying you trust in God for provision when you're in your element and your plans are succeeding. It feels different when so many things are unknown and outside our control. It makes us pray with a new intensity and reliance on God for provision.
At camp, we found ourselves sharing a site with no fewer than 8 other bicycle tourists doing the same route as us: one Swiss man who passed us earlier in the day, three Australians traveling together, and a family of four Belgians on two tandem bikes.
The Lord saw fit to allow us to continue on our journey as planned, and he provided Garth the Australian man, who was not afraid to manhandle my derailleur hanger with a set of pliers, using the gap between the picnic table boards as a vice grip, and bend it back into something that resembled its original shape. The operation was risky, and some of the onlookers predicted the piece would snap, but it didn't. I now have an operational derailleur again that, while not perfect, has done its job tremendously over the last three days and counting.
Day 2:
We began the day with some scripture reading, prayer, and meditation in a beautiful spot next to camp.
We took a the road alternative the main route to avoid some hills described in the guide book as "pushers." But most importantly...
...we saw a MOOSE!!!
We also found a beautiful lunch spot by a meadow.
We camped in Peter Lougheed Provincial Park with the wonderful Belgian family we had met the night before.
We also joined the Australians (also in the same campground) in taking an "ice bath" in the frigid lake to soothe our leg muscles and wash the dust off our legs.
Day 3:
We ate breakfast at the trading post and met a family of three from Montreal (mom, dad, and 2 1/2 year old) touring on a different route that intersected ours.
We climbed some steep hills up to Elk Pass.
We crossed the Great Divide for the first time! ...from Alberta into British Columbia.
We took a detour to have lunch next to Elk Lakes. We got rained on a bit, but it wasn't bad.
That night we camped at Weary Creek and shared a camping spot with a girl hiking northward along the Divide.
Just downstream from us was the old bridge over the creek.
At camp, we got visited by a local named Kyle, about our age, who drove up in his pickup truck and came to our campsite to talk to us and tell us about the area. He was very, very, VERY friendly. He welcomed us to the area and offered us tea, beer, and weed. We only took the tea :) He talked a lot and was the first Canadian we met who constantly used the word "Eh." I finally felt like my cultural training from Bob and Doug MacKenzie had prepared me for something! He had a beer in one hand and a lump of tabacco in his mouth the whole time we talked. After talking for a while, he drove away and we went to bed.
Day 4:
At our lunch spot today, another Divide tourist front New Zealand caught up to us. While we were talking with him, three women from Australia rode up also. They were traveling northbound, and two of the three had started at the US/Mexico border. We have been amazed at the number our other tourists we've encountered so far!
As we approached Elkford, we rode along a chain of mountains whose topography has been re-written as a result of massive coal mining operations.
Elkford, BC is a small mining town nestled in the mountains of British Columbia.
We stayed at the municipal campground, owned by the city and operated by the Lions Club. This is where a lot of coal miners stay during the week. I struck up a conversation with several of them and learned a lot more about massive coal mining operations than I ever knew before. Also at the campground were Manuel the Swiss tourist, as well as Steve the Kiwi, a German man named Marc who has been touring the world by bike since 2011, and another southbound tourist with whom we did not talk much.
We ate at a pub that seemed popular among the miners. While we were there, got a small glimpse at small town life. We saw the two park rangers whom we had seen and talked to along the remote roads over the past two days. We saw where the pub posted the names of locals who had eaten there and not paid their tab. This was their way of discouraging such future behavior. In a similar way, the campground had notes written in the bath house about how the campground owner wanted to talk personally with whoever kept going into the showers without taking their coal mining boots of first.
The Belgian family also arrived in town and stayed in the motel across the street. They were having trouble work their water filter and one of their disc brake rotors. We had a secondary water filter that we were planning to mail back home (we still have tablets as a backup), and we have it to them. They surprised us and left is chips and a beer at our campsite :)
Today we continue south and will continue to post as we are able (and/or feel like it). We plan to cross the border into the US in about 3 days.
Things are going very well so far. Aside from a bit of drama on day 1, the trip has begun quite smoothly. Here are some highlights of our journey so far:
Day 1:
We hit the trail from Banff. So far so good.
We enjoyed some beautiful scenery on the way.
We encountered several steep hills that required pushing, sometimes with difficulty.
We learned the hard way how ride safely on a gravel highway. Soon after we turned off the trail onto the gravel highway, our need for speed overcame us, and we both fell when we hit a patch of loose gravel.
We sustained minor scrapes and bruises. However, a minor fixable issue with my bike occurred as a result of the fall. I noticed something was off but just ignored it. Bad choice. Right when we arrived at our campsite (and thank God for that timing), catastrophe struck. My rear derailleur got pulled into my spokes, which warped the derailleur hanger so badly that the bike would no longer roll. Unless something could be done about the derailleur, hanger, I would have to convert the bike to single speed and ride to the nearest bike shop then do who knows what. Derailleur hangers are not kept on hand at bike shops because they are unique to each bike.
I became very worried. What if our trip was ruined on day 1 because of my mistakes? Katelyn was less worried than me. The Lord convicted me quickly of my worry and reminded me why were here. We articulated some of these reasons in our first post. While reaching our planned destination would be great, we would not have to do that to have a successful trip. Moreover, the Lord was giving me a chance to practice trusting in him for everything. I forgot that was one of the major lessons we learned on our East Coast bike tour three years ago. It's one thing saying you trust in God for provision when you're in your element and your plans are succeeding. It feels different when so many things are unknown and outside our control. It makes us pray with a new intensity and reliance on God for provision.
At camp, we found ourselves sharing a site with no fewer than 8 other bicycle tourists doing the same route as us: one Swiss man who passed us earlier in the day, three Australians traveling together, and a family of four Belgians on two tandem bikes.
The Lord saw fit to allow us to continue on our journey as planned, and he provided Garth the Australian man, who was not afraid to manhandle my derailleur hanger with a set of pliers, using the gap between the picnic table boards as a vice grip, and bend it back into something that resembled its original shape. The operation was risky, and some of the onlookers predicted the piece would snap, but it didn't. I now have an operational derailleur again that, while not perfect, has done its job tremendously over the last three days and counting.
Day 2:
We began the day with some scripture reading, prayer, and meditation in a beautiful spot next to camp.
We took a the road alternative the main route to avoid some hills described in the guide book as "pushers." But most importantly...
...we saw a MOOSE!!!
We also found a beautiful lunch spot by a meadow.
We camped in Peter Lougheed Provincial Park with the wonderful Belgian family we had met the night before.
We also joined the Australians (also in the same campground) in taking an "ice bath" in the frigid lake to soothe our leg muscles and wash the dust off our legs.
Day 3:
We ate breakfast at the trading post and met a family of three from Montreal (mom, dad, and 2 1/2 year old) touring on a different route that intersected ours.
We climbed some steep hills up to Elk Pass.
We crossed the Great Divide for the first time! ...from Alberta into British Columbia.
We took a detour to have lunch next to Elk Lakes. We got rained on a bit, but it wasn't bad.
That night we camped at Weary Creek and shared a camping spot with a girl hiking northward along the Divide.
Just downstream from us was the old bridge over the creek.
At camp, we got visited by a local named Kyle, about our age, who drove up in his pickup truck and came to our campsite to talk to us and tell us about the area. He was very, very, VERY friendly. He welcomed us to the area and offered us tea, beer, and weed. We only took the tea :) He talked a lot and was the first Canadian we met who constantly used the word "Eh." I finally felt like my cultural training from Bob and Doug MacKenzie had prepared me for something! He had a beer in one hand and a lump of tabacco in his mouth the whole time we talked. After talking for a while, he drove away and we went to bed.
Day 4:
At our lunch spot today, another Divide tourist front New Zealand caught up to us. While we were talking with him, three women from Australia rode up also. They were traveling northbound, and two of the three had started at the US/Mexico border. We have been amazed at the number our other tourists we've encountered so far!
As we approached Elkford, we rode along a chain of mountains whose topography has been re-written as a result of massive coal mining operations.
Elkford, BC is a small mining town nestled in the mountains of British Columbia.
We stayed at the municipal campground, owned by the city and operated by the Lions Club. This is where a lot of coal miners stay during the week. I struck up a conversation with several of them and learned a lot more about massive coal mining operations than I ever knew before. Also at the campground were Manuel the Swiss tourist, as well as Steve the Kiwi, a German man named Marc who has been touring the world by bike since 2011, and another southbound tourist with whom we did not talk much.
We ate at a pub that seemed popular among the miners. While we were there, got a small glimpse at small town life. We saw the two park rangers whom we had seen and talked to along the remote roads over the past two days. We saw where the pub posted the names of locals who had eaten there and not paid their tab. This was their way of discouraging such future behavior. In a similar way, the campground had notes written in the bath house about how the campground owner wanted to talk personally with whoever kept going into the showers without taking their coal mining boots of first.
The Belgian family also arrived in town and stayed in the motel across the street. They were having trouble work their water filter and one of their disc brake rotors. We had a secondary water filter that we were planning to mail back home (we still have tablets as a backup), and we have it to them. They surprised us and left is chips and a beer at our campsite :)
Today we continue south and will continue to post as we are able (and/or feel like it). We plan to cross the border into the US in about 3 days.
How many miles/kilometers did you cover each day? Bob & Doug McKenzie always made a big deal about back bacon. Had any of that - eh? Based on how folks are dressed in some of the pictures, it looks like it gets chilly at night. Stay safe and enjoy the scenery and occasional solitude.
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