Cirque Update Tomorrow - Sorry for not posting ride update before I went in ...
July 10:
186 km to Grand Prairie, Alberta. 830-830. Wet, wet, wet ... & grimy. About a 15 km downhill to start the ride down over a cool metal/wood bridge & low clouds in the densely wooded valleys. Then a 25 km climb ... no, wait ... make that a series of climbs up onto the Grand Plateau, then a long series of rolling hills with intermittent long climbs. Past coal plants, coal mines, gas plants, landfills, toxic waste sites ... eew. When I stopped for lunch in the rain at a gravel picnic area, Curtis invited me into his trailer for some place dry to eat. His 3 kids - Nathan, Cali, & Corey - were adorably showing me flashlights, coloring books, & hairy cookies dropped on the carpet. Fun! Curtis was waiting for his father-in-law to rescue them from transmission failure on his truck & I left just as he arrived. The bike computer stopped working again. It's really frustrating to not know how far I have yet to go so when I saw the GP 100 km sign around 2:00 I thought I had a shot at making it. The 70 km sign at 4:00 was also encouraging. Troy, a young framer, stood by the side of the road, shaking his head, "I couldn't believe that sign on your bike, dude!" Wanting a picture ... Inexplicably, there was a little trailer kitchen at Cutbank River so I had a Smokie Sausage & an Orange Crush while Eileen told me a story about some dingbat who left his camper parked too close to the rising water - it was washed downstream overnight! & a story someone incredulously told yesterday about a fellow "camped right alongside the road the other day!" "That was me!," I exclaimed. A long climb followed so it wasn't til 6:00 that I saw the 50 km sign. The gears, chain, & brakes were getting worn & loosened by the accumulating road grit & I futiley rinsed them. I saw the half-eaten remains - open chest cavity - of a moose. Cool but gross. Tired, the road finally became flat but there were no mileage signs until 12 km left. Then there was a steep 20 minute climb that I grr'd through standing up, sweating like a mother & getting buzzed by the increasing traffic. At the 1st stoplight I discovered I had no brakes - the road slurry had completely worn the disc brake pads. Scarey! I found a hotel, hosed down the bike, bags, & my raingear then jumped in the shower. I talked to Rae before & after a 2 Whopper BK dinner (yuck! But it was already 9:00 & it was right across the street). Stretched, beer, cold medicine, bed ... Tired but not as desperately so as the last 2 days. Rain in the forecast all week. Coughing in morning & at night now. Hmmm ...
July 11:
146 km to Farmington, BC (10 miles north of Mile 0 of the Alaskan Highway (Hwy 97) in Dawson Creek). 1000-730. No rain til late in the day ... Frustrating day with two great gifts! The terrain was all rolling hills. Tailwind creates tag-along swarms of mosquitos on steeper climbs. Brake adjustment in the morning was nearly ineffective & it nearly cost me when a befuddled old man almost pinched me into our guardrail at high speed. PBS called & really like my adventure as a story idea for a PBS TV promotion, relating to my enthusiasm for Ken Burn's National Park series. Jon was very enthusiastic & fun to talk to. Just before Dawson Creek, it unleashed a storm on me. Question: why does the muck created by cars end up being the shit on the shoulder that I have to ride through? More brake, chain, & gear slurry & I'm not only wet but messy. Oh, & did I mention that this mess wears off the bug juice so that whenever I stop, I'm bitten by another swarm of mosquitos? Griffin's is the only bike shop in town & they sucked. Overpriced. Limited selection. Staffed by a young nimrod know-it-all who sold me a wireless computer when I specifically said, "No wireless. Too fickle." & brake pads to big by a (critical) smidge. Gift 1: Melanie runs the RV park / golf course at which I stopped for the night & she offers to let me work on the bike in the golf mechanic's shop. Dry, warm, tools, ... grinder. Brake discs are modified & fit in within 15 minutes. Yes! I have braking power again! Then I discover the computer is wireless. It has a cable for pedal cadence, which confused Jr. Oh ... & it doesn't work. Grrr. Davon is a local bad kid going good with the help of Jon, Melanie's husband & the fellow who approved my use of the grinder. Davon's interesting to talk to & he's also helpful in securing gift 2: 1/2 oz of BC kind! Yum! Quick late dinner. No stretch. Everything but bag, clothes, & yoga mat are wet & most are filthy. I do not sleep well as rain hammers the tent. Dreading tomorrow as the drive train's roaching itself with the road slurry.
July 12:
140 km to near Wonowon, BC. 830-800. Jon made my breakfast even though their kitchen isn't really open for this early in the wet season they're having. Two egg & meat sandwiches & fruit. Yum! Messy getting out of the mud & gravel RV park, the road is mercifully dry but it's obviously been too much for the drive train. Pointy teeth on all three chain rings, both derailluer pullies, & 1/2 the cassette. So in Ft. St. John, I find Ferris Fast Cyclery run by Pat, a super knowledgeble, helpful, & enthusiastic guy running a top quality shop with good selection & appropriate prices. & he won't even SELL wireless computers! "Too fickle," he says! Ha! He only has 9-speed cassettes but I'm running friction shifting now, not index, so I get started installing my new crankset & pullies, Pat replaces the cassette & sets the chain length. Just helping. No charge. Nice. I'm tuning the derailleur on my way out of there only 2 hours down, convinced I have a shot at Wonowon, where Jon says there's food & cabins, about which I'm stoked if it rains again. But it doesn't! All day! All day! Hills are many in this terrain. The breaks downhill are recuperative til very late in the day, when starting another hill brings a notable taughtness of fatique. But I make steady progress, deciding based on what I wanted to do before sleep - set up camp, stretch, adjust front derailleur (again), simple rice & Tasty Bite in tortillas dinner, put up bear line, write - that I'd pull over at the 1st suitable spot that came up between 730 & 8, by which I thought I'd make Wonowon. I find a decent roadside spot. Gravel. No mud. Reasonably flat. Dry area big enough for tent & yoga mat. Yellow flowers abuzz with fat honeybees. Sunshine breaking through steadily in a long sunset, revealing the 1st cloudless stretch of sky I've seen in days. Those flowers alight forever as I have a fantastic, connected-to-the-world, great progress-after-so-many-consecutive-wet-hard-days stretch. It's just crisp enough to keep the mosquitos tolerably down. A bright white, nearly full moon rises in the still pale blue sky & lingers above the treeline while I make & eat dinner. I am happy. Great mileage. The rig feels ready with all the investment (despite the frustration of not having a functioning computer). I feel humbly adventurous. Not out there - trucks rolling by til at least 11 - but remoter than I think I've been thus far. Knowing I have a reasonable shot at Watson Lake by mid-day the 18th because I can put miles in under difficult circumstances day after day. I'm kinda tough & I dig it. Well ... when I'm not whinging about how horrid something is! Hahaha! Great day of touring.
July 13:
208 km (129 miles, farthest of this tour). 8-10. I awoke early after sleeping well, despite persistent coughing as I fell asleep. I spread everything out in the low horizon sun, make oatmeal with raisins, syrup, & granola, & hot cocoa. Meditated. Packed. Uphill for what turned out to be 4 miles to Wonowon (I couldn't know that last night since I DON'T HAVE A WORKING COMPUTER!), where I eat 2nd breakfast & have coffee. Yum! Childishly, I'm still mad at Griffin's & frustrated throughout the day not knowing how far I've gone nor how far to go. Important in this very sparsely populated Interior. Lots of hills today early into Pink Mountain where I ate 2nd lunch: cheeseburger & ice cream added to 2 PBJs & handful upon handful of jerky, gummi bears, candy bars, & GORP. Into Buckinghorse River for what I decided would be dinner at 6: another cheeseburger & fries. Now I'm at Alaska Highway Mile 173 & wanting to get at least to Mile 200. Thinking I'd pull over at the best looking spot between 830-900, stretch, snack, sleep. Nope. I got reminded there are bears out here when 2 juvenile grizzlies 20 m off the road noticed me pedal by. Hanging food is a hassle so I wanted to stay where there's people & bear boxes, which meant I was gunning for Prophet River PP & what I thought could be a 120 mile day ...there was no mile or km for the PP marked on the map. But I am beastly strong today in this my second straight day of no rain &, get this, it was sunny! & hot at times! Awesome! Two big climbs leaving Buckinghorse then it's gloriously powerful riding on remarkably easier terrain (many fewer & far gentler rollers plus an overall downhill). It's getting late after I roll well past 100 miles - I now notice they have km markers on the highway every 5 km - when I spot Chris on the opposite side of the road, remounting his Honda 600. I ask about the PP & he vaguely suggests maybe 20 km further. Nope, though I'm really riding strong, grateful I managed to feed myself so often today, so I don't really care. It's crisp but not cold. The sun lingers forever, dancing through the treeline orange & bright. I spot motorbikers camped at a river pullout, well after I think I should've seen the PP & just having determined that I should ride the 20 km (I think) into Prophet River. Whew! There's also a touron here & a car's pulled in since I crawled into the tent, desperately trying to avoid letting the incessant mosquito swarm in with me. Completely satisfied with my performance & attitude on a beautifully, rare sunny day through truly wild country of dense boreal forest & the tallest aspens I've ever seen. Still there is the presence of extractive industries. The towns now are really camps for work crews with some restaurant & convenience store across the highway. Will easily make Ft. Nelson tomorrow early enough to have a shop look at the computer & re-stock for a big 3 1/2 day push to Watson Lake, 335 miles from Ft. Nelson. Within striking distance if I crank out big, near 100 mile days so that I can get there by noon the 18th. Cirque of the Unclimbables on the near horizin! Holy shit! Yea!
July 14:
125 km to Ft. Nelson. 700-300. Spoke too soon ... Awoke to make breakfast & repack in a swarm of mosqitos, who were joined in the swarm as I rode by flies & black flies. Hundreds of dragonflies dodged as I came through. Lunch of PBJ behind a shady company sign on the only groomed grass in 200 km but sun turned to thunderstorm as I came into Ft. Nelson. Then started debugging the POS wireless bike computer & managed to stab my hamd pretty deeply with my knife trying to get tie wraps off. Bled steadily all the rest of the day. Drugstore for cough syrup. Bike store for wired bike computer (thanks, CBC Sports & Louie for 10% off). It's getting later now (5pm), thunderstorming, & the PP is 56 km away. I decided a hotel was in order. After showering, I noticed there was a passel of rough work crew drinking outside their rooms & they were wanting to know what was wrong with, me biking this far. Dean, Jeremy, & 2 already drunk guys, Earl & Morris. Dean was super nice, bandaging my wounded hand, giving me leftover pizza, & sharing stories from his rough young life, starting on his own at 14. We had a good time talking about roughnecking lifestyle, where everything's free (food, hotel, gas, truck, ...) & the pay's good (Dean made $138K last year). They order me more pizza & some wings for 1st dinner. I'd met Asian motorbikers outside the drugstore & they'd invited me to dinner. Jody & Ethel, Kendall & Lynda are from the SF area, riding the loop for vacation. Jody was a hoot, German-Japanese heritage ("they lost the war," says Ethel), & an old football coach. They paid for my dinner - too sweet. Exhausted, talking to Rae, falling asleep. No stretch - stupid. Room to hot trying to dry wet clothes. Hard to fall asleep. Rain. Thunder. Weariness creeping in.
July 15:
151 km to Summit Lake CG in Stone Mountain PP. 900-900. Trouble getting started - still tired. Put on new (wired) bike computer. Crappy buffet breakfast at cafe but great chat with Rae. Rain started just out of town & continued all day. Met Rob from Wales & Swiss-German Regula from Whitehorse - funny tourons riding together for a bit. He's going to Columbia & she to Calgary. Super hard, steep, wet, windy, cold climb up Steamboat Pass then a mercifully steep downhill into Tetsa River for warm, homemade cinnamon buns. Out of there & into the rain at 630 for the final 30 km, low grade push to Summit Lake PP CG. Set up & cooked in rain, fell into sack exhausted, tight, & cold. Too tired to get dressed again so I can get out & stake the rainfly, which I failed to do in my cold, wet stupor. Cough very persistent now.
July 16:
171 km to Laird Hotsprings CG. 700-630. Up early, then oatmeal, cocoa, & cinnamon bun in tent. Packed in tent. Pad definitely leaking air - damn. Wet tent. Wet pad. Wet Craig. Rain let up by Toad River where I had 2nd breakfast & with WiFi but no signal, emailed Rae. Her reply induced tears & I struggled the rest of the day emotionally. One hard climb to Muncho Lake, then a hundred rollers. One juvenile caribou, a dozen bighorn sheep (all females & kids), & one huge bison. I met Ken & Linda taking bison pictures & they were under the picnic area cover when I arrived wet at Laird HS CG. It'd been threatening all day, but it was a huge disappointment to have the downpour start when I saw the 2km to PP sign. Grr. Anyway, despite the rain, things began to go better. Ken & Linda work in education for the Alberta university system, are from NZ, & fed me smokies, salad, salmon, cheese, crackers, & beer. Then I stretched briefly before Denny & his family offered 2nd dinner: steak & beans. A loooong soak in the beautiful hot springs. With the tent set up under the picnic cover, things were drying out, & I was warm, loose, & dry for a change. Cough persistent, though. Pad deflated. But anticipate sleeping well since I'm tired & loose.
July 17:
212 km to Watson Lake. 730-800. Up early, intent on making the 165 km to Iron Lake in the Yukon, leaving just 53 km to Watson Lake for tomorrow. Left in fog but it soon burned off to reveal bright sun, a fast running Liard River, & rolling, densely treed hills. A herd of a dozen bison on the roadside were startled by the bike - calves scattering with their mothers & 3 young bulls tore down the shoulder ahead of me for 3 km or so. Awesome sight! More huge bison lounging & rolling in the dust around another curve. I pulled into Coal River for 2nd breakfast, yummy Hungry Man (eggs, great potatoes, bacon, sausage, ham, & coffee) served all day. As I was leaving around 1230 Wes, Quinn, & Giovanni pulled in! Wow, was it great to see them! Excited hugs, intro to Gio (who is a tiny but good-looking & very well-built Columbian), unload all my gear into their car, & rip out of there light & powerful. It's so easy to push the empty bike with all the towing power now under the hood & I adjusted to the squirreliness within 10 km. They caught up after eating & then met me every 30-45 km for the entire SUPPORTED 150 km to Watson Lake! I was so excited to be in the Yukon! Seeing that sign meant it was getting even wilder! I saw 5 black bears, so small that when I saw one I thought it was a cub til I got closer & saw the 2 tiny cubs with her. Pictures at the Watson Lake sign, then soon I saw my support team at the side of the road hanging next to a crazy van with 2 former Tucson Nimbus dudes - Mike & Eric - on a roaring, crazy adventure. Intent on working in Homer this summer to make money for a South American jaunt, they're living the dirtbag dream & happy, funny, generous dudes. The four amigos went & found dinner, then we made a quick run to the grocery store for dessert & beer before going to find Mike & Eric's poached campsite. Mike pestered Gio for an hour about finding his dream girl, any dark-haired gal named "Catalina" who might like a wierd dirtbag. Together, these two crazies had developed a complicated movie script based largely on mosquitos, which was a fun way to kill all the time they're spending together. Now I'm hoping to run into them around Anchorage when I get there. 2nd dinner was fresh-caught but oversalted trout with Hagen Daz dessert & a few beers. Very tired despite the easy riding as I'd pushed hard to finish the ride into WL today for a complete rest day tomorrow. The last hard 2 weeks of riding are over & my body needs rest.
Wednesday, August 3, 2011
Saturday, July 9, 2011
FLASK June 27 - July 9
FLASK June 27-July 9
June 27:
86 miles to Eureka, MT. 830-630. Perfect day all around. Up early to egg & fruit breakfast from Rafael then loaded gear in the pick-up for the drive down to Lakeside park & a warm goodbye. Rolling hills through Flathead Valley into Kalispell for a lovely chat with Rae, cinnamon roll, coffee, veggies, & a buzzcut at the local barber. Easy riding then into Happy Valley & Whitefish where I made the big score: repaired Chaco sandals at the post office (finally!) plus new passport & Smith Optics sunglass frames waiting at Glacier Cyclery & Nordic! OMG! Whew! After a tuna sandwich & apple in the park it was easy but bad shoulder riding out of town through Potter's Field along the treed Dalish Mountains, which are noticeably losing their snow in the 1st warm, windless riding I've had in awhile. Mmmm ... Into Olney for a snack where toothless Ben suggested nice free camping 15 miles up the road at Murphy Lake, but I saw a touron right as I got back on Hwy 93 & this Ben (funny!) said to ride on to Eureka for $10 tenting with showers & restaurants. A gentle tailwind had developed so it felt reasonable to exceed the meager mileage I'd planned for my 1st day back on the bike in a week, even though I'd had some leg quivering at a brief rest around mile 60. It was pretty going through the Grave Creek watershed past Dickey & Murphy lakes & into the Kootenai NF & I arrived at the RV park feeling just a little tired under threatening skies. I had sharp but manageable hip pain all day (too much walking with a heavy pack & not enough stretching recently) so I had a nice long effective stretch after setting up the tent & changing clothes (I got to wear shorts all evening for the 1st time since ... Texas?). Christian arrived on a BMW GS1200 - he was dumped from a 13 year relationship so told work to find someone else while he did a long tour. A Swiss-German program manager living in Switzerland he was great company so we decided to have dinner & beers together at the lounge, where he gleefully consumed 3 Sierra Nevadas in his 1st introduction to the US's best commercial beer. He described the 26 cantons & smaller communities within them & their intricate voting & tax system, in which everyone votes on where the money is spent for the country, canton, & community - saying it was simple because people knew its efficiencies & the need for the common good. Sigh ... His insights into touring solo - fighting off bad headspace, finding joy in being alone, being outside, meeting interesting people everywhere, freedom of daily choice - matched mine & we shared a great evening rambling before turning in under still bright skies struggling to close down the long, beautiful sunset. He handed over a Canadian NP pass - hell, yes! - & I gifted him my remaining bud. Pretty good exchange at the border, eh? 8 miles to Canada tomorrow ... exciting. I cooed at Rae til she purred then went to sleep, my cold sufficiently abated to skip the Robitussin.
June 28:
82 miles to Wasa Lake, BC. 900-600. I rolled 2 miles downhill to town for breakfast at Cafe Jax, exchanging a quick hello-goodbye with Christian, who came in as I was leaving. 11 miles to the border where I took pics in the bike jersies then waited while they checked the record on my 1995 Destruction of Property arrest. Why do they say the record is expunged when I took the anger management class but Canadian authorities can look it up? BS, if you ask me ... Lovely, strong 32K (20 miles) ride to Elko where I stopped at the Dairy Bar for a cheeseburger & oreo twist (like a DQ Blizzard). Jane, Jess, & Claire asked me to sit at their picnic table ("You've probably been alone too long."). Jess had been Claire's 1st babysitter & Jess said, "Now she's mine." Claire was a professional quilter & Jane was a minister. Claire gave good beta on a scenic cut-off road to Ft. Simpson so I rode along the Kootenai & Bull rivers next to a stunning knife ridge. Ft. Simpson wanted $26 for a tentsite & $6 for WiFi access! Thanks but "F#@* off!" It was an easy 18K (do you like how easily I've adapted to the metric system?) roll to Wassa Lake where there's a provincial CG but locals said it was $21! Murray was a junk bike dealer & offered me his camper but implied he wanted $20 for it. No, thanks - $10 camping next door. The diner doesn't open til 10AM so I kindly asked if she'd cook me a scramble to box up for the morning - yea! Then picked up a Kootenay 6-pack, stretched, made dinner (quinua, green pepper, onion, garlic, & spicy sauce), washed up in a cold water outside sink to wipe off the grime from a wonderfully warm, sunny day of riding - also, yea! - & turned in. Rae's changed me (us?) to a Canada phone plan but I'm roaming so reluctant to call ... I really miss her.
June 29:
108K (66 miles) to Invernese, BC. 900-700. Slept poorly last night - no bud for the 1st time in awhile, plus it decided to sprinkle around midnight so I had to put on clothes to avoid the mosquito swarm outside to slap up the rainfly, then I had to pee & let that swarm in the tent to pester me the rest of the night. So I slept in with a shirt over my eyes before rallying to face that swarm for my cold egg breakfast & packing up. The caretaker came by in a rain slicker, pants, & rubber boots to tell me this was the worst it's ever been & that lingering snow on this side of the Rockies in June hadn't happened in 60 years. The whole time he's talking I'm just being bitten all to hell & the swarm seemed to follow me for about 9K, in part due to a consistent tailwind (yea!). I stopped at a small store run by a gal & her daughter from Amsterdam & meditated by a great little pond out front, which removed the tension from the morning's bites & the impluse to ride too hard that often results when I feel a tailwind (I know - wierd, huh?). I chatted with a tree surveyer of 30 years & got good beta on some free hotsprings in Fairmont. From there I used the tailwind to do a 48K continuous pull with the Rockies to my right, the Selkirks to my left, & stunning valley scenery all around. Into a rest area over the Columbia Lake - the source of the Columbia River that hits the Pacific in Astoria, OR - where I met Orecht, an 80-year-old mechanical engineer & former climber who got his PhD at Iowa State. Then I got to talk to Bob & Shari. It was their 48th anniversary & she'd just been released from the hospital after an abdominal emergency. She was wearing hospital bottoms & Bob's shirt & she giggled like mad when I said it was an anniversary she'd never forget. At the bottom of the hill I stopped to chat with Devina, a 22-year-old Aussie riding with all her possessions - including a ukelele hanging in a bag from her shoulder! - from Montreal to Vancouver. Adorable gal, wearing a cute, tattered dress, leather flat-soled boots, & a knit cap under her helmet. Soon I hit Fairmont & got groceries, mailed postcards, & called Rae. When we hung up, Jon & Gabriella - Romanian immigrants living in Windsor, vacationing in Fairmont, & with a place in Navarre Beach (just down the road from Panama City, FL, where I started!) - had circled back after an initial round of friendly chatter to insist I come to their timeshare to meet their family & have soup. Typical Europeans with big hearts they kept putting food in front of me & I felt like Kris Kringle in Rudolph The Red-Nosed Reindeer: "Eat, Papa, eat! Nobody likes a skinny Santa," insisted Mrs. Claus! Bill, Mariella, & another grandparent (whose name escaped me), plus their adorable 6-year-old, Jonathon (building his own paper pinwheel) were sweet as could be & I left reluctantly after an hour. Jon & Bill drove me back to the store where my bike - & abandoned-by-the-A/C-outlet-in-haste glasses case - were waiting undisturbed. The wind had changed & rain developed so I pulled over for Skookum pie (a local 6 berry concoction) & coffee in Windermere, where I got to see 6 antlered deer wander over the road! The rain intensified so I waited ... & waited to get back on the road so I have a better chance of making Lake Louise tomorrow night & maximizing potential climbing days. It finally let up around 6pm & the wind had died down so it was an easy 16K along the scenic Stanford Range to Dry Gulch Provincial Park (PP) CG near Invermere. I put up the tent after spraying (bug juice), stretched, did some strength, & ate rice, peppers, onion, garlic, & Tasty Bite with poptarts for dessert. While washing dishes I met Steve, a Czech immigrant cab-driver from Toronto, & he brought over some Bud Lights. His wife, Nadia, was a worrier who never came out of the rented RV & made him put duct tape & a hose clamp I had over the fresh water overflow pipe. No amount of reason worked to allay her unfounded fears that water dripping on the ground was somehow bad. Anyway, Steve peppered me with questions about touring, the bike, & my life & I was able to tease a few nuggets from him. He left Czeckoslovakia in 1988 while it was still communist & before it splintered into the Czech Republic & Slovakia, & related a story that motivated his departure. As a kid he often visited family that lived near the Iron Curtain & would play at a nearby creek. He could see a river from there but couldn't get to it without being shot & he said he felt like he was "living in a cage & wanted freedom." We talked til he noticed Nadia preparing for bed & gave me a bear hug along with warm wishes.
June 30:
96K (58 miles) to Marble Canyon CG in Kootenay NP, BC. I slept well so awoke early & easily dismantled camp (bug-free), left a note for Steve asking him to text an address for a postcard from Alaska, then rolled down into Radium. It was somehow too early at 730 for breakfast anywhere so I meditated, then went into the Husky gas station restaurant, which had been recommended by the Skookum pie folks. Dan & Dawn chatted me up immediately & invited me to their table. Dan was a bad-ass, shaved head motorbiker with goth clothing & Dawn was a petite blond. We swapped stories of divorces, unruly children, & bar fights - okay, mostly Dan's because he bounces at a biker blues bar in Edmunton. His custom motorbike had all kinds of handmade, re-purposed stuff, including goth image tank & fenders, chainmail, armor gloves with the middle finger extended on the forks, & a cayman leather seat & arched backrest. They were nice enough to buy my breakfast & gave big, hearty hugs as we parted. The 11K 11% climb to Kootenay NP's Sinclair Pass took 2 hours but it was such a wonderfully scenic canyon that it went by quickly. Then a screaming 7% descent into the glorious Rocky Mountain Trench (so big, you can see it from space) with the Kootenay River roaring full along its length & peaks shrouded in clouds. Stunning. Jaw-droppingly beautiful. Just why I came this way & not even a moment of disappointment, even during a brief bout of rain. As I was leaving Kootenay Lodge & saying bye to some Toronto tourists, I heard, "Craig!" It was Jon, Gabriella, & Bill - my Windsor Romanians. Smiles, hugs, pictures ... just like yesterday. Too, too sweet. They're on their way to Canmore to round out their vacation & honked merrily as they drove past me 5 minutes later. Still wonderful scenery kept coming but I was feeling gassed today & stopped again to eat, then when I saw the Marble Canyon CG sign, turned in & saw that to get to Lake Louise I'd have to do another Continental Divide crossing in the 45K remaining - not happening. I saw some bikes in one campsite so turned in to say "Hi" but, honestly, they looked at me like I had some visible virus & turned away! Really?! Maybe foreign ...? Who knows but, still ... really?! After a few minutes I saw Travis pull in on a nice BMW F800ST & we agreed to share the $21 site. He's a University of Wisonsin Green Bay sophomore studying human biology & planning to go to chiropracty school. Raised cattlw as a 4Her, bought a sailboat, sailed every summer solo, sold it, & bought that motorbike witg the $6000. OK, as soon as I finished writing that ... the "rude" touron came over. Simple language problem ... Klaus is German &, well, amazing. A ski jumper & hockey player as a youth, he studied civil engineering, built bridges, had a family, then, at 50, asked, "Is this all?" So he talked his new wife, Doris, into touring. They were touring the Hawiian islands when he saw Ironman. A year later he does one in Germany, takes 3rd in his age group at age 64 & qualifies for Kona! He does this qualify-Kona for a few years then decides to tour the world - with Doris - & do Ironman in different places & ends up with the 32 best Ironman times in the 60-69 age group. & they were the oldest couple ever to tour the world! Now 72 he & Doris (63) were to fly into Anchorage in May to start a 10,000K tour up to Prudhoe Bay, down to Montana & up to Boston but she broke her arm mountain biking so they had to wait to start & are "only" doing 6,000K from Vancouver ...! & here I thought they were rude! Ha! They're so nice, humble, & interesting. His blog's www.hoehles-challenge.de - check it out (even though it's in German, the homepage photo is amazing)! Met Anne from Creston at the bathroom & she'd toured Australia & both islands of New Zealand with her girlfriend, "a Swedish bombshell, being harassed the entire time!" Ha! Unfortunately, she had no bud with her but was kind enough to offer her home when I'm next in BC. After stretching, I joined Travis, Klaus, & Doris at the campfire of Kathy & Don, who tried to explain how environmentally concientious his tar sands industry was ... I listened politely, then excused myself when a light patter of rain began. The tent has become comfortably familiar ...
July 1:
Happy Canada Day! 50K to Lake Louise. 830-1130. Awoke early to try to ensure I'd get a campsite on Canada Day. Quick oatmeal breakfast & byes to Travis, Klaus, & Doris, then on the bike for the 10K over Vermillion Pass (my 7th Continental Divide crossing). Much, much greater effort than the relatively easy grade would have suggested as I was just gassed for some reason. At the end of the downhill & as I turned onto Hwy 1 I saw Ricardo & Jen, who were just a few km into their 3-day Golden Triangle tour (Banff, Golden, Radium). They had recent MBAs & worked as investment bankers & oil business consultants ... hmm. They rode really too hard for me so after 15K I excused myself for an eating break & rode the last 12K into a cold headwind with intermittent snow on my own. Thr CG queue took awhile to get through but I got a site inside the tent area - surrounded by an electrified bear fence. Tent up quickly before a nice hot soup, coffee, & sandwich in the village amongst a crush of tourists - feeling as alone as I've felt on the trip. Melancholy & tired I called Rae & commenced sobbing. Being here without her after such a wonderful, memorable trip with her in 2007 was just too much in my state ... After the call, I fired off a dozen texts in an effort to connect with friends & family. In a fantastic surprise, Brett & Laura responded & met me at a village coffee shop! I've seen them so often since Yellowstone that they feel like family to me now, so we made plans for dinner. I rode on up toward Louise Lake to sightsee & stopped at a little trailhead parking lot for a look around: a huge silvertip grizzly sow & 2 cubs were eating in a meadow within 150m & I had them more or less to myself for 45 minutes until they wandered out of sight! Wow! On to Deer Lodge for more coffee (stupid), email, facebook, & a nice but emotional call to Hogan. I zoomed downhill, ditched the bike at the tent, & walked along the river to dinner. Brett & Laura are really a wonderful, caring, intelligent, fun couple & we talked all evening over some delicious appetizers, pizza, 2 pitchers of beer - love, religion, energy, kids ... Nothing was skipped & I so enjoyed listening to them, watching them interact so caringly, & sharing. They leave for North Carolina tomorrow so the evening ended with tight embraces & a promise that when we saw each other next - & I don't doubt I will - I'd have Rae with me. It was a lovely moonlit walk back to camp along the river under snowy, staggered peaks. I met a young Asian guy from Ohio taking long exposure pictures - check out his website: www.yiminghu.com - good stuff. Into the familiar tent feeling better.
July 2:
Slept poorly. Meditated, walked to the village for postcards & breakfast (horrible service), & some beers to stash in the river for tonight. Stretched, lunch of PBJ & bananas, then a powerful (no trailer! & rested) ride to the lodge where I immediately spotted Nicholas & Jen with climbing packs & they happily invited me along - yea! I got my ass handed to me trying to follow a sporty 11+ but otherwise climbed well enough & thoroughly enjoyed the day. We talked politics on the easy trail out - sensible Canadians both working non-profits (please visit www.friendsofkananaskis.org to see what Nicholas is doing with park environmental work & volunteers - it's quite inspiring). Again, a rip-roaring descent to drop off the bike then a pleasant walk along the river to the grill/pub to see if I can find some bud. No luck until a former inmate, Travis, plops next to me & lets fly a torrent of f-bombs about anything & everything: his stripper ex-wife, pistol-whipping the dude she was cheating with, the CG warden "pissing on my f%#*ing parade" about his illegal fire! Too funny! Talked to Rae on the still-light-at-11 walk to the tent & it was not a sobbing mess this time. Late, cold dinner of rice & Tasty Bite - pretty decent, actually - then bed.
July 3:
64K to Waterfall CG in Jasper NP. 130-630. Awoke early, peed, & crawled back into the bag as it was too early for anything. Up again around 8, meditated til the bugs coerced me to get out of camp, walked to the village for coffee & a yummy breakfast burrito at the Trailhead Cafe. A lovely gal walked in: fine & fit & about my age - fantastic legs. She & her handsome partner sat next to me outside as the rain started & easily engaged me in conversation. Debra & Vern were in their 50s, climbed, tramped, mountaineered, & loved outdoors so we enthusiastically shared & they were enthralled with my adventure & asked for the blog. Hugs at parting - isn't it grand how energy & shared interest can create immediately deep connections like that?! I wandered the village delaying decisions about what to do as rain fell on this forecasted sunny day ... then bought a detailed roadmap, discussed my route with the shop owner, popped into the sports store for a mosquito hat, replacement poop trowel, climbing chalk, & a decent set of binoculoars. Another gal I'd noticed twice in the last few days came up to say Hi. Mary's an Aussie who sold her computer business because 1 week vacations were "spent in fancy hotels, watching TV, doing silly guided tours, & fussing over the neglected work piling up at home." On a trip to Hawaii she met folks who encouraged her to see the Canadian Rockies, so she bought tickets & talked herself into staying at hostels rather than hotels, &, of course, the people & conversations began to expand & change her in ways she "hadn't imagined." How glorious! She was hopping on a bus to Vancouver intending then to fly to San Francisco because she thought that sounded wonderfully adventurous, & eagerly changed her plans so as to experience train travel when I assured her it was a more liesurely, friendly, & beautiful way to get there. At 57, she looked absolutely bouyant heading for the bus. The rain finally eased enough for me to decide that riding would be better than a muddy tramp up Fairview Mountain or a vain attempt to find climbing partners on wet rock, so I broke camp, ate, washed & bandaged the returned & unwelcome scrotum sore, & called Rae - which became stimulating way too quickly - before setting out. Intent on not riding hard since I was creating an extra day that would make the 1750K to Watson Lake easier, I dawdled up long, gradual climbs into the Banff NP ice fields. OMG! I apologize in advance for my language but - Oh My Fucking God! Fan-fucking-tastically unbelievable, indescribable scenerey ... the peaks, hanging blue glaciers, ridges, snowfields, & ice blue lakes unfolded as if out of my mind, though in such profusion & with such granduer that I could never have conjured it because it was just so fucking improbable. Utterly, swimmingly, stunningly, mind-blowing! Bow Glacier ... ungodly. Peaks as triangular & steep as the Eiger. Hanging glaciers clustered between & below majestic, forever ridges, low clouds, high clouds, beams of sunlight picking a feature to irridesce as though to single out stunning feature after feature ... I cannot describe how many times I saw something so resonant with the core of my being & uttered, "No way ..." Speechless. Breathless. Awe-struck. Filled with wonder, delight, energy, desire, & feeling for once that I was in my ideal playland & the most magnificent art gallery simultaneously. Literally, the most beautiful stretch of riding I could possibly imagine, much less experience. Unbelievable. ... Midway through I pull over to chat with another touron & then get to share the wonder & glory of it all with an equally stricken soon-to-be friend, Mike. He left Denver 4 weeks ago, following a similar, though not identical route to Lake Louise, which he also left in early afternoon today. A 49-year-old literature prof at University of Colorado Denver, he's riding to Jasper, taking a train to Vancouver, then touring down the coast until late July. Great guy, easy to talk with (though, by his admission after a few tourist encounters at scenic pullouts, not as gregarious as am I! Ha!), & a similar rider, we enjoyed & discussed the beauty & feeling of every vista. We saw what Mike had heard a Yellowstone ranger call a "bearjam" for a black bear sow & 2 small cubs but decided not to melieu. I liked what Mike related about his exchange at the park entrance: when he said he owed also for Kootenay NP, the guy wanted to waive it but Mike replied, "No, you guys haven't cheated me with all this beauty so I won't cheat you." We stopped at Waterfowl Lake CG, chatted with the neighboring camphosts (they'd seen, talked to, & thoroughly enjoyed Klaus & Doris only a few days ago!), made camp, met Mathius (a German taking a 1 1/2 year tour from Anchorage to Tierra del Fuego, Argentina!), stretched, cooked, ate, built a fire in the covered picnic's stove, & chatted til late. I sit now before a tumbling, melodic tributary creek under a clear light-blue night sky under soaring peaks laden with early summer snow & hanging glaciers, as happy as I've yet been with the adventure, unwilling to crawl into the tent despite the late hour because the scene before me holds me captive ... I want Rae to share it with but don't lament her absence because I know that she wants me to experience this beauty deeply & fully & completely while I'm in it. And so ... I do ...
July 4:
Happy Independence Day! 70K to Columbia Icefield CG in Jasper NP. 830-530. I know I tried to describe yesterday in such a way as to relate the beauty as meaningfully as I experienced it. Today I am as likely to fail in describing the wonder of this day. Mike's an early riser do I matched him & was up before 7. He suggested I take my camera to the picnic area & I got some wonderful shots of the morning sun on dramatic snowy peaks & their reflections in the still pond. Oatmeal & hot chocolate, cleaned & bandaged scrotum, packed up, we were rolling by 830 but stopped immediately outside the CG - floored by the scene to the west. Dramatic peaks, couliours, cornices, & connecting ridges, long scree fields at the base of rocky spires to the east offering contrast. Rolling downhill, bundled against the cold morning chill, ooh-ing & aah-ing for 12 gloriously scenic miles (20K) to a mediocre but expensive buffet 2nd breakfast at a lodge cum filling station. On the way, a black bear popped onto the opposite shoulder not 20m ahead but loud popping made it turn back into the brush. Fed we rolled another 22K downhill in bright sunshine - warmer now. Many supported tourons smiled & waved as the pushed up the long climb to Bow Pass. We picniced just below our one long climb, embarassed to see a half dozen huge RVs dispatch a gaggle of Americans who immediately planted US flags & star-spangled picnic paraphenalia everywhere. Time to move on. The climb offered more dramatic hanging glaciers, a spectacular plunging waterfall under a high bridge that couldn't be seen by motorists, & a tailwind push us up the steepest section to a pullout. Eric from near Montreal came over with goblets of orange juice, 2 Irishmen from Dingle & Cork celebrated our adventure & we re-commenced the push to Sunwapta Pass with joyous hearts. Near the top we shared southbound Glacier NP beta with Quebec tourons who'd recently left St. George. The easy final 3K was followed by a photo stop at the Banff-Jasper park line, though I had to goad Mike into the pictures since he appears to like only photos of his Surly Long Haul steed. The Columbia Icefield CG (tents only) sits below the stunning Athebasca summit & its attendant glacier. Up with the tent, stretch, then a nice, warm roll 2K down to the lodge for an expensive dinner with an expansive view of summit & glacier in bright late evening sun. An easy & still warm ride back up to camp as the sun dipped below the ridgeline, with spindrift off the snowy corniced ridhes visible in its last rays. Mike & I really enjoy each other's company so we'll do a glacier tour in the morning & ride 75K to the Athebasca Lake hostel tomorrow. With a full day of sunshine & stunning scenery, this may have displaced yesterday as the best riding day thus far, & the CG exceeds the wonders of last night's spot because the peaks are less obscured by trees. This adventure got many returns today for the effort & poor weather of the last month.
July 5:
76K (46 miles) to Athebasca Falls hostel in Jasper NP. 1200-530. Happy Birthday, Dad! Again, a nearly indescribably beautiful, scenic day in the sunshine riding in this amazing terrain. We did the $50 glacier tour & it was worth it just for the fun facts: cellular damage to trees from windwhipped ice & dirt preventing limb growth, Columbia Icefield is the only hydrological apex feeding 3 oceans (Pacific, Atlantic, & Arctic), & alpine & sub-alpine plants - including a 700-year-old ancient forest tucked into a protected moraine feature. We left at noon after an expensive lodge lunch then stopped so often for pictures that it felt like a series of very short stretches on the bike with bewitching scenery begging us to slow down more to immerse ourselves in it & contemplate the magnitude. I failed to stop at Tangle Falls because the car scene looked so chaotic but Mike showed me his pictures of it last night & all I can say is that I hope I learned my lesson. At Sumwapta Falls I approached a fellow to shoot a picture of me & asked where he was from. "Why?," he said. "Oh sorry. Just curious ... Would you snap a pic of me doing something crazy?" "Like what?" I told him & he said he'd throw the camera into the rapids if I fell, so I clambered over the railing & hung 20m (60ft) over the plunging falls. Yeehaw! When his 2nd son arrived there were whispers amongst them & pointing at me. Soon he shyly asked if I'd do it again. Sure! The hostel was more rustic than Mike anticipated - no showers - but cool & pretty. Michele & his wife & 1 1/2 year old boy live here - nice folks & it was fun to play grandpa again. Kristin is going climbing tomorrow - I'll go along, I think. Doug & his wife, Barb - old hippies from Florida - rolled in & were fun to talk with over dinner. He'd graduated from ISU in 72 & was recently retired from the post office. Barb & I shared a bowl of good bud, though I found it to be a little offputting, actually, since they both nearly immediately seemed tedious to me when just an hour before we were really connecting. Andy, a young German on a work visa, showed up, towing the oddest looking trailer behind his bike, having left Jasper earlier in the day. It was his 1st tour & I shouldn't have made as much fun as I did of the 2.5 gallon water container he was hauling. Or the overfilled backpack. Or the 2 spare tires. I slept well - high & in a big, soft bed - despite Doug's snoring & the late arrival of 3 UK girls. Did I mention how utterly gorgeous the ride was? Mmmmm ...
July 6:
43K to Jasper, Alberta. 300-530. I decided to climb. Repaired a rear flat, had oatmeal, bought some snacks as I'm nearly out of food, filled water jugs for Michele, & pulled together gear for the 10am arrival of Jordan Wood, a young Aussie managing the Beauty Creek hostel & very pleasant fellow. We did a few 10a overhanging sport routes at Lost Boys wall in full view of the snow-covered, triangular peak of Edith Clavell with Kristin, who was very good company. We passed Mike on the way & I clambered out the open door as we drove past to encourage him. On the road at 3, I stopped immediately at the powerful Athebasca Falls for a leaning-off-the-railing pic, which so frightened the tourist whi took it that she couldn't talk when she handed back the camera. The remaining 32K into Jasper was easy & breathtakingly scenic, ensuring that there was not a single disappointing stretch of riding through the entirity of Banff & Jasper NPs. I met Texans Craig & Susan at camp - they're touring in the park in preparation for their wedding ceremony at Lake Louise. Then I saw Swiss-German's Chris & Horst riding in - incredible: touring for 2 years so far, meeting in South America & planning a Continental Divide excursion into the US to restart their 3 month Canada visa. Cool guys! At the Freewheel bike shop, they found a loose headset & broken spoke so we made plans to have them sort out the headset when the shop opens at 9 tomorrow. A not-so-good beer at Jasper Brewing was offset by some fantastic news from Rae - she's been accepted into Gonzaga's dictoral program in Spokane, WA!! I'm so excited & proud! She got into her 1st choice & starts September 4, which means I have a much shorter trip back to her when I return from the adventure in October. So, so stoked for her, for us ...! Wow! Okay back to storytelling ... Cheap, somewhat disappointing bar food with Mike, then ice cream, & a nice ride back to Whistler CG (Mike, on the other hand, had a very steep 4K to the hostel) for a warm goodbye. I showered, then ran back to the tent in a light rain for sleep interrupted by loud boys setting up a late camp. Ah well ...
July 7:
98K to Jasper Lake CG in the Switzer PP, 15K from Hinton, Alberta. 12-630. Up early to replace the broken rear spoke, with a quick goodbye to Craig, Susan, & Chris (Horst was still sleeping) before rolling into Jasper. Clothes into the washer before finding Mike at Coco's Cafe. Chris, the owner of Freewheel, was there so we talked to Derrik about repairing the headset & putting new cables & housings on the brakes & the rear shifter. Back to Coco's for a fantastic huevos rancheros breakfast, goodbye to Mike as he left for a day ride out to Maligne Lake for a purportedly spectacular boat tour, clothes into the dryer & some not-free WiFi email & Facebook, then back to Freewheel for a new trailer & rear tire plus bike shorts ($188!). Chris & Horst were there, too, & we got to share some laughs over a fun "No, YOU'RE crazy!" exchanges. Nice dudes whom I should have hit up for bud ... Ah well. A burrito at Coco's (yummy), restocked on food at the organic store, talked to my lovely wife, & finally out of town at noon but not before I spotted a cinnamon-colored caribou! Cool! Then I saw a cinnamon-colored black bear cub & I anxiously swept the other side of the road for his mom - whew, nothing. Beautiful, though not as dramatic as the last 4 days, riding past Jasper & Talbot Lakes, Stone & Folding mountains, & an easy climb toward Hinton. On the way, spotted a fellow working with a dirt shaker & asked what he was uo to. Dave works at Univ of Alberta & was looking through possible camp spots for shards from ancient toolmakers. I spotted another Dave coming the other way near Miette Hot Springs looking very hobo-like with a trailer stacked high with oodles of stuff (I think he had some recent dry cleaning bunjeed on - no kidding!). He taught in the Middle East & was circling around to Vancouver so I suggested he ship most of his "junk" - "Hey! Good idea!" I turned off Hwy 16 to Hwy 40 (Scenic Route to Alaska - I'm really on my way) & had a tough, long 9K climb with dropping temperatures & increasing wind after crossing the Athebasca River. As I crested I pulled off at the Switzer PP information sign, heard thunder, & got all the raingear on just before the skies opened up with a blinding torrent. It was only 3K downhill to Jasper Lake CG (how many Jasper Lakes are there?!), thank goodness, & I found the onky empty site at this popular ski lake. The super nice folks in the adjacent site immediately invited me to roll the bike under their RV tarp & warm myself at the fire. When the rain eased I quickly set up the tent, made rice & Tasty Bite dinner, stretched, did strength, & trued the rear wheel - I'd had to retighten loose spokes earlier in the afternoon & introduced a wee wobble. Another invite to the nice folks' fire & a beer with some fun & funny conversation plus decent beta on getting through the upcoming emptiness to compliment beta I got from Derrik at Freewheel. Into bed with rain pelting the tent. There's a little mileage to make up since 1500K in 12 days translates to 125K (78 miles) per day, but I'm not at all worried as there's tons of daylight or Wes & Quinn can retrieve me if I'm not at Watson Lake by July 18. Lots of rain forecast til Tuesday ... Ah well.
July 8:
50K to between Hinton & Muskeg, Alberta. 830-130. Rain fell all night & morning so made oatmeal & hot chocolate & dressed in the tent. Rolled up everything wet. Karen - a cute mom from the fire - had left a bag of pizza, chocolate, orange, banana, granole bar, & water on my picnic table - too sweet. Up the dirt road with bike computer not working (grr), which gummed up the gears badly. On the road into a stiff, very cold headwind, & steady rain with lots of climbing, no shoulder, & a lot of big truck traffic. Feet & hands very, very cold as gloves & rainsocks filled with water & wind pulled all the heat out of them. Stuck thumb out to no avail so rode until I found a spot on the roadside to put up the tent. Very, very cold & worried but managed to set up tent in cold, windy rain, then get bags in, though it all took over an hour due to my poor condition. Getting undressed was difficult. Managed to keep sleeping bag dry, thank goodness, & put on dry clothes & got into the bag with my puffy jacket around my numb feet. Ate Karen's gifts & fell asleep completely exhausted. Mind numb from trying to avoid thinking about the situation I'm in. Worried. A little scared. 50K to Muskeg, 80K to Grand Cache - may try to make one of those tomorrow but dreading it. I miss my wife & just want to be curled up next to her. Crying again, wondering why I thought I could do this. This is now too hard by a lot & outside of laying in the road, I don't know how to get help. I have food for at least 4 days so may find myself sitting here til this passes as riding in it with the gear I have seems too daunting. Enough ... Enough. Buck up, man.
July 9:
80 km to Grand Cache, Alberta. 700-230. Happy Birthday, Mom! Rallied early when I heard a break in the rain. Packed in the tent (still very clumsily) & put wet tent away. On the road at 7 but it was still slow going as the uphill had not yet changed it's mind. By 8 (still no functioning odometer ... grr) the headwind added to the fun but the horizontal rain was very light so I didn't get as chilled. I had opted to put on the Frogg Toggs raingear bag on one foot & my reflective, rainproof vest wrapped around the other instead of the shitty Sealkins (no product endorsement for those f$#@&ers!) & it worked better, I think. No water accumulating in the gloves today either. I saw a beautiful caribou along the road & watched him bound gracefully into very dense forest. The pavement is the only thing human here - these forests & hills extend forever. No power lines. No guardrails. Oh, & no shoulder, which makes riding with a trailer unnerving. Many fewer trucks than yesterday & they were all intent on giving me room. Cars ... not so much. Grrr. The hills were as endless as the headwind & I spent nearly the entire day in the granny gear fighting, fighting, fighting. Early on I did 30 minutes riding, 5 resting. Then 20/5, then 20/10, then 15/15. Exhausted & legs capable of only minimal output I hoped to fuel up & rest in Muskeg but there was nothing there - I mean, nothing. Just a sign. So I ate a Clif Bar & tried to rally for the 27 km to Grand Cache. A few nice downhills, though impeded by wind, offered a wee bit of respite on ocassion but I gasped when I saw the hill into town. I made it halfway up before the legs quivered & quit. After 10 minutes rest, I pushed the bike 2 km up that steep hill (well, maybe not so steep but ... I was tired) & into the visitor center for water (I'd been out since Muskeg, drinking the last 1/2 bottle just before in anticipation of refilling, then too weary to contemplate breaking out the water filter). Found a nearby hotel, woo'd the cleaning gal into tossing a heap of wet clothes into the dryer, put on dry clothes, had a hot meatball sub at a sandwich shop, bought beer, bandaids (scrotum), Carmex (one jar down over
5600 km ... not bad), & a few groceries. Talked to Rae while soaking my aching legs in the tub. Hope to stretch before finding dinner, then beers, Nyquil (I've acquired a cold - yea!), & bed. Exhausting day. Leg failure is odd for me so I think I lost a lot of energy yesterday with my body trying to fight off that bad chill. Hoping they're back tomorrow as I'd like to make up some of the full day I've lost. But ... mostly just want to not get down about how hard this is. I seem to be the only one who thought this'd be easy so my anguish when it isn't is something I should shed. Maybe too many skipped meditations this last week ...?
June 27:
86 miles to Eureka, MT. 830-630. Perfect day all around. Up early to egg & fruit breakfast from Rafael then loaded gear in the pick-up for the drive down to Lakeside park & a warm goodbye. Rolling hills through Flathead Valley into Kalispell for a lovely chat with Rae, cinnamon roll, coffee, veggies, & a buzzcut at the local barber. Easy riding then into Happy Valley & Whitefish where I made the big score: repaired Chaco sandals at the post office (finally!) plus new passport & Smith Optics sunglass frames waiting at Glacier Cyclery & Nordic! OMG! Whew! After a tuna sandwich & apple in the park it was easy but bad shoulder riding out of town through Potter's Field along the treed Dalish Mountains, which are noticeably losing their snow in the 1st warm, windless riding I've had in awhile. Mmmm ... Into Olney for a snack where toothless Ben suggested nice free camping 15 miles up the road at Murphy Lake, but I saw a touron right as I got back on Hwy 93 & this Ben (funny!) said to ride on to Eureka for $10 tenting with showers & restaurants. A gentle tailwind had developed so it felt reasonable to exceed the meager mileage I'd planned for my 1st day back on the bike in a week, even though I'd had some leg quivering at a brief rest around mile 60. It was pretty going through the Grave Creek watershed past Dickey & Murphy lakes & into the Kootenai NF & I arrived at the RV park feeling just a little tired under threatening skies. I had sharp but manageable hip pain all day (too much walking with a heavy pack & not enough stretching recently) so I had a nice long effective stretch after setting up the tent & changing clothes (I got to wear shorts all evening for the 1st time since ... Texas?). Christian arrived on a BMW GS1200 - he was dumped from a 13 year relationship so told work to find someone else while he did a long tour. A Swiss-German program manager living in Switzerland he was great company so we decided to have dinner & beers together at the lounge, where he gleefully consumed 3 Sierra Nevadas in his 1st introduction to the US's best commercial beer. He described the 26 cantons & smaller communities within them & their intricate voting & tax system, in which everyone votes on where the money is spent for the country, canton, & community - saying it was simple because people knew its efficiencies & the need for the common good. Sigh ... His insights into touring solo - fighting off bad headspace, finding joy in being alone, being outside, meeting interesting people everywhere, freedom of daily choice - matched mine & we shared a great evening rambling before turning in under still bright skies struggling to close down the long, beautiful sunset. He handed over a Canadian NP pass - hell, yes! - & I gifted him my remaining bud. Pretty good exchange at the border, eh? 8 miles to Canada tomorrow ... exciting. I cooed at Rae til she purred then went to sleep, my cold sufficiently abated to skip the Robitussin.
June 28:
82 miles to Wasa Lake, BC. 900-600. I rolled 2 miles downhill to town for breakfast at Cafe Jax, exchanging a quick hello-goodbye with Christian, who came in as I was leaving. 11 miles to the border where I took pics in the bike jersies then waited while they checked the record on my 1995 Destruction of Property arrest. Why do they say the record is expunged when I took the anger management class but Canadian authorities can look it up? BS, if you ask me ... Lovely, strong 32K (20 miles) ride to Elko where I stopped at the Dairy Bar for a cheeseburger & oreo twist (like a DQ Blizzard). Jane, Jess, & Claire asked me to sit at their picnic table ("You've probably been alone too long."). Jess had been Claire's 1st babysitter & Jess said, "Now she's mine." Claire was a professional quilter & Jane was a minister. Claire gave good beta on a scenic cut-off road to Ft. Simpson so I rode along the Kootenai & Bull rivers next to a stunning knife ridge. Ft. Simpson wanted $26 for a tentsite & $6 for WiFi access! Thanks but "F#@* off!" It was an easy 18K (do you like how easily I've adapted to the metric system?) roll to Wassa Lake where there's a provincial CG but locals said it was $21! Murray was a junk bike dealer & offered me his camper but implied he wanted $20 for it. No, thanks - $10 camping next door. The diner doesn't open til 10AM so I kindly asked if she'd cook me a scramble to box up for the morning - yea! Then picked up a Kootenay 6-pack, stretched, made dinner (quinua, green pepper, onion, garlic, & spicy sauce), washed up in a cold water outside sink to wipe off the grime from a wonderfully warm, sunny day of riding - also, yea! - & turned in. Rae's changed me (us?) to a Canada phone plan but I'm roaming so reluctant to call ... I really miss her.
June 29:
108K (66 miles) to Invernese, BC. 900-700. Slept poorly last night - no bud for the 1st time in awhile, plus it decided to sprinkle around midnight so I had to put on clothes to avoid the mosquito swarm outside to slap up the rainfly, then I had to pee & let that swarm in the tent to pester me the rest of the night. So I slept in with a shirt over my eyes before rallying to face that swarm for my cold egg breakfast & packing up. The caretaker came by in a rain slicker, pants, & rubber boots to tell me this was the worst it's ever been & that lingering snow on this side of the Rockies in June hadn't happened in 60 years. The whole time he's talking I'm just being bitten all to hell & the swarm seemed to follow me for about 9K, in part due to a consistent tailwind (yea!). I stopped at a small store run by a gal & her daughter from Amsterdam & meditated by a great little pond out front, which removed the tension from the morning's bites & the impluse to ride too hard that often results when I feel a tailwind (I know - wierd, huh?). I chatted with a tree surveyer of 30 years & got good beta on some free hotsprings in Fairmont. From there I used the tailwind to do a 48K continuous pull with the Rockies to my right, the Selkirks to my left, & stunning valley scenery all around. Into a rest area over the Columbia Lake - the source of the Columbia River that hits the Pacific in Astoria, OR - where I met Orecht, an 80-year-old mechanical engineer & former climber who got his PhD at Iowa State. Then I got to talk to Bob & Shari. It was their 48th anniversary & she'd just been released from the hospital after an abdominal emergency. She was wearing hospital bottoms & Bob's shirt & she giggled like mad when I said it was an anniversary she'd never forget. At the bottom of the hill I stopped to chat with Devina, a 22-year-old Aussie riding with all her possessions - including a ukelele hanging in a bag from her shoulder! - from Montreal to Vancouver. Adorable gal, wearing a cute, tattered dress, leather flat-soled boots, & a knit cap under her helmet. Soon I hit Fairmont & got groceries, mailed postcards, & called Rae. When we hung up, Jon & Gabriella - Romanian immigrants living in Windsor, vacationing in Fairmont, & with a place in Navarre Beach (just down the road from Panama City, FL, where I started!) - had circled back after an initial round of friendly chatter to insist I come to their timeshare to meet their family & have soup. Typical Europeans with big hearts they kept putting food in front of me & I felt like Kris Kringle in Rudolph The Red-Nosed Reindeer: "Eat, Papa, eat! Nobody likes a skinny Santa," insisted Mrs. Claus! Bill, Mariella, & another grandparent (whose name escaped me), plus their adorable 6-year-old, Jonathon (building his own paper pinwheel) were sweet as could be & I left reluctantly after an hour. Jon & Bill drove me back to the store where my bike - & abandoned-by-the-A/C-outlet-in-haste glasses case - were waiting undisturbed. The wind had changed & rain developed so I pulled over for Skookum pie (a local 6 berry concoction) & coffee in Windermere, where I got to see 6 antlered deer wander over the road! The rain intensified so I waited ... & waited to get back on the road so I have a better chance of making Lake Louise tomorrow night & maximizing potential climbing days. It finally let up around 6pm & the wind had died down so it was an easy 16K along the scenic Stanford Range to Dry Gulch Provincial Park (PP) CG near Invermere. I put up the tent after spraying (bug juice), stretched, did some strength, & ate rice, peppers, onion, garlic, & Tasty Bite with poptarts for dessert. While washing dishes I met Steve, a Czech immigrant cab-driver from Toronto, & he brought over some Bud Lights. His wife, Nadia, was a worrier who never came out of the rented RV & made him put duct tape & a hose clamp I had over the fresh water overflow pipe. No amount of reason worked to allay her unfounded fears that water dripping on the ground was somehow bad. Anyway, Steve peppered me with questions about touring, the bike, & my life & I was able to tease a few nuggets from him. He left Czeckoslovakia in 1988 while it was still communist & before it splintered into the Czech Republic & Slovakia, & related a story that motivated his departure. As a kid he often visited family that lived near the Iron Curtain & would play at a nearby creek. He could see a river from there but couldn't get to it without being shot & he said he felt like he was "living in a cage & wanted freedom." We talked til he noticed Nadia preparing for bed & gave me a bear hug along with warm wishes.
June 30:
96K (58 miles) to Marble Canyon CG in Kootenay NP, BC. I slept well so awoke early & easily dismantled camp (bug-free), left a note for Steve asking him to text an address for a postcard from Alaska, then rolled down into Radium. It was somehow too early at 730 for breakfast anywhere so I meditated, then went into the Husky gas station restaurant, which had been recommended by the Skookum pie folks. Dan & Dawn chatted me up immediately & invited me to their table. Dan was a bad-ass, shaved head motorbiker with goth clothing & Dawn was a petite blond. We swapped stories of divorces, unruly children, & bar fights - okay, mostly Dan's because he bounces at a biker blues bar in Edmunton. His custom motorbike had all kinds of handmade, re-purposed stuff, including goth image tank & fenders, chainmail, armor gloves with the middle finger extended on the forks, & a cayman leather seat & arched backrest. They were nice enough to buy my breakfast & gave big, hearty hugs as we parted. The 11K 11% climb to Kootenay NP's Sinclair Pass took 2 hours but it was such a wonderfully scenic canyon that it went by quickly. Then a screaming 7% descent into the glorious Rocky Mountain Trench (so big, you can see it from space) with the Kootenay River roaring full along its length & peaks shrouded in clouds. Stunning. Jaw-droppingly beautiful. Just why I came this way & not even a moment of disappointment, even during a brief bout of rain. As I was leaving Kootenay Lodge & saying bye to some Toronto tourists, I heard, "Craig!" It was Jon, Gabriella, & Bill - my Windsor Romanians. Smiles, hugs, pictures ... just like yesterday. Too, too sweet. They're on their way to Canmore to round out their vacation & honked merrily as they drove past me 5 minutes later. Still wonderful scenery kept coming but I was feeling gassed today & stopped again to eat, then when I saw the Marble Canyon CG sign, turned in & saw that to get to Lake Louise I'd have to do another Continental Divide crossing in the 45K remaining - not happening. I saw some bikes in one campsite so turned in to say "Hi" but, honestly, they looked at me like I had some visible virus & turned away! Really?! Maybe foreign ...? Who knows but, still ... really?! After a few minutes I saw Travis pull in on a nice BMW F800ST & we agreed to share the $21 site. He's a University of Wisonsin Green Bay sophomore studying human biology & planning to go to chiropracty school. Raised cattlw as a 4Her, bought a sailboat, sailed every summer solo, sold it, & bought that motorbike witg the $6000. OK, as soon as I finished writing that ... the "rude" touron came over. Simple language problem ... Klaus is German &, well, amazing. A ski jumper & hockey player as a youth, he studied civil engineering, built bridges, had a family, then, at 50, asked, "Is this all?" So he talked his new wife, Doris, into touring. They were touring the Hawiian islands when he saw Ironman. A year later he does one in Germany, takes 3rd in his age group at age 64 & qualifies for Kona! He does this qualify-Kona for a few years then decides to tour the world - with Doris - & do Ironman in different places & ends up with the 32 best Ironman times in the 60-69 age group. & they were the oldest couple ever to tour the world! Now 72 he & Doris (63) were to fly into Anchorage in May to start a 10,000K tour up to Prudhoe Bay, down to Montana & up to Boston but she broke her arm mountain biking so they had to wait to start & are "only" doing 6,000K from Vancouver ...! & here I thought they were rude! Ha! They're so nice, humble, & interesting. His blog's www.hoehles-challenge.de - check it out (even though it's in German, the homepage photo is amazing)! Met Anne from Creston at the bathroom & she'd toured Australia & both islands of New Zealand with her girlfriend, "a Swedish bombshell, being harassed the entire time!" Ha! Unfortunately, she had no bud with her but was kind enough to offer her home when I'm next in BC. After stretching, I joined Travis, Klaus, & Doris at the campfire of Kathy & Don, who tried to explain how environmentally concientious his tar sands industry was ... I listened politely, then excused myself when a light patter of rain began. The tent has become comfortably familiar ...
July 1:
Happy Canada Day! 50K to Lake Louise. 830-1130. Awoke early to try to ensure I'd get a campsite on Canada Day. Quick oatmeal breakfast & byes to Travis, Klaus, & Doris, then on the bike for the 10K over Vermillion Pass (my 7th Continental Divide crossing). Much, much greater effort than the relatively easy grade would have suggested as I was just gassed for some reason. At the end of the downhill & as I turned onto Hwy 1 I saw Ricardo & Jen, who were just a few km into their 3-day Golden Triangle tour (Banff, Golden, Radium). They had recent MBAs & worked as investment bankers & oil business consultants ... hmm. They rode really too hard for me so after 15K I excused myself for an eating break & rode the last 12K into a cold headwind with intermittent snow on my own. Thr CG queue took awhile to get through but I got a site inside the tent area - surrounded by an electrified bear fence. Tent up quickly before a nice hot soup, coffee, & sandwich in the village amongst a crush of tourists - feeling as alone as I've felt on the trip. Melancholy & tired I called Rae & commenced sobbing. Being here without her after such a wonderful, memorable trip with her in 2007 was just too much in my state ... After the call, I fired off a dozen texts in an effort to connect with friends & family. In a fantastic surprise, Brett & Laura responded & met me at a village coffee shop! I've seen them so often since Yellowstone that they feel like family to me now, so we made plans for dinner. I rode on up toward Louise Lake to sightsee & stopped at a little trailhead parking lot for a look around: a huge silvertip grizzly sow & 2 cubs were eating in a meadow within 150m & I had them more or less to myself for 45 minutes until they wandered out of sight! Wow! On to Deer Lodge for more coffee (stupid), email, facebook, & a nice but emotional call to Hogan. I zoomed downhill, ditched the bike at the tent, & walked along the river to dinner. Brett & Laura are really a wonderful, caring, intelligent, fun couple & we talked all evening over some delicious appetizers, pizza, 2 pitchers of beer - love, religion, energy, kids ... Nothing was skipped & I so enjoyed listening to them, watching them interact so caringly, & sharing. They leave for North Carolina tomorrow so the evening ended with tight embraces & a promise that when we saw each other next - & I don't doubt I will - I'd have Rae with me. It was a lovely moonlit walk back to camp along the river under snowy, staggered peaks. I met a young Asian guy from Ohio taking long exposure pictures - check out his website: www.yiminghu.com - good stuff. Into the familiar tent feeling better.
July 2:
Slept poorly. Meditated, walked to the village for postcards & breakfast (horrible service), & some beers to stash in the river for tonight. Stretched, lunch of PBJ & bananas, then a powerful (no trailer! & rested) ride to the lodge where I immediately spotted Nicholas & Jen with climbing packs & they happily invited me along - yea! I got my ass handed to me trying to follow a sporty 11+ but otherwise climbed well enough & thoroughly enjoyed the day. We talked politics on the easy trail out - sensible Canadians both working non-profits (please visit www.friendsofkananaskis.org to see what Nicholas is doing with park environmental work & volunteers - it's quite inspiring). Again, a rip-roaring descent to drop off the bike then a pleasant walk along the river to the grill/pub to see if I can find some bud. No luck until a former inmate, Travis, plops next to me & lets fly a torrent of f-bombs about anything & everything: his stripper ex-wife, pistol-whipping the dude she was cheating with, the CG warden "pissing on my f%#*ing parade" about his illegal fire! Too funny! Talked to Rae on the still-light-at-11 walk to the tent & it was not a sobbing mess this time. Late, cold dinner of rice & Tasty Bite - pretty decent, actually - then bed.
July 3:
64K to Waterfall CG in Jasper NP. 130-630. Awoke early, peed, & crawled back into the bag as it was too early for anything. Up again around 8, meditated til the bugs coerced me to get out of camp, walked to the village for coffee & a yummy breakfast burrito at the Trailhead Cafe. A lovely gal walked in: fine & fit & about my age - fantastic legs. She & her handsome partner sat next to me outside as the rain started & easily engaged me in conversation. Debra & Vern were in their 50s, climbed, tramped, mountaineered, & loved outdoors so we enthusiastically shared & they were enthralled with my adventure & asked for the blog. Hugs at parting - isn't it grand how energy & shared interest can create immediately deep connections like that?! I wandered the village delaying decisions about what to do as rain fell on this forecasted sunny day ... then bought a detailed roadmap, discussed my route with the shop owner, popped into the sports store for a mosquito hat, replacement poop trowel, climbing chalk, & a decent set of binoculoars. Another gal I'd noticed twice in the last few days came up to say Hi. Mary's an Aussie who sold her computer business because 1 week vacations were "spent in fancy hotels, watching TV, doing silly guided tours, & fussing over the neglected work piling up at home." On a trip to Hawaii she met folks who encouraged her to see the Canadian Rockies, so she bought tickets & talked herself into staying at hostels rather than hotels, &, of course, the people & conversations began to expand & change her in ways she "hadn't imagined." How glorious! She was hopping on a bus to Vancouver intending then to fly to San Francisco because she thought that sounded wonderfully adventurous, & eagerly changed her plans so as to experience train travel when I assured her it was a more liesurely, friendly, & beautiful way to get there. At 57, she looked absolutely bouyant heading for the bus. The rain finally eased enough for me to decide that riding would be better than a muddy tramp up Fairview Mountain or a vain attempt to find climbing partners on wet rock, so I broke camp, ate, washed & bandaged the returned & unwelcome scrotum sore, & called Rae - which became stimulating way too quickly - before setting out. Intent on not riding hard since I was creating an extra day that would make the 1750K to Watson Lake easier, I dawdled up long, gradual climbs into the Banff NP ice fields. OMG! I apologize in advance for my language but - Oh My Fucking God! Fan-fucking-tastically unbelievable, indescribable scenerey ... the peaks, hanging blue glaciers, ridges, snowfields, & ice blue lakes unfolded as if out of my mind, though in such profusion & with such granduer that I could never have conjured it because it was just so fucking improbable. Utterly, swimmingly, stunningly, mind-blowing! Bow Glacier ... ungodly. Peaks as triangular & steep as the Eiger. Hanging glaciers clustered between & below majestic, forever ridges, low clouds, high clouds, beams of sunlight picking a feature to irridesce as though to single out stunning feature after feature ... I cannot describe how many times I saw something so resonant with the core of my being & uttered, "No way ..." Speechless. Breathless. Awe-struck. Filled with wonder, delight, energy, desire, & feeling for once that I was in my ideal playland & the most magnificent art gallery simultaneously. Literally, the most beautiful stretch of riding I could possibly imagine, much less experience. Unbelievable. ... Midway through I pull over to chat with another touron & then get to share the wonder & glory of it all with an equally stricken soon-to-be friend, Mike. He left Denver 4 weeks ago, following a similar, though not identical route to Lake Louise, which he also left in early afternoon today. A 49-year-old literature prof at University of Colorado Denver, he's riding to Jasper, taking a train to Vancouver, then touring down the coast until late July. Great guy, easy to talk with (though, by his admission after a few tourist encounters at scenic pullouts, not as gregarious as am I! Ha!), & a similar rider, we enjoyed & discussed the beauty & feeling of every vista. We saw what Mike had heard a Yellowstone ranger call a "bearjam" for a black bear sow & 2 small cubs but decided not to melieu. I liked what Mike related about his exchange at the park entrance: when he said he owed also for Kootenay NP, the guy wanted to waive it but Mike replied, "No, you guys haven't cheated me with all this beauty so I won't cheat you." We stopped at Waterfowl Lake CG, chatted with the neighboring camphosts (they'd seen, talked to, & thoroughly enjoyed Klaus & Doris only a few days ago!), made camp, met Mathius (a German taking a 1 1/2 year tour from Anchorage to Tierra del Fuego, Argentina!), stretched, cooked, ate, built a fire in the covered picnic's stove, & chatted til late. I sit now before a tumbling, melodic tributary creek under a clear light-blue night sky under soaring peaks laden with early summer snow & hanging glaciers, as happy as I've yet been with the adventure, unwilling to crawl into the tent despite the late hour because the scene before me holds me captive ... I want Rae to share it with but don't lament her absence because I know that she wants me to experience this beauty deeply & fully & completely while I'm in it. And so ... I do ...
July 4:
Happy Independence Day! 70K to Columbia Icefield CG in Jasper NP. 830-530. I know I tried to describe yesterday in such a way as to relate the beauty as meaningfully as I experienced it. Today I am as likely to fail in describing the wonder of this day. Mike's an early riser do I matched him & was up before 7. He suggested I take my camera to the picnic area & I got some wonderful shots of the morning sun on dramatic snowy peaks & their reflections in the still pond. Oatmeal & hot chocolate, cleaned & bandaged scrotum, packed up, we were rolling by 830 but stopped immediately outside the CG - floored by the scene to the west. Dramatic peaks, couliours, cornices, & connecting ridges, long scree fields at the base of rocky spires to the east offering contrast. Rolling downhill, bundled against the cold morning chill, ooh-ing & aah-ing for 12 gloriously scenic miles (20K) to a mediocre but expensive buffet 2nd breakfast at a lodge cum filling station. On the way, a black bear popped onto the opposite shoulder not 20m ahead but loud popping made it turn back into the brush. Fed we rolled another 22K downhill in bright sunshine - warmer now. Many supported tourons smiled & waved as the pushed up the long climb to Bow Pass. We picniced just below our one long climb, embarassed to see a half dozen huge RVs dispatch a gaggle of Americans who immediately planted US flags & star-spangled picnic paraphenalia everywhere. Time to move on. The climb offered more dramatic hanging glaciers, a spectacular plunging waterfall under a high bridge that couldn't be seen by motorists, & a tailwind push us up the steepest section to a pullout. Eric from near Montreal came over with goblets of orange juice, 2 Irishmen from Dingle & Cork celebrated our adventure & we re-commenced the push to Sunwapta Pass with joyous hearts. Near the top we shared southbound Glacier NP beta with Quebec tourons who'd recently left St. George. The easy final 3K was followed by a photo stop at the Banff-Jasper park line, though I had to goad Mike into the pictures since he appears to like only photos of his Surly Long Haul steed. The Columbia Icefield CG (tents only) sits below the stunning Athebasca summit & its attendant glacier. Up with the tent, stretch, then a nice, warm roll 2K down to the lodge for an expensive dinner with an expansive view of summit & glacier in bright late evening sun. An easy & still warm ride back up to camp as the sun dipped below the ridgeline, with spindrift off the snowy corniced ridhes visible in its last rays. Mike & I really enjoy each other's company so we'll do a glacier tour in the morning & ride 75K to the Athebasca Lake hostel tomorrow. With a full day of sunshine & stunning scenery, this may have displaced yesterday as the best riding day thus far, & the CG exceeds the wonders of last night's spot because the peaks are less obscured by trees. This adventure got many returns today for the effort & poor weather of the last month.
July 5:
76K (46 miles) to Athebasca Falls hostel in Jasper NP. 1200-530. Happy Birthday, Dad! Again, a nearly indescribably beautiful, scenic day in the sunshine riding in this amazing terrain. We did the $50 glacier tour & it was worth it just for the fun facts: cellular damage to trees from windwhipped ice & dirt preventing limb growth, Columbia Icefield is the only hydrological apex feeding 3 oceans (Pacific, Atlantic, & Arctic), & alpine & sub-alpine plants - including a 700-year-old ancient forest tucked into a protected moraine feature. We left at noon after an expensive lodge lunch then stopped so often for pictures that it felt like a series of very short stretches on the bike with bewitching scenery begging us to slow down more to immerse ourselves in it & contemplate the magnitude. I failed to stop at Tangle Falls because the car scene looked so chaotic but Mike showed me his pictures of it last night & all I can say is that I hope I learned my lesson. At Sumwapta Falls I approached a fellow to shoot a picture of me & asked where he was from. "Why?," he said. "Oh sorry. Just curious ... Would you snap a pic of me doing something crazy?" "Like what?" I told him & he said he'd throw the camera into the rapids if I fell, so I clambered over the railing & hung 20m (60ft) over the plunging falls. Yeehaw! When his 2nd son arrived there were whispers amongst them & pointing at me. Soon he shyly asked if I'd do it again. Sure! The hostel was more rustic than Mike anticipated - no showers - but cool & pretty. Michele & his wife & 1 1/2 year old boy live here - nice folks & it was fun to play grandpa again. Kristin is going climbing tomorrow - I'll go along, I think. Doug & his wife, Barb - old hippies from Florida - rolled in & were fun to talk with over dinner. He'd graduated from ISU in 72 & was recently retired from the post office. Barb & I shared a bowl of good bud, though I found it to be a little offputting, actually, since they both nearly immediately seemed tedious to me when just an hour before we were really connecting. Andy, a young German on a work visa, showed up, towing the oddest looking trailer behind his bike, having left Jasper earlier in the day. It was his 1st tour & I shouldn't have made as much fun as I did of the 2.5 gallon water container he was hauling. Or the overfilled backpack. Or the 2 spare tires. I slept well - high & in a big, soft bed - despite Doug's snoring & the late arrival of 3 UK girls. Did I mention how utterly gorgeous the ride was? Mmmmm ...
July 6:
43K to Jasper, Alberta. 300-530. I decided to climb. Repaired a rear flat, had oatmeal, bought some snacks as I'm nearly out of food, filled water jugs for Michele, & pulled together gear for the 10am arrival of Jordan Wood, a young Aussie managing the Beauty Creek hostel & very pleasant fellow. We did a few 10a overhanging sport routes at Lost Boys wall in full view of the snow-covered, triangular peak of Edith Clavell with Kristin, who was very good company. We passed Mike on the way & I clambered out the open door as we drove past to encourage him. On the road at 3, I stopped immediately at the powerful Athebasca Falls for a leaning-off-the-railing pic, which so frightened the tourist whi took it that she couldn't talk when she handed back the camera. The remaining 32K into Jasper was easy & breathtakingly scenic, ensuring that there was not a single disappointing stretch of riding through the entirity of Banff & Jasper NPs. I met Texans Craig & Susan at camp - they're touring in the park in preparation for their wedding ceremony at Lake Louise. Then I saw Swiss-German's Chris & Horst riding in - incredible: touring for 2 years so far, meeting in South America & planning a Continental Divide excursion into the US to restart their 3 month Canada visa. Cool guys! At the Freewheel bike shop, they found a loose headset & broken spoke so we made plans to have them sort out the headset when the shop opens at 9 tomorrow. A not-so-good beer at Jasper Brewing was offset by some fantastic news from Rae - she's been accepted into Gonzaga's dictoral program in Spokane, WA!! I'm so excited & proud! She got into her 1st choice & starts September 4, which means I have a much shorter trip back to her when I return from the adventure in October. So, so stoked for her, for us ...! Wow! Okay back to storytelling ... Cheap, somewhat disappointing bar food with Mike, then ice cream, & a nice ride back to Whistler CG (Mike, on the other hand, had a very steep 4K to the hostel) for a warm goodbye. I showered, then ran back to the tent in a light rain for sleep interrupted by loud boys setting up a late camp. Ah well ...
July 7:
98K to Jasper Lake CG in the Switzer PP, 15K from Hinton, Alberta. 12-630. Up early to replace the broken rear spoke, with a quick goodbye to Craig, Susan, & Chris (Horst was still sleeping) before rolling into Jasper. Clothes into the washer before finding Mike at Coco's Cafe. Chris, the owner of Freewheel, was there so we talked to Derrik about repairing the headset & putting new cables & housings on the brakes & the rear shifter. Back to Coco's for a fantastic huevos rancheros breakfast, goodbye to Mike as he left for a day ride out to Maligne Lake for a purportedly spectacular boat tour, clothes into the dryer & some not-free WiFi email & Facebook, then back to Freewheel for a new trailer & rear tire plus bike shorts ($188!). Chris & Horst were there, too, & we got to share some laughs over a fun "No, YOU'RE crazy!" exchanges. Nice dudes whom I should have hit up for bud ... Ah well. A burrito at Coco's (yummy), restocked on food at the organic store, talked to my lovely wife, & finally out of town at noon but not before I spotted a cinnamon-colored caribou! Cool! Then I saw a cinnamon-colored black bear cub & I anxiously swept the other side of the road for his mom - whew, nothing. Beautiful, though not as dramatic as the last 4 days, riding past Jasper & Talbot Lakes, Stone & Folding mountains, & an easy climb toward Hinton. On the way, spotted a fellow working with a dirt shaker & asked what he was uo to. Dave works at Univ of Alberta & was looking through possible camp spots for shards from ancient toolmakers. I spotted another Dave coming the other way near Miette Hot Springs looking very hobo-like with a trailer stacked high with oodles of stuff (I think he had some recent dry cleaning bunjeed on - no kidding!). He taught in the Middle East & was circling around to Vancouver so I suggested he ship most of his "junk" - "Hey! Good idea!" I turned off Hwy 16 to Hwy 40 (Scenic Route to Alaska - I'm really on my way) & had a tough, long 9K climb with dropping temperatures & increasing wind after crossing the Athebasca River. As I crested I pulled off at the Switzer PP information sign, heard thunder, & got all the raingear on just before the skies opened up with a blinding torrent. It was only 3K downhill to Jasper Lake CG (how many Jasper Lakes are there?!), thank goodness, & I found the onky empty site at this popular ski lake. The super nice folks in the adjacent site immediately invited me to roll the bike under their RV tarp & warm myself at the fire. When the rain eased I quickly set up the tent, made rice & Tasty Bite dinner, stretched, did strength, & trued the rear wheel - I'd had to retighten loose spokes earlier in the afternoon & introduced a wee wobble. Another invite to the nice folks' fire & a beer with some fun & funny conversation plus decent beta on getting through the upcoming emptiness to compliment beta I got from Derrik at Freewheel. Into bed with rain pelting the tent. There's a little mileage to make up since 1500K in 12 days translates to 125K (78 miles) per day, but I'm not at all worried as there's tons of daylight or Wes & Quinn can retrieve me if I'm not at Watson Lake by July 18. Lots of rain forecast til Tuesday ... Ah well.
July 8:
50K to between Hinton & Muskeg, Alberta. 830-130. Rain fell all night & morning so made oatmeal & hot chocolate & dressed in the tent. Rolled up everything wet. Karen - a cute mom from the fire - had left a bag of pizza, chocolate, orange, banana, granole bar, & water on my picnic table - too sweet. Up the dirt road with bike computer not working (grr), which gummed up the gears badly. On the road into a stiff, very cold headwind, & steady rain with lots of climbing, no shoulder, & a lot of big truck traffic. Feet & hands very, very cold as gloves & rainsocks filled with water & wind pulled all the heat out of them. Stuck thumb out to no avail so rode until I found a spot on the roadside to put up the tent. Very, very cold & worried but managed to set up tent in cold, windy rain, then get bags in, though it all took over an hour due to my poor condition. Getting undressed was difficult. Managed to keep sleeping bag dry, thank goodness, & put on dry clothes & got into the bag with my puffy jacket around my numb feet. Ate Karen's gifts & fell asleep completely exhausted. Mind numb from trying to avoid thinking about the situation I'm in. Worried. A little scared. 50K to Muskeg, 80K to Grand Cache - may try to make one of those tomorrow but dreading it. I miss my wife & just want to be curled up next to her. Crying again, wondering why I thought I could do this. This is now too hard by a lot & outside of laying in the road, I don't know how to get help. I have food for at least 4 days so may find myself sitting here til this passes as riding in it with the gear I have seems too daunting. Enough ... Enough. Buck up, man.
July 9:
80 km to Grand Cache, Alberta. 700-230. Happy Birthday, Mom! Rallied early when I heard a break in the rain. Packed in the tent (still very clumsily) & put wet tent away. On the road at 7 but it was still slow going as the uphill had not yet changed it's mind. By 8 (still no functioning odometer ... grr) the headwind added to the fun but the horizontal rain was very light so I didn't get as chilled. I had opted to put on the Frogg Toggs raingear bag on one foot & my reflective, rainproof vest wrapped around the other instead of the shitty Sealkins (no product endorsement for those f$#@&ers!) & it worked better, I think. No water accumulating in the gloves today either. I saw a beautiful caribou along the road & watched him bound gracefully into very dense forest. The pavement is the only thing human here - these forests & hills extend forever. No power lines. No guardrails. Oh, & no shoulder, which makes riding with a trailer unnerving. Many fewer trucks than yesterday & they were all intent on giving me room. Cars ... not so much. Grrr. The hills were as endless as the headwind & I spent nearly the entire day in the granny gear fighting, fighting, fighting. Early on I did 30 minutes riding, 5 resting. Then 20/5, then 20/10, then 15/15. Exhausted & legs capable of only minimal output I hoped to fuel up & rest in Muskeg but there was nothing there - I mean, nothing. Just a sign. So I ate a Clif Bar & tried to rally for the 27 km to Grand Cache. A few nice downhills, though impeded by wind, offered a wee bit of respite on ocassion but I gasped when I saw the hill into town. I made it halfway up before the legs quivered & quit. After 10 minutes rest, I pushed the bike 2 km up that steep hill (well, maybe not so steep but ... I was tired) & into the visitor center for water (I'd been out since Muskeg, drinking the last 1/2 bottle just before in anticipation of refilling, then too weary to contemplate breaking out the water filter). Found a nearby hotel, woo'd the cleaning gal into tossing a heap of wet clothes into the dryer, put on dry clothes, had a hot meatball sub at a sandwich shop, bought beer, bandaids (scrotum), Carmex (one jar down over
5600 km ... not bad), & a few groceries. Talked to Rae while soaking my aching legs in the tub. Hope to stretch before finding dinner, then beers, Nyquil (I've acquired a cold - yea!), & bed. Exhausting day. Leg failure is odd for me so I think I lost a lot of energy yesterday with my body trying to fight off that bad chill. Hoping they're back tomorrow as I'd like to make up some of the full day I've lost. But ... mostly just want to not get down about how hard this is. I seem to be the only one who thought this'd be easy so my anguish when it isn't is something I should shed. Maybe too many skipped meditations this last week ...?
Tuesday, June 28, 2011
GLASK June 18-26 (Glacier NP)
June 18:
76 miles to Polson, MT. 1000-630. I got to chat with Mike some more as he packed up to head out toward Darby. He seemed very intimidated by the 3 pass day required in Yellowstone so I hope he has very favorable conditions. I did a hard sell on the Jackson Hot Springs Lodge & Twin Bridges Bike Camp but the 18 extra miles to the springs from Wisdom might be a bit much after the Chief Joseph Pass climb (7 miles at 7%), whether he does it from Darby or Sula. He gave me a cool bike touring url: www.crazyguyonabike.com & I may try to put stuff there, too. Breakfast at a diner around the corner, repack, head a mile in the wrong direction - typical morning. It was cloudy but not windy so it was easy over the pass into Jocko Valley, where I stopped for a huckleberry shake to go with my standard tuna sandwich. Another climb out of the valley was followed by a fierce 15 minute downpour, at the end of which I stopped for coffee & coconut cream pie (not as good as at The Virginian in Medicine Bow, WY, but I also wasn't high so ...). It was sprinkling & raining more or less the last 15 miles into Polson & clouds obscured the eastern peaks but there was a nice tailwind. The view of Flathead Lake from the bike path along Hwy 93 reminded me of the view of Puget Sound & the Olympics from our Steilacoom, WA, rental: grey skies, still water, islands, & distant snow-covered peaks. In town camping was too pricey so I was gunning for Big Arm State Park when Todd & Debbie drove by with big smiles & an offer to put up the tent in their backyard. They'd lived in Anchorage & Sandpoint, ID (to which one can paddle from here), so thought my travels were a great adventure. She's a massage therapist & he's the Polson city manager after bailing as a Russian business consultant (too much travel), & they've got 2 bright, engaging kids: Sandra's 13 & Story's 11. They came out to chat for awhile, too, before I begged to get my clothes changed & tent set up - I was quite chilled & damp after the afternoon's steady water offerings. They invited me in for a chicken salad dinner & we talked for hours about his previous work in Russia, marriage, differences between men & women from a biologically evolutionary perspective (Rae would've loved it), running ... with their adorable kids sometimes participating politely & intelligently & sometimes shooting each other with Nerf guns! What a great night ... I'm so lucky! Their pooch sat outside my tent that night, protecting me from a marauding skunk.
June 19:
40 miles to Rafael's place in Lakeside, MT. 900-1230. Happy Father's Day! Even though I told Sandra last night that I'd be sure to change in the tent since her room faced the backyard, I managed to be in the middle of pulling on my biking shorts out in the open when she popped around the corner to say "Good morning!" Dangit, scarred for life, I'd guess. They were all so sweet again for the morning send-off. Nice breakfast at Pop's downtown where I met Walker & his daughter, Frances. He & his wife had toured from Polson, MT, to Sarasota, FL, back in the early 90s & are stashing money for a year-long sailing/biking adventure with the kids. No rain & very still today but low, grey clouds obscured Glacier & Mission peaks. Flathead lake was so flat you could see the cloud's grey reflection on the dark water. Rolling hills all day around the lake but I made good time since I knew it wasn't going to be a long day. Hogan & Rafael kept in touch so we coordinated our arrivals at the Lakeside park within 20 minutes. Lunch with beers at the Tamarack Brewery then shopping for tonight's pizza & chocolate chip cheesecake cookie bars. The dirt road up to Rafael's place climbed 1000 ft in about 4 miles & would've been a struggle on the bike so I was glad to have everything in the back of his truck. The place is a beautifully architected & constructed 8000 sq. ft. log home, though there is a lot of finish work to do. It sits on more than 20 acres & abuts a National Forest, with astounding views of Glacier peaks & Flathead Lake. Great property. Being off the bike for the next 6 days will be a welcome treat & I'm stoked to be with Hogan & Rafael, especially with the prospect of being in Glacier on the near horizon.
June 20:
Meditated, egg & fruit breakfast, stretched, off to GNP for overnight permits, postcards, & a hike up to Avalanche Lake where we saw rivers, waterfalls, snowfields, mountain goats, & golden eagle chicks (through the telescope of a dude who'd been watching the nest for 10 years). Aaron & Erin were in Columbia Falls so we stopped in on our way to BBQ dinner to say goodbye (I'll miss those guys, for sure) & give them the bad news that the Over The Sun Road was not open to bikes, which we confirmed several times). Back late to Rafael's & right into bed.
June 21-22:
Meditated, breakfast of eggs, & put together backpacking gear. Stopped at Apgar Ranger Station to select 2 nights at Logging Lake Flat back country CG - 5 miles, no elevation. Mosquitoes swarmed us immediately upon exiting the car & didn't stop til we returned 2 days later. The trail was muddy, marshy going nearly the entire way way, which meant we saw lots of tracks: grizzly, black bear, wolf, racoon, elk, moose, & deer. A deer traipsed around camp at the tent. Cute ground squirrels ran around. A beaver with a fish in his mouth left a wide wake across the serene lake & Hogan's binoculaurs were put to good use. 2 ptarmigans perched in a tree on the 10 mile day hike on the 2nd day - the next CG was just as buggy & not nearly as scenic. Our view down the lake to snow-capped peaks was often reflected in the still water so the evening & morning colors were heavenly. A scout troop brought an entirely new swarm of bugs with them late on the 2nd evening so we retired early, intent on arising early & getting into the Many Glacier back country the next day.
June 23-24:
With less food, the hike out was easy. We ran into Laura & Brett again, this time at the tiny Polebridge bakery - I'd seen them at the Yellowstone Ranger Station, then in the Apgar VC, & now again. Nice, energetic, fun couple with a huge backcountry itinerary for this vacation. Sipping coffee & chatting was a treat. "No bugs, please," was our request to the ranger & he suggested Cracker Lake. 6 miles, 1100 ft elevation gain, winter camping conditions. Perfect. We set out at 4, filled bottles creekside, successfully managed a bare foot crossing of 2 icy streams, then slowed considerably when the intermittent snow banks became larger & more frequent. Eventually finding our way across large snowfields to locate trail infrequently, finally into an enormous cirque filled with snow fields, couliers, peaks, waterfalls, at the bottom of which was a large, deep, strikingly blue alpine lake with ice floes. Oh my! Beyond lovely ... hard to describe how beautiful & dramatic was the panorama. We secured the tent quickly as it was already 8, then cooked up beans, rice, & tortillas before reluctantly climbing into the tent as the sun dipped below the tall horizon & the wind picked up significantly. We left the fly & door open while tucked in the bags to absorb more of the (abbreviated) view & I was as happy as possible: Glacier NP backcountry, alpine cirque & lake, on the adventure of my life, with my best friend. Really?! Don't I have the most wonderful life?! A tick came down Hogan's arm, closing the tent imperative now, & I struggled to sleep because my cold worsened & the ferocious wind ocassionally flattened the tent across my head. Hogan had to get out a few times to keep the tent & gear from disappearing (he's so sweet to take care of that without guilting me). I couldn't get up til 8 since I felt crappy but, once up, started feeling better immediately. Oatmeal with raisins & mocha drink, then a fun, funny bit of exploring down near the cliff's bergschrund & at the soft edge of the lake's bankside ice. The wind was still gusting hatd, eventually breaking a tent pole, so we packed up & headed out at noon. The large icefields were somewhat easier to cross because they were softer & my bad hip was pointed favorably downhill. We came across some fur on the trail & a little looking around yielded the jaws & horns of a mountain goat. The soft tissue under the horns remained on the scalp, looking like a fresh, moist tongue & smelling very badly. Slightly lower water levels allowed us to put stones across the 1st crossing but I managed to not onlyu throw one shoe & sock into the water but also to tumble in & lose a hiking pole on the 2nd. A barefoot retrieval of the pole made me happy just not to lose something again (the snow had swallowed a pole's rubber tip the day before) & we soon made it to the car. 2 beers, a brief fireplace rest at the lodge, duct tape from a maintenance guy for a successful tent pole repair (thanks to Kathleen from Illinois on a trip with her son for use of her multi-tool), dinner & phone calls at a worn-down but tasty Babb cafe, an unorganized bit of grocery shopping (oatmeal, apples, cough syrup), then back to camp at Many Glacier CG for an early night. The trees here thankfully dampen the wind & there are no bugs, though my exposed fingers & toes are cold. Into the tent ...
June 25-26:
Awoke early to Hogan making tea & oatmeal in a blustery wind, though we were well protected by CG trees. I wanted coffee so we drove to the lodge, just escaping some sleet. Even though the lodge was fully booked we were nonetheless able to find a quiet, somewhat secluded spot with a view to stretch. Unsure if Rafael was coming, we drove to the same Babb cafe for lunch & quickly determined that he was only 45 minutes out. We all piled into the rental car, stopped at the Ranger Station for hike beta, & started up toward Grinell Lake & Glacier in bright sun. Lovely views, good conversation, & easy hiking without packs made it a pleasant outing but a sighting of a sow grizzly & 2 cubs less than 1/4 mile below the trail put the experience OVER THE TOP! So excited to finally see bears. They were spotted by a lovely Mexican gal, Naxi, & her partner, Jerry. Soon the trail was crowded with a dozen spectators passimg around binoculaurs - watching the bears sleep in a pile on a small snowfield & eventually moving briefly to feed before disappearing into the woods. Wow! I asked Hogan to adjust my camera settings to increase the digital zoom & resolution so that I might later be able to see something other than dots, which I think worked well. Yea! A little more hiking, clowning, & swooning over the scenery (another amazing cirque, lake, glacier view - nearly as stunning as Cracker Lake) before we were shut down by steep snow sloping precipitously. Beers & talk of past sexual exploits at the trailhead picnic table in glorious sunshine with peaks striving to the open sky, then a drive to a tasty, homemade dinner at the cute Park Cafe in St. Mary before we sent Rafael back home. We'd been gifted a bundle of wood (we assumed from next-door-neighbor, Kathleen) so Hogan got to fuss over an elaborate fire-building exercise, which failed immediately because the brochures we'd pilfered as fire starter weren't really flammable. A search of the car yielded a pile of my trip receipts, which I happily liberated from my over-stuffed wallet - wa-la, fire! Hogan slept outside & I took advantage of the alone time - if you know what I mean. Up early again, broke camp as we made & consumed tea & oatmeal with apples. We stopped at the Park Cafe for coffee & 2nd breakfast. I got carsick on the drive to the airport but rallied when we unpacked the car. We all looked at & swapped pictures when Rafael showed up to pick me up, then it was a warm, loving goodbye to Hogan. Rafael's dad, Milan was a very interesting fellow who rides Rafael too hard but had a lot to say about the merits of socialism as a system of equals & designed for workers (with which I agree), the inevitable demise of this generation of the entitled, & that of the European Union. I did a bunch of repair work while trying unsuccessfully fight off the return of nausea: superglued the pot handle back on, sewed & patched the pad bag & my torn rain pants, patched the tent bag & tent, fixed a rear tire & trailer flat ... whew. Rafael made brats & baked veggies for dinner & we sat on the back deck with a lovely view of Flathead Lake & the Rockies during a long sunset.
76 miles to Polson, MT. 1000-630. I got to chat with Mike some more as he packed up to head out toward Darby. He seemed very intimidated by the 3 pass day required in Yellowstone so I hope he has very favorable conditions. I did a hard sell on the Jackson Hot Springs Lodge & Twin Bridges Bike Camp but the 18 extra miles to the springs from Wisdom might be a bit much after the Chief Joseph Pass climb (7 miles at 7%), whether he does it from Darby or Sula. He gave me a cool bike touring url: www.crazyguyonabike.com & I may try to put stuff there, too. Breakfast at a diner around the corner, repack, head a mile in the wrong direction - typical morning. It was cloudy but not windy so it was easy over the pass into Jocko Valley, where I stopped for a huckleberry shake to go with my standard tuna sandwich. Another climb out of the valley was followed by a fierce 15 minute downpour, at the end of which I stopped for coffee & coconut cream pie (not as good as at The Virginian in Medicine Bow, WY, but I also wasn't high so ...). It was sprinkling & raining more or less the last 15 miles into Polson & clouds obscured the eastern peaks but there was a nice tailwind. The view of Flathead Lake from the bike path along Hwy 93 reminded me of the view of Puget Sound & the Olympics from our Steilacoom, WA, rental: grey skies, still water, islands, & distant snow-covered peaks. In town camping was too pricey so I was gunning for Big Arm State Park when Todd & Debbie drove by with big smiles & an offer to put up the tent in their backyard. They'd lived in Anchorage & Sandpoint, ID (to which one can paddle from here), so thought my travels were a great adventure. She's a massage therapist & he's the Polson city manager after bailing as a Russian business consultant (too much travel), & they've got 2 bright, engaging kids: Sandra's 13 & Story's 11. They came out to chat for awhile, too, before I begged to get my clothes changed & tent set up - I was quite chilled & damp after the afternoon's steady water offerings. They invited me in for a chicken salad dinner & we talked for hours about his previous work in Russia, marriage, differences between men & women from a biologically evolutionary perspective (Rae would've loved it), running ... with their adorable kids sometimes participating politely & intelligently & sometimes shooting each other with Nerf guns! What a great night ... I'm so lucky! Their pooch sat outside my tent that night, protecting me from a marauding skunk.
June 19:
40 miles to Rafael's place in Lakeside, MT. 900-1230. Happy Father's Day! Even though I told Sandra last night that I'd be sure to change in the tent since her room faced the backyard, I managed to be in the middle of pulling on my biking shorts out in the open when she popped around the corner to say "Good morning!" Dangit, scarred for life, I'd guess. They were all so sweet again for the morning send-off. Nice breakfast at Pop's downtown where I met Walker & his daughter, Frances. He & his wife had toured from Polson, MT, to Sarasota, FL, back in the early 90s & are stashing money for a year-long sailing/biking adventure with the kids. No rain & very still today but low, grey clouds obscured Glacier & Mission peaks. Flathead lake was so flat you could see the cloud's grey reflection on the dark water. Rolling hills all day around the lake but I made good time since I knew it wasn't going to be a long day. Hogan & Rafael kept in touch so we coordinated our arrivals at the Lakeside park within 20 minutes. Lunch with beers at the Tamarack Brewery then shopping for tonight's pizza & chocolate chip cheesecake cookie bars. The dirt road up to Rafael's place climbed 1000 ft in about 4 miles & would've been a struggle on the bike so I was glad to have everything in the back of his truck. The place is a beautifully architected & constructed 8000 sq. ft. log home, though there is a lot of finish work to do. It sits on more than 20 acres & abuts a National Forest, with astounding views of Glacier peaks & Flathead Lake. Great property. Being off the bike for the next 6 days will be a welcome treat & I'm stoked to be with Hogan & Rafael, especially with the prospect of being in Glacier on the near horizon.
June 20:
Meditated, egg & fruit breakfast, stretched, off to GNP for overnight permits, postcards, & a hike up to Avalanche Lake where we saw rivers, waterfalls, snowfields, mountain goats, & golden eagle chicks (through the telescope of a dude who'd been watching the nest for 10 years). Aaron & Erin were in Columbia Falls so we stopped in on our way to BBQ dinner to say goodbye (I'll miss those guys, for sure) & give them the bad news that the Over The Sun Road was not open to bikes, which we confirmed several times). Back late to Rafael's & right into bed.
June 21-22:
Meditated, breakfast of eggs, & put together backpacking gear. Stopped at Apgar Ranger Station to select 2 nights at Logging Lake Flat back country CG - 5 miles, no elevation. Mosquitoes swarmed us immediately upon exiting the car & didn't stop til we returned 2 days later. The trail was muddy, marshy going nearly the entire way way, which meant we saw lots of tracks: grizzly, black bear, wolf, racoon, elk, moose, & deer. A deer traipsed around camp at the tent. Cute ground squirrels ran around. A beaver with a fish in his mouth left a wide wake across the serene lake & Hogan's binoculaurs were put to good use. 2 ptarmigans perched in a tree on the 10 mile day hike on the 2nd day - the next CG was just as buggy & not nearly as scenic. Our view down the lake to snow-capped peaks was often reflected in the still water so the evening & morning colors were heavenly. A scout troop brought an entirely new swarm of bugs with them late on the 2nd evening so we retired early, intent on arising early & getting into the Many Glacier back country the next day.
June 23-24:
With less food, the hike out was easy. We ran into Laura & Brett again, this time at the tiny Polebridge bakery - I'd seen them at the Yellowstone Ranger Station, then in the Apgar VC, & now again. Nice, energetic, fun couple with a huge backcountry itinerary for this vacation. Sipping coffee & chatting was a treat. "No bugs, please," was our request to the ranger & he suggested Cracker Lake. 6 miles, 1100 ft elevation gain, winter camping conditions. Perfect. We set out at 4, filled bottles creekside, successfully managed a bare foot crossing of 2 icy streams, then slowed considerably when the intermittent snow banks became larger & more frequent. Eventually finding our way across large snowfields to locate trail infrequently, finally into an enormous cirque filled with snow fields, couliers, peaks, waterfalls, at the bottom of which was a large, deep, strikingly blue alpine lake with ice floes. Oh my! Beyond lovely ... hard to describe how beautiful & dramatic was the panorama. We secured the tent quickly as it was already 8, then cooked up beans, rice, & tortillas before reluctantly climbing into the tent as the sun dipped below the tall horizon & the wind picked up significantly. We left the fly & door open while tucked in the bags to absorb more of the (abbreviated) view & I was as happy as possible: Glacier NP backcountry, alpine cirque & lake, on the adventure of my life, with my best friend. Really?! Don't I have the most wonderful life?! A tick came down Hogan's arm, closing the tent imperative now, & I struggled to sleep because my cold worsened & the ferocious wind ocassionally flattened the tent across my head. Hogan had to get out a few times to keep the tent & gear from disappearing (he's so sweet to take care of that without guilting me). I couldn't get up til 8 since I felt crappy but, once up, started feeling better immediately. Oatmeal with raisins & mocha drink, then a fun, funny bit of exploring down near the cliff's bergschrund & at the soft edge of the lake's bankside ice. The wind was still gusting hatd, eventually breaking a tent pole, so we packed up & headed out at noon. The large icefields were somewhat easier to cross because they were softer & my bad hip was pointed favorably downhill. We came across some fur on the trail & a little looking around yielded the jaws & horns of a mountain goat. The soft tissue under the horns remained on the scalp, looking like a fresh, moist tongue & smelling very badly. Slightly lower water levels allowed us to put stones across the 1st crossing but I managed to not onlyu throw one shoe & sock into the water but also to tumble in & lose a hiking pole on the 2nd. A barefoot retrieval of the pole made me happy just not to lose something again (the snow had swallowed a pole's rubber tip the day before) & we soon made it to the car. 2 beers, a brief fireplace rest at the lodge, duct tape from a maintenance guy for a successful tent pole repair (thanks to Kathleen from Illinois on a trip with her son for use of her multi-tool), dinner & phone calls at a worn-down but tasty Babb cafe, an unorganized bit of grocery shopping (oatmeal, apples, cough syrup), then back to camp at Many Glacier CG for an early night. The trees here thankfully dampen the wind & there are no bugs, though my exposed fingers & toes are cold. Into the tent ...
June 25-26:
Awoke early to Hogan making tea & oatmeal in a blustery wind, though we were well protected by CG trees. I wanted coffee so we drove to the lodge, just escaping some sleet. Even though the lodge was fully booked we were nonetheless able to find a quiet, somewhat secluded spot with a view to stretch. Unsure if Rafael was coming, we drove to the same Babb cafe for lunch & quickly determined that he was only 45 minutes out. We all piled into the rental car, stopped at the Ranger Station for hike beta, & started up toward Grinell Lake & Glacier in bright sun. Lovely views, good conversation, & easy hiking without packs made it a pleasant outing but a sighting of a sow grizzly & 2 cubs less than 1/4 mile below the trail put the experience OVER THE TOP! So excited to finally see bears. They were spotted by a lovely Mexican gal, Naxi, & her partner, Jerry. Soon the trail was crowded with a dozen spectators passimg around binoculaurs - watching the bears sleep in a pile on a small snowfield & eventually moving briefly to feed before disappearing into the woods. Wow! I asked Hogan to adjust my camera settings to increase the digital zoom & resolution so that I might later be able to see something other than dots, which I think worked well. Yea! A little more hiking, clowning, & swooning over the scenery (another amazing cirque, lake, glacier view - nearly as stunning as Cracker Lake) before we were shut down by steep snow sloping precipitously. Beers & talk of past sexual exploits at the trailhead picnic table in glorious sunshine with peaks striving to the open sky, then a drive to a tasty, homemade dinner at the cute Park Cafe in St. Mary before we sent Rafael back home. We'd been gifted a bundle of wood (we assumed from next-door-neighbor, Kathleen) so Hogan got to fuss over an elaborate fire-building exercise, which failed immediately because the brochures we'd pilfered as fire starter weren't really flammable. A search of the car yielded a pile of my trip receipts, which I happily liberated from my over-stuffed wallet - wa-la, fire! Hogan slept outside & I took advantage of the alone time - if you know what I mean. Up early again, broke camp as we made & consumed tea & oatmeal with apples. We stopped at the Park Cafe for coffee & 2nd breakfast. I got carsick on the drive to the airport but rallied when we unpacked the car. We all looked at & swapped pictures when Rafael showed up to pick me up, then it was a warm, loving goodbye to Hogan. Rafael's dad, Milan was a very interesting fellow who rides Rafael too hard but had a lot to say about the merits of socialism as a system of equals & designed for workers (with which I agree), the inevitable demise of this generation of the entitled, & that of the European Union. I did a bunch of repair work while trying unsuccessfully fight off the return of nausea: superglued the pot handle back on, sewed & patched the pad bag & my torn rain pants, patched the tent bag & tent, fixed a rear tire & trailer flat ... whew. Rafael made brats & baked veggies for dinner & we sat on the back deck with a lovely view of Flathead Lake & the Rockies during a long sunset.
Saturday, June 18, 2011
FLASK June 12-18
June 12:
14 miles to West Yellowstone. Rain. Mel & John left early to do a 2-day, "let's see more of the park before we go" loop through Mammoth & Canyon. Jealous but I think I have a package in West Yellowstone then I should get moving toward Glacier to see Hogan on the 19th (yes!). Aaron & Erin (who's not feeling well) left for West Yellowstone after breakfast but not before telling me that they saw a black bear stalked then chased by a wolf! I haven't seen either & they get exotic behavior with both?! I'm just sayin' ... Shout out, by the way, to the Madison CG staff. Tarps up over hiker-biker tables? Free coffee or hot water in the morning? Encouragement? Seriously awesome! I meditated, packed in the rain - somehow managing to turn my dry tent & tarp into wet, dirty messes. As I slowly left the park I saw bison wandering marshes, elk grazing hillsides, bald eagles perched in lodgepoles, ... wildlife was abundant & it was an easy downhill 14 miles so the rain went largely unnoticed. Visitor center, cheap hotel, a hot bath, laundry, NBA Finals (unbelievable, Mavs in 6) with Aaron & Erin, DQ, comfy bed, zzzz ...
June 13:
80 miles to Ennis, MT. Repacked, had breakfast at Old Town Cafe, checked at the Post Office but no package (would've stayed in the park & rode out Mammoth ... oh, well), & finally stopped by the pharmacy for antibiotic & band-aids to try to get a supporating quarter-size wound on my scrotum to heal. Beautifil ride along Hedgen Lake, Earthquake Lake, & the Madison River, where I saw a herd of 10-12 bighorn sheep - several with curls! Also an osprey nest with young, fluffy chick heads poking out! Steve & John were heading to DC from Spokane. Older fellas celebrating getting on Social Security by riding cross country! Haha! Steve said when he was a kid he was in a hotel with his folks at a hotel in the area, on their way to Yellowstone, when the August 1959 quake hit! I stopped at a lodge for a burger, beer, & coffee & chatted with Patty (quite an attractive, curvy young woman studying Sociology & Criminology at Bozeman) about the unnatural human cultural institutions like monogamy, family obligations, & goofy shit like that. A roaring tailwind pushed me 25 mph down Madison Valley, right into a dark thunderstorm, but I had rain only 10 of the last 15 miles & pulled into the library wet but satisfied with a wildly scenic & fairly easy ride. Clayton pulled in on an old Bianchi. He's a 21 year-old touring with a gal, Julie, 36, from Portland to Virginia on the TransAm route. She'd got a hotel but he wanted to camp & we found a $19 site at an RV park 1 1/2 miles north of town. Warm shower, tent, stretch, then an easy ride back into town for dinner & beers at the Gravel Bar, where we sat at the bar with Ad & Marie from Holland. It rained while we ate, cleared for the ride to camp, them rained through the night. But my system for setting up the tent & stashing is finely tuned & the tent dried quickly in the cold morning sun.
June 14:
77 miles to Dillon, MT. Breakfast was a nice gathering as Clayton & I were joined by Julie (nice gal), Aaron, & Erin. Erin was throwing up yesterday morning so they were an hour behind me all day yesterday & had camped at the muddy, $12 fisherman's access camp just before town. She's one tough cookie & Aaron is really attentive with her. They're both truly friendly, easygoing people & I've really enjoyed their company. An osprey was hauling branches to her nest with young, and the not-too-distant peaks had new snow for a stunning backdrop to the valley as we left town. A stiff 10 mile 7% climb was a real leg-churner, what with the cold headwind & two false summits. The descent was freezing & impeded by the wind & soup & coffee in Virginia City didn't warm me up. I kept seeing Garnett signs as we rolled into Ruby Valley so stopped at a rock shop to find something for Rae since that's her birthstone. Dave opened his still-closed-for-the-season shop & his gal, Sue, climbed down from painting the roof dormer to help him find something I'd like. Post office across the street - done. Easy headwind through the valley with slowly increasing temperatures & sunshine - in fact, I broke out sunscreen for the 1st time in weeks! Ice cream in Sheridan - yummy. After an easy 10 miles on in-progress chip seal we came to an excellent Bike Camp in Twin Bridges. Right on a swollen creek, it had a small, screened-in sitting/eating area stocked with books, magazines, & miscellaneous bike stuff (lube, slime, tools), plus an outdoor grill & bikestand, & a nice, flat, grassy tent area. Norm does the maintenance &, because the city council has to approve funding above any donations, he asked that we write a note in the logbook even though we weren't staying the night - glad to oblige. We basked in the sun in the grass for a bit but it was getting late due to that tough, long morning climb so we got back on for a final slightly uphill, mild headwind, 28 mile push to Dillon. Great scenery of distant snow-covered peaks glazing in bright sunshine, sheep (Muir's locust) grazing in green pastures, & a long hilly valley. We each did 7 mile pulls, though it wasn't easy to accommodate the last rider because of the panniers, crosswind component, & very narrow shoulder on Hwy 41. It was late when we made town so we ate at a pizza joint where I caught up with Rae (she's so awesome!), then rolled a few easy blocks through a lovely downtown to the KOA. A fat, white, full moon rose over snowy peaks while the sun slowly set & I stretched while the kids did laundry & showered. No rain! Wow!
June 15:
50 miles to Jackson, MT. It was nice when I awoke - sun, nice temperature, creek running. Meditated, made hot cereal & tea, repacked, then chatted with Rob, who owns the KOA. He gave a 20% discount for the site since we're biking & said he had 427 bikers through last year! Wow! This CG is highly recommended, friends. We rolled back into town to get stuff at a roadside fruit & veggie stand (Dan, who ran it, had done an Olympic Peninsula tour years ago & gave us a lot of free fruit), then to Safeway for poptarts & other supplies. The 1st 10 miles were an easy, scenic roll out of town & onto Hwy 278. The wind really picked up as we started a long, gradual summit climb & grew quickly to a sustained 25 mph, cold headwind for the remainder of the day. The downhill off the 1st summit was a welcome relief despite being wind-impeded. We all thought a right turn at a split in the valley would create a tailwind for us ... Nope. Already tired, we formed a crude draft line & struggled through a repeating cycle of three 1 mile pulls, rest, ... The 2nd summit seemed harder but Erin pulled us to the top (she's one tough cookie), the downhill was much faster &, again, a little wind trickery in the valley below led us to think we'd get a break ... Nope. With just 8 miles to go, we did pulls & rests & marvelled over the wild, open, majestic scene all around us. The peaks here are more dramatic & jagged & just buried in snow. I will gladly say that it was easier to withstand a constant headwind with some company - my headspace stayed much better than when I suffered alone in southern Wyoming. The locals at the very nice Jackson Lodge told us they hadn't seen wind like this for 2-3 years ... uh-huh, heard that before. I had a cheeseburger, soup, & Mirror Pond (shout out to Deschutes Brewing (sponsor!)), & I finally got to see Erin eat a full meal. She's still sniffling but no longer queasy - yea! Jess gave us a break on the tent site price, which included a dip in the hot mineral springs. Man, was that nice! It's a beatiful old stone pool, 7 feet deep at one end, 25 feet long, & filled with wonderfully soothing hot water, in which we rollicked & recovered for an hour. Chilly & windy, you had to keep submerged but it was beautiful with mist pulled by the wind off the pool into exotic patterns through the lights. Quinn called to let me know my passport is in the van ... as my grandson, Ohin, would say, "Dangit, Noni!" I stretched briefly then crawled into the tent with my core temperature back up & my muscles relaxed thinking of Rae ... I should sleep well.
June 16:
71 miles into a Fisherman's Access CG on the East Fork of the Bitterroot River. I called the passport office but they received the lost/stolen form & so I've lost that $195 fee. Oh, well. I've managed to lose 2 things for real, though - the 50 oz bladder & the water filter. I should be more careful, though I don't feel careless with packing & unpacking. Breakfast was toast, a muffin, & coffee & we started late right into the 1st snow squall of the day. It was, nonetheless, a very easy & scenic 18 miles through Big Hole Valley to Wisdom where we ate lunch (surpisingly, the Gyro was pretty good), though very cold. We ran into Evan, cycling from San Francisco to DC & not noticing much wind (Hello ... tailwind). Many more snow squalls shot snow pellets at us all afternoon as we gradually climbed through a lodgepole pine forest the 26 miles to Chief Joseph Pass (the 6th Continental Divide crossing of the trip, I think). It was wicked cold on the 7 mile 7% descent & a headwind was present on this side until we made about 15 miles - entering the beautifully recovering Bitter Root National Forest. We stopped 5 miles from Darby at a "Closed due to Dangerous Flood Conditions" Fisherman's Access CG. Shared dinner included sweet potatoes from the cool Dillon veggie stand, rice, garlic, peppers, & ginger teriyaki sauce from a bag. Yummy! Stretched (mosquitoes! Grr!), said goodnight, in bed. I'll be sad to be leaving the kids after tomorrow as they've been absolutely wonderful companions. But Hogan arrives in just 3 days & I'm stoked! Plus, seeing Rafael again after 5 years will be a trip! No talks with Rae the last 2 days ... so missing her even a little more right now. Anyway ... What a great trip so far! It feels like a real adventure to me already & there are so many wild fun things on the horizon! Yahoo!
June 17:
74 miles to Missoula, MT. The sheriff was at breakfast in Darby & is famous for (a) giving David Letterman a ticket, (b) managing a standoff with a white supremacy group, & (c) being the subject of a NatGeo Montana law enforcement show. Erin was held conversationally hostage for quite awhile, requiring rescue. Riding today was so easy: mostly downhill, all tailwind, bike path for 20+ miles, no rain, no snow, & scenic. James & Connor from Ireland were cycling from Vancouver, BC, into Colorado then wandering north again. Connor's beard was a flaming orange - pure Irish! We pulled into Missoula & I stopped at the bike shop but they had no camping beta. The parks along the river look ripe for rousting & even 3 miles down the gravel river trail past Montana University it looked too transient for me what with the shopping carts & all. A knock on the door of a house with a porch-full of bikes to see if I could put a tent up got me directions to the homeless shelter! Haha! Stretched then found a biker rally in the adjacent park so I watched the band for awhile (& made a cute video of a 3-year-old boy air guitaring in front of the bandstand), looked at bikes & old women in leather, & watched the swollen river tumble by in a brief bit of sun. Finally decided to go to a hostel in town - same price as KOA & in town. Dave let me set up the tent in the backyard instead so I paid $12 instead of $29 yea! I met Aaron, Erin, & her brother, Nick, & his wife, Kali, for dinner & beers. Very nice, happy couple & they're expecting their firstborn in late November. At just 4000 ft, Missoula feels warm at 51F so the walks through town were pleasant. Mike was at the hostel & on a neat tour from his oldest daughter's in Eugene to his youngest's in Boston, though he really started in Portland after a train ride from his hometown of Chicago. I must be in a good mood since I pet a cat that approached me in the alley behind the hostel. Wierd.
14 miles to West Yellowstone. Rain. Mel & John left early to do a 2-day, "let's see more of the park before we go" loop through Mammoth & Canyon. Jealous but I think I have a package in West Yellowstone then I should get moving toward Glacier to see Hogan on the 19th (yes!). Aaron & Erin (who's not feeling well) left for West Yellowstone after breakfast but not before telling me that they saw a black bear stalked then chased by a wolf! I haven't seen either & they get exotic behavior with both?! I'm just sayin' ... Shout out, by the way, to the Madison CG staff. Tarps up over hiker-biker tables? Free coffee or hot water in the morning? Encouragement? Seriously awesome! I meditated, packed in the rain - somehow managing to turn my dry tent & tarp into wet, dirty messes. As I slowly left the park I saw bison wandering marshes, elk grazing hillsides, bald eagles perched in lodgepoles, ... wildlife was abundant & it was an easy downhill 14 miles so the rain went largely unnoticed. Visitor center, cheap hotel, a hot bath, laundry, NBA Finals (unbelievable, Mavs in 6) with Aaron & Erin, DQ, comfy bed, zzzz ...
June 13:
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| Aaron and Erin |
June 14:
77 miles to Dillon, MT. Breakfast was a nice gathering as Clayton & I were joined by Julie (nice gal), Aaron, & Erin. Erin was throwing up yesterday morning so they were an hour behind me all day yesterday & had camped at the muddy, $12 fisherman's access camp just before town. She's one tough cookie & Aaron is really attentive with her. They're both truly friendly, easygoing people & I've really enjoyed their company. An osprey was hauling branches to her nest with young, and the not-too-distant peaks had new snow for a stunning backdrop to the valley as we left town. A stiff 10 mile 7% climb was a real leg-churner, what with the cold headwind & two false summits. The descent was freezing & impeded by the wind & soup & coffee in Virginia City didn't warm me up. I kept seeing Garnett signs as we rolled into Ruby Valley so stopped at a rock shop to find something for Rae since that's her birthstone. Dave opened his still-closed-for-the-season shop & his gal, Sue, climbed down from painting the roof dormer to help him find something I'd like. Post office across the street - done. Easy headwind through the valley with slowly increasing temperatures & sunshine - in fact, I broke out sunscreen for the 1st time in weeks! Ice cream in Sheridan - yummy. After an easy 10 miles on in-progress chip seal we came to an excellent Bike Camp in Twin Bridges. Right on a swollen creek, it had a small, screened-in sitting/eating area stocked with books, magazines, & miscellaneous bike stuff (lube, slime, tools), plus an outdoor grill & bikestand, & a nice, flat, grassy tent area. Norm does the maintenance &, because the city council has to approve funding above any donations, he asked that we write a note in the logbook even though we weren't staying the night - glad to oblige. We basked in the sun in the grass for a bit but it was getting late due to that tough, long morning climb so we got back on for a final slightly uphill, mild headwind, 28 mile push to Dillon. Great scenery of distant snow-covered peaks glazing in bright sunshine, sheep (Muir's locust) grazing in green pastures, & a long hilly valley. We each did 7 mile pulls, though it wasn't easy to accommodate the last rider because of the panniers, crosswind component, & very narrow shoulder on Hwy 41. It was late when we made town so we ate at a pizza joint where I caught up with Rae (she's so awesome!), then rolled a few easy blocks through a lovely downtown to the KOA. A fat, white, full moon rose over snowy peaks while the sun slowly set & I stretched while the kids did laundry & showered. No rain! Wow!
June 15:
50 miles to Jackson, MT. It was nice when I awoke - sun, nice temperature, creek running. Meditated, made hot cereal & tea, repacked, then chatted with Rob, who owns the KOA. He gave a 20% discount for the site since we're biking & said he had 427 bikers through last year! Wow! This CG is highly recommended, friends. We rolled back into town to get stuff at a roadside fruit & veggie stand (Dan, who ran it, had done an Olympic Peninsula tour years ago & gave us a lot of free fruit), then to Safeway for poptarts & other supplies. The 1st 10 miles were an easy, scenic roll out of town & onto Hwy 278. The wind really picked up as we started a long, gradual summit climb & grew quickly to a sustained 25 mph, cold headwind for the remainder of the day. The downhill off the 1st summit was a welcome relief despite being wind-impeded. We all thought a right turn at a split in the valley would create a tailwind for us ... Nope. Already tired, we formed a crude draft line & struggled through a repeating cycle of three 1 mile pulls, rest, ... The 2nd summit seemed harder but Erin pulled us to the top (she's one tough cookie), the downhill was much faster &, again, a little wind trickery in the valley below led us to think we'd get a break ... Nope. With just 8 miles to go, we did pulls & rests & marvelled over the wild, open, majestic scene all around us. The peaks here are more dramatic & jagged & just buried in snow. I will gladly say that it was easier to withstand a constant headwind with some company - my headspace stayed much better than when I suffered alone in southern Wyoming. The locals at the very nice Jackson Lodge told us they hadn't seen wind like this for 2-3 years ... uh-huh, heard that before. I had a cheeseburger, soup, & Mirror Pond (shout out to Deschutes Brewing (sponsor!)), & I finally got to see Erin eat a full meal. She's still sniffling but no longer queasy - yea! Jess gave us a break on the tent site price, which included a dip in the hot mineral springs. Man, was that nice! It's a beatiful old stone pool, 7 feet deep at one end, 25 feet long, & filled with wonderfully soothing hot water, in which we rollicked & recovered for an hour. Chilly & windy, you had to keep submerged but it was beautiful with mist pulled by the wind off the pool into exotic patterns through the lights. Quinn called to let me know my passport is in the van ... as my grandson, Ohin, would say, "Dangit, Noni!" I stretched briefly then crawled into the tent with my core temperature back up & my muscles relaxed thinking of Rae ... I should sleep well.
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71 miles into a Fisherman's Access CG on the East Fork of the Bitterroot River. I called the passport office but they received the lost/stolen form & so I've lost that $195 fee. Oh, well. I've managed to lose 2 things for real, though - the 50 oz bladder & the water filter. I should be more careful, though I don't feel careless with packing & unpacking. Breakfast was toast, a muffin, & coffee & we started late right into the 1st snow squall of the day. It was, nonetheless, a very easy & scenic 18 miles through Big Hole Valley to Wisdom where we ate lunch (surpisingly, the Gyro was pretty good), though very cold. We ran into Evan, cycling from San Francisco to DC & not noticing much wind (Hello ... tailwind). Many more snow squalls shot snow pellets at us all afternoon as we gradually climbed through a lodgepole pine forest the 26 miles to Chief Joseph Pass (the 6th Continental Divide crossing of the trip, I think). It was wicked cold on the 7 mile 7% descent & a headwind was present on this side until we made about 15 miles - entering the beautifully recovering Bitter Root National Forest. We stopped 5 miles from Darby at a "Closed due to Dangerous Flood Conditions" Fisherman's Access CG. Shared dinner included sweet potatoes from the cool Dillon veggie stand, rice, garlic, peppers, & ginger teriyaki sauce from a bag. Yummy! Stretched (mosquitoes! Grr!), said goodnight, in bed. I'll be sad to be leaving the kids after tomorrow as they've been absolutely wonderful companions. But Hogan arrives in just 3 days & I'm stoked! Plus, seeing Rafael again after 5 years will be a trip! No talks with Rae the last 2 days ... so missing her even a little more right now. Anyway ... What a great trip so far! It feels like a real adventure to me already & there are so many wild fun things on the horizon! Yahoo!
June 17:
74 miles to Missoula, MT. The sheriff was at breakfast in Darby & is famous for (a) giving David Letterman a ticket, (b) managing a standoff with a white supremacy group, & (c) being the subject of a NatGeo Montana law enforcement show. Erin was held conversationally hostage for quite awhile, requiring rescue. Riding today was so easy: mostly downhill, all tailwind, bike path for 20+ miles, no rain, no snow, & scenic. James & Connor from Ireland were cycling from Vancouver, BC, into Colorado then wandering north again. Connor's beard was a flaming orange - pure Irish! We pulled into Missoula & I stopped at the bike shop but they had no camping beta. The parks along the river look ripe for rousting & even 3 miles down the gravel river trail past Montana University it looked too transient for me what with the shopping carts & all. A knock on the door of a house with a porch-full of bikes to see if I could put a tent up got me directions to the homeless shelter! Haha! Stretched then found a biker rally in the adjacent park so I watched the band for awhile (& made a cute video of a 3-year-old boy air guitaring in front of the bandstand), looked at bikes & old women in leather, & watched the swollen river tumble by in a brief bit of sun. Finally decided to go to a hostel in town - same price as KOA & in town. Dave let me set up the tent in the backyard instead so I paid $12 instead of $29 yea! I met Aaron, Erin, & her brother, Nick, & his wife, Kali, for dinner & beers. Very nice, happy couple & they're expecting their firstborn in late November. At just 4000 ft, Missoula feels warm at 51F so the walks through town were pleasant. Mike was at the hostel & on a neat tour from his oldest daughter's in Eugene to his youngest's in Boston, though he really started in Portland after a train ride from his hometown of Chicago. I must be in a good mood since I pet a cat that approached me in the alley behind the hostel. Wierd.
Sunday, June 12, 2011
FLASK June 6-11
June 6:
34 miles to Alpine, WY. Some city workers woke me up around 730 - nicely - & told me about some other tourers from previous years, one doing all trails (crazy). Meditated then had a very liesurely breakfast before going over to Ace for a small file set (& chocolates) to attempt the anticipated hub repair. But it wasn't the same spoke, which now leads me to think I managed to overstress some spokes the day I left Medicine Bow with the out-of-round wheel. It might be best to re-lace with new spokes, which the Jackson bike shop should have. An older gal, Barb, spent some good chat time with me out front while I worked the wheel. She just loved Rae's independence, saying it reminded her of how she ignored the skeptics when she moved herself from Maine to Star Valley. I talked to Hogan about meeting in Glacier & it almost seems likely - yea! I finally left Afton around 11 & within 8 miles had 28-year-old Serena as a riding companion til mile 23 when I stopped for lunch. She was touring from Logan, heading to Glacier then on to Seattle, trying to raise money for a cool non-profit she recently started to get at-risk youth outdoors (go to www.yaanonprofit.org & donate, everybody!). Her dad intended to ride with her to Glacier (both supported by mom in a car, it sounded like) but he took a bad spill yesterday coming down from Lander Turnoff Pass. He hit a metal post, fractured 6 ribs, punctured a lung, & was in the Afton hospital. He's from Oakley, ID, near Burley & City Of Rocks - cool. So Serena was just out for a ride til he could be released tomorrow & she was certain they'd re-start in a month. I offered to have her join me to Glacier but she obviously had some sorting to do. I had a sandwich, beer, & ice cream sitting outside the Thayne market &, just like when I was re-lacing the wheel in front of the Ace earlier, lots of nice folks chatted me up. Star Valley is absolutely, stunningly beautiful: snow on the big north mountains in the distance, dandelions in all the fields, snow on the east & west hills, aspens, pine ... yummy eye & soul candy, especially as I rolled down the valley with a light breeze for a tailwind into Alpine. The local RV park offered me a $9 tentsite so I decided not to go on toward the more remote camps between Alpine & Hogback where mudslides earlier in the year had closed Hwy 26/89 (which is still under repair so tomorrow should be interesting if the gravel stretch is long). With a long afternoon & clouds rolling in, I repaired a tear in the tent bag, set up the tent, showered, did some laundry (in the shower), stretched, & had a beer looking at the valley & mountains. I know my mood is still too weather-dependent but I will take all this good weather the last 3 days into reserve, since there are thunderstorms forecast the remainder of the week. My expired passport won't arrive in Jackson til Wednesday mid-afternoon so I'll likely be there til Thursday morning before heading into Tetons NP, I think. Rae would've loved this touring day & I'm pleased that I'm not feeling schedule pressure so that I can enjoy a scenic, low mileage day now, too. This is good head space & I'm happy for all I have around me & in me.
June 7:
39 miles to Jackson. Awoke to rain pelting the tent in the same manner it was when I went down. I'll need to manage the tarp/footprint I put under the tent so as to avoid some water pooling in the tent, I guess. For 75 cents I dried the sleeping bag, yoga mat, & the jacket that got soaked in the dryer at the campground. The patriot theme at the restaurant across the street was overdone but it was good food. I left Alpine in light rain & had a spectacularly wild & scenic ride in that rain along the Snake River the 24 miles into Hoback. The river was full & roaring with debris, whirlpools, tacos, chutes, & a few rafters & kayakers. Beautiful country! A motorbiker in Hoback pointed out a flat trailer tire & after replacing it I checked the spokes to find ANOTHER broken one. I'm getting good at tearing of the tire, tube, rotor, & cassette, re-threading, & true-ing on the upturned bike - 30 minutes! 17 more scenic miles along a paved bike path, with snowstorms obscuring some of the peaks in the distance. I ran into Stan on his bike right away & he directed me to Hoff's - a recently opened small bike shop in Jackson - where I bought what turned out to be too short spokes & was assured I'd get rousted if I slept in a city park. The visitor center pointed out what I suspected: $50 tentsites & $100 rooms - so I went to the post office to see what time Wednesday the mail from Rae might arrive. The Snake River Brewery parking lot seemed like as good a place as any to attempt the wheel rebuild & proved to be so entertaining to locals & tourists alike that several brought me beers. It turns out that lacing a wheel with too-short spokes while drinking is not the best way to do it! Fitzgeralds Bike Shop was next door & Andy - their marketing guy had already come by at someone's behest to tell me he'd keep the shop open til I was done. Good thing, too, since he had the right length spokes & was way nicer & more helpful than the kid that answered their phone the other day. I popped into the brewery for dinner & more beers, then tried to lace the wheel at halftime of Game 4 (Dallas won so it's tied now 2-2). Too drunk & I came to the realization that not only had I not sorted out where I was staying the night but I also had no transportation ... Serendipity to the rescue! Jake offered a place to stay, though it was 3 miles away, then do did Paul & AJ. AJ also happened to basically have a bike shop in his garage & was just 9 blocks away. So I watched the end of the game with Andy & a Dutch couple, Arthur & Agatha, who'd bailed on a bike tour in this area due to the weather but were gonna rent a motorbike in Salt Lake & head to the desert for awhile. Andy's started a bike courier website (www.bikewire.org) that sounded cool & Arthur suggested I check out an extreme Dutch tourer's website (Frank van Ryn at www.werefielser.nl) for beta & routes posted by others. OK ... game over & drunk I wander out & precariously balance the half-laced wheel, bike, & panniers on top of the trailer & start hauling. I chuckle at the absurdity (I look homeless!) as I wander the dark streets looking for Paul's place, which I find after a few stops to reload the pile that keeps tipping of the trailer. But I'm not sure it's the right place when no one answers knocks on the back door. I leave the stuff in the backyard & wander in search of AJ's place - it's now 1130 & I can't find it so knock on a few doors that still have lights on. Thankfully, cool people answer but don't know AJ or the house # ... hmmm. But AJ finally answers his phone & walks down the alley to get me to his garage bike shop where I also find Paul. He insists we retrieve the wheel & build it out so we hop on 2 of AJ's many bikes & head out in the rain. We take several mutual attempts to lace the wheel but no one's sober & I did a poor job of separating the different spoke lengths (the difference is critical & only marginally visible in good light, which we didn't have) so it goes poorly & I lose steam at 1AM. Paul & his girl walk me back to his place & I sink into his roomate's bed (she & friends - all Exum guides - are returning from a summit & ski trip on Denali!). Crazy night!
June 8:
28 miles to Jenny Lake CG in Grand Tetons NP. It was up at 6 to walk to AJ's where I fix all the lacing mistakes we made last night & true the wheel on his stand by 8. Paul's up when I return & we chat while I re-pack everything. Breakfast at Lotus Cafe was organic but not filling & over-priced. My expired passport was waiting at the post office & I was able to get the pics & paperwork off through the local courthouse with only one minor hitch: they need a real mailing address for delivery so General Delivery to the West Glacier post office was out. I went to the coffee shop to start sorting it out & eventually called the Whitehorse, MT, Glacier Cycle & Nordic bike store & Tim agreed to let me have it sent to them. Yea! The rear wheel loosened considerably throughout the 7 back & forth miles of morning errands so I went to Hoff's bike shop again after getting restocked for groceries & they graciously let me use their stand to retighten & true it. Shout out to Tim at Hoff's! There was a nice bike path & tailwind on the easy 13 mile ride to the park & the partly cloudy sky didn't obscure The Grand. So dramatic with snow & granite sharing space on that formidable formation. Sarah from the Moose visitor center helped me pick on overnight backpacking route for tomorrow. Quite a few nice folks to chat with on the way in & out, & inside (did I already say I like the trailer sign?). Tetons entrance fee also pays for Yellowstone! Cool! & Ranger Rob pointed out the inner park connecting road so now I'll leave unneeded food in the bearbox at Jenny Lake CG ($8 hiker biker!) & pick it up on my way back north to Yellowstone. It rained for the 8 miles to the CG & while I set up the tent - working hard to keep things dry requires diligence but is so important. It let up after I'd changed & made the short walk to the JL visitor center & had some Hagen Das & coffee, so I went back to get the camera for a walk around the lake. The views across the lake to the briefly & sporadically sunlight, snow-covered peaks were stunning. A sign pointed to the Moose Pond Loop & I took it, soon seeing a moose running across a rock-strewn, bushy slope across the way past the 1st pond. It disappeared in trees then re-appeared at the pond to drink before making his way through shallow, reed-choked water to stand within 20 feet of me for 15 minutes! I just snapped pictures & sat contemplating the wonder of being in the Tetons, rolling on the high of starting an awesome backpacking phase of the adventure. Marmots appeared on tall rocks & ocassionally chirped loud warnings, though for what I've no idea. Aspens, evergreens, granite, snow fields feed creeks & waterfalls that tumble into the ponds. I could almost see them being filled & wait patiently but to no avail to see the beaver whose home is at the far bank. It is serene, fulfilling, & the brief glimpses of the peaks bring only fleeting disappointment that I won't be climbing either of the 2 climbs up The Grand that are in Fifty Classic Climbs. It's so beautiful even as the weather withholds some of it - remarkable. I'm so happy ... The female moose eventually moved again to feed, which she did by tearing at the young, green tips of tall bushes, so I enjoyed that quietly for awhile. Joel wandered down the trail & we chatted briefly until I decided he'd enjoy alone time with this creature just like I had. I continued on the pond loop, crossing short drifts of well-travelled snow until coming to the dirt road leading back to the lake & I made camp by 7 (I saw the center closing so knew the time). I got water, stretched in a misty drizzle, then invited Joel over for a beer while I made rice, peppers, onion, garlic, & Tasty Bite! He's 22, from Detroit & will meet up with friends for trips to Yellowstone & Glacier, in which he worked the last 2 summers. He may join my backpack around Phelps Lake tomorrow.
June 9:
Some blue sky pulled me out of the bag & tent around 7. Cold. I made hot grain cereal with soy milk, brown sugar, & raisins - not bad. With no threat of rain & a light but cold breeze it made sense to lay some things out to dry then haul them back in after meditating so I could get coffee at the JL store. Joel came along & we intermittently but mostly hung out together in the visitor center by the fire. One of the store clerks, Bert, was from Wasila, Alaska - the 2nd person on the trip! At the visitor center, I asked a ranger about a strange noise I'd heard several times on the hike & in camp. It's a simultaneously deep & muffled beating with an increasing tempo. I thought yesterday the first time I heard it that is was my heartbeat! Well, it's the sound a male Ruffed Grouse makes thumping it's chest in a display. Joel spotted one & said it went so still when a hawk was near that he couldn't see it. Anyway, I went back to camp for lunch & it was nice out, with long cloud breaks, so out came all the stuff to dry again & I got things organized for the backpack overnighter. Joel asked along so I left the bike, unnecessary gear, & extra food, filled the backpack, & we set out to hitchhike. Drew, a climbing ranger, picked us up & dropped us at Moose VC. Phil, another climbing ranger, hauled us the next 4 miles to the trailhead. Phelps Lake was visible within a mile & we hiked another 1-2 miles along this scenic alpine lake nestled in pines with a snowy granite backdrop. We were chatting with an older couple from New Hampshire when a small gray coyote loped up the trail right at us with two squirrels in her mouth! She went around us & hopped right back on the trail! Beautiful animal! We set up tents, put food in the bear box, & said goodbye before heading out on separate walks. Ocassional bursts of light rain & snow muffled birds briefly & I heard but never spotted a few Ruffed Grouse. The views across the lake with snowy, cloud-shrouded peaks of granite & couliours was picturesque. The folks from Campsite #1 were making dinner on the trail when I returned ... David & Laura are in their late 20s & honeymooning here from Bloomington, IN, where they work with & offer rooms in their house to homeless people. Fantastic young couple so we shared a bowl, which set them laughing cuz they've been offered it by backpackers so frequently. I got half a stretch in before rain shut me down. I made & ate dinner in it, though, & it made me feel hearty to do so. It stopped while I cleaned up & walked back to the tent to write & fall heavily asleep. Mmmm, Tetons ...
June 10:
40 miles to Frogg Ranch (between Grand Tetons & Yellowstone NPs). Mmmm, Tetons ... Awoke late (later than Joel) & meditated, then made hot cereal & tea while Joel & I chatted. Nice kid - not full of himself (despite heading to University of Michigan Dental School this summer), not too chatty, easygoing. The hike out was pleasant along Phelps Lake & we hitched the 1st car - & then it gets crazy. So, Gaston & Gesille Suarez pick us up & we figure out that he works at Intel in The Massachusetts plant as an ex-pat from the Costa Rica plant. He was hired with the SECC expansion that I was a part of! He knew Isaac, Bill, Jun, & was 2-in-a-box with Tim Salo, who worked for me! & he knows Brian Kirzanich (Rae's boyfriend before she met me)! Crazy! I made lunch, packed the bike, said bye to Joel, & started a spellbinding ride north along the Teton Range. Eye Candy! It was cloudy on & behind the peaks, but they'd ocassionally clear & be so brilliant with sunlit snow as to take your breathe away. I took pictures for a couple motorbiking from Ohio - nice filks. The fun & familiar happened as I bought postcards at Signal Mountain - a sweet family from Chicago asked about the trip & we chatted for 20 minutes. Fun! I got to chat with Rae finally & I know I love her more than ever - she is so happy that I'm having fun! How luck am I? The views continued to unfold with lakes mirroring the peaks & clouds, immense couliours, & brilliant granite. The smell of pine so fragrant that you noticed anew with every breath. One climb & a long, smooth, fast descent & I arrived at the Frogg Ranch CG but $38 was too steep so the really nice kid, Jeff, working the counter pointed me 1.5 miles down Grassy Meadows road & ... BINGO! The best campspot yet: snow-covered peaks in the distance, a young but full Snake River 10 ft from the tent, swans, geese, ducks, picnic tables, bear boxes, & free! I set up camp, stretched, & rode back to the lodge for a very expensive burger & beers. As I was leaving I see three riders heading down my road & it's Noah, Chip, & Phillip, 3 really young (think high school) brothers riding from Medford, OR, to the southeast coast . Out for ten days already, they have a lot of the drill down & these home-schooled kids seem really confident, happy, & fun. Clearly religious as they had their bibles out when I wandered over to chat again after they'd set up camp. They've been riding late into the evening every day, then knocking on doors & sleeping in barns, yards, & even a greenhouse. Their goal is to ride 8800 miles in 130 days ... I decided not to suggest they slow down ... youth. They mentioned another tourer heading to Alaska but he's already well ahead & I'm busy slowing down, as I intend to fully enjoy The Rockies. I returned to camp by the river & sat in the bank enjoying the moonlit ripples & distant snow. It was a lovely temperature & light breeze so I lingered until I nearly nodded into the water. It's seeming more & more like Hogan will meet me in Glacier on or around the 19th! Stoked! Yellowstone tomorrow! OMG! So excited! This terrain & my headspace are coming into alignment & I'm really digging my life!
June 11:
66 miles to Madison Junction CG, Yellowstone NP. 930-630. It was nice but threatening when I rolled out of the tent. Packing has become an efficient routine & I headed over to say bye to the boys as they were starting a fire for their rest day. Breakfast was pretty good, though pricey, & I was on the road to Yellowstone! The park entrance was just 4 miles along & I got to see a tourist herd disembark from buses to take the same park sign picture I'd just snapped. Roadside banks of snow 4-10 ft tall were present immediately & it became a familar barrier for 35 miles. It started raining at mile 10 & didn't let up til Grant Village at mile 25, but it was extremely & wildly scenic despite the wet. Snake River urgently roared through narrow canyons having come from broad, marshy flats. Lewis Lake was quite big & completely frozen! At times I was so swept with the beauty that I would crinkle my face just to shed tears. Evidence of the 1988 fire was widespread but not prevelant & it was satisfying to see a naturally burned forest recuperating so vigorously ( good job, Park Service!). When I crossed the 3rd Continental Divide pass of the day, the roadside snow was gone & it was only evident on the north slopes of hills. Old Faithful went off within 15 minutes of my arrival & with video rolling - big crowd ... Several folks noticed the sign, including a cute gal & her mom from Wisconsin & some dudes who'd done TransAm a few years ago. Intrigued by pools, geysers, & Firehole River, I stopped & walked all the pullouts, where I met an ex-pat French family living in the States & an adventure blogger, Chris, who is gonna link this to his site. Cool folks! Those pools are surreal, deep, transparent, & captivating! A carload of Tetons rangers who'd seen me in their park pulled over with food, questions, encouragement, & not soon after I spotted an osprey fishing! A couple from St. Augustine, FL, at a picturesque waterfall pullout were great fun to chat with. I saw bison on the distance so rode a dirt road for a ways to get a better look - huge! The 20 miles to the CG along the Firehole & Nrz Perc rivers was downhill, in partial sun, & immensely beautiful - meadows, lodgepole pines (old & young), elk, pools ... mmm, tasty. Mel & John from New Zealand were in the hiker-biker already. They left on a moutain bike tandem El Paso 6 weeks ago on the Continental Divide trail, heading for Banff, then Vancouver! Their best story was the one where they get lost, accept beta from hunter, & then have to carry the bike & panniers in stages for 12 hours through waist-high tree deadfall! OMG! With typical UK understatement, they described it hilariously & downplayed the difficulty. They're both in medicine so plenty of jobs await when they return in late July. Aaron & Erin rolled in as I was stretching. They met & married in Tanzania through Peace Corps & were celebrating their 8th anniversary riding from Rock Springs to Banff. He's a school teacher & she's after a PhD at Tulane. Dinner of rice, paneer, pepper, onion, garlic plus poptarts & a Milky Way were eaten in the amphitheatre where an impassioned young ranger talked knowledgably about forest fires & keeping extractive industries out of the park - I was not joined by anyone when I whooped my approval & clapped loudly. Wierd - why are you in a NP if you can't appreciate what it's not: a vast untapped resource for more comfort & convenience?! Aaron heard me rattling the bear box & popped out to pepper me with questions. Fun, thoughtful, funny, & a great laugh, so a very nice cap to a really special day. I'll sleep well.
34 miles to Alpine, WY. Some city workers woke me up around 730 - nicely - & told me about some other tourers from previous years, one doing all trails (crazy). Meditated then had a very liesurely breakfast before going over to Ace for a small file set (& chocolates) to attempt the anticipated hub repair. But it wasn't the same spoke, which now leads me to think I managed to overstress some spokes the day I left Medicine Bow with the out-of-round wheel. It might be best to re-lace with new spokes, which the Jackson bike shop should have. An older gal, Barb, spent some good chat time with me out front while I worked the wheel. She just loved Rae's independence, saying it reminded her of how she ignored the skeptics when she moved herself from Maine to Star Valley. I talked to Hogan about meeting in Glacier & it almost seems likely - yea! I finally left Afton around 11 & within 8 miles had 28-year-old Serena as a riding companion til mile 23 when I stopped for lunch. She was touring from Logan, heading to Glacier then on to Seattle, trying to raise money for a cool non-profit she recently started to get at-risk youth outdoors (go to www.yaanonprofit.org & donate, everybody!). Her dad intended to ride with her to Glacier (both supported by mom in a car, it sounded like) but he took a bad spill yesterday coming down from Lander Turnoff Pass. He hit a metal post, fractured 6 ribs, punctured a lung, & was in the Afton hospital. He's from Oakley, ID, near Burley & City Of Rocks - cool. So Serena was just out for a ride til he could be released tomorrow & she was certain they'd re-start in a month. I offered to have her join me to Glacier but she obviously had some sorting to do. I had a sandwich, beer, & ice cream sitting outside the Thayne market &, just like when I was re-lacing the wheel in front of the Ace earlier, lots of nice folks chatted me up. Star Valley is absolutely, stunningly beautiful: snow on the big north mountains in the distance, dandelions in all the fields, snow on the east & west hills, aspens, pine ... yummy eye & soul candy, especially as I rolled down the valley with a light breeze for a tailwind into Alpine. The local RV park offered me a $9 tentsite so I decided not to go on toward the more remote camps between Alpine & Hogback where mudslides earlier in the year had closed Hwy 26/89 (which is still under repair so tomorrow should be interesting if the gravel stretch is long). With a long afternoon & clouds rolling in, I repaired a tear in the tent bag, set up the tent, showered, did some laundry (in the shower), stretched, & had a beer looking at the valley & mountains. I know my mood is still too weather-dependent but I will take all this good weather the last 3 days into reserve, since there are thunderstorms forecast the remainder of the week. My expired passport won't arrive in Jackson til Wednesday mid-afternoon so I'll likely be there til Thursday morning before heading into Tetons NP, I think. Rae would've loved this touring day & I'm pleased that I'm not feeling schedule pressure so that I can enjoy a scenic, low mileage day now, too. This is good head space & I'm happy for all I have around me & in me.
June 7:
39 miles to Jackson. Awoke to rain pelting the tent in the same manner it was when I went down. I'll need to manage the tarp/footprint I put under the tent so as to avoid some water pooling in the tent, I guess. For 75 cents I dried the sleeping bag, yoga mat, & the jacket that got soaked in the dryer at the campground. The patriot theme at the restaurant across the street was overdone but it was good food. I left Alpine in light rain & had a spectacularly wild & scenic ride in that rain along the Snake River the 24 miles into Hoback. The river was full & roaring with debris, whirlpools, tacos, chutes, & a few rafters & kayakers. Beautiful country! A motorbiker in Hoback pointed out a flat trailer tire & after replacing it I checked the spokes to find ANOTHER broken one. I'm getting good at tearing of the tire, tube, rotor, & cassette, re-threading, & true-ing on the upturned bike - 30 minutes! 17 more scenic miles along a paved bike path, with snowstorms obscuring some of the peaks in the distance. I ran into Stan on his bike right away & he directed me to Hoff's - a recently opened small bike shop in Jackson - where I bought what turned out to be too short spokes & was assured I'd get rousted if I slept in a city park. The visitor center pointed out what I suspected: $50 tentsites & $100 rooms - so I went to the post office to see what time Wednesday the mail from Rae might arrive. The Snake River Brewery parking lot seemed like as good a place as any to attempt the wheel rebuild & proved to be so entertaining to locals & tourists alike that several brought me beers. It turns out that lacing a wheel with too-short spokes while drinking is not the best way to do it! Fitzgeralds Bike Shop was next door & Andy - their marketing guy had already come by at someone's behest to tell me he'd keep the shop open til I was done. Good thing, too, since he had the right length spokes & was way nicer & more helpful than the kid that answered their phone the other day. I popped into the brewery for dinner & more beers, then tried to lace the wheel at halftime of Game 4 (Dallas won so it's tied now 2-2). Too drunk & I came to the realization that not only had I not sorted out where I was staying the night but I also had no transportation ... Serendipity to the rescue! Jake offered a place to stay, though it was 3 miles away, then do did Paul & AJ. AJ also happened to basically have a bike shop in his garage & was just 9 blocks away. So I watched the end of the game with Andy & a Dutch couple, Arthur & Agatha, who'd bailed on a bike tour in this area due to the weather but were gonna rent a motorbike in Salt Lake & head to the desert for awhile. Andy's started a bike courier website (www.bikewire.org) that sounded cool & Arthur suggested I check out an extreme Dutch tourer's website (Frank van Ryn at www.werefielser.nl) for beta & routes posted by others. OK ... game over & drunk I wander out & precariously balance the half-laced wheel, bike, & panniers on top of the trailer & start hauling. I chuckle at the absurdity (I look homeless!) as I wander the dark streets looking for Paul's place, which I find after a few stops to reload the pile that keeps tipping of the trailer. But I'm not sure it's the right place when no one answers knocks on the back door. I leave the stuff in the backyard & wander in search of AJ's place - it's now 1130 & I can't find it so knock on a few doors that still have lights on. Thankfully, cool people answer but don't know AJ or the house # ... hmmm. But AJ finally answers his phone & walks down the alley to get me to his garage bike shop where I also find Paul. He insists we retrieve the wheel & build it out so we hop on 2 of AJ's many bikes & head out in the rain. We take several mutual attempts to lace the wheel but no one's sober & I did a poor job of separating the different spoke lengths (the difference is critical & only marginally visible in good light, which we didn't have) so it goes poorly & I lose steam at 1AM. Paul & his girl walk me back to his place & I sink into his roomate's bed (she & friends - all Exum guides - are returning from a summit & ski trip on Denali!). Crazy night!
June 8:
28 miles to Jenny Lake CG in Grand Tetons NP. It was up at 6 to walk to AJ's where I fix all the lacing mistakes we made last night & true the wheel on his stand by 8. Paul's up when I return & we chat while I re-pack everything. Breakfast at Lotus Cafe was organic but not filling & over-priced. My expired passport was waiting at the post office & I was able to get the pics & paperwork off through the local courthouse with only one minor hitch: they need a real mailing address for delivery so General Delivery to the West Glacier post office was out. I went to the coffee shop to start sorting it out & eventually called the Whitehorse, MT, Glacier Cycle & Nordic bike store & Tim agreed to let me have it sent to them. Yea! The rear wheel loosened considerably throughout the 7 back & forth miles of morning errands so I went to Hoff's bike shop again after getting restocked for groceries & they graciously let me use their stand to retighten & true it. Shout out to Tim at Hoff's! There was a nice bike path & tailwind on the easy 13 mile ride to the park & the partly cloudy sky didn't obscure The Grand. So dramatic with snow & granite sharing space on that formidable formation. Sarah from the Moose visitor center helped me pick on overnight backpacking route for tomorrow. Quite a few nice folks to chat with on the way in & out, & inside (did I already say I like the trailer sign?). Tetons entrance fee also pays for Yellowstone! Cool! & Ranger Rob pointed out the inner park connecting road so now I'll leave unneeded food in the bearbox at Jenny Lake CG ($8 hiker biker!) & pick it up on my way back north to Yellowstone. It rained for the 8 miles to the CG & while I set up the tent - working hard to keep things dry requires diligence but is so important. It let up after I'd changed & made the short walk to the JL visitor center & had some Hagen Das & coffee, so I went back to get the camera for a walk around the lake. The views across the lake to the briefly & sporadically sunlight, snow-covered peaks were stunning. A sign pointed to the Moose Pond Loop & I took it, soon seeing a moose running across a rock-strewn, bushy slope across the way past the 1st pond. It disappeared in trees then re-appeared at the pond to drink before making his way through shallow, reed-choked water to stand within 20 feet of me for 15 minutes! I just snapped pictures & sat contemplating the wonder of being in the Tetons, rolling on the high of starting an awesome backpacking phase of the adventure. Marmots appeared on tall rocks & ocassionally chirped loud warnings, though for what I've no idea. Aspens, evergreens, granite, snow fields feed creeks & waterfalls that tumble into the ponds. I could almost see them being filled & wait patiently but to no avail to see the beaver whose home is at the far bank. It is serene, fulfilling, & the brief glimpses of the peaks bring only fleeting disappointment that I won't be climbing either of the 2 climbs up The Grand that are in Fifty Classic Climbs. It's so beautiful even as the weather withholds some of it - remarkable. I'm so happy ... The female moose eventually moved again to feed, which she did by tearing at the young, green tips of tall bushes, so I enjoyed that quietly for awhile. Joel wandered down the trail & we chatted briefly until I decided he'd enjoy alone time with this creature just like I had. I continued on the pond loop, crossing short drifts of well-travelled snow until coming to the dirt road leading back to the lake & I made camp by 7 (I saw the center closing so knew the time). I got water, stretched in a misty drizzle, then invited Joel over for a beer while I made rice, peppers, onion, garlic, & Tasty Bite! He's 22, from Detroit & will meet up with friends for trips to Yellowstone & Glacier, in which he worked the last 2 summers. He may join my backpack around Phelps Lake tomorrow.
June 9:
Some blue sky pulled me out of the bag & tent around 7. Cold. I made hot grain cereal with soy milk, brown sugar, & raisins - not bad. With no threat of rain & a light but cold breeze it made sense to lay some things out to dry then haul them back in after meditating so I could get coffee at the JL store. Joel came along & we intermittently but mostly hung out together in the visitor center by the fire. One of the store clerks, Bert, was from Wasila, Alaska - the 2nd person on the trip! At the visitor center, I asked a ranger about a strange noise I'd heard several times on the hike & in camp. It's a simultaneously deep & muffled beating with an increasing tempo. I thought yesterday the first time I heard it that is was my heartbeat! Well, it's the sound a male Ruffed Grouse makes thumping it's chest in a display. Joel spotted one & said it went so still when a hawk was near that he couldn't see it. Anyway, I went back to camp for lunch & it was nice out, with long cloud breaks, so out came all the stuff to dry again & I got things organized for the backpack overnighter. Joel asked along so I left the bike, unnecessary gear, & extra food, filled the backpack, & we set out to hitchhike. Drew, a climbing ranger, picked us up & dropped us at Moose VC. Phil, another climbing ranger, hauled us the next 4 miles to the trailhead. Phelps Lake was visible within a mile & we hiked another 1-2 miles along this scenic alpine lake nestled in pines with a snowy granite backdrop. We were chatting with an older couple from New Hampshire when a small gray coyote loped up the trail right at us with two squirrels in her mouth! She went around us & hopped right back on the trail! Beautiful animal! We set up tents, put food in the bear box, & said goodbye before heading out on separate walks. Ocassional bursts of light rain & snow muffled birds briefly & I heard but never spotted a few Ruffed Grouse. The views across the lake with snowy, cloud-shrouded peaks of granite & couliours was picturesque. The folks from Campsite #1 were making dinner on the trail when I returned ... David & Laura are in their late 20s & honeymooning here from Bloomington, IN, where they work with & offer rooms in their house to homeless people. Fantastic young couple so we shared a bowl, which set them laughing cuz they've been offered it by backpackers so frequently. I got half a stretch in before rain shut me down. I made & ate dinner in it, though, & it made me feel hearty to do so. It stopped while I cleaned up & walked back to the tent to write & fall heavily asleep. Mmmm, Tetons ...
June 10:
40 miles to Frogg Ranch (between Grand Tetons & Yellowstone NPs). Mmmm, Tetons ... Awoke late (later than Joel) & meditated, then made hot cereal & tea while Joel & I chatted. Nice kid - not full of himself (despite heading to University of Michigan Dental School this summer), not too chatty, easygoing. The hike out was pleasant along Phelps Lake & we hitched the 1st car - & then it gets crazy. So, Gaston & Gesille Suarez pick us up & we figure out that he works at Intel in The Massachusetts plant as an ex-pat from the Costa Rica plant. He was hired with the SECC expansion that I was a part of! He knew Isaac, Bill, Jun, & was 2-in-a-box with Tim Salo, who worked for me! & he knows Brian Kirzanich (Rae's boyfriend before she met me)! Crazy! I made lunch, packed the bike, said bye to Joel, & started a spellbinding ride north along the Teton Range. Eye Candy! It was cloudy on & behind the peaks, but they'd ocassionally clear & be so brilliant with sunlit snow as to take your breathe away. I took pictures for a couple motorbiking from Ohio - nice filks. The fun & familiar happened as I bought postcards at Signal Mountain - a sweet family from Chicago asked about the trip & we chatted for 20 minutes. Fun! I got to chat with Rae finally & I know I love her more than ever - she is so happy that I'm having fun! How luck am I? The views continued to unfold with lakes mirroring the peaks & clouds, immense couliours, & brilliant granite. The smell of pine so fragrant that you noticed anew with every breath. One climb & a long, smooth, fast descent & I arrived at the Frogg Ranch CG but $38 was too steep so the really nice kid, Jeff, working the counter pointed me 1.5 miles down Grassy Meadows road & ... BINGO! The best campspot yet: snow-covered peaks in the distance, a young but full Snake River 10 ft from the tent, swans, geese, ducks, picnic tables, bear boxes, & free! I set up camp, stretched, & rode back to the lodge for a very expensive burger & beers. As I was leaving I see three riders heading down my road & it's Noah, Chip, & Phillip, 3 really young (think high school) brothers riding from Medford, OR, to the southeast coast . Out for ten days already, they have a lot of the drill down & these home-schooled kids seem really confident, happy, & fun. Clearly religious as they had their bibles out when I wandered over to chat again after they'd set up camp. They've been riding late into the evening every day, then knocking on doors & sleeping in barns, yards, & even a greenhouse. Their goal is to ride 8800 miles in 130 days ... I decided not to suggest they slow down ... youth. They mentioned another tourer heading to Alaska but he's already well ahead & I'm busy slowing down, as I intend to fully enjoy The Rockies. I returned to camp by the river & sat in the bank enjoying the moonlit ripples & distant snow. It was a lovely temperature & light breeze so I lingered until I nearly nodded into the water. It's seeming more & more like Hogan will meet me in Glacier on or around the 19th! Stoked! Yellowstone tomorrow! OMG! So excited! This terrain & my headspace are coming into alignment & I'm really digging my life!
June 11:
66 miles to Madison Junction CG, Yellowstone NP. 930-630. It was nice but threatening when I rolled out of the tent. Packing has become an efficient routine & I headed over to say bye to the boys as they were starting a fire for their rest day. Breakfast was pretty good, though pricey, & I was on the road to Yellowstone! The park entrance was just 4 miles along & I got to see a tourist herd disembark from buses to take the same park sign picture I'd just snapped. Roadside banks of snow 4-10 ft tall were present immediately & it became a familar barrier for 35 miles. It started raining at mile 10 & didn't let up til Grant Village at mile 25, but it was extremely & wildly scenic despite the wet. Snake River urgently roared through narrow canyons having come from broad, marshy flats. Lewis Lake was quite big & completely frozen! At times I was so swept with the beauty that I would crinkle my face just to shed tears. Evidence of the 1988 fire was widespread but not prevelant & it was satisfying to see a naturally burned forest recuperating so vigorously ( good job, Park Service!). When I crossed the 3rd Continental Divide pass of the day, the roadside snow was gone & it was only evident on the north slopes of hills. Old Faithful went off within 15 minutes of my arrival & with video rolling - big crowd ... Several folks noticed the sign, including a cute gal & her mom from Wisconsin & some dudes who'd done TransAm a few years ago. Intrigued by pools, geysers, & Firehole River, I stopped & walked all the pullouts, where I met an ex-pat French family living in the States & an adventure blogger, Chris, who is gonna link this to his site. Cool folks! Those pools are surreal, deep, transparent, & captivating! A carload of Tetons rangers who'd seen me in their park pulled over with food, questions, encouragement, & not soon after I spotted an osprey fishing! A couple from St. Augustine, FL, at a picturesque waterfall pullout were great fun to chat with. I saw bison on the distance so rode a dirt road for a ways to get a better look - huge! The 20 miles to the CG along the Firehole & Nrz Perc rivers was downhill, in partial sun, & immensely beautiful - meadows, lodgepole pines (old & young), elk, pools ... mmm, tasty. Mel & John from New Zealand were in the hiker-biker already. They left on a moutain bike tandem El Paso 6 weeks ago on the Continental Divide trail, heading for Banff, then Vancouver! Their best story was the one where they get lost, accept beta from hunter, & then have to carry the bike & panniers in stages for 12 hours through waist-high tree deadfall! OMG! With typical UK understatement, they described it hilariously & downplayed the difficulty. They're both in medicine so plenty of jobs await when they return in late July. Aaron & Erin rolled in as I was stretching. They met & married in Tanzania through Peace Corps & were celebrating their 8th anniversary riding from Rock Springs to Banff. He's a school teacher & she's after a PhD at Tulane. Dinner of rice, paneer, pepper, onion, garlic plus poptarts & a Milky Way were eaten in the amphitheatre where an impassioned young ranger talked knowledgably about forest fires & keeping extractive industries out of the park - I was not joined by anyone when I whooped my approval & clapped loudly. Wierd - why are you in a NP if you can't appreciate what it's not: a vast untapped resource for more comfort & convenience?! Aaron heard me rattling the bear box & popped out to pepper me with questions. Fun, thoughtful, funny, & a great laugh, so a very nice cap to a really special day. I'll sleep well.
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