After the somewhat big ride from Cranbrook (145km) I decided I should sleep in for a bit. Then an hour later I thought naw, stay in bed. Eventually hunger got the better of me so I jumped in the shower and organized. Today would laundry, food, blog and sit in Hot springs day. Stepping outside I was greeted by the snow capped Rockies and the sound of the rushing river below the highway and out of sight.

For those that care the laundry mat is beside the Petro Canada, the food store by the Visitor Centre and the wifi is of course free at the Centre so I uploaded a bunch of video while I ate a sandwhich.

Back to more interesting stuff I dropped off my supplies back at the Hostel and rode up about a kilometer and a half to Radium Hot Springs. As soon as you enter Kootney park the highway cuts right through the mountainside and I recommend stopping here to looking at the rushing river pooring out from some diversion under the highway. At the Hot Springs there is a hot tub (40 degrees), a hot pool (35 degrees) and a cold pool which is regular swimming pool temperature. I was hoping they had a supper cold pool for legs but there wasn’t and I wasn’t going in the river either as it had some pretty intense flow.

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146 kilomters, big ride!

Today’s post has to start early in the morning when my tarp blew off my tent. It wasn’t windy when I went to bed but it became quite blustery in a matter of hours. At first I thought nothing of it, it had woken me out of a deep slumber so I didn’t really care about some stupid tarp. I eased back into sleep. Then I awoke with a start, hmm wind sometimes is followed by rain. I looked at the sky and saw some clouds but still the stars and planets were looking back at me, a good sign. Something nagged at me though so I got up and secured the tarp properly over the important parts of the tent (mainly where my head lay). At sometime between 2 and 3 am it started to rain lightly, then a little heavier until it was full blown rain. I was still dry but concerned that my tarp didn’t fully cover the tent and from there I couldn’t get back to sleep. Eventually a puddle developed near my feet on account of seepage through the bottom of the tent and small drips were landing around the same area. I toughed it out until about 4:30 when I decided to pack and move to David’s carport.

I hung my tent up against the wall to dry and packed up my bike so I was ready to go. Then I put on my Stormtech gear and got in my sleeping bag on the cold pavement. It really made me think of the homeless since I was cold and uncomfortable but better equipped and knew no one was going to kick me out or steal my stuff. I guess we take a lot of things for granted.

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