I finally got up reasonably early and had breakfast by 8am. I was sorting out my gear when a guest who runs the Hostel at Castle Junction (where the highway I am taking to Alberta meets the Trans Canada highway). We chatted for a quite a while as he is a bit of a cyclist as well and he gave a donation too! I left around 9am and made my way up the steep incline to the Radium Hot Springs. I decided to film myself riding near the big crag the highway goes through and was fairly successful and it was easy to trim the video because I had to run down after and get my camera. Now I understand how tough it is for Survivor Man Les Stroud.
I continued along and took a few snapshots of the springs and started the journey into the mountains. I only got a few meters when a car pulled up with guy holding one of my shoes. They had saw it turned around and figured it must have been a cyclist who dropped it and went looking for me. That was lucky! I wouldn’t have known for hours and I would have had no idea where it fell off and would have to forget about it and buy another pair of shoes.
After the hot springs the grade is not that bad and I was quite distracted by the mountains closing in on the road that extended above the tree line. I honestly kept stopping not out of fatigue but by the multitude of photo opportunities. As far as climbs go this was not that bad at all but I just stayed in the easy gear regardless so I didn’t tire out. Starting early allows this luxury.
Climbing over the crest of the mountain you literally descend into Shangri La, well at least for the bears. I saw two near the side of the road so I stopped so I could film them as I rode by. They were close enough to see their teeth but they were hardly interested in me and only one of them looked up while the other continued to much on something in the grass. Just around the bend the Rockies open up into a huge value with a massive ridge line right into the clouds on the Eastern side. The peaks extended well out of the tree line and the slope down to the river was many kilometers. On my side there were glimpses of equally high peaks but they were shrouded in white fluffy cloud.
It was a long descent into the valley and I carried a lot of speed into the flats. The Kootney river is still to my left and quite swollen with the very slight grade up here. I rolled along for quiet a while as there was hardly any grade and the shoulder is the width of a regular lane. I stopped at a rest area and took in the view again. In fact I was constantly stopping to take pictures and video or to simply stare at the raw beauty.
The area on either side of the road is quiet vast and filled with light green grass and dandy lions. So imagine a wide pathway through a gigantic park. In a stroke of pure coincidence I stopped to pick up a pink running shoe. I knew this had to belong to a cyclist so I strapped it to the back.
I had lunch at the park operations station since it was quiet and sunny. Two people at different times came by and chatted with me asking questions about my trip. In both cases they were very interested and were going to follow my progress and maybe donate. In particular, Chris Buchannon took a picture of me and said she would make it her desktop photo if I completed the trip. Get ready to change that desktop!
The road continued along mostly flat until I saw the bend in the highway where the road heads due East into the mountains. I didn’t know what to expect so I took one more break beside the river and dipped my legs in the frigid waters. It was sunny, peaceful and relaxing for the soul.
Up the mountain I ran into a cyclist from France who was riding from Edmonton to South America. He had a lot of gear and he was riding into the wind today so I felt bad for him. Maybe a kilometer later I reached the welcome to BC sign – yeah!
Then the continental divide and the finally into Alberta!!!!
After another long downhill I reached castle junction and promptly found the Hostel. The caretaker Bridgette was very friendly and helped me get settled in. There was a group from the previous night who left a whole bunch of alcohol and food because they had no room. I promptly had a beer sitting in the sun. What a day! After a shower Bridgette joined me for a glass and wine and we talked about the area and growing up near the Rockies. Guests started arriving soon after and after we decided to have a group dinner. I went out for a few supplies and saw what I thought was a moose walking past the hostel. I ran back in to get everyone but it turns out it was an Elk. They questioned my Canadian credentials after that gaf. It was huge though.
I still went and got supplies and got pretty close to the Elk but I had a feeling it could take me out pretty easily.
After a great dinner and conversation people started to call it a night. A few of us stayed up to play some guitar but it wasn’t long before people were dropping off to go to bed. A pretty awesome day!