Third Leg - Golden, BC to Drumheller, AB

Just finished another four-day stretch of riding with the most beautiful scenery, to date, and a drastic change in landscape from mountains to prairies.  We rode through the Rockies for the first couple days, going through Lake Louise and Banff, and sadly watched the mountains fade away behind us as we descended into Calgary-area and now Drumheller.  It'll be tough to match the beauty of the mountains, but I am sure Canada will have lots more to impress me! 

This leg started with some crappy weather, with rain and cold as we left Golden, as well as a long climb over the Kicking Horse Pass (1627 m elevation).  Rain for most of the morning and we stopped for a coffee/dessert break in beautiful Field, BC, before climbing to the summit and as we got close to the top, the rain stopped and the sun came out.  There were some amazing views of the mountains along the way, and the afternoon has been the highlight of my trip so far.  We rode on the TransCanada for most of the day, but were able to veer off onto an old abandoned highway to ride for the afternoon.  Along this route, we crossed the continental divide from BC into Alberta, and enjoyed nice, easy pedaling until we got to Lake Louise.  It was really serene, with trees lining both sides of the road, mountains to the front and behind, and absolutely no traffic rolling along.  Apparently people saw numerous bears along the way... I did see bear poop on the road, but it seems I have perma-bear repellent on me and I did not see any actual bears...

Here are a bunch of pics from the Golden to Lake Louise ride:

On our way to Field

Lovely Field, BC

Great scenery on our way to Kicking Horse summit.

Crossing from BC to Alberta.

The amazing highway 1a to Lake Louise.

Quick rest before Lake Louise.

The ride to Lake Louise ended with a beautiful 4 km downhill that I cruised at over 60 km/h!! The evening was amazing - took a trip up the hill to Lake Louise, and it was as stunning as I recalled it from when I was 9.  Had a quick drink at the swanky Fairmont (while still unshowered and dressed in my lovely sweatpants), and a freezing cold sleep overnight (I think it dropped to just around freezing). AND -- saw a family of grizzlies at camp!!  They were a mother and two cubs and located behind a large fence, which I think made the situation a bit more bearable (pun intended).  Was bear-y exciting to finally see some!! (okay, enough with the puns!).

Lake Louise

More Lake Louise

Sweet shot courtesy of Katie!

BEARS!! (click photo to see a larger version)

Next day was overall my favourite day of the trip so far.  We went from Lake Louise to Banff, and the route was only about 60 km in total.  Probably could have finished the ride in 3 hours, but with stops to see the scenery, we stretched it into about an 8 hour day!  Most of our riding was along a very quiet road, with tons of scenic stops along the way in Banff National Park.  Pictures can't do justice to what my eyes saw, so here are a few shots from the day:

Unfortunately, my camera crapped out after these pictures and I was not able to get any shots from the rest of the day or the next couple days. 

That afternoon, we stopped along the way for a quick hike in the Johnston Canyon Waterfalls, which were really cool and then we made our way to Banff.  Did a bit of shopping for a new bedroll, and after dinner, went back into town for Cow's ice cream (completing my hat trick of ice creams for that day) and a drink at a rooftop pub.  Banff was absolutely teeming with tourists but a beautiful spot.  Hard to believe we were about to leave the mountains after that!

The next day, we rode from Banff to Airdrie and the first 100 km were lovely.  We cruised for the first 50 km at between 35-40 km/h and then slowed down a bit but kept up a good pace until lunch at the 80 km mark.  We stopped at a little park at Ghost Lake Dam and chilled (well, sizzled) on the beach for an hour or so before continuing on.  Stopped in Cochrane for some of the famous Mackay's ice cream (raspberry cheesecake and blueberry flavours were incredible!) and then took off for the last 50 km to Airdrie, close to Calgary.  We were out of the mountains, which kept fading further and further behind us, but we were warned that we would be riding through the "foothills" in the afternoon.  Foothills, my ass!  We had some long climbs in the afternoon - including one that I'd say was more difficult than the last couple mountain passes - and also a headwind against us, but we pedaled away and finally got to camp.  Hard to believe the change in scenery over the course of the day, from the rugged mountains to the more "rolling" fields.

Finally, the last day of riding was from Airdrie to Drumheller, and was scheduled for another long day.  This ride felt a LOT like riding in Southwestern Ontario - fields stretching seemingly forever in all directions, fairly flat for riding though with a few more rolling hills than at home.  It was a lovely sunny day, turning pretty hot in the afternoon -- I drank about 6 liters of water and Gatorade through the course of the day without having to pee, just to give you an idea of the degree of heat and perspiration!  We stopped for lunch in the town of Acme, where we were joined by a curious 12-year-old from the town who told us that there was not much to do there.  The scenery became really neat as we got close to the "badlands" and into Drumheller -- again, sorry for the lack of pictures but now that I have a new camera, I'm hoping to get some in the near future!  Was totally exhausted by the time I got to camp but was rejuvenated by a massive dinner of fettuccine alfredo.  Had a beautiful view from camp of some of the cool rock formations, and was absolutely blown away at night with how clear the sky was.

View from my tent of rock formations in Drumheller.

Currently I'm enjoying another beautiful rest day, and as usual, doing nothing ambitious at camp.  Spending the afternoon at the Royal Tyrrell Dinosaur Museum - pictures will follow!  After the rest day, we're riding into a couple weeks of flatness and wind in the Prairies!

Hope you're all doing well!

Golden, BC to Drumheller, AB Riding Stats
4 Riding Days
443 km


Overall Riding Stats
13 Riding Days
1392 km

Peanut Butter Sandwiches consumed, to date: 27