Banff Bike Tour July 9, 2011 – July 16, 2011
Pictures on Facebook: Banff & Jasper | Glacier National Park | Lake Louise
Forward
First off I just want to explain why this post is so tardy. I originally created a website to detail all the different aspects of this trip. I was building it with Mac’s iWeb software. It’s pretty slick software actually. But in the end, it was overkill. I sensed that it was when I was doing it, but it was kind of an experiment. Additionally, it was a decent amount of work compiling this information and so it became somewhat of a chore and I avoided it. But finally, I decided to just convert the content of the website I had created into a blog post and that is what you have below. It’s probably still more information than you wanted to know though. Anyway, enjoy!
Background
At the beginning of the summer of 2011 I was on a bike ride with Jen and Kimberly and I found out that they were doing a tour in Banff in July to which they invited me. This was just the kind of trip I had been wanting to do for quite a while.
The plan was to bike from Banff to Jasper and back again in five days–about 365 miles. We would stay in a different hostel each night–four in total. We would also have a support car with us the whole way, and take turns driving. There were six of us total, all from Utah, except for one from Boston (Matt).
Route Map
Rider Profiles
AJCollins Accountant
Benjamin Matz Programmer
Matthew Wall Engineer
Jen Christensen Teacher
Erin Delamas Teacher
Kimberly Baker Piano Teacher
Glacier National Park
I had never been to Glacier, but had heard soaring tales of it’s majesty. The side we came in on did not display this majesty as well as when we left the park and travelled around the East side of the park. That side had some truly stunning views.
Tangentially, I must say that the Wasatch Range, which is also part of the Rockies, is absolutely stunning as well. Comparing the mountains I live among with those of Glacier and Banff (also part of the Rockies) I was left with a deeper appreciation for the beauty around me.
When we got into the park we discovered that the pass we were going to take through the park was closed and that now we would have to go around the park, tacking a nice two hours on to the trip. Oh, well.
Because the pass was closed it meant we could ride our bikes up to the pass (because the cars wouldn’t be on the road) and thereby experience a bit more of the park. It was a breath taking view from the pass.
Calgary and the Loonies
We arrived in Calgary on Saturday night after spending a spectacular afternoon in Glacier National Park. We were staying at Kimberly’s cousin’s house Saturday and Sunday night. The family was really great. They fed us a tasty barbecue lunch Sunday after church and then took us for a driving tour of Calgary in the afternoon.
Calgary was a buzz on Sunday because the Calgary Stampede was that weekend. It’s one of the biggest rodeo events in the world.
So the funniest thing happen when we were hanging out at the house later that day. One of daughters came into the kitchen and stated quite matter-of-factly that “Someone dropped a Looney in the bathroom.” I, of course, was wondering in my head if that was some euphemism for saying someone pooped in the bathroom. I soon found out that a “Looney” is a Canadian dollar. :) We had a hearty laugh when I told them what I thought she had meant.
Lake Louise
Monday morning we drove the 1.5 hours from Calgary to Banff. There is basically a whole city at the east entrance to Banff. We parked our cars at one of the city parks and transferred all the gear from Kimberly’s car to AJ’s car.
Basically, the plan was that we would have a car with us during the whole trip. One person would drive for twenty miles and then rotate. This way we didn’t have to carry all our gear on our bikes and everyone still gets to bike everyday.
The first day was only about 30 miles to Lake Louise. So, once we checked into our hostel, we rode our bikes up the (way-too-steep) hill to Lake Louise. Lake Louise is the iconic poster child of the awesomeness of Banff’s beauty.
Ice Water Challenge
My legs were pretty sore after hiking on Monday so I decided to ice them. There was a creek fed from glacial run-off right next to the hostel so I decided to do what I had done after long runs on so many occasions.
This picture shows me at the ten minute mark. At this point I had been completely numb for about 5-8 minutes.
Here’s how it works. You get in the ice cold river, and, if you can stand the pain, you stay for ten minutes. The first two minutes are the worst, it hurts so bad…I usually yell a lot during this stage. :) Most of the numbing is done after two minutes, but from the second to the fifth minute the process completes. From that point on its easy. Seriously. You can sit in there for 10, 15, or 20 mins; you are completely numb and can’t feel a thing. Of course, you want to keep it to 10-15 minutes. Why do I do it? Because it’s really good for you muscles.
In really cold water, as was the case above, I end up getting in and out several times before I am able to get past the two minute mark. On this occasion I got in and out 3 times before I got past two minutes, but I conquered. :)
Columbia Icefield
There are two major passes that we had to bike over, the biggest of the two climbs to the Columbia Icefield, a major attraction in the park.
Ominous huh? Does it remind you of Mordor?
I didn’t know the pass was so gigantic until they, went up it. I ended up driving this leg and it turned out to be quite the dastardly leg.
The weather forcast for Banff had predicted sporatic rain showers Monday through Thursday. This worried us, but we weren’t about to bag the trip.
So far, we had been lucky and hadn’t seen a drop of rain. That changed as we began the climb to the Columbia Icefield. I can’t remember the exact milage but I think it was something like 12-15 miles of uphill climbing.
It started raining almost immediately when they started the climb. After I had secured my bike on the roof rack and caught up to them, I stopped so they could get their rain gear (if they had any) out. I checked in with them a few more times and then drove ahead to the icefield.
The icefield was actually a few miles down the other side of the pass. When they reached me they had been going downhill for a few miles, the air was significantly colder at that altitude, and it was raining lightly.
When they were working their way up the hill the effort had kept them warm, but that warmth quickly dissipated when they started to go downhill and they were cold. I knew I needed to keep them moving. Fortunately, about a mile past the icefield was an uphill that helped to warm them up before they descended the rest of the way down the pass.
Jasper and the Most Amazing Curry I’ve Ever Eaten
With the two major passes behind us the final leg into Jasper was quick.
We did discover a cool waterfall along the way.
Did mention Banff is amazing beautiful? It is.
Jasper National Park and Banff National Park adjoin each other. Banff has a city at it’s entrance and so does Jasper. So it was the plan to do all our laundry and reload on food if we needed when we reached Jasper. This we did.
That night we went into the city to get dinner. We went to this restaurant that had the most amazing curry I had ever eaten! Here it is:
Seriously, I have never encountered it’s equal in all the other currys I have eaten. This was easily one of the highlights of the trip for me. It was so unexpected but so delicious.
The Rampart Creek Steam Room
We now had to cover in two days what we had previously covered in three. But it wasn’t too bad.
At the end of Thursday we found ourselves at the Rampart Creek Hostel, and it had a little homemade steam room. Basically, you would stay in the steam room as long as you could, then you would run outside and jump in the ice cold creek that ran right past it. We all did it, it was good times.
Kimberly is standing in the little door to the steam room.
The creek we jumped into after the steam room.
The Road Home
The last day I rode by myself most of the day. I was going my own pace and listening to audio books. I was having trouble keeping my feet from going numb from the cold air or just from riding. At one point I stopped, got off my bike, and warmed my feet. My quads were also toasty toast. I’m not sure why they were being so wimpy, but it is what it is.
We were all glad to get back to the car in Banff after getting ourselves lost for a little while before we could locate the car.
We finished the trip that day with a big steak dinner and then drove to Calgary to stay the night. Saturday morning we drove all the way back to good ole Salt Lake City.
Oregon Trip
It was Friday night in Salt Lake City. It was snowing, and snowing hard. Were it a workday morning I would be calling into work and informing them that I would be working from home that day. But here we were barreling north on I-15 in Dave’s Ford Explorer that he had acquired a few weeks prior to this trip. We were on our way to Oregon, via the roadways, in the middle of winter. I hadn’t drove to Oregon in the winter in probably 10 years, too dangerous.
I remember one trip when I was on my way back to Oregon with my good friend Danny Peterson. All of Idaho was a white-out which created a trail of destruction across the whole state. The main two things I remember from that trip: one, the car that was flipped over and was completely engulfed in flames, and second, every car we saw wrecked on the side of the road was an SUV. I concluded from that trip that SUV drivers must get a false sense of confidence.
Needless to say, I knew there was a high probability this trip to Oregon with Dave and Nicole would have some harrowing moments along the way, and it lived up to that estimate.
I had wanted to leave Saturday morning and just take the day to get to Oregon. Dave felt differently. I would say he was excited at the prospect of driving all night to Oregon. Not this amigo. Dave used to drive trucks and recounted to me one string of runs he did in which he didn’t sleep for 5 days. I conceded without much of a fight, but I was wary.
Nicole had folded the seats down in the back and created a bed for herself to sleep soundly through the night. I had assumed shotgun and nodded off here and there. Dave began powering himself around 1 or 2 in the morning with large doses of Dr. Pepper.
Around about 4:oo in the morning we were about 1.5 hours into Oregon when we reached the Blue Mountains. The Blue Mountains are a stretch of mountains 50 miles long that separate Pendleton, Oregon from LaGrande, Oregon. It is always the most feared part of the trek to Oregon because it gets a lot of snowfall in the winter and because of a pass named Dead Man’s Pass. We entered the Blues and were feeling pretty good until it really started snowing and the road became one solid sheet of snow.
As we approached Dead Man’s Pass the snow seemed to get heavier and I could tell Dave was nervous. He stuck it into 4 wheel drive and I felt a smidge safer but not much. Dead Man’s Pass has two runaway truck ramps on the way down. Occasionally, you will see some 4×4 trunk stuck about 10 feet up one of the ramps, not because their brakes went out and they actually needed to stop, but because they were trying to see if they could make to the top. The never do, they never even come close. The ramps have something like 3 feet of gravel or something.
Anyway, we made it out of the “Blues” without incident and all the way to Portland. While in Portland we did lots of stuff with the family which included a half-day at the Oregon Coast, a game of Dodgeball with some random people at a rec center in downtown Portland, eating at the Mongolian Grill where Jesse has worked for the last 20 years (just kidding it hasn’t been that long, but seriously, he should own the place by now), two nights at Izzy’s, playing with the kids, a ten mile run on the Spring Water Trail (seriously awesome trail that goes for forty miles!), a walk to the top of Multnomah Falls with Heidi, a massage from Heidi (complete with serene music), went to the movies with Mom, and did a scenic drive around Troutdale. It was a full week indeed.
We encountered more snow storms on the way home that again made me very nervous. Interestingly enough, the worst one was just outside of Ogden. Anyway, that is my brief log of the trip.
Me at Crown Point in Troutdale, OR
Jesse, Me, and Nicole at Multnomah Falls
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