Columbia River valley (flooded)
I awakened early (around 6:00), packed, washed up at the campground washroom
and headed quickly up to breakfast at the Husky Service Station in Radium.
I talked to some locals about directions. I talked to a man from near Kingston,
Ontario who was riding from Victoria, BC in the opposite direction as me
(northbound through the parks).
I then headed south along the Columbia River--one of the world's great rivers.
I came upon a jewel of a town I'd never heard of: Invermere.
It was a real nice lakeside "resort" town on Windermere Lake (a
wide portion of the Columbia). Due to traffic concerns I couldn't cross
over to the other lane to take a picture, so had to take it across the road.
I fell in love with the IGA grocery store in Invermere. I've
never seen a better grocery store. The fruit and bakery offerings were mouth
watering.
I also stopped in Invermere at Rob's Bicycle Works (I've lost
his business card), where Rob found my rear wheel out of true. He removed
it and trued it on a trueing machine for me free of charge. Rob told me
that my bike frame was the truest he'd ever seen. Like a lot of young Canadians,
Rob's favorite expressions were: "right on," "wicked"
and "no way."
Following the Adventure Cycling Great Parks route, I headed south
along the west side of Windermere Lake. There was almost no traffic at all.
It was a lot like riding in Leelanau County in Michigan.
Though not as scared as with the grizzly bear, I was a bit surprised
to come upon a bull in the road.
A few minutes later a Dutch couple approached me on bicycles.
They were traveling through the parks. They suggested I take an alternate
route along Columbia Lake (not shown on the AC map). I did. It was as nice
as the road along Windermere (northbound there is an exit for it by Mountain
Village Steak/Seafood).
I forgot to mention that going into Banff, and along this road,
there were cattleguards across the road. While cattleguards keep cattle
and elk from going out of their range and onto a road, they are nearly impossible
to cross on a bicycle. I always walk my bicycle across them.
Bikes can sometimes ride on the metal strip on the right, but
there usually isn't one.
The Columbia River originates in Columbia Lake, just a mile across lowlands
from the Kootenay River.
Canal Flats is the location of an 1890's attempt to connect the
two great waterways. Only 2 ferries ever went through the canal.
Logging and cattle ranching seem to be the dominant economic activities
in the area. One ranch had a really nice carved wood entry (sorry, but I
had to shoot into the sun, so the richness of the wood itself is shadowed).
It was real real hot today [one of the
hottest days of the entire trip]. When I parked my bike at the store
in Skookumchuck, while I went in for a cold drink of iced tea, the bike
thermometer reached 116 degrees (f), the hottest I'd ever seen. After eating
in the air conditioning and hearing stories about how bad the mosquitoes
were at Wasa, the nearest campground (my original destination), I decided
to spend the night in Skookumchuck.
I had an interesting time talking about the north country with Barney, the
owner of Springport Resort, where I camped for the night.
Living for 16 years in Alaska, I understand why people live in remote places like this. I appreciate the outdoors, the beauty of nature and the wild solitude that brought Barney here. As he explained, you need climb over just one ridge to reach country hardly ever touched by humans. Living now in Michigan, I miss all that.
61 miles.
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© Ed Noonan 1996, 1997