July 11, 2015. Banff, Alberta

Start of the Divide, it didn't really feel like a milestone or anything, I hung around for a bit and took few pictures. Tourists were doing the same, most notably a pickup driving through the roundabout and a woman from the back seat holding an iPad saying "slow down". That was basically my start signal.

The trail was nice going up to the Spray Lakes, well used and a lot of traffic. From hikers, bikers and runners to families pushing strollers...

Once I reached the dirt road, I ran into a cyclist here to test out his new setup. Alan has worked as motivational speaker for 30 years and is about to embark on his first bicycle tour.

Our paths diverged at the Spray Lake turn off. See that dust trail on the other side? I don't want to take sides here but it seems that the west side is definitely better!

"We are doing some camera work, wildlife cameras" said the rangers, I did some camera work too! But it wasn't very good... overexposed :(

Luckily that rain in the distance will surely wash the dust off!

A car slowed down and pulled over. I found it off that somebody would stop to talk on a busy road like this one. Anyway I went beside them to see what was up, I stopped in front of their window:

"We were going to take a picture of the bear... now we have a picture of you, hahaha"

Here's a picture of the bear... and a picture of me (half-man, half-dust)

The lunch break with wi-fi at Peter Lougheed park was great and that thunder coming from over Elk Pass sounded refreshing.

Right: a baby bat creeping up the wall of the visitor center.

If you are wondering how Elk Pass got it's name...

After setting up and getting a varying amount of water on almost everything I have, munched down a sub while pacing up and down to try and keep warm.

It rained all night but stopped in the morning. The worst part was putting on all these clothes that were still wet. Top, cycling shorts, gloves, socks and shoes. Although my shoes were waterproof water kept sipping in through the gaitors :(
Thick clouds still covered the mountains, the hike to Elk Lake wasn't a good idea. Maybe another time.

The ride down the muddy road was nice and mostly downhill. Oh, look at those cute horses!, in seconds they surrounded me and started testing which of my equipment was edible... one liked biting on my bar ends, another was scratching his head on my rain jacket and a third one tried to bite the valve of my camelback. I love horses.

I passed the meadow where I camped last year with some hunters (who thought it would be a good idea to wake me up by shooting guns next my tent!)
Up and over Elkford: just another mining/logging town and a stop on the GDMBR. Aside from its nice library, store and a restaurant there wasn't much to see. From the clearcuts you can see giant hills in the process of being erased and mined for coal, semi's pass you carrying tires the size of... oh scroll down a bit to see.

The washout that took me 3 trips to get across last year was done in one this time around.

An obligatory shot with the Titan - worlds largest truck.

Although i would prefer the main route i had to pick up few things in Fernie, so there is some easy highway riding for a bit.

I could follow the alternate to Montana and rejoin the main route... or pay a visit to Waterton National Park and the official CDT trail marker, as well as do the Going to the sun road in Glacier Park. Quick research showed that the only alternative to highway riding may have a missing bridge, regardless - if that doesn't work out I can join the GDMBR at Cabin pass and continue south.

At around noon I was off, the plan is to get to Butts Cabin and spend the night there - some 60 or 90 km away.
Two days ago I was complaining about cars on dusty logging roads, imagine what a loaded truck could do, the road was less than half the width too, after each truck I'd move as far right as possible since they seem to convoy.

...and take a deep breath!

While I've been planning to swap out to knobbier tires sooner or later, I got a reminder: the sidewall of the rear tire blew out near the top of Harvey pass. I managed to patch it up but it seemed that there was significant wear all around and it would be risky to continue, especially since I don't know how much traffic I will see the rest of the way.

Jim, who drivers the Grader here pulled over. "Quick, there is a logging truck coming down", I threw the bike on the back of the truck and hopped in.
Contrary to what i thought all road building and maintenance is done by the logging companies, add the costs of logging, cleanup/prep, reforestation... there must be some big money in lumber.

Bummer to be going back but that only means one thing: there will be time to check out some mountain biking trails at Fernie!

Back in town I grabbed a tire at the Gear Hub, they even let me use their tools/stand to install it. My tools are conveniently located at the bottom of the camping gear trunk bag...

They also came up with a great 3 hour loop to ride tomorrow before I head out.

Over an hour, one tumble down the side of the trail and numerous breaks later I was at the top.

The little ski town of Fernie, from Castle Rock Mtn

At noon I rolled out of town, looks like I am about to get my daily dose of rain. Some 130+ fires are burning throughout British Columbia but since I started in Banff it rained at least once per day.

The only worry on my mind was having to re-do the 20 mile climb up to Harvey Pass...

I figured I can see about hitching a ride if somebody passes me.

"We have 5 people and a dog inside, there isn't much space."

Said the driver, I looked behind the pickup.

When life gives you lemons, you put your bike on the trailer and hop on the quad. Eat a cookie and take a selfie.

I love life! ...and I also love cookies!!!

...and about that daily dose of rain...

I would seriously doubt the sanity of anybody who drives on the logging roads without a radio. These monsters seemed to come out of nowhere, approximately every thirty minutes. The very process of natural selection, right here on the backroads in British Columbia.

Talked to two workers out here, one told me there was only one more logging truck today - what a treat!
So I set up the camera to get a legendary shot but the truck slowed down. Way down. I guess it didn't put out much less dust.

I arrived at Butts Cabin fairly early to find that even chipmunks need electrolytes on these hot days!

A wild firefighting crew was there, so I got to hang out with them, over the next 2 hours as they flew equipment and the crew back.

"Do you need some help?" I asked,

"I'm good, you can keep eating."

I just realized that I had been eating since the moment I got there.

Later two divide riders rolled in. Bev and Colen drove from California to Montana and then started biking. Surprisingly, they both traveled lighter than me.

Oatmeal and coffee! The americans had coffee, what a treat on the trail. We said our goodbyes and went off on our ways.
My way went north on the other side of the Flathead.

Below, that freshly cut block on KM 65 where all the logging trucks were coming from. I could hear the machines working from the other side of the valley.

The road got narrower and more overgrown, a tiny ATV bridge meant that there won't be much traffic up there.

I didn't switch out of granny gear until I had to go in "Don't be a hero" mode and start pushing. I once read an entire forum thread about people confessing to pushing their bikes and listing different excuses.

My name is Iohan and I am a pusher.

The Continental Divide Trail going off onto the side, sadly it's not available for riding into Waterton National Park - that will have to wait until Montana.

Now, last year when I rode the Divide bike route, I did it on a rigid MTB with 4 panniers and very heavily loaded. Never in my wildest dreams would I have thought about riding off a curb with all that load.

Now, having a full suspension Niner with a light load is a completely different story. After some nice rolling trail the "road" turned into a dried up stream. Loose rocks ranging in size from ping-pong balls to watermelons covered the ground. It was so steep that at times I had to ride into the bushes on the sides to slow down. Here is a short clip of the descent (it doesn't look nearly as steep as it is!)

"You are the first cyclist I've seen here", said a man who grew up in the area. "There used to be a sawmill but now they built a ski resort and paved the road. There are RVs everywhere."

He told me the road I had come down on was actually in good condition because they did some oil exploration in the 90's.

Fair enough, a big ski resort popped out of nowhere. The banks of the river were peppered with RV's ranging from tiny campers to bus-sized mansions. Some even had put up fences. Fences! LOL

A smooth ride with amazing views took me further into Alberta. There was even ice cream in town, which took 15 minutes to finish. 5 to eat it and 10 to get the ice cream off of my clothes, the bike and even the helmet.

Chief mountain where I will cross into Montana.

Waterton National Park take 1
Unlike the national parks in the USA, Canadian ones are not very bike/hike friendly. Entry fee and camping adds up to 60$, for a gravel spot surrounded by RVs. Think of all the cookies and milkshakes I can buy with $60... I also don't follow politics much but I can just blame prime minister Harper for this!
I rode out of the park and asked a farmer if I can camp on his ranch. Helped him fence off the hay and set up, what a spot to fall asleep to the distant mooing of the cows. No gravel patch in Waterton can beat this.

Waterton National Park take 2
Up and running before 6am just in time for the "early bird free park admission special", I left my camping gear on the field so I don't need to hide/store it for the hike to the CDT marker.

As I was riding to the trailhead, or so I thought (I was riding the wrong way). I wondered why I would hike the 8 mile round trip to visit a marker. The Continental Divde Trail start marker nonetheless but this trip isn't about that. I turned around and went back.

Unfortunately I passed by the visitor center, looking at their map I saw a trail over a pass and a tiny red line after. Next to it were 5 magical words "40 km to Flathead road". The best part is you can ride a bike on the trail.
With the imminent rain, I was set on going to Montana today and the riding the paved roads over glacier park. Once I packed the bike however, I knew there was only one way: up and over to the Flathead!

plus, the rain was just about to start!

Waterton National Park take 3

A gradual ascent took me up from the Waterton townsite.
At the end of the road was a lake, I ate lunch while watching tourists go up and down the dock taking photos and scattering when the rain picked up.

It took less than 30min to reach the pass... easiest climb ever. There were even mothers pushing strollers, one of them took this photo just as it started hailing.

The hail stopped and ahead was the most wonderful singletrack I've ever seen. A gentle decline took me toward blue skies and sunshine.

Then it hailed...
Then the sun came out.
Unfortunately i got to a 4 way junction. Without a map i just had to try what it seemed right. Forward took me about 2km and ended at a river. I tried left next which quickly got overgrown and definitely had no tire tracks at all but from the rough map on the garmin, it looked to follow a valley which can connect to the Flathead road.

After two more hail sessions with sunny breaks in between I spotted the first kilometer sign. Few hours later I was at Butts cabin again and opted to stop early for another night of glam-camping. While getting ready to sleep, I heard a voice outside:

"We made it!"

Mike is one of the 7 racers who are racing tour divide south-to-north. He is 65 and on the 34th day out of Antelope Wells, New Mexico.

He described his experience as "Beautiful, exhausting and memorable."

Going over Cabin Pass was much more enjoyable when it wasn't covered with 3 feet of snow.

The whole day felt a bit gloomy with the cloudy skies but it never rained. Aside from lunch I didn't stop much, not even to take photos, since every time I am reminded how badly i stink. Yikes, 4 days of not showering :(

Crazy ride down Galton Pass, went off the road few times and was pretty scared that there may be uphill car traffic here, luckily there wasn't!

So here we go: Montana.

NEXT PART: MONTANA