distance: approx 55 miles

We were out of our breakfast oatmeal so in the morning we decided to backtrack into Fernie and enjoy breakfast at a restaurant. Although I have learned to be wary of wayside lunches and dinners there is almost no way to destroy a breakfast.

So we stopped at a Smitty’s, Husky Oils restaurant counterpart. I ordered french toast (of course!). It was covered in whipped cream and blackberries. Yum. Laura and Michelle ordered some other “breakfasty” thing. I didn’t notice enviously.

By my reckoning after traveling a number of days over rough roads we needed to make up some time. I decided to to take the Great Divide MBR alternative route (the Fernie Alternative) which followed the highway with a generous shoulder through Elkford, Sparwood, Elkor, Roosville (at the U.S. border) to Eureka,MT.

We made good time.

We passed through the border without mishap. The border guard asked about oranges this time. Since we had eaten all the oranges by then we could answer honestly that we had none. My rice remained safe – he didn’t ask about rice and I didn’t volunteer.

As it turns out we all preferred to camp “primitively” – without service camping. After some discussion we had decided to camp off the main highway as the GDMBR looped into the wilderness north of Whitefish Lake.

We aimed for a small campground called Grave Creek Campground off the main trail in the national forest. Since it was late in the day and the road was unnecessarily hilly we found instead a quiet spot across the creek beside what looked like a millrace to set up our tents.

Besides the muffled noise from the campsites across the stream the site was secluded and ideal for the day.

 

After a rather windy night we had breakfast and began riding again. The weather had become cooler with overcast skies.

We started travelling on pavement again by the afternoon and approached Fernie by mid afternoon and had an early supper at Boston Pizza.

One friendly guy flagged us down in his pickup truck. We chatted about biking stories. He explained he was going on a bikepacking trip in New Mexico in October and was interested in my “planned” destination. Because he lived not far from Fernie he recommended that we alter our plans and stay at the Fernie Mountain Provincial Park at the south end of Fernie.

So  we did. The park was full but the park ranger made us feel quite welcome at the overflow camp sites (which was fine with us).   He also explained a tip of storing our food at the back of the bear proof garbage bins. (Maybe everyone out here knows about this trick.). It put my mind at ease knowing at least my campsite would be clear of food in the bear infested provincial parks.

We took advantage of the showers and hit the hay after another day.

distance: approx. 25 miles

It was refreshing to be out of the park by 7am and onto the wilderness gravel road.   We all seemed more anxious about animals both large (like bears) and small (like pesty raccoons) in the provincial parks. And as nice as the picnic tables and outhouses are, the noises of campers at night work on our imagination.

Once we were away from he campground the short asphalt stretches gave way to the familiar gravel, once again rough and mostly deserted.

We stopped for lunch around noon in the cool shade to eat trail mix, granola bars and what was left of the oranges.

The day turned out to be hot without much cloud cover.   By mid afternoon we started looking for a stream for some water and perhaps an opportunity to wade.   At about 3pm when the day was at its hottest we found a suitable spot by a bridge over a stream.

The stream was very cold which is not surprising.  It was a welcome relief from the dry heat of the day but wading was difficult in the numbing cold water.

We set up our tents and made supper without haste and called it a day. Up ’til now this was the best spot to camp.

 

 

distance: 38 miles

We were up fairly early – we hadn’t adapted to mountain time yet. We had breakfast of oatmeal porridge and mixed nuts, packed up the tents and were on our way.

We traveled in wilderness areas without any stores or stops for the whole day. The paths/roads were all dirt or gravel. Many of them were quite rough as I recall.

We hadn’t yet become accustomed to riding our heavily loaded bikes up the steep ascents. Michelle began to doubt whether she had made the right decision. I insisted that it would get easier as our bodies adapted but this was small comfort. Laura however, who had prepared by biking to work seemed to have little trouble on the steep hills. I had trouble keeping up.

The long winding descents were not a problem which Laura and Michelle took much faster than me.

The gravel roads improved marginally when we entered Peter Lougheed Provincial Park. We stopped at a camp office to get some idea of our bearings and site availability and ended up staying the night at the Lower Lakes Campground with running water.

 

(294 miles driving in a shuttle + 20.8 miles biking)

After 37 hours of driving in our family van Laura, Michelle and I finally arrived at the Whitefish Bike Retreat at 3:10am mountain time. We crashed for about 4 hours before catching a shuttle to Banff.

Morning arrived too quickly. We awoke and by 7:50 had made our way the retreat office where a shuttle van was waiting to take us, our bikes and our packs to Banff. Cricket the owner of the retreat greeted us warmly with complementary coffee and cinnamon cake. We were happy to have her as our driver.

It is about a 6 hour drive to Banff from Whitefish. In that time Cricket was very helpful answering all my, yet unanswered, questions about the Great Divide Mountain Bike Route. As it turns out she knew the route first hand having traveled and raced the route several times. Apparently she was the top woman racer in 2009.
As Cricket was explaining all about the route, its dangers and all the proper precautions Laura was devouring all the cinnamon cake.

When we arrived in Banff at about 2pm Cricket was kind enough to drive us to a few shops in town to pick up a few things I had forgotten; duct tape, an extra jersey, a compression bag and a camping towel. Then we finally set off on our way down the path behind the old Banff hotel.

Just like it had been reported, not 200 meters from the big old hotel the trail leads to a wilderness. The trail was wide but hilly. It took a bit getting used to with our fully loaded bikes.

We arrived at Spray Lake Campground late in the afternoon. All the sites were full so we found a spot in the overflow area beside the lake (not a particularly nice spot), pitched the tents and cooked a quick supper before dark.