Swaledale Outdoor Club

> Home > Newsletter > Cycling > Tortoise II Heads West (Part 2)

Tortoise II Heads West (Part 2)

(Part 2)

After 5 minutes panic and an hour's struggiing we were able to get Tortoise operational again as a single speed machine with a dodgy chain. It was mostly downhill to the hostel and we arrived late and greasy but without further problem. There a group of cyclists listened to our tale of woe and invited us to share their ½cwt of stir fry; one look at our miserable pack of freeze dried yuk and we accepted gratefully.

The road to Lake Louise was supposedly downhill but after toiling uphill for about 5 minutes we were caught by a puffing cyclist who wondered if we really intended to ride back to Jasper with them! Pointing in the right direction it was an easy ride and we arrived at the bike shop at 10:30am The guy at the shop was fantastic, he fitted a new derailleur and chain, trued the wheel and checked everything out while we had a good clean up at the hostel and a wonderful meal at the Railway Station restaurant, his recommendation. The village of Lake Louise is in a magnificent setting, the hostel large, new and excellent, and with hotel rooms costing at least 10 times as much, terrific value It was a bank holiday but almost traffic free and very peaceful. We spent the rest of the day drifting round the shops and visitor centre, lounging about in the sunshine, soaking up the views and recovering from 4 hectic days.

We were up early next day, the weather was lovely, we had a good breakfast and without any luggage set off to cycle up (and up and up) to Lake Moraine. The scenery was breathtaking and the lake a wonderful shade of turquoise blue. After walking along the lakeside and sampling the fare at the lovely lodge we had a long fast descent in hot sunshine before climbing another 2 miles to Lake Louise - reputably the most photographed lake in the world and the same magnificent colour. Next day was July 4, it rained till 11am and snowed until 4pm blocking the road North for a few hours. We were due to move on but spent the day playing scrabble, chatting and reading before an enormous log fire in a superb lounge. At 5 o'clock, kitted out in our new waterproofs we pedalled gently to our next hostel, fortunately only 15 miles away.

The following morning we left our gear at the hostel and rode a few miles South to Johnson Canyon, a 'must see' place in our guide book. It was a splendid little 3 mile walk round the canyon; we were almost back at the car park when we met a coach party and heard "God how much further is this damn walk". We were on our way again at 11am heading almost due West on a fairly long haul over the Continental Divide at Vermillion Crossing and into Kootenay National Park. On the way down we visited Marble Canyon and the Indian Paint Pots where the first Canadians used the ochre for war paint before they were driven out by the white settlers who used it commercially for paint until the park was created. A long descent took us to Kootenay Lodge, the only accommodation in the park, we had a cosy log cabin an excellent dinner and were ready for bed at 9.20.

In the morning we were served breakfast by Mom - a diminutive matriarch who obviously ruled the roost, at one point she broke off to go, tea towel in hand, to a huge delivery truck shunting about in the car park. On her return she explained that she had to go shoo away a bear because "that great galoot of a driver daren't get out of his cab - it wasn't even a full sized bear, and me serving breakfast an' all". We followed the Vermillion then the Kootenay rivers for several miles along a level road before climbing up over the Sinclair Pass. This was now a fairly major highway with several huge trucks and trailers hauling stone and timber, they all had to stop at the top of the pass to check their brakes, since their total weight was over 120 tons this was reassuring. They were a courteous lot of drivers, giving us a wide berth and a friendly toot and wave. We passed through Sinclair Gorge a spectacular gap cut through the rocks, this was a hairy moment, the road was very narrow and twisting with no hard shoulder, but we were in luck we had the road to ourselves.

We now left the National Parks, the first time since Jasper, and rode into the town of Radium Hot Springs. The springs were a disappointment, being completely commercialised, but the town was very nice with a lovely motel and good eateries. We were spending 2 nights here, so next day after doing our chores, Lil the washing, me with borrowed bucket and cloths giving Tortoise II a good bath, we set off on foot to explore the gorge. It was a super walk, climbing high up above the road we had a bird's eye view of the people and traffic below, a large truck left little room for anything else.

We now travelled South through the Columbia River valley past Lake Windermere to Fairmont Hot Springs, cycling most of the day into a strong head wind. After dinner we had a long walk up to the hot springs, they were partly given over to a swimming pool but quite spectacular with lots of vivid colours.

For the next 2 days we continued to cycle along the Columbia valley past many lovely lakes, it was very warm and the scenery much softer than before, for the moment the mountains were distant sights. At Elko, we did a U-turn and then enjoyed the luxury of a tail wind as we headed back towards the mountains We were now cycling through a mining and fanning area and then Eastwards back over the Continental Divide. We had expected this to be a necessary but less interesting ride but it proved to be both scenic and fascinating and we really enjoyed it The weather was glorious, in a land not noted for environmental care it was interesting to see 50 huge windmills, and what a good site; when we enquired of a local if it was always this windy he said "sometimes it blows 8 days out of 7". After one and a half days going East we turned South towards Waterton National Park, we were now in the prairies and we struggled to make headway for 3 hours, even going downhill was hard work, we were very thankful to finally see our B&B just 5 miles outside the park.

Waterton National Park is one of the smallest in Canada and one of the best. The little town is very friendly and relaxed with beautiful hotels and restaurants and the wildlife often wander into town; a sizeable herd of mule deer were quietly grazing on the lakeshore the day we arrived. We had 2 nights at the hostel built just 3 years earlier as part of a luxury hotel complex and sharing all their sports facilities. We had 2 excellent rides and a couple of short walks, one to Summit Lake almost on the American border with huge swathes of bear grass flowers on both sides of the trail and views down the valley to Lake Cameron.

A lot of cyclists we met were riding with the Back Roads Company, they all rode red Cannondale bikes and were fully supported. They always stayed at posh hotels, in this case the Prince of Wales, the biggest, oldest and best, standing on a hilltop overlooking the lake and town. We cycled up to take a photo and they were just setting off on their ride, there was a super spread laid out on 2 tables. This is all surplus, they explained, please help yourself and pack some for your lunch, true to the SOC tradition, always ready to help, we tucked in with gusto, the pecan pie was delicious! To start the ride was easy but then the road climbed up and up for about 5 miles and with 11 miles on the ODO we looked back to see the P. O. W. Hotel a mile away on the other side of the lake.

The crossing into USA at Chief Mountain was about a mile ahead when Lil said "There's a bear", we stopped to take a quick picture, he was a beautiful sight, but she was so quick she missed the bear altogether, all we have is treetops and sky!

It was another very hot day and we were glad to arrive at the tiny hamlet of Babb where we got the only room left in the only motel. To confirm we were now in cowboy country a funeral passed as we arrived, the coffin on a horse drawn hearse and all the mourners on horseback. That evening we shared a huge ribeye steak (it weighed about 2lbs) at the Cattle Barons Supper Room. We joined a party of ladies who had also been cycling since mid June and hoped to be back in Michigan by the end of August The oldest was 65 that day and to celebrate they had cycled over Logan Pass, a 12 mile ascent over a very spectacular road. They suggested we joined their ride and we wished we could. A more typical American family drove in from Calgary to the motel and then back in the car to drive the 100yds to the restaurant.

Next day was a nostalgic trip, we had stayed at Glacier National Park with our 2 little lads about 30 years earlier. We cycled into the park to Many Glacier Hotel; in our more affluent days we had spent a week there, this time we admired the decor and raked up enough money for a cup of coffee. We repeated a superb walk up to a small tunnel cut through the highest part of the mountain ridge and admired the fine outlines of Seward Mountain (one of my illustrious ancestors?) It was a fairly hard 10 mile hike and just as good as we remembered, the wild flowers and scenery were spectacular but we got soaked in a thunderstorm on the way back, so we dried off in the Swiftcurrent Motel's toilets and had a leisurely dinner before cycling back to our cheap motel outside the park.

We spent the next day getting psyched up for the ride over Logan Pass, supposedly the hardest and most spectacular part of our journey and spent the night at St Mary's Lodge, the receptionist's uncle is the Richmond undertaker so news of our progress reached Richmond before us! We were on the road next day at 7am to get to the top before it got too hot. The first 7 miles were quite easy but then we began to climb and continued to do so for the next 6 miles. We reached the top at 6750ft by 11am. The alpine gardens were so perfect we thought they had been planted, blue daisies, yellow lilies, potentillas and scarlet Indian paint brushes. A well made path took us out over the snowfields to Hidden Lake, a really spectacular 6 mile walk. The East side of the pass was a bit disappointing but the West side was super, a series of S bends dropping you right down the mountainside. The gradients are gentle but 12 miles is a long way to ride with the brakes on, there are no hard shoulders on this narrow road but plenty of places to pull off to admire the view and let the rims cool off. By the time we got to the bottom, a descent of 3500ft it was really hot (95F) and another 21 miles to West Glacier seemed a long way. This was the most dangerous stretch of road, single lane each way, no hard shoulder and lots of traffic. It is banned to cyclists between 11am & 4pm. We were almost obliterated by a mad motorist who suddenly pulled out of the Eastbound lane, crossed the double white line and drove straight at us. McDonald creek and lake are beautiful but we were glad to reach the motel at 7pm. 47miles with 3000ft of ascent plus a 6 mile walk in very hot weather had made it a very hard but fantastic day.

Magnificent though it is, Glacier National Park was our least cycle-friendly place and with only one through road, that is closed to cyclists most of the day, options are a bit limited but we had a leisurely short ride, a walk by the lake and our first ever paddle in a Canadian canoe, all we wanted after the previous days efforts.

Our route the next day skirted the mountains, it was rather busy but we made it to the town of Whitefish without problem. We had a good tour of the town and laid out in the sun by the lake before an excellent dinner and a night at the Non-hostile Hostel, a weird dirty place with a huge toilet area but only 3 beds and no bedding. The train station is magnificent, a large oak panelled building with one passenger train a day in each direction. We had a superb breakfast and left our luggage at the station. It was another hot day and we cycled a fairly steep hill about 5 miles long up to the Big Mountain ski resort. We left the tandem here and continued on foot to the top of the mountain 8000ft, a super walk and a free ride down on the gondola (they all had racks on the back for mountain bikes). There were a lot of posey mountain bikers about, but we were the only ones to make it form the lake to the top under our own steam (literally!).

By the time we got back to the station and boxed up Tortoise it was too late for our promised celebratory dinner, so we made do with a railway meal and had a lovely ride back to Everett, a station 11 miles North of Linda's home. From 8am the next morning there was a very interesting commentary as we passed through the Cascade mountains and we arrived at Everett at 11 am.

We were cosseted by Linda for 2 nights and met several of her neighbours before catching the plane back to Amsterdam and Newcastle. The ODO now read 1160 miles, Tortoise II missed the connection in Amsterdam (we only just made it) so we weren't able to round up to 1200 miles but we reckoned it was still pretty good for a pair of old 'has beens' and it was a super holiday. Canada is a long and expensive trip but the cycling is great, we've lots of information if anyone is interested. We are also showing slides of our trip on Friday December 1st.

Ray Sewards

Last Modified: 7 May, 2003