Baaad Hombres blog of the
Now that we’re home and have spent a few days reflecting, we have some stats and thoughts to share about our ride. It’s good to be home, but there’s so much more out we hope to see, both near the divide and in other parts of the world. Ride Numbers:
Overnights:
Old west / ghost towns we passed through:
Flat tires:
Lost items:
Bike parts fixed / replaced
Best breakfasts:
Wildlife:
Favorites:
7/12/2023
53.8 miles, 2838’ climbing The campground was quiet as we packed up early and ate the abominably bad muffins we had purchased at the store for breakfast. It was cold for the first time in a few days as we rolled out on a paved trail (cold fingers!). We had both Tour Divide and GDMBR variations of the route to choose from today, and we ended up doing some of each along with some High Rockies Trail singletrack and one random dirt road taken by accident (it connected). The majority of the ride was east of Spray Lakes, a washboarded road wide enough for 5 cars, yet some drivers chose to pass very close and fast. We met a number of southbound cyclists, most at the start of their journeys. As we got closer to Banff, we recognized many places and remembered the excitement of day 1 of the Tour Divide last year, how every piece of trail was a surprise, and all the riders were wondering if they could complete the journey. After all the rain during our ride it seemed fitting that it drizzled on our last day, but fortunately never a heavy downpour. When we pedaled into Banff past the beautiful Fairmont Hotel, a pair of Swiss hikers took a photo for us. The crowds of tourists in Banff are a bit shocking after the smaller towns and solitude of the trail. We managed not to get run over in traffic (barely!), then put our bikes in the hotel storage room. We had showers, pizza and salad, laundry, found bike boxes for our flight before retiring for the night. Tomorrow we need to pack up our bikes, then it’s an early shuttle to Calgary on Friday for our flight home. We are so happy to have finished and also a little sad that the journey is over. 7/11/2023
50.5 miles, 4662’ climbing It was overcast, cool and drizzly when we woke up in the campground. We ate some muffins we bought the night before with some coffee under the ramada, bid the other riders who were awake a great trip and headed out. The weather cleared a for a bit and the sun peeked out briefly here and there. We spotted a moose early in the ride. It was a young bull or cow (antlerless) grazing at side of the road. We stopped and slowly approached. The moose finally looked back at us and slowly wandered into the woods where it kept an eye on us as we passed, very similar to the black bear that peered through the woods at us as we passed it north of the Tetons. It was a day of climbing as we entered the elk valley and made our way towards the Boulton Creek Trading Post. A group of horses trotted down the road towards us at one point, one wearing a cowbell. It was very close to where horses blocked the road last year! We spotted another rider’s lost tracker at the top of Elk Pass and picked it up hoping to reunite it with its owner later. Lots of riders saw grizzlies in this area, but we did not. Boulton Creek has a small store with an ice cream/ pizza stand next door. We purchased a tent site for the night, grabbed some ice cream and then had warm showers. As evening approached, we went back to the store and got a couple of slices of questionable pizza. We were able to contact the owner of the lost tracker we found and left it at the store to be retrieved later. The campground had a lot of bikepackers on an ACA organized trip along the High Rockies Trail. They appeared to be having a great trip, and it’s a route to look into. 7/10/2023
50.7 miles, 2614’ climbing Mugshots in Fernie is a great breakfast place. They opened early at 6:30, and we hit the road soon after, knowing that the day would be warm. We rode the shoulder of the highway to Sparwood where we stopped at Tim Horton’s for a donut and coffee. Then we were on more rural roads, eventually ascending on dirt two-track towards Elkford. On the dirt road to Elkford we met Craig, also northbound. We rode together for a while until our paths diverged. His track was different than ours, and after consulting our map to check that the road appeared to go through, we followed his road which appeared slightly shorter. Eventually we had to figure out whether to follow a singletrack path not on our map or two track. We took the latter, merging with a paved road that quickly descended to Elkford. In the Elkford Municipal Campground we met many other bikepackers: Craig, 3 American guys southbound, an American guy and a British guy who lost his ids going south, a German couple on the trans Canada trail. Several of us had dinner at the Blend Bistro, then we all met while sheltering the rains under a campground ramada, talking about bikepacking, gear, experiences on the trail, destinations, and origins. It’s fun to chat with everybody. The campground has showers which is always welcome after a long day in the bike. 41.2 miles, 2155’ climbing
7/9/2023 It was an easy day rolling into Fernie. We woke up pretty much before the whole campsite, made some coffee, ate some crushed pop tarts, packed up and headed out of the Loon Lake Recreation Site. It was a gradual climb most of the way. Along a stretch of highway, a buck in velvet jumped over the guard rail in front of Ed, gave a stare, and then headed over the other side. We followed a creek most of the ride before we got to Fernie around 1pm where we stopped for lunch before checking into our hotel for showers and laundry and prepping for tomorrows ride. Only 3 more days planned riding to get to Banff! 54.8 miles, 2257’ climbing
7/8/2023 We got up to a chilly morning but luckily our camp neighbor Dave had started a fire, so after we got packed a little we made some coffee and went over to visit and share the warm fire. After breakfast and saying our goodbyes we headed off for Eureka where we hoped to score a hotel once we got in cellular range. The ride to Eureka started off with a gentle though rocky climb for about 10 miles before we started a descent to Eureka, much of it on very smooth pavement. In Eureka we stopped at the Jax cafe and had a nice lunch. Afterwards we tried in earnest to find a hotel, but we could find nothing. After sone strategizing, we decided to cross the border into Canada early and try for a recreation site we saw by a lake. The remainder off the ride was hot, but there was a sense of accomplishment as we entered Canada and completed the US portion of the route. Just before entering the recreation area, we met some other cyclists who told us there were actually 2 sites there. First we tried Edwards Lake but found all the spots occupied, so we headed to nearby Loon Lake where we found a site right next to other cyclists. We setup a tent and stripped to our shorts and jumped in the lake to cool off. Other cyclists all south bound came into to camp as well including a father and son from Switzerland. When we told him we were from Tucson he sang a bit of the Eagles “Take it Easy” song thinking the Winslow, Arizona line was actually Tucson. We counted 9 others cyclists in total and visited with all of them. It’s fun hanging out with fellow bikepackers. 61.0 miles, 4845’ climbing
7/7/2023 Sarah was convinced she wanted another slice of Loula’s huckleberry peach pie for breakfast, but they weren’t open in the morning. We had burritos and coffee at a coffee joint, and rolled north out of town on a bike path which became a paved road and eventually gravel. We saw lots of cars parked roadside with nobody in them, and eventually we realized the people were all out picking huckleberries, like blueberries but more tart. We stopped and picked a handful ourselves. After about 30 miles we reached the top of the pass at the beautiful red meadow lake. We saw a number of bikepackers, in most cases cheering for each other without stopping to talk since one party was bound to be mashing up a hill. Following the pass, we descended on roads that were less remote than expected, past cabins and river accesses and atvs. Finally, off a smaller road, we arrived at Tuchuck campground in a section of deep woods. It was near the fast flowing Tuchuck creek where small white flowers bloomed. We set up camp and met Dave Ebert from Toronto, a southbound bikepacker. After making camp, we shared a campfire with Dave, exchanging experiences of the GDMBR. After retiring to our tent, Sarah was awakened to the sound of loud, clopping hooves. Looking out, a very large mule deer was walking thru our camp and headed towards Dave’s where he was cowboy camping (no tent, under the stars). In the morning we heard Dave’s stories of curious deer, bucks in velvet, staring at him in his sleeping bag on the ground. Dave got some great photos of their perplexed faces. The GoPro bounced off the bike and was lost somewhere north of Butte, here is some various tidbits of video from the last 8 days or so. We have been taking a lot of short riding days rather than full days off, but we decided to take a full day in Whitefish in spite of having rolled into town early. Sometimes all the walking around town means that we don’t rest very much, but it’s nice to have free time once laundry, shopping, and showers are done. We haven’t had pie since Pie Town in New Mexico, and Sarah was determined to remedy that. Huckleberry Peach pie at Loula’s satisfied the craving. We will hit the trail again early tomorrow.
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