PowerCycle

06/23 After eating all my poor sister’s pancakes we bid farewell and it was back on the road for me. She said she’d visit me in Vancouver when I head back down from Alaska so I’m going to hold her to that. Seeing some friendly faces is a great morale booster.

And my morale could use some boosting because the weather is just freaking brutal. As soon as I left the tourist trap known as Lake Louise it started raining. Then the wind kicked up. For the next 15 miles or so it rained 90% of the time. Normally I wouldn’t care that much but with the cold wind blowing in your face it sucks a bit. I ended up losing the head cover that sits under my helmet which is bad because that keeps a lot of the heat trapped where I need it most. The outdoor store in Lake Louise had one made by Icebreaker but I don’t like it as much because its not as tight fitting. At least they had some camp soap which I’d run out of.

One thing that got me through the crappy weather was the spectacular scenery. I’ve only been up Hwy 93 to Jasper once so it was almost like seeing everything for the first time. The mountains here are just awesome looking. No wildlife yet but I imagine they hate the weather as much as I do so they stayed inside.

I had to go running after a squirrel when I got here. Some idiot left a sterofoam cup out so the squirrel was eating the cup trying to get at the hot chocolate that was inside it. Poor little fellow. This campground actually has a stel wires rigged up to hoist your food up away from the bears so I’ll use that tonight. It’s right next to a creek so I suspect they see a few bears here. No showers. Wasa might have been the last one. I think I’ll stay in a motel in Jasper if they aren’t too expensive (yeah right).

GPX Track