PowerCycle

06/26 Writing this one from notes because my laptop battery was kaput. Yes, my notes were much smaller than this entry. Good memory. I used my solar panel to charge my iPod which was exciting because I haven’t seen the sun enough to be able to do that. Not enough sun for the laptop though.

The weather was much nicer today. The sun was out for a good part of the day and the wind wasn’t trying to kill me. Riding on Hwy 93 was a little trying. The road surface is OK but the shoulders have cracks in them reminiscent of glacier crevasses. Most were patched but you still have to ride over mini-speed bumps every 4 feet. I ended up getting mad and riding in the car lane which wasn’t optimal thanks to a good bit of traffic.

Wabasso has some serious ways of handling noise complaints in their CG that I haven’t seen anywhere else. Quiet time is 11pm until 7am. During that time all camp fires need to be out. Drinking isn’t allowed during that time either. Here’s the good part. They have a private security firm enforce the ban which entails them coming into your campsite, confiscating any alcohol they find (amazed this is legal), evicting everyone in the campsite on the spot and banning everyone from every national park in Canada for 48 hours. Wow. OK, how about take your huge park and designate a more remote area for 3 or more campers or anyone expecting to be a little louder than normal that night. Drop the stupid fire ban that kicks in at 11pm which is crazy because it doesn’t even get dark until then. Now you can fire the security people and install showers so I won’t feel screwed because I had to pay $24 for a patch of uneven ground and some water.

The Columbia Icefield was only 2 miles up the road from the CG so I stopped there first. Most of it is still there but she’s melting fast. It still amazes me that 100 years ago the ice was all the way up to the visitor center. I skipped the tour up onto the ice and the hike to the edge of it since I’d been there about a year ago. Called my Dad too since I hadn’t talked to him on or since Father’s Day.

At the CI CG I met a couple guys who are part of a group of 4 riding coast to coast for the Lung Association. One of them (Marc) gave me a card with their web site at the falls later on but I lost it.

Next up was the Athabasca Falls. It was great to see it again. That was where I ran into 2 of the 4 guys riding coast to coast for the 3rd time that day; earlier at a service stop and again when they passed me going down the highway–yes I was passed but they are much younger than me. Our 3 loaded touring bikes got quite a bit of attention which was fun. I was there by myself when I was getting ready to leave and had my picture taken at least 4 or 5 times. People also asked if I wanted my picture taken with my bike in front of the falls which was cool (I passed this time though).

Then it was back on the road through some magnificent mountain ranges along Hwy 93. The Endless Chain Ridge was by far my favorite. My knee started bugging me about that time so I raised my seat up a bit and that helped. The old body is at 100% again (knock on wood).

GPX Track