Saturday, June 27: Banff Springs Hotel

 

Spray Lakes Reservoir

A very rainy day!

While all days on a vacation of this nature are memorable, some days really stand out. Today was one of those special days, one I will remember long after the last mile of my Canadian journey.  Our last day of intended riding before Audrey would leave from Calgary to return home to St Louis, it was going to be an ambitious day.  If you pull out an Alberta road map, you'll see a grey road that leaves highway 40, shortly north of the Highwood Pass, and ends at Canmore,  I believe it is about 70 kilometers long.  Our hotel is in Canmore.  But now imagine a roadblock on that gray road, which is the Smith-Dorrien Road, just on the city limit of Canmore.  

This roadblock created so much annoyance for us!  Instead of leaving the Canmore hotel, and taking the Smith-Dorrien Road,  directly to my starting point along the south end of the Spray Lake Reservoir, we had to backtrack on the TransCanada Highway easterly, to Highway 40, the Kananaskis Trail.  Take that south to the far end of the Smith-Dorrien  Road then take that north to my starting point.  Then Audrey would accompany me, along the Spray Lake Reservoir, until we arrived at the Canmore roadblock.  At that point I would travel 19 kms overland west on the Goat Creek Trail arriving finally at the Banff Springs Hotel.  Audrey would then  travel about 100 miles all the way around to meet me in Banff at the hotel.  

So this was going to be a day where regardless of the weather, I would keep traveling on bike if at all possible.  During the early part of the day, while overcast, the weather held off; I believe we actually saw some sunshine break through briefly while I was riding along the Spray Lake Reservoir. 

 

Side note:  I recognize I am typing 'reservoir' quite frequently.  When talking to a Canadian, at least in this part of Canada, they do not refer to power as electricity;  they call it 'Hydro'.  They get their power from hydroelectric plants.  So these reservoirs are important for both drinking water and electric power. 

I made good progress riding along the reservoir, and made it to the dam without incident.  Audrey and I connected in the dam area and agreed  upon our next meeting place.  Always wanting to be true to the TCT as much as possible, I did diverge from the road at one spot and took the High Rockies Trail, perhaps for a mile.  I was happy that I was able to navigate it in this area, but at the first opportunity I returned to the road where Audrey was expecting me.  At this point, I don't think we had had any rain.  We departed, and the rain came!  Pouring.   My rain jacket kept my upper half warm, and moderately dry.  But the road became a morass.  During this stretch, the bike kicked up a lot of mud onto my shorts, jacket, legs and shoes.  Any other day, I probably would have sat out that rainstorm, but not today.

Eventually we arrived at our final meeting place at the other side of the Canmore roadblock, which was also the area where the Goat Creek Trail starts/ends.  My bike and my clothes, legs, and shoes full of mud, but no stopping now. 

 

Nice boardwalk on the High Rockies Trail

Double Track on the High Rockies Trail

High Rockies Trail - singletrack

Another picture I took of the Spray Lakes Reservoir

Goat Creek Trail - A Canadian Classic

So Audrey and I parted ways.  Me on the Goat Creek Mountain Bike Trail, and Audrey on her 100 mile ride to meet me.  While riding on the trail I reminisced about the time I first had rode my bike on this trail - on a Banff trip, from long ago.  That first time was an extreme experience for me, riding my bike on this famous trail 1500 miles from home.  Occasionally the view would open up and I could see the peak of Mount Rundle, over 5000 feet above me.  Back in those younger days, I  remember thinking of scrambling up that mountain;  a dream that came to fruition for my nephew and me, in 2005 (East End of Mount Rundle, one of its peaks, but not the highest one.)  

Fortunately, the rain had stopped; however, I began to have trouble with the bike.  There was so much mud and grit on all of the moving parts, that I was having trouble with the pedals locking up whenever I would put more than a little pressure on the pedals.  I'm sure there was so much dirt on the derailleur mechanism that it would lock and prevent the chain from moving.  Consequently, I found myself walking the bike up every ascent. So I knew I was not going to get to the end of the trail at the time I expected, but probably an hour later.

However, Goat Creek came to my rescue.  I crossed a stream on a bridge, and the water was really rushing along fast, due to the earlier rain, I'm sure.  I dismounted and walked with the bike down to the edge of the stream, hoping I could dip the bike in the stream and wash it.  I found that in order to do that effectively, I was going to have to enter the water myself.  So that's what I did, with my shoes.  The water actually was not cold.  Or not cold enough to notice anyway.  This makeshift bike wash did the trick.  While It didn't completely eliminate the pedal locking, it was much better and I was able to ride most of the rest of the way.

Finally, an hour late perhaps, but I arrived at the Banff Springs Hotel, the Castle in the Rockies.  What a sense of achievement to finally arrive in Banff by bike, having started this ride at the Pacific Ocean.  I started on Oct. 15, 2013; it took me 13 years to get here.  Audrey has been along for all but one of those years.  Covid  and other priorities prevented me from riding for several of those 13 years.  And for the first 7 years I was still working full-time, so progress on the TCT was one week at a time.   We have had many memorable experiences  during these years;  today was one more outstanding page for the blog.

Audrey also ran into delays on her car trip, and was concerned about forcing me to wait for her.  It turns out, we arrived within a couple minutes of each other.   

    

Anybody need a drink of water?

One very muddy rider.  Ha Ling Mtn forms the background.

Ready to roll onto the Goat Creek Trail. Can't really see how muddy I was here

Arrival at the Castle in the Rockies

Mileage:  32 miles

Elevations:

Start (and highest): 5950 feet

End (and lowest): 4625 feet