My Trans Canada Bike Journey

     A patriotic Canadian waves the flag along the TransCanada Highway Travel today was along the shoulder of the TransCanada Highway 1.   The detour continues today and will be completed tomorrow when I arrive at Bragg Creek.   Progress continues in an eastward direction as I am covering the ground between the Rockies and the city of Calgary.   Today I saw a patriot for which I have respect and admiration.  A Canadian citizen that demonstrates his pride in his country for all to see. At the eastern end of my route today, I saw a man with his RV parked in a rest area along the highway. He was waving a Canadian flag, which unfortunately the picture above does not capture very well.  I too am carrying a small Canadian flag on the front of my bike.  99% of the people who see it of course do not realize it is an American that is displaying their national symbol.  What I found remarkable was that five hours later  as ...

  Livingstone Golf Course -- along Alberta 68 In the long view of  crossing the country,  my travel has slowed to a snail's pace.   But I don't think about that much.    The task at hand is such a large undertaking, that I don't think too much about getting to Newfoundland and Labrador.  Each day is an experience in itself to savor, and I find myself living in the moment, and squeezing out experiences, as the miles track by.  Today my progress is 8 miles; the final stretch of Alberta 68, where it turns to the north to join up with the TransCanada Highway.  I am on a multi-day detour, as the TCT travels upon two trails that are closed due to flooding in the region.  The detour is a bit longer than the original route and my northbound travel today is taking me away from the true trail.  I return to the car every day, and tomorrow's route is along the TransCanada highway.  While bicycle travel is just fine along that road whi...

Sibbald Flats I'm now in the foothills area of the Rockies between Banff National Park and Calgary.  Even though the mountains are primarily behind me, I expect challenging riding, because these foothills can top out at higher elevations than the Banff townsite.  Without a guidebook, (Alberta has not published a nice comprehensive guidebook like we used in BC)  I depend now on the TransCanada Trail (TCT) website for my route information.    The website shows the TCT travels on two more trails which cross the open country and are not routed by existing roads.  The first is the Kananaskis Country Trail which is 31 kms long, followed by the West Bragg Creek Trail which is 50 kms.  I don't know the surface of these trails - they could be logging roads, doubletrack, or single track mountain bike trails.  Probably a combination of surfaces.  My first step today was to check out an information center near Barrier Lake and near the head of the Kanana...

  Viewpoint from Razor Edge Hiking Trail The Quaite Valley Trail looks innocuous on the Alberta map, but it made for one of the most memorable rides for this year.   I got a late start today.  Like 6:00PM late.  It was Sunday and the earlier part of the day had been occupied with Mass and a big lunch at the Stoney Nakoda Shmitty's restaurant, where  I had eaten earlier and found the food good enough for a return trip.  I've been staying at the Ocgrow Reserve townhouse in Cochrane, which is not near Canmore and the TransCanada Trail.  All of this, along with plans to progress just 8 miles today on the Quaite Valley and the Stoney Trails,  I did not feel a sense of urgency to get going.  I had another day of beautiful sun and ideal temperatures, around 19 degrees C (66 degrees Fahrenheit). The Trail travels across country from TransCanada Highway 1 to Barrier Lake which is situated next to Highway 40.  In order to get back to the car,...

  Mount Lougheed - Along TransCanada Highway Today was a day of mundane travel along the TransCanada Highway 1, but lots of interesting other items today.   So its the 4th of July, but nobody cares up here!  Considering what's going on in Washington, sounds like I didn't miss much.  I took a rest day yesterday.   So today the plan was to continue on from the Town of Canmore Trail which was Thursday's ride.   I am in an area called Dead Man's Flats, and  according to the TCT website, the trail now becomes a water trail intended to be covered by kayak or canoe.  So one is supposed to kayak down the Bow River for this stretch of maybe 5 miles.  I stopped at a gas station principally to buy some snacks for the ride and I asked the clerk if he knew anything about the TCT in this area.  He said its closed, for your own safety. At that point I did not yet know that the TCT was actually on the Bow River there.  Yes, it would ...

  Nice view from a high point in Canmore - Bow River, mid-picture If I had $200 for every night I've slept in Canmore...  Of all of the places I've stayed in Canada, Canmore wins the prize for most times.  I discovered Canmore back in the mid-80's on my first trip to Banff.  I had ridden my bike up from Cochrane, hoping to make it  to Banff in one day, and decided that plan was too ambitious, so I found a place to stay in this Park Boundary town (just outside the  main Park entrance).  Back then in comparison to the Banff townsite, I remember Canmore being a smaller,  and quieter place.  With development over the years, Canmore is nearing twice the size of the Banff townsite now.  And as I discovered this year, it is still growing with lots of new construction along the Three Sister's Parkway.  Canmore often means traffic jams, as the old streets struggle with the new volumes of traffic coming off of the TransCanada highway.  C...

Eastbound on the  Banff Legacy Trail (Mount Rundle forms the right edge of the photo) Today's start: elevation 4616 feet   After three rest days, I am looking forward to returning to the bike, and extending my travel eastward on the TransCanada Trail.   Sunday was a dreary day;  I'm sure many vacationers were disappointed, because Banff  really shows off its beauty and grandeur when the sun is out.  Audrey and I took the day to drive up to Lake Louise.  Early on the route we travelled past  Cascade Mountain, but could barely see it through the fog.  However we could make out the cascade for which the mountain is named, water rushing down the side of the mountain.  Monday was a car trip to Calgary, so that Audrey could catch her early Tuesday flight.  Tuesday was a tourist day for me in the townsite.  I checked out the Whyte Museum of the Rockies, which is mainly an art museum, and stopped for a couple souvenirs on Main Str...

(Jun. 28) A close bear encounter! (Jun. 28) These pictures were taken from inside the car.)   These photos are miscellaneous, taken on June 24, June 27, and June 28.  On June 24 we took a rest day in order to do some Banff sightseeing, just like the millions of visitors that Banff receives each year.  We first took in a narrated boat tour of Lake Minnewanka.  We had a good narrator who provided a lot of information that was new to me.  Lake Minnewanka is the largest lake in Banff National Park, (BNP) and for many tourists, the first attraction they see upon arriving as  the turnoff  from TransCanada Highway 1, comes first after entering the park.  This area is the homeland of the Stoney Nakoda Nation, the aboriginal people who were settled here when  the Canadian Pacific railroad decided to lay tracks in the Bow River Valley.  The Stoney Indians were given that name because they would use stones warmed by fire to cook their food.  T...

  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 ...