A Minor Damage Report

Today was another one of those days that didn’t go as planned. Of course, as I’ve often said, it’s hard for things to go according to plan when there is no plan in place. Perhaps it’s more accurate to say that today was just a day full of procrastination.

It’s a bit funny that there was so much procrastination today considering I got up about an hour earlier than expected. I had made it through another chilly night without getting eaten by a bear thus making the night a success. By chance, I happened to hear the beeping of my watch alarm signalling it was 6:50. In retrospect, I don’t know why I thought my alarm was set for 6:50. I don’t even remember setting my alarm anytime in the past month.

Anyway, with the sounding of my watch I deemed it to be a reasonable hour to get up. It was only after getting everything packed up and ready to go that I actually looked at my watch and realized I had gotten up at 5:50. Oops. If I actually had a schedule for the day, it would seem I was way ahead of it.

I found myself even further ahead of schedule when it became apparent that the Icefields Discovery Centre was a lot closer than the map had led me to believe. Oh, did I mention the temperature? It was 3 degrees. THREE! Sure, it was only 7:30, but five minutes into my ride my hands were numb … and I was wearing gloves. Fortunately, it was a short ride.

The upside to arriving at the Icefields Discovery Centre at such an early hour was that it was closed. No, I’m not being facetious. The main doors were open but all the shops and touristy stuff was closed. I deemed this to be a good thing as I could stay warm, get some photos, and check out the area without the throngs of tourists that would soon be arriving. Until then, I figured it would be a good time to get some work done.

And so, there I sat. On the floor of the Icefields Discovery Centre. Charging up my devices and typing blog updates. Of course, there still seems to be a dearth of free WiFi here so the backlog of updates continues to grow. Actually, upon further review it appears that there IS free WiFi at the Centre. Sadly, it was being unusably slow. The backlog remains.

As the crowds of people started filing in, it became obvious that my current location on the floor was not going to be suitable for long. A staff member suggested I try the lobby of the hotel (which was literally on the other side of the wall on which I was currently leaning).

I moved my bike around the corner and sat down in what were very comfortable chairs. Seriously, they were crazy comfortable – and not just because I had spent the past hour sitting on the floor. Anyway, there I stayed for another hour. During that time I saw several people check out of their hotel room – not normally a noteworthy activity but many of them were the Backroads tourists I encountered yesterday. No cold camping for them!

Having completed about as much as I could on the computer, I reluctantly moved upstairs to the restaurant area. I really didn’t want to eat there because of the ridiculous pricing but, with my food supply running low, the thought of being famished on the road didn’t seem appealing either.

By 11:10 I was reasonably nourished and on my way to Jasper. By 11:15 I had stopped again when I noticed a potentially good spot to try another drive-by photo. A shot that was reasonably successful after the second try. As I turned around to retrieve the camera I saw two cyclists approaching. It was Emily and Ian again.

We ended up talking at the side of the road for at least 30 minutes. Probably not an ideal location but it obviously didn’t occur to either of us to move elsewhere. I think we all just happy to be stopped and not pedalling into the harsh headwind that welcomed our day. It was a very enjoyable chat that extended long enough to watch a hitchhiker walk past us and eventually get picked up. However, eventually we realized it was time to move on. Jasper was calling me. A glacial hike was calling them. It’s doubtful our paths will cross again but I’m glad to have met them.

I found the next several kilometres to be absolutely stunning. Yes, I realize that might be a bit redundant but it really was stunning. Truly stunning. Some of that got lost a little while later as I found myself at the bottom of another rather sizeable climb. Nothing like yesterday though.

As I neared the top of the climb I could see the latest tourist attraction which I had briefly read about back at the Discovery Centre. The Glacier Skywalk. Simply put, it’s a observation platform that hangs out from the mountain. While I’m sure the views would be great I wasn’t convinced they were $29.95 great. I opted to get as close as I could and take a photo from there. “As close as I could” ended up being right at the entrance to the attraction. As I stood there taking photos, one guy said to the girl manning the entrance, “Cyclists get in free, right?” Much to my surprise she said, “Yes!”. Apparently, if you make it up the hill on a bike then you get in free. Who knew!?

I had to leave my bike behind but I walked my way through the crowds to the observation platform suspended over the valley. It was definitely a very touristy attraction but the views were pretty spectacular. And it was there that I once again met the guy who got me in here a few minutes earlier. His name was Scott and he was visiting from Oakland with his wife Kirsten (and the rest of their family). We talked about our trips and my upcoming destinations and he even offered me a place to stay if I end up in the Bay Area. I really hope I’ll get to take him up on the offer.

After taking more than a few photos from the observation platform and the surrounding area it was time to move on. This time, moving on was much more exciting as I had a very long and steep descent to enjoy. And enjoy it I did.

From there the road levelled off and I was able to continue at a reasonably easy pace. This continued until I reached Sunwapta Falls – which was also home to the last remaining store/restaurant before Jasper. And so, for the second time today I found myself in a restaurant paying far too much for a chicken sandwich and fries. Although, the second sandwich was significantly better.

With my nourishment task complete, I was ready to hit the road for the final time today. But it was not without incident. The not-at-all-charming cracks in the shoulder made another appearance and this time there was a casualty. Well, maybe not a casualty but definitely damage. I’m not sure if it was 85th or 86th brain jarring crack but one of them sent my Klean Kanteen flying off my bike and crashing (and bouncing) onto the road behind me. Side note: the reaction time of a passing driver was impressively fast as the bottle was still in the air when they honked to let me know something had fallen off my bike.

I stopped my bike and went back to retrieve the bottle, even though I suspected the impact likely resulted in the bottle’s demise. Turns out Klean Kanteen bottles are very durable. The plastic lid/spout? Not as durable. The good news is that even with the broken spout I can still use the bottle – I just have to store it vertically. I have to admit that I have a bit of a sentimental attachment to this particular bottle as I’ve taken it with me on all my adventure travels. And so, even damaged we’re still together.

While the original plan for the day was to get to Jasper, I ended up stopping at Mount Kerkeslin Campground which is about 25 km short of Jasper. Yes, I could’ve kept going. However, it’s not like I had a hotel room on hold for me. And while there are two campgrounds just outside Jasper, they are twice as expensive and the bottom line is, I didn’t need to be in Jasper tonight. That said, had there not been a site available I would’ve continued on to Jasper.

Much to my surprise, it almost came to that. Like several of the campgrounds in the park, Mount Kerkeslin is a first-come, first-serve campground. This hasn’t been a problem so far; however, it would seem that Thursdays before a long weekend create a bit of a spike in demand.

Under normal circumstances, my 5:30 arrival at the campground would likely have been fine. And I initially thought it was. I went so far as to start setting up my tent before I realized (or it was pointed out) that someone had already claimed the site that I was attempting to claim. From there I did a full loop around the grounds only to find every site occupied. It looked like I was heading to Jasper after all.

As I made my way towards the exit I heard a woman call over to me, “Are you just looking to stay for one night?” I turned and answered in the affirmative. That’s when I got the best news of the day. She had paid for an extra site for her son for the weekend but with his arrival not scheduled until tomorrow she said I could use the spot. With that, I officially had a home for the night.

Despite getting up at 6:00 and arriving at the campground 11 hours later, I was riding for less than 3.5 hours on the day. That said, it was a very enjoyable day which just happened to include a whole lot procrastination!

Today’s totals:
Distance travelled: 76.31 km
Ride time: 3:21:07
Average speed: 22.76 km/h
Maximum speed: 60.84 km/h