September 9, 2019
Mosquito Creek, AB –> Vermillion Crossing, BC

Distance: 98.9km (was supposed to be 72km)
Ave: 21.6km/h (despite climbing up Vermillion pass!)
Max: 55.8km/h

Slow start today – slept through my alarm, dawdled at breakfast chatting to more Germans (another donation coffee!), and only hit the road at 10:30. Whoops!

It’d be mostly downhill today and only 72km, so it’ll be fine, I figured. I stopped in Lake Louise, picked up a map, uploaded some blog posts, and ate a delicious lunch.

Somehow it was getting near 4pm, and I’d still only done 40km of downhill.

I took the Bow River Parkway, which was an instant trip down memory lane – the chunk between Lake Louise and Castle Junction was one of the few segments of this trip that I also cycled in 2016. I did not stop much, including when I should have to turn west into the 93 – caught that one quickly with minimal backtracking required.

Despite steady pedaling and net downhill, it was well after 5 when I started the climb up to Vermillion pass. I realized that if I kept going, I would gain an hour back when I crossed into BC. Cheered by this despite knowing it would have little impact on the remaining daylight hours, I plodded up the pass at 8km/h.

I made it – downhill from here to the Pacific! (Lies!)

I went flying down the other side into Kootenay National park. A flashing sign warned me that I was going too fast – breaking the speed limit in a construction zone (despite braking, I was going closer to 40km/h than the posted 30km/h). Unfortunately, that construction zone turned out to be my intended campsite (Marble Canyon). Uncertain of my destination, I continued.

I pulled over at Nurma Falls day use site, scoping out options. I looked at the map and my offline maps. There weren’t any great sites coming up – the next campsite on my paper map was not listed or findable on my other maps, and it would be farther than I had day left to ride there. In the end I headed for Vermillion Crossing, where there is a lodge. Maybe I could camp on the lawn.

The extra kms would require music. I cued up a random playlist and U2 started singing “I still haven’t found what I’m looking for” in my ear. Could not have been more apt. I made the extra kms at record speed as it was beginning to darken and rain began to spit down again. I was looking at the Lodge when I glanced across the road, and what to my wandering eye should appear, but a covered picnic area with amenities near!

So there I am! If you’re reading this, it means I survived the glacial splash bath in front of traffic, my first homemade rehydrated curry, and the smell of my dirty laundry airing. And also wild animals did not eat me or my dubious cache.

Alice