In Radium: the ride to the north

July 20, 2023

I’ve mapped out three rides for our stay here in Radium, with the thought that I’ll ride them all and Rachael will likely swap out one or two for a hike. All three are technically similar - 40+ mile out and backs with a modest amount of climbing. The weather looks similar for all three days too - fairly cool first thing in the morning, and heating up to around 90 by midafternoon. Naturally the plan for all of them is to get an early start and be off the road by early afternoon.

For today we’ve picked the one that looks the most attractive of the three: along the western end of Highway 95, the road between Radium and Banff through the heart of Kootenay National Park. A short drive is involved to avoid the climb over Sinclair Pass, a 2,000’ climb in eight miles that’s well outside what the doctor ordered. Instead of starting from home, we’ll fly the Raven over the pass and drop down the other side to a day use area on the Kootenay River and start biking from there.

That’s the plan anyway. We’re up early and Rachael is scrambling eggs on the hot plate by 7, and we’re starting up the pass at 8:30. We don’t get far though. We need passes to visit the national park, but when we come to the station at the park entrance it’s dark. We’ll find out later that they open at nine, but their hours aren’t posted so we don’t know we could have marked time for fifteen or twenty minutes so we change our plans for the day. We’ll save this ride for tomorrow, and swing bu the visitor center this afternoon to pick up park passes.

So, Plan B. We drop back down to town and then drive north on Highway 93, the road north to Golden. We drive about ten miles, far enough to get past the developments near town, park the car, and start biking north.

Conditions are fine as we start biking north. Even with our false start we’re still out early enough that it’s comfortably cool for the time being.

We enjoy a fine ride. It’s very scenic, as we follow the infant Columbia River north with mountains rising on either side. Traffic is lighter than I feared it might be here, though it does pick up toward the end of the ride. Rachael, as usual, leaves me far behind early in the ride, keeps a fast pace and covers much more distance than I do, and by the time we’re done is complaining about how tired she is. Huh.

In writing this post I did a modest amount of research about the country and learned something new. Probably many or most of you know this already, but just in case let me briefly introduce you to the Rocky Mountain Trench. I’ve been aware of this massive geological feature for a long time but somehow hve never heard its name before that I can recall.

The Rocky Mountain Trench is the thousand mile long valley that runs up the western margin of the northern Rocky Mountains, all the way from roughly Flathead Lake in the south to nearly the Yukon border in the north. It’s a fairly narrow valley, varying between around two and ten miles for most of its length, and hemmed in by mountains and impressive peaks on both sides. It’s also known as the Valley of the Thousand Peaks.

The valley itself is filled with long lakes, the wetlands of he headwaters of major rivers (the Columbia, Fraser, Kootenay and Peace), and a string of historical and resort towns and communities. Rachael and I have biked or driven a fair amount of it by now: I rode from Prince George to Tete Jaipur Cache on my way to Calgary a lifetime ago, and Rachael and I together biked from Whitefish to Fernie in 1990, and visited several sections in this stretch between Radium and Cranbrook now and five years ago. So we’re pretty familiar with the Trench, but it’s nice to finally have a name for it.

The stretch we’re riding today follows the Columbia River, a small river still that starts its 1,200 mile long journey to the sea just south of here in the Trench. On the right are the nearest peaks of the Rocky Mountains, and on the other side are the Purcells. Beautiful , dramatic, an outstanding place to spend a day in the saddle.

On the right, the trench is bordered by the western edge of the Canadian Rockies.

Biking north. I think this is the Rockies ahead, but it could be on the other side of the river.

The Columbia Wetlands and Purcell Mountains.

Looking across the Columbia Wetlands to the Purcell Mountains.

A nice view of the wetlands and the Purcells. If I say this three times, maybe I’ll remember what we’re seeing here.

Zooming in on the photo above, we find this impressive structure almost in the dead center. Eagle’s nest?

A western meadowlark. I’d sure like to know what he’s got in his bill, but he seems excited enough about it. He keeps briefly fanning his tail every two or seconds, frustrating me as I try to get a shot of it spread open.

Success, on the eleventh shot. I was about to give up.

I startled these ducklings and their mom, dabbling in the algae just below the road. I almost couldn’t get the camera out in time as they zoomed for the opposite side of the pond. Look at that wake they’re churning up!

Video sound track: John C., by Bud Shank

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Today's ride: 42 miles (68 km)
Total: 878 miles (1,413 km)

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Patrick O'HaraHey Scott, You know more about BC geology than most! Did you come across any information about geologic terranes? These were basically floating 'islands' that through tectonic movement collided with the western part of the continent. Apparently much of BC is made of these colliding land masses. Here's some light reading: https://opentextbc.ca/physicalgeology2ed/chapter/21-4-western-canada-during-the-mesozoic/
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9 months ago

Jacquie GaudetYou rode the first part of the Golden Triangle as Al and I rode it circa 1990. We started and finished in Radium and it’s the only part of our vehicular exploration of southeast BC I remember (the part on bikes!)

It was a memorable trip! It was on the return leg to Radium when we got so scarily separated, as I’ve mentioned somewhere on CB before.
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9 months ago