Riding the Spine: Day 13 - Columbia Ice Fields to Lake Louise - And Then We Pedalled...... Cross Canada 2015

June 15, 2015

Riding the Spine: Day 13 - Columbia Ice Fields to Lake Louise

Sometimes the most amazing things are the ones that fall under the radar and go unnoticed. Today was one of those days for me.

When we woke up this morning the icefields were in their full glory. It was cold, but the skies were clear and there was a nice breeze from the north. As you'll see from the pictures that follow, the mountains and ice were spectacular. The grandeur of the mountains and the power of ice to scuplt the rock just jumps right out at you.

You can't miss it.

However, at the bottom of the south end of Sunwpta pass, where the headwaters of the North Saskatchewan river are just starting to form, one of the coolest things in the Rockies goes unnoticed by the vast majority of the folks who go whizzing by in their cars (and even on bike). To be fair, folks are barreling along downhill and focused on the road ahead (I hope), but just off to the side of the road, the still small North Saskatchewan river virtualy disappears into a small cavern and immediately drops complety out of sight for a couple of kilometers, only to reapear in the valley below like nothing has happened.

My words really don't do justice to the reality, and I'm not sure that the pictures will capture it either, but next time you are riding (or driving) this route, take the time to stop and check this out. At the very least it's a break from looking at yet another spectacular mountain or glacier.

To say the least, this was another great day of riding. The nastiness of the last 10 km's of yesterday were washed away in the clear cold air and helped by a decent tailwind.

We made good time to Saskatchewan RIver Crossing, were held hostage buying cold drinks (coughed up the $4/bottle ransom for a V8) and then started the haul up to Bow Summitt. This is the 5th time I've riden this route, I've driven it more times than I can remember, and it's spectacular every time.

Luckily the conditions today were ideal. Cool enough to be lightly sweating, just enough tailwind to give us a little push, and since it was Monday (have I mentioned that I like this retirement gig?) the traffic was light.

When we crested Bow Summit, which will be the high point of our trip (altitude wise) at 2105 m by my Garmin, Kirsten pulled out a COLD beer (Twisted Trail from the Valemount Brewery) that she'd been carrying since Blue RIver! Way to go girl! We shared this beer and then set off on the last 40 km of the day, DOWNHILL into Lake Louise.

We must have done something right in a previous life because once we got past Bow Lake there were signs saying we could expect traffic delays due to construction for the next 30 km. Well the construction was repaving the road, and it was virtually complete. There were no delays, for bikes, and we had 30 km of new smooth pavement, downhill, to Lake Louise.

I really do love the Bow Valley, from the headwater of the Bow where we were, all the way through to Calgary, it's spectacular. Getting what we got today was really icing on the proverbial cake.

Pulled into LL, set up camp at the Parks Canada campsite (almost empty on a Monday), showered and then set off to the OutPost for supper. Bonus, last 10 minutes of game 6 of the Stanley Cup Playoffs was on and we saw Chicago win their third cup in the last few years.

There was another cyclist couple in the campsite, Linsday from Toronto who's doing the cross Canada thing too, and her partner James, who's only doing the mountains for two weeks. Lindsay makes it 9 other cross canada cyclists we've met.

It's Canmore tomorrow with another of our favourite rides, the 1A and Legacy trail.

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Song of the Day:

Bohemian Like You by The Dandy Warhols ..... this is one of my favourite songs and it came on just as we were riding alongside Waterfowl Lake with the snow and ice covered peaks of the Great Divide reflecting in the water ..... what could be better

Honerable mention to Alberta by Eric Clapton (on his unplugged album) this was playing as we crested Bow Summit and were looking down into the glorious Bow Valley, our home, and it made me really appreciate how fortunate we are to live here.

Historic Monument of the Day :

Cairns at Sunwapta Pass demarcating the boundary between two great national parks, Jasper and Banff, and also highlighting the quite rare geographical circumstances of the ice fields. Mount Snow Dome, the northern peak bordering the Athabasca glacier is actually a triple continental divide, with waters flowing west to the Pacific (via the Columbia river), east to Hudson Bay / Atlantic ( through the Saskatchewan river) and north to the Artctic ocean (through the Athabasca / Peace / McKenzie rivers)

The North Saskatchewan river doing it's disappearing act

35 km latter that small stream has grown into this at Saskatchewan River Crossing

This is what most people come to the Icefeilds for though. A cold crisp morning, perfect for cycling. Looking across to the Athabasca glacier flowing off the Colombia Icefield. Flanked by Mount Athabasca and Mount Snow Dome

On the road heading south. Love Monday traffic

.... leaving Jasper. Sunwapta pass is not actually the high point of the trip. That comes 90 km later at Bow Summit which is a few meters higher in elevation

South face of Mount Athabasca after starting our decent down Sunwapta Pass

Nearing the end of the main descent of Sunwapta Pass

This should be and add for Ortleib! Looking back up the still small North Sask River. A few meters further along the river does it's disappearing act.

Riding down towards Saskatchewan River Crossing

Crossing the North Saskatchewan - heading south to Lake Louise

Starting another climb ... This time to Bow Summit, the high point of the trip

The peaks of the Wapta Icefield starting to come into view. Alberta on this side, BC on the other. we've been riding along the continental divide all day, and will until the end of the day at Lake Louise

The view across Waterfowl Lake to the peaks of the Wapta Icefield. This is what we were cycling along during 'Song of the Day'

Just about at Bow Summit - Downhill to home, and then the Atlantic a few months later, from here

High point celebration! It's not champagne, but it was cold and good

Bow Lake and Bow Glacier. Headwaters for, you guessed it, the Bow RIver, that flows through our home towns of Canmore and Calgary

Crowfoot Glacier and the south end of Bow Lake

30 km of brand new pavement downhill to Lake Louise!

Mount Temple coming into view. We're getting close to Lake Louise and 130 km of spectacular riding!

Today's ride: 131 km (81 miles)
Total: 1,243 km (772 miles)

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Jacquie GaudetAfter I finished 9½ weeks, I started reading this on cgoab. Nice to see this morning that it's been transferred.

When I cycled the Icefields Parkway in 2018, I spent quite a while where the North Saskatchewan River disappears. I would never have noticed from a car!
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