Sufferfest Day 2 - HI Beauty Creek to HI Rampart Creek

 August 5, 2020

Many adventures to start the day: Waking up around 6:15am, it was chilly. I slept great once I finally got to sleep. The last two hostel guests had arrived late, after we had gone to bed, and I could hear them walking around, talking, and eating something in a crinkly bag in their room, as all of the rooms were divided only by thin sheets drawn across the doorways.

When we got up, Marieka's foot was hurting again. I think she's been pushing a bit too hard with the addition of the hiking we've been doing. She didn't say how bad it hurt, or limits on this, only that it hurt to walk and she's take an Advil. I pretty much decided then and there that climbing wasn't happening today. (Adventure #1)

We got into the kitchen and I started booiling water for tea and frying up falafels for lunch, setting off the smoke alarm (again). I pushed the button to silence/hush the alarm, then threw open all the windows 2 minutes later when it said "Hush off; Carbon Monoxide detected" and began going off again. (Adventure #2)

I tried to open the kitchen door, but the knob no longer worked. No matter how much or which direction I turned, it did not move the latching mechanism, effectively locking Marieka and I in the kitchen/dining area. I pulled the screen out of the nearest window, hopped out, and tried the door from the outside to the same effect. Crawling back in, I replaced the screen (to keep the bugs out), and switched to using the window into the screened in porch before we sat down to eat breakfast, letting others know how to get in and out through this window. (Adventure #3).

Emma, our host, simply removed the door handle after I let her know, proclaiming that it was not needed.

With a full quota of adventures already had, we packed up, I brought the gear and bikes up to the parking area, and we were off, on the road before 9am!

 

All ready to go from the Beauty Creek Hostel.

We started off at a good clip, with a chill still in the air. I wondered how deeply I had buried my full fingered gloves in my trailer bag, but decided to tough it out, despite chilled hands and the rest. When we hit the sun, it was glorious and took the edge off, but as we were heading back into shadows, Marieka pulled on some warmer gloves. I expected we'd get a nice pullout before the climbing started, so Marieka could stretch after warming up, but it was not to be, as we began slowly to ascend. Going up to the Brewster Skywalk, we pulled into every viewpoint and rest area. At the Stufield Glacier viewpoint we gazed across the valley and Marieka was finally able to do her stretches. At the highway service yard access, we rested. At Tangle Falls we grabbed a snack, and we even pulled into the paved loop for the Skywalk!

Chilly even in the sun, very chilly in the shadows.

First break at the Stufield Glacier lookout

Stufield Glacier Lookout - as you can see, it's warming up.

Corvidae and glacier

Corvidae

Tangle Falls

Break at the entrance to the Brewster Skywalk

 

Descending from the Skywalk, Marieka heard a new sound from her bike and slowed down to 14km/h. I was feeling pretty frustrated, as I had no idea why she was going so slow. At the bottomw, she pulled over and we explored what was going on. The only thing that was loose was the cap on her fork tube, so we tightened this and a couple of other things for good measure and I noted that the main thing I thought the sound could be from was her front fender. At this point, a strong headwind had kicked up. We went along the flats and began the climb up to the Icefields Centre. We had a stop at a good viewpoint, then grabbed lunch in the Icefields Centre parking lot, interestingly around lunch time!

Break on the way to the Icefields Centre

Heading to the Icefields Centre.

Lunch at the Icefields Centre

 

I had thought we had a lot more climbing, but the road was pretty gentle again, all the way down to Parker Ridge. We pulled in at the parking lot/trailhead and agreed that I would head down the hill to the "Big Bend" first, as I will be going faster.

Parker Ridge trailhead; Marieka checking the map.

Marieka coming down from Parker Ridge and into the Big Bend

 

Heading down from Parker Ridge, I knew it would be fun and challenging, especially when I saw the "3.5km 8% grade" sign. By halfway, my fingers on the brakes were going numb, but I had a lot of fun riding down. Waiting for Marieka at the bottom, I saw a bike coming down and wondered if it was Marieka, then saw the trailer it was pulling, and met Patrick from Calgary, who we had previously seen at the Tangle Falls pullout. I knew it was early, but began to worry, as the shoulder had been narrow and I knew that Marieka's hands fall asleep while riding all the time. We saw her coming down the last stretch, then all chatted for a while before heading down, following the course of the North Saskatchewan River, eventually arriving at the Rampart Creek Hostel in time to head down to the river for a cleaning before checking in at 5.

Patrick riding by with his upgraded TW Bent trailer

Coleman Creek Picnic site

Foxtail at Coleman Creek Picnic site

Looking down the North Saskatchewan River from Coleman Creek Picnic site.

Coleman Creek Picnic site

Testing the North Saskatchewan waters at Coleman Creek Picnic site

River bathing in the North Saskatchewan at the Rampart Creek campsite.

 

At the hostel, we checked out the climbing area (too steep for me), the sauna (closed), the bathing area on the creek, and I did the scramble up to the bluff overlooking the hostel. We also saw the signs about the prototype in-river electricity-generating turbine - apparently the first of its kind in Canada!

Hostel from the scramble/above.

At the hostel, wee furry beasties abound outside!

Rampart Creek

 

Now, Marieka is cooking dinner and then I'll make dessert ("Hot Apple Cobbler" - freeze dried) and we'll hopefully get to an early bed after putting breakfast on to soak (and more falafels for lunch!)