Tuesday, August 4, 2020
The day started off nice and cool, and it had been cool overnight, so I slept great. I fried up the last of our fresh eggs for breakfast (all overnight oats until our breakfast in Banff), packed up, and we were on the road by 9:30am. We retraced our ride from yesterday past Kerkeslin and along the rolling terrain, gradually gaining elevation.
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Our cabin at Athabasca Falls hostel, almost ready to go.
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On the road again, heading further into the Rockies.
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On some of our training rides, Marieka has found that she needed to stretch after warming up. Today, she started out fast, but after warming up slowed considerably. It turns out that she needed to stretch again today, so we took a longer break at a pullout for this. After this we were off to Sunwapta Falls, arriving slightly before noon. We walked around, Marieka filled her water bottle at the lodge, and off we went at a faster pace.
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On the way to Sunwapta Falls
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Parked to go see Sunwapta Falls
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Sunwapta Falls
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Portraits of historical indigenous chiefs at Sunwapta Falls Resort
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Along the way we saw our first sights of other touring cyclists, eventually catching up with them at the Sunwapta Ranger Station at Pobokton Creek.
The day heated up and I added some hydration salts to a water bottle and drank this with lunch, comprised of 4 falafels, 2 "thin buns", a fruit bar, and a Lara bar.
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Lunch at the Sunwapta Ranger station
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Creek behind the Sunwapta Ranger Station
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Sunwapta Ranger Station - the grass here had all kinds of burrows for wee furry beasties.
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Sunwapta Ranger Station
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Sunwapta Ranger Station
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The sights of the mountains were breath taking and we stopped at a pullout with signs identifying the Endless Chain, Mushroom Peak (looking nothing like a mushroom) and Tangle Ridge, all over the Sunwapta River. I thought we might be close to the Beauty Creek Hostel, but was still surprised when we arrived a few minutes later.
A few minutes after we arrived, the manager did as well and we were able to check in early and have out choice of rooms. I, of course, chose the one with the best air flow.
We grabbed a snack, unpacked, and watched a couple more pairs of cycle tourings come in, all heading North.
Grabbing our climbing gear, we rode a short distance to the Beauty Creek trailhead to hike it and try to find the climbing area.
Hiking up, along the canyon, filled with waterfalls and pools, following the rough directions, we were unable to find the rough trail to the climbing area, thought we could see some limestone cliffs in the distance through the forest. As I was getting hungry for dinner, and the climbing area had only 1-2 routes for us to climb, I suggested that we dunk our heads in Beauty Creek and head back to the hostel for dinner.
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Leaving the Bikes on the Beauty Creek hiking trail.
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The remains of the old road bridge over Beauty Creek.
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Looking up Beauty Creek from the remains of the old bridge.
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Part of the canyon
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Shadow portrait; also, one of the waterfalls on the Beauty Creek trail.
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Natural rock gate
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Waterfall
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Above a waterfall.
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Snacking after dunking hair in Beauty Creek
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I'm now writing this by fading light while winding down to go to sleep.
Tomorrow will be a big day: climbing to the Icefields Centre, doing some rock climbing at Parker Ridge, then descending and going through the Big Bend to get to Rampart Creek Hostel.
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