First Miles

The days before flying out for my trip were a bit stressful. It’s easy to overthink everything when preparing for a big trip. Did I pack the right stuff? Do I have all that I need? What if this happens or this? I was ready to be on the road riding because that’s when life truly becomes simple and all worries drift away.

After accepting I was ready as I’ll ever be, I disassembled my bike and packed it in a bike box. It was my first time doing it so it was a learning experience. In the end, it was pretty simple and everything fit in the box perfectly. I had all my gear loaded into my backpack and saddlebag which were my carry ons and the bike was the only checked baggage for just $30. I’m pretty happy with how easy it was to fly with all my stuff. Flying with the bike was still a bit anxiety inducing because I had to put trust into the airport employees handling the box with care. In the end the bike was in the same shape I left it in.

I first flew to Dallas and spend the day there with some of my good friends from college and some friends I made playing games online. The next day I flew to Calgary and landed late so I slept at a hotel in the airport to shuttle to Canmore in the morning. I was eager to open my bike box and inspect it but had to wait another day. The shuttle to Canmore was beautiful and my first introduction to the Canadian Rockies. After arriving in Canmore I checked into my hotel and got the bike reassembled. Thankfully everything was unharmed and working. A huge load of stress off my back. I then road around town and took care of some groceries and other errands.

After a good nights rest, I started day 1 of riding. I left Canmore and headed up the pass to connect to the Great Divide Mountain Bike Route. Having not cycled much since my last tour, it was a long and slow climb. I was fueled by all the love and support I received after announcing to all my friends about my plans to bike to South America.

My first animal siting!! A young goat walking down the road with a mother goat. Photographing animals is a huge passion of mine and you will all soon see as I share lots of my photos of wildlife. I photograph all animals I see, big or small, insect or mammal. All animals deserve the spotlight sometime and I hope my photos of some under appreciated animals help bring some more appreciation to them.

Further up the road I was treated to a full pack of them. There must have been at least 9 but that all ran down the hill before I could photograph them all.

Finally made it up the pass! The first climb of the trip done and my confidence was rising already.

My first miles on the GDMBR. I immediately knew I was in for a treat. Some beautiful remote off roads through some magnificent landscape.

After some nice riding on the route I arrived at Spray Lakes and noticed to other cyclists talking to the camp host. I went up to them and started talking to them and they were camping here and offered to let me share a site. Even though I had only ridden 12 miles I was more than happy to stop and share a site given they were CAD$31 each.

After talking with them for a bit I learned they are Jill and Gordon from New Zealand. Having spent 6 months studying abroad in New Zealand I was immediately fond of the two. They had started riding in Vancouver and are riding the GDMBR to Mexico and then riding to San Diego and down the Baja Peninsula. They have a blog of their journey as well which can be viewed here: www.thegreatride.webador.com. I would end up camping with these two for the next 4 nights as they would become my trail parents.

The mountains around had some really neat patterns in the rock. The Canadian Rockies went through an extra ice age compared to the American Rockies and the evidence is clear in the erosion on the mountains.

The next day was the most beautiful riding I’ve done yet. The Canadian Rockies truly blew me away.

Views like this all day. Every peak was unique and extravagant.

My dinner for over a week straight was a couscous and red lentil burrito. This one was extra special because Jill had some spare spinach I added. I love cooking while camping and finding good and cheap recipes. I plan to make a blog post dedicated to recipes and look forward to trying different ones and experimenting.

Campsite #2 with my Kiwi trail parents. I love these very tall and skinny trees. You can see my hammock was setup which is were I spent all my free time hanging and reading. I was quickly readjusting to bike tour life and loving it.

First region crossing done! After a tough climb up Elk Valley Pass, I was welcomed into British Colombia. The pass invoked me pushing my bike for nearly an hour but I would soon be rewarded…

The reward was a wonderful decent with an incredible mountain range in the backdrop. The telephone pole was an eyesore, but if it were not for the telephone pole, this road wouldn’t be here.

It had rained the night before so my fly was on the bike drying. It was hard to not keep stopping and taking photos on this decent. It was one of the funny occurrences were I stop and take a photo, only to keep riding and for the view to get even better and of course needing to stop and take another photo. Of all problems to have, I was okay with this one.

Jill and Gordon enjoying the nice decent as-well.

This photo really captures the beauty of the mountain. The lines in the rock are really incredible.

While at the campground at the end of day two, a pack of horses strolled into the campground. Of course I grabbed some tall grass and fed one of them. The campground turned out to be quite a little party also. There was Jill and Gordon, Tommy and Michelle who were two French Canadians cyclists who had been riding at the same pace and would be camping with us for a few days, and then two thru hiker sisters Laura and Lees. We all ate dinner around the picnic table and shared stories until the mosquitos forced us all to our tents.

A strange insect hanging out on my bag. He didn’t move for a few hours but fell off sometime shortly after I started riding.

Chipmunks and squirrels are some of my favorite little critters. This guy was near my campsite in Elkford. I had a nice big pizza dinner with 6 other cyclists including Jill and Gordon, Michelle and Tommy, and then two new friends we made at the campground. A Dutch fellow named Cor and his American girlfriend whose name I can’t remember. They had recently been living in Uganda for a few years were Cor owned a bike shop.

With Elkford being the first town for 4 days I decided to take a day off. I was also feeling extremely weak and sick so I decided to buy a motel room. I was a bit sad because it would be expensive but it was the right move. I spent the whole day laying in bed resting and woke up the next day feeling much much better.

The next day I experienced my first single track of the route. The GDMBR has lots of single track in it. It’s definitely a lot different riding these trails with a fully loaded rigid bike. But when they are smooth and float they are hard to beat.

Back to some gravel roads which I prefer. As I was moving further south I could see a change in the mountains. They were starting to get a bit less rocky and jagged. Watching the landscape change as you cycle is another favorite thing. There isn’t really one spot where the landscape changes as it does it gradually, but you notice all the differences as you ride.

Nothing like some free snacks on the ride! Riding through some single track towards Sparwood there were loads of Thimbleberries (thank you Barbara Frohne for the correct identification!).

Some more nice peaks on the ride towards Fernie.

I had decided to take a detour towards Cranbrook on the Trans Canadian Trail. I realized I was really close to the American border but wasn’t quite ready to leave Canada yet. I had a friend who I could stay with in Cranbrook so it seemed like a good idea. I sadly had to part ways with my Kiwi friends but I hoped I would run into them again.

While at a gas station right before the lake turnoff, a construction working overseeing some road construction sparked up a conversation with me about my bicycle. After answering some questions I started asking about him and I found out he is an ex pro cyclists and Canadian National downhill skier! He has raced with the likes of Louis Armstrong even. The people I meet on this trip is another one of my favorite things.

Some turtles hanging out on a tree at Tie Lake. There were about 10 more turtles on the log but they sadly caught me trying to sneak up for a photo and jumped off.

This good boy is Ash. I met his owner, Brad when I was looking for a campsite. Brad offered me up his prime spot because he was moving over to a larger one for his group. I offered to help him move as I had nothing else to do. After helping and talking to Brad for a bit, he invited me to come to his site later for some beer and BBQ. His girlfriend and other friends were joining also. The food was spectacular as it was prepared his friend who is a chef in Fernie. He had some brisket he had been smoking all day so we had brisket sandwiches. He also made a homemade berry pie with fresh berries picked from his garden. An absolute treat.

I thoroughly enjoy a dog who plays in the water. It reminds me of my dog, Molly.

I don’t really get the chance to do laundry often. But a quick rinse and scrub in a lake or river tends to do the trick.

A nice sunset at camp.

I also really love sunsets, but who doesn’t?

A tree taking back what is theirs.

After leaving Cranbrook I had a pretty rough and bumpy ride back. I made a second push after a nap in my hammock that proved to be a mental challenge. It was hot and dusty on the road which only made me want to stop. A few miles before my planned campground I came across another campground that wasn’t on my map. It turned out to be an amazing campground where I met some incredible people and also a lot of bunnies! There were some hopping around the campground and also some in a big cage.

This young fluffy boy was my favorite.

Shortly after arriving at the campground I met some French Canadians who worked at the campground last spring and were back visiting. Rose and Maryanne are pictured here and Rose’s boyfriend, Will was also part of the group. Rose and Will had been on a 7 month road trip to the west coast and were headed back home to Montreal. Their friend Maryanne was living in her van and was roaming around traveling.

After talking to them they said they were going out on a boat to surf and invited me along as well. What an incredible opportunity after a very hard day riding. The owner of the boat turned out to be one of the family members who ran the campground, Danno. A few others joined us on the boat who were all helping out the campground also.

Rose was still learning to surf and in the process invented her own method which was dubbed “mole surfing”.

The sunset from the boat was beautiful. I had lost my tool bag on the ride which contained a lot of necessary tools and spare parts. Those troubles were far from my mind, now.

Rose and Will. I consider myself blessed to have ran into such a kind and welcoming group.

Last to ride was the man Danno himself! He was an absolute ripper on the surfboard, one of the best I’ve seen. He told me he learned to surf in Australia and has surfed all over the world. He even spent some time in Nicaragua in the same town I was in for a few weeks back in December ‘21.

My last day in Canada. I would ride to Rooseville and cross the border back into the States. It was exciting because it was the first of many border crossing. I was also happy because Canada was a little bit pricey and things in America would be cheaper.

I really have my mind focused on Mexico, though. Having already ridden through the states two years ago, I was ready for a new country and a new challenge. I decided to ride through the states again to test out my setup and make some changes before I cross into Latin America. I already have a few ideas of changes I’ll be making. I’m aiming to get to San Diego around mid October but things may change.

If you made it this far, thank you very much for reading. I hope you enjoyed my photos as much as I enjoyed taking and sharing them. This is all a new experience for me to write my travels so I’m learning as I go. Comments and feedback are more than welcome.

I’m working on getting better with taking photos as there are definitely lots of things I regret not taking photos of to share. I really want to highlight the people I meet along the way better. Everyone has their own story and I love to hear about them and share them.