Today was a very short day in terms of mileage but there
were lots of good stops that were too good to pass up. After an oatmeal and
pancake breakfast I prepared sandwich lunch and was ready to set out. Just as
we were leaving, one of the group members had a flat and all stayed back to
help her. We ended up leaving the camp at around 8.40 am.
Instead of taking the main highway we took the 1A as it was
much more scenic with less traffic in the morning. Not many tourists were out
and we didn’t notice any cars for around 10 km. At km 23, we saw a herd of
elk’s grazing near the railway tracks and we went almost 50ft from them and had
a good view for around 15 minutes. By that time the car traffic was catching up
and we had about 10 cars stopping to get a view of the Elk. We rode on and continued
to go to go the Johnston Canyon to see some waterfalls. After about an hour of
cycling, we got there it was touristy with lots people going up and down trail.
We went only to the lower falls as many were in cycling shoes and walking isn’t
comfortable especially on wet ground near waterfalls. We had a bit of lunch and
coffee at the restaurant in the canyon and head off as a group (Keith, Ron,
Michael, Robert, Jayne, Kate and I)
After a bit of cycling in bear and werewolves warning
signals, we spotted an elk grazing on the side of the road. It was only 20 feet
far and we didn’t want to scare him so we stayed far and took our pictures. I
had seen one earlier in the morning and wanted to move on, and I did just same.
In less than 20 seconds another one, probably elk’s buddy, came up from the
bush and stood less than 5ft away from way looking to me as “what you looking
at”. It was close call as it could have taken me down but all was good and I moved
on and soon enough rest of the riders joined as well.
We rode next to a Trans Canada on a trail and got in to
Banff, AB, the wonderful ski town of the Canadian west. We rode in to camp, set
up our tents, had showers (free and clean… a rarity in government campgrounds)
and wrapped dinner. A group of us took the bus service (2.50$) and went to
downtown to get a feel of the town. Things are a bit overpriced here but the
town is surrounded by wonderful peaks and lots of activities to do all year
round. It’s a town that I would definitely like to come back to.
We took the bus back to camp and called it a night.
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| The herd we saw about 20 km in the day |
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| Today's route, 1A, was a very scenic one |
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| One of the lookouts on 1A |
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| The 1st Elk, 20 ft away. the antlers were HUGE |
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| After a good ride, i think any of our riders can probably eat that burger |
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