Canada Road Trip
Back in 2020, I had planned a road trip to Banff in Alberta (AB), Canada. But then Covid happened, and the border was closed for about two years. When I heard the border would be opening back up in April 2022, I knew I had to do my road trip and combine it with some biking.
I registered for the Kootenay Rockies Gran Fondo, figuring I’d do a bike event as I headed towards Banff. It was to be held in Cranbrook, British Columbia (BC), Canada.
I left the Seattle area on Friday, September 9th, and headed to Cranbrook, where I would be staying the night. It was supposed to be an eight-hour drive but ended up being closer to 10 hours due to construction.
As I drove through the panhandle of Idaho, I noticed numerous areas of trees on the mountain on fire and producing a lot of smoke. When I stopped for gas, I was told that Jasper National Park in AB was closed due to their own forest fires.
In spite of the smoke in areas, the scenery in Canada was spectacular!
I got to Cranbrook and checked into my hotel. It was a Days Inn and so much nicer than that chain in the U.S. After I dumped things in my room, I went to dinner at the hotel’s restaurant, which happened to be Indian cuisine. I tried something new, but I don’t recall what it was. I just remember that it was very good! After dinner, I went and picked up my Gran Fondo packet from the event organizer.
The next morning, I drove to the start point of the Gran Fondo and prepared for the ride. It started out chilly but quickly warmed up after the start of the ride. I was doing the Piccolo route of 58km (roughly 34 miles) since I wasn’t sure how hilly it was going to be. This route went from the St. Eugene Golf Resort in Cranbrook to Kimberly and was mostly on the North Star Rails To Trails.
The ride was lovely, and I finished in only a few minutes over two hours!
I was spending another night in Cranbrook, so I drove around and explored the area. It was so pretty there!
The next morning, I got up early and headed to Banff, another three-hour drive to the northeast. More gorgeous scenery was everywhere! I made a lot of stops to take photos along my route. I learned a couple of things, too. First, I found a lake that is the source of the Columbia River, which runs through Washington. The other is that the Canadians have rubbish bins every few miles along the highway so people don’t just throw trash out the window.
Close to Banff, I made a stop at Sun Valley to take the gondola up to the top of some mountain. I had purchased a ticket online and it was the last day the gondola would run until ski season. It was a very long ride to the top and it even made a couple of turns along the way. At the top, I didn’t have hiking boots and wasn’t feeling up to a hike anyway. Instead, I headed back down and got back on the road.
It was my first time in Banff and I admired the bike and walking trails that seemed to be everywhere.
I had checked in online, so I only needed to get my room key and park my car in the garage under the hotel. Since the garage was fairly secure and my bike was double-chained on the rack of my car, I left it there. I took my luggage to my room, then went in search of dinner.
I found a Cajun restaurant a couple of blocks away. Usually I get gumbo, etouffee or shrimp with grits, but I was hungry for catfish and put in an order. I also decided to treat myself to a mixed drink call Toad Water. I finished it before my food came out, so I ordered a second one. Damn, it was good! The catfish was so-so and not nearly as good as my own and I was wishing I had gotten the shrimp with grits instead.
When I got back to my hotel, I found that the staff had left me a bottle of wine with a nice note. I’m not big on red wine, so I stuck it in my luggage to take home.
It was still light out, so I thought I’d drive to Lake Louise and get some photos. I thought that the crowds might lessen towards evening, but I was sadly mistaken. I couldn’t find a parking space and never did get even a glimpse of the lake!
The next morning, I went to the hotel across the street for their breakfast buffet. It wasn’t cheap nor that impressive. I then went for a bike ride out of town, not really sure where I was going, but following the bike lane and later a multi-use trail. I was freezing my ass off, though, because I didn’t bring a base layer for under my bike kit. After finding a lake with a beautiful reflection on it, I turned around and headed back to town. I wanted to warm up and thought to do another ride in the afternoon after it warmed up a bit. The hotel supplied hot chocolate, which was perfect for warming me up!
I took a nap for a couple of hours, then got up for lunch. I found a burger place and got an open roast beef sandwich with gravy and fries. They did it very well!
After lunch, the weather had warmed up to about 70° but it was very smoky making the sky a brownish color. I rode by the Vermilion Lakes on a trail that took me through three gates (that I had to manually open and close). The gates and fences were to keep wildlife off the highway. Eventually the trail took me to the Bow Valley Highway, which only has light traffic. For some reason it seemed to be closed off to car traffic when I approached with my bike. It was lovely riding on the road without the worry of vehicles hitting me! Because there are lots of bears in that area, I sang loudly as I road along!
When I got back to Banff, my nose was starting to get very stuffy from the smoke. I stopped at a pharmacy and got some Sudafed, hoping it would help, then went to dinner.
I found a Korean restaurant inside one of the shopping areas. Since I wasn’t feeling that great from the sinus stuff, I got comfort food in the form of kimchee stew (which I make at home). I figured the spiciness of the stew would help open up my sinuses.
After dinner, I did a little shopping buying myself a sweatshirt and a pullover (or as my daughter-in-law calls them, a jumper). I realized I hadn’t packed any cold weather clothing and needed something to wear as I walked around in the evening chill.
Sometime later, I went to bed but woke up after a couple of hours with a pressure headache so bad I wanted to cry! I didn’t have anything on me for a headache and the Sudafed wasn’t helping at all. It was the middle of the night, so I couldn’t even pop out to a store to get something. I suffered the rest of the night, barely getting any sleep.
I ended up getting up around 5am, loaded up my car and checked out. I remembered I had migraine tablets in my car and popped some to relieve my headache pain. By this point, I was blowing my nose every few minutes and had started to cough really bad.
Originally, I was going to drive to Penticton, BC, and do some riding on the Kettle Valley Rail Trail which has a lot of trestles. After looking at the weather forecast for that area and the way I was feeling, I decided to make the drive home instead.
Because of road closures from fires and others from construction, my route home took around 10 hours. Even so, I was so glad to get home and use the nasal spray I had in the medicine cabinet from the previous head cold in the spring!
