My favorite picture

Spray Lake early in the morning!

Details details

Here are some pictures of how we cook our food, filter our water, and pitch our tent!

The rest of the story..........

We made it home yesterday after a very long day of travel. We got up at 4am to get to the airport. Taking 2 bicycles, trailer and gear through customs went pretty smooth. The flights were all good. And the bikes and gear made it home without being damaged. One of the pictures shows Hap pushing the big boxes through the airport.

I wanted to fill you in on our last few days of riding before we got to Banff. We had a good nights sleep beside a beautiful flowing stream at Weary Creek. It was a cold start to the day though. 40's. This day turned out to be the hardest day of the trip. We had to climb over the Continental Divide at Elk Pass. The weather was sunny and warmed up to the 80's. We started on a gravel road and then turned onto a trail that went up over the pass. There was a small tree over the trail and I decided that my bike could jump it! Well, maybe it could....if it wasn't attached to a trailer. I hit the tree and fell over. I wasn't sure where I was falling so as I was going down I grabbed a bush. Hap had to help me get up, I was trapped under my bike. Just after that happened a group of about 6 cyclists were coming down the trail. They stopped and we chatted for awhile. What a small world. They were all from Missoula and one of them was "Julie" that worked at Adventure Cycling. Adventure Cycling is the group that makes maps for cyclists. We have been a member for almost 20 years. One of the others knew one of Hap's old neighbors who now lives in Missoula. And we thought we were in the middle of nowhere! We climbed to the top of the pass. It was a tough climb. There was a picnic table at the top so we stopped for lunch. Then we headed down what we thought was the right trail. Guess what? Yep! We were on the wrong trail. We rode right into a watery bog. I was first and by the time I realized i was riding in water it was too late. There were logs laying across the trail so not only was i through water, I was trying to bump over the logs. So....you guessed it...I got stalled and couldn't go. I knew I was going over so I jumped off. Now I am standing in calf deep black mucky water. Yuch! Hope I get a shower tonight!

We finally reached a gravel road and started down it but we weren't sure which way to go. We turned around and saw BIKE and an arrow written in the road. We figured the group we saw had marked the route. That helped alot. Now we knew which way to go. We ended up in a parking lot in Peter Lougheed Provincal Park. There were several campgrounds but we weren't sure which one had the showers. We had stayed here on another cycling trip several years ago. We went up the road just a short distance and saw a campground sign and a picture of a shower! Yeah! We were at Bolton Campground. We stopped at the campstore to register and then had a heck of a time trying to find our campsite. We finally found it, set up camp, cooked freeze dried spaghetti and headed to the showers. There was a line to get into the showers and when it was my turn a girl said, that shower (that I was going into) only had cold water. I said "it will be better than the cold stream we have been standing in for our bath! It turned out to be a HOT shower.

The next morning was really chilly. Our campsite was in the shade while we were packing up. It was 11am before we finally left. We rode a paved road out of the park and then turned on a wide gravel road. Then the climbing started again. Everyone had told us it would be all downhill after Elk Pass.....right! We saw a moose on the side of the road. There was more traffic on this road and it was pretty dusty. But the scenery was incredible. I hope the pictures show up ok for you to see. There wasn't a suggested campground so we planned to just pull off the trail to camp. Oh I forgot, we were told that we were in the grizzly bear roaming area and to take extra care. Remember bear spray, 30 feet, then lay down in a little ball! We passed a lodge called Mt Enigedene so we stopped just to see if they had any rooms/cabins. It was a nice place for $350/night! But she said that includes dinner and breakfast...no thanks. We kept going hoping to make it to Canyon Dam.

The route turned onto a very narrow trail next to Spray Lake. It was beautiful. But it was also alittle scary. We did alot of singing, talking and whistling......Yo bear..... The trail was fun, more fun without the gear though. We made it to the dam and found a beautiful spot by the lake. We pitched the tent, cooked dinner, and hung our food and cooking gear very high and very far away from the tent. We took alittle sponge bath. Before we got in the tent Hap decided to get more bear prepared. He got to tools out of the tool bag, our big knife, the bear spray and the binoculars. And then said NOW I'm ready. See the picture above.

I slept really good because I knew that Hap was watching out for the bears. Helicopters were constantly flying up and down the lake. Apparently it was to take people up to a lodge on top of the mt.

The next morning we fixed our usual oatmeal, peanut butter and bread for breakfast. The route was now on a gravel road that was closed to vehicles. Check out the scenery from this ride. We rode to Goat Trail that took us into Banff. Before heading down the trail we ate the last of our bread. Guess we better get to town!

Banff Canada

Hi everyone, well here we are in Banff, CA on Saturday, August 22. We actually arrived here on Thursday. Today we are packing the bikes in boxes, tying up lose ends and plan to take a shuttle to Calgary tomorrow. Our flight back to Ohio is Monday morning. I haven't been able to post a note since Sparwood so for now I will tell you what has happened since arriving in Banff. We are in the Banff library and time is limited. On thursday we rode into Banff. The trail into Banff was called the GOAT TRAIL. It was mostly downhill BUT it was also MOSTLY ROCKS! Try that with a mt bike and Trailer or with bags on the bike. Poor Hap didn't have a full suspension bike like mine. Sorry about YOUR luck! I can only say my new Giant Trance bike has been awesome. It has really made a difference in my back. Which by the way is still attached. Back to the story enough about my new toy! The trail was beautiful. I will be posting pictures when we get back to Ohio. So stay tuned! The mts are awesome and the weather was great. It was a good ride into town. We only got lost or should I say had a view "do overs". There were several waterfalls and bridges lining the trail.


We arrived into Banff behind the Banff Hot Springs Hotel. (An impressive sight!). It was very odd to go from riding in the middle of nowhere to a hustling, bustling tourist town. It is very beautifully nestled in between the mts and alongside the Bow River. The first thing we did was to ride to the bike shop to make sure our boxes we had arranged for were there. And yes they were. So Plan A was in force for the moment...... PLAN A: We had arranged with Sister Sonnie who has a Parcel/Post store to have our stuff sent via Fedex to Ohio. We actually arrived in Banff a day earlier than we thought we would. The reason..we ran out of clean clothes and hadn't had a shower for two days! And there was no campground or shower in sight. I called the Driftwood Inn and they said we could check in a day early. OK. PLAN A still a go!





Friday we got up, ate breakfast in the room (oatmeal, bananas and peanut butter). And took off to ride a trail that was recommended by the bike shop. Rundle River Trail. He said that it was very rooty and rocky and you would either love it or find it very frustrating. Doesn't that sound like fun! Of course that's the trail we want. After all we have just ridden 400 miles pulling all our stuff, that should be easy. We took off on our LIGHT, no gear mt bikes. We decided to ride to Canmore Nordic Center. That is where the 1998 Calgary Olympics held their Nordic events. And it is the Olympic training center. The trail was 10 miles long. Piece of cake........... off we go...the first thing that happened was we couldn't find the trail. I hate it when someone says "you can't miss it!" Doesn't he know who we are? We finally found the trail and started UP. Although we didn't realize we were climbing. It was a beautiful trail along the Bow River. And he was right there were lots of rocks and lots of roots. But other than that it was perfect. We rode through tree lined trails with lots of moss on either side, across rock fields, over bridges, one section of very narrow trail just on the EDGE of the river (Jill you wouldn't have liked it!). The last 3 miles or so was in the Nordic Center series of trails which was more double track. But uphill Of course. We went to the Nordic Center for a snack of Pita bread and Hummus (mmm good) and an apple and coke. Then we headed back. Oh did I mention we are still in bear country and there are signs everywhere of watch out for the bears? That makes it alittle more interesting. Hap had his bear spray though so we were safe. He left his noise makers and knife at the hotel (you'll have to wait until the next post to see what that means!). The ride back was even better. We started with a neat, fast downhill (watch out for those roots!). I kept leaving Hap behind on the downhills and then he would catch me on the ups. Remember the full suspension that you said you don't need Hap???? About half way back a girl (and guy) passed us......uh oh .... game on! (does anyone know me very well.. the part about the girl "passing me?" Let's just say that I passed them back in short order and had to wait for Hap at the end of the trail. It was one of the best mt bike rides I have ever had. It was awesome. I wish we had trails like that in Ohio. Oh and the girl......mmm...where did she go? We stopped at the grocery for dinner supplies and headed back to the room. Dinner was a salad, nuts and a turkey sandwich.



So back to PLAN A. Today we called FED EX just to double check what we needed to do. They first told us that they would email us the info, fill out the form, there you go.... Hap got the email, printed it out but didn't quite understand how to fill out the customs form. So he called back. This time they said we could't even use FED EX in Canada unless we had a CANADIAN account. Uh OH! So now what? PLAN B: Take the bikes on the plane with us. We have done this for 20 years. Usually just ride to the airport and they sale you a box for $10, no problem. We thought why are we taking a shuttle why not ride to the airport. It's only 80 miles. We had an extra day to do that. OK. PLAN C: Ride to Calgary Airport, box up the bike and the BOB trailer and fly home. Should we call to make sure they have a box at the airport? Remember that time???? OK, so Hap calls the airline! NO, we don't have any boxes. Now we are at PLAN D: Box the bikes and trailer in Banff, shuttle to Calgary Airport, shuttle to the hotel, shuttle back to the airport at 5am Monday morning. Are the shuttles big enough to carry the bike boxes? Remember that time...? We call the hotel first.....let us check and call you back....yes, but that shuttle doesn't run on Sundays......mmmm....will they fit in a mini van?? Of course we say.....mmm.....yes that will work. Now we call the Banff shuttle....do you take bike boxes? Yes that will be $10.30 for each bike....Alrighty then. Now we have $175 to fly each bike, $175 for the trailer, plus the shuttle......



So here we sit in the library. Everything arranged, bikes in boxes, trailer boxed. Only a few questions left to answer. How do we get three boxes through customs? Can we take our bear spray? What about our stove and fuel bottles? Remember that time....................?



I have to say that even though the cost is higher than expected. This trip has been awesome and worth every penny. We have had an amazing two weeks of just riding and being together. In spite of the cold, wet weather it has been wonderful. We have decided though that it is much easier just to ride home. So look out for the next trip! We don't need no stinkin aeroplane. We for sure would have ridden back into the US if we had known all of this hassle was going to happen. But when you travel like this you just have to be prepared for PLAN A, B, C, or D or ??? But remember it's all good!

I will be posting pictures when we get home and also more about our last four days of riding! So stay tuned.

Sparwood British Columbia Canada

Hi everyone,
We finally made it to a computer to put down some notes from our ride so far. Today is August 15, 2009. But I am going to start our journey at the airport in Kalispell, MT. We made to Montana, our gear that was shipped made it to Montana, we got off the plane ok. But the shuttle that I had arranged to pick us up for the 20 minute drive was not there. Mmm...I called and he said oh your here now! Yes our plane was delayed in Denver but we would still like a ride. Otherwise we are going to have a long walk at 9pm in the dark, down the highway. He finally came about an hour later. He sure was cheerful. Me .... not so much. Have you ever noticed how cheerful people can be when your NOT in the mood? We arrived at the Hilltop Hotel in Kalispell and found our two bikes and extra box of camping gear in our room. We spent a couple of hours putting them together, sorting gear and making plans for PLAN A. (Ride to Whitefish to get on the Great Divide Mountain Bike Route). The first day of the ride was a pretty short day. But it gave us a good opportunity to check out our gear and make sure my new rack was working. A short lesson on racks and bikes.....I just got a new full suspension mt bike. Giant Trance. We were hoping that the suspension would help my back! The bike is awesome, I love it. But the color?? White...why does it have to be white? Back to the rack lesson. On all our other trips we have used rear and front racks. But with a front suspension you need a special rack. We rode the last time on the Great Divide with just rear racks. So we thought the same would be ok for this one. Hap did alot of research and found a rack that looked really good for a full suspension bike. The problem is that there are no places to mount the rack with the suspension and my new DISC (yeah!) brakes. Does anyone see where this is leading yet? On the way to Whitefish Hap noticed the rack "wobbling". We both were carrying maybe 50 lbs or so. Oh let me tell you about the traffic. It was a sunday morning and we passed alot of churches. This part of the ride was on regular paved roads. Traffic was whizzing by pretty close. We decided all of the churches must have let out at the same time. And if they happened to kill a cyclist on the way home from church oh well! Sorry about that. That's a sensitive point for me! I cannot get this target off my back. We stopped a couple of times and Hap did what he could to make the rack more rigid. That's why we carry so much extra rope, straps and duck tape! When we got to Whitefish we first stopped at Snappy's Sporting Goods for Bear Spray. It looks like a small fire extinguisher that is actually pepper spray! The directions say to spray it at the bear when he is 30 feet from you! Yeah right! Oh and then lay down in a little ball and "pretend" to be dead. We rode on into town and found all the bike shops closed of course. It was sunday. They gotta ride sometime. We decided we better not leave civilization until we fixed the rack situation. So we found a campground in town, stopped at a subway for sandwiches, took a shower and went to sleep. Hap saw one of the dreaded SPRINKLER HEADS near our tent so he went into the camp office to ask if they went off at nite. She just said "I don't know.." I bet she would if she ever had one go off in the middle of the nite on HER tent. But then after paying $26 to camp we thought maybe we should get a BONUS shower!
Monday, August 8
We woke up to a gorgeous bright sunny day. Temps in the 90's. While we wer packing up a guy from the next site came over. He was driving a big RV BUS. He started talking about the bicyclists on Route 93 (the main route through the area). When I heard him say "You just never know if the bikers are going to stay on that white line or not, ESPECIALLY on those blind corners". I had to walk away (see reason in paragraph number 1!)
So now lets get to the story of the rack. We went to Glacier Cyclery and met the owner Ron, who has done alot of touring. He had just the rack that we wanted for my bike but couldn't find it. Oh and by the way when we took off my rack it had already started to bend and we hadn't even gotten off the paved roads. After much discussion, wavering, hem hawing, figuring, calculating, and lots of other stuff. We ended up buying a new BOB (beast of burden trailer) and renting a front rack for me. This process took about 4 hours! We finally left the shop after 1:30pm. Me now pulling a trailer and a front rack with our sleeping bags. Whew! It seemed like the right thing to do. Because we have a trailer at home we knew this set up would work. We left Whitefish late in the day and started climbing past Whitefish lake. It was beautiful. We were on rough 2 lane dirt, rocky road. A few cars passed us but now many. It was great. It was a difficult ride though. I gave it an eight on Diane's Rigor Scale. We reached Upper Whitefish Lake and set up camp. An awesome campsite beside a crystal clear lake. There was a few people there fishing and kayaking. We even had a picnic table. For dinner we cooked freeze dried Terryaki beef. It wasn't that great but it was food. We sure didn't have any trouble sleeping that night in the 39 degree temps.
The next day we fixed oatmeal for breakfast. The road we were on was pretty rough. We had a couple mile warm up and then started a pretty tough climb. We stopped at Red Meadow Lake for lunch. The downhill leaving the lake was as scary as the going up. I went up the hill at 2.7 mph and down the hill at 3.0 mph! I decided I only need two gears for this ride first and second! Or go or stop! We haven't seen any bears on this ride yet but we did see lots of bear poop. And it is true what they say bears do love those berries! We got to Tuchuck campground late. There was a group of seven guys already there and a couple from Holland. It is fun to have other cyclist to talk to. The girl from Holland came over and said if you want to wash in the stream go ahead, my husband will look away. I laughed and said, it doesn't matter just make sure he doesn't laugh at me! The water was freezing but it sure was nice to get clean! For dinner we had our favorite freeze dried meal of Leonardo de Fettucini. It tasted especially good tonight. I am sure we are burning loads of calories. The Rigor scale was 8 again today!
On August 12 we rode from Tuchuck Campground to Eureka. Oh, I forgot to tell you about the sign at the campground. Watch out for grizzlies. Apparently this is part of the ranging area through Glacier Nat. Park. We are riding just to the west of the park. Good thing we bought that bear spray. Remember 30 feet! And do you THINK I have a tape measure? We woke up to pouring down rain. It is really nasty when you have to pack up in the rain. It was about 45 degrees or so. We packed up fast. For breakfast we ate a couple of power bars. Leaving the campground we immediately started climbing. It was a tough climb in the rain. We climbed for four miles over Whitefish Divide. It was beautiful and once we got warmed up not so bad. We had some wonderful views of Glacier Park too. We saw more bear poop and lots of Huckleberries. When we got to Eureka we decided to stay in a hotel. What a concept. That might have been the best shower I ever had. It rained all day. It finally stopped long enough for me to ride back to a laundry mat. We stopped an ordered a pizza that was delivered to the Ksanka Motel for us. We took everything out of the bags and dried out.
August 13 we rode from Eureka to ELKO. Yes you guessed it we woke up to a downpour again. We stopped and ate a good breakfast and then rode the 8 miles to the Canadian border at Roosville. We were on Hwy 93 for the ride to Elko. It wasn't bad except when it started to rain harder. The canadians have a great idea with their roads also. A berm! What a great idea. When we almost got to Elko it really poured. I could only see a few feet in front of me. I had called a hotel in Elko and make a reservation. Good thing because it was their last room. There was another group of 8 cyclists there looking for a room. They ended up getting a ride to another town. The room had a kitchen which was great. We cooked dinner, emptied all of the bags AGAIN. And dried everything out AGAIN!
August 14 we decided to ride a short day to Fernie. Hoping the weather would change. It was cooler today in the 40's. We had oatmeal and juice for breakfast. The road was a dirt road following the Elk River to Fernie. A pretty ride, but a cold one. We are in a beautiful valley with mts on both sides. The views are great. Wish we could see the tops of the mts.! We got into fernie and stopped at a Bagal shop for a sandwich. I found a room at the Raging Elk Hostel for $55. It was pretty clean but it looked like they were working on it. We had a great view of the Fernie Ski Hill. Looks like a good place to come back to. This area is know for its mt biking and skiing. There were 4 bike shops on Main Street. One of the shops was clear full of the Giant Trance Mt bike like mine. (without the racks! or BOB) I washed all of our clothes out in the sink and we hung clothes lines across the room. Now that was a sight. But I hate to wear dirty clothes. Its kindof funny when we ride like this. I even forgot to bring a comb for my hair. I don't think the bears will even notice! Maybe that's why they have to get within 30 feet! Just after we got to the hostel it really started raining hard again. But by the time we got everything washed and hung up it was just alittle drizzle. We walked back up town and found a burger and a beer. Neither was very good and both were very expensive. We should just have cooked at the hostel. Next time! We also stopped at the grocery store for some supplies. Back at the hostel we played some cards. And somebody won!
August 15-Todays ride...It was alittle brighter this morning but colder. In the 40's when we left. No rain though so that's a bonus. We rode a shorter ride today waiting hopefully for some better weather. Today the ride was all highway. It was beautiful but not too exciting. We are just riding north up this narrow valley with beautiful mts on both sides. We arrived in Sparwood early and went to the Mt View Campground. I washed everything out again. And we finally found a computer at the library to use.
So far the trip has been good. Challenging and problem solving but then that's why we do this isn't it?? Otherwise life would be boring. We saw the best t shirt saying that I think we are going to adopt! Here it is:

Confidence is the feeling you have before you fully understand the situation

Until next time!
Hap and Diane

Continental Divide Trip Part 2 Whitefish, MT-Banff

Hi there, it is time for another trip on the Great Divide Mountain Bike Route. Tomorrow we will be leaving (on a jet plane) to fly into Whitefish, MT. The last time we rode the divide we went south from Whitefish. this trip we are heading north to Banff. Should be a great ride.....that is if you like riding in the middle of nowhere, with nuthin sept the trees, wind, weather and of course the wildlife. But then I think the wildlife out there will be better than the "wildlife" we have been seeing driving on the roads of Pickaway County lately!
Here it is 1pm and we have finished all the packin except for tying up some loose ends, finding plane tickets, reservations we made. You know simple stuff like that. We didn't have much to pack, clothes for a couple days, rain gear, cold weather gear, down jacket, heavy gloves.......hey this isn't MY first rodeo ya know. I 've been out in the wilds before with Hap. At least this time we have a compass. GPS..naw we don't need no stinkin GPS. You know Hap's motto "You can't be lost if you don't care where your going!"
Not sure how much posting I can do on this trip. We aren't taking the computer and the bears probably won't let me use theirs. But I will post as often as possible. Hopefully you'll get them email alert or whatever you call this.

Later. Gotta get some sleep before the sun comes up. Details....details!