June 3rd, 2017, Day 13, Golden, BC to Lake Louise, AB. 87km

I’m just gonna live the rest of my life, right here, in Golden. Yep, gonna get myself a job, hey, maybe right here at the IGA where we’re sitting right now, putting sale stickers on stuff. Or, or, maybe I could be a cashier! That way I could talk to everybody!

That’s what I was thinking last night as we were riding to our motel. That’s because I SAW, right above us, the hill we would have to take to get out of town. It was dark and the vehicle lights pierced the night sky way above us as they drove east. It’s not a drive I’d want to take in the dark.

.We went to the IGA to buy food for breakfast and load up a bit for later. “How is the bear situation lately”, I asked an employee hopefully.” Oh, they’re everywhere,  Last week one of my friend’s dogs was attacked. They come right into town here. They know where the food is. But I guarantee you’ll see all kinds of bears on your way to Lake Louise.” Great. Thanks. That’s what I wanted to know.

No option. We had to take on that giant hill and we had to get to Lake Louise. So we climbed. And we climbed. And truth be told, it wasn’t that bad. Charlie stuck close to me most of the day unless I was ahead. Somehow that feels alright to me because I have some control there. If he’s behind, I can slow down or stop and wait for him. If he’s way ahead, I feel like I’ll never catch up to him. And I feel too alone for my own comfort.  Soon after that mega-hill the road twists and turns as it descends. There’s very little shoulder room but we found that drivers were very careful around us, and for that, I am appreciative. The Golden Mountain eventually levelled out but it wasn’t long before we had yet another climb. Again, the scenery, when we weren’t focused on the crappy pavement, was worth getting up for. Lots of gushing waterfalls, rushing, turbulent rivers, usually clear and turquoise, this year opaque taupe brown, saturated with silt.  Heather Mountain gave us a good go but again we managed to crest it and coast down the other side. Field eventually came into view with its tiny buildings and flat wide brown river. 

They’ve put some effort into making Field a place to stop and explore. When I lived in Banff so many years ago, Field was simply a railway town. Nobody ever went there unless they had to and that was for work. Now they’ve got a few attractions like tandem parasailing, (which sounds, to me, a bit too close to paraplegic, so no thanks, I’m out for that one), and some funky little hippy restaurants. A guy we met later in the day said he’d paid $17 for a veggie burger there. Yowsa! Anyway, Field has a very busy information /interpretive centre so we went in to see what we could find out . They told us we had another pass to climb; Kicking Horse Pass, which I’d forgotten about. Sitting there on their well worn leather couch, I’d have been quite happy to have spent the day there, but on we went. Finally Lake Louise! Charlie and I did our happy dances! We had conquered BC! Hooray! 

It’s amazing how good some canned food actually tastes. Especially after an 87 km bike ride. We were about to buy some canned chili at the LL grocery stop but when I added up the cost of 4 cans , (3 for C, 1 for me), it made more sense to go next door to the bake shop cafe and buy hot meat pies. When we came out a man was waiting for us.  He too was cycling across Canada, although he admitted to cheating a bit. Gordon, from Bear River, Nova Scotia, close to where Charlie grew up from age 13 on, said he’d seen us in Cache Creek and then again in Salmon Arm. He was excited to finally catch up with us. We chatted a bit, comparing notes and then, as we had not yet secured accommodation for the night, we followed him to the Lake Louise campground, which is right in town. It had, I was promised, an electrified fence totally around the tenting area. Thus reassured, I had some confidence of our safety, until I saw the fences. They were not like the ones I’d imagined from “Jurassic Park”. No these were only about 5 feet high, if so, and looked pretty ineffective to me. However, we obviously, survived the night.

Building a temporary home out of a few poles and k-way fabric can be quite the job.  You have to put down the footprint, centre the tent over it, align and secure the poles, drape and secure the fly. Then you have to blow up the thermarest pads and pillows, position your sleeping bag over the pads, squirm into your sleeping bag protector , then stuff yourself, and your sleeping bag protector into the sleeping bag, stretching your legs to ensure nothing gets bunched up. Then you have to fight with the zipper, and when you finally get it up, turn off your headlight.

Aww…  #X*Z!,!!     I have to pee!