Free Advice

Sun. 20 May:  Free Advice

What more can I say?  Just this:  if any bike-riding reader of my Blog has only one day to spend in the Canadian Rockies, sometime before the winter gate opens on June 15^th, consider this as an alternative to all the usual places.

Drive up the Highwood Valley to the winter gate, and bike up the Kananaskis Highway #40 as far as you can get before running into snow.  Start early.  There you will discover an enchanted world of snow-capped peaks, white tailed deer, rushing rivers, and you will have it all to yourself.

On my two previous attempts I had run into snow after only a few kilometres.  Today I cycled over 30 kilometres up towards the Highwood Pass - the highest paved highway in Canada – before finally hitting the snow.  I then returned down the same road back to the winter gate.

I was out all day.  It took more than four hours of steady progress up the road, never very steep but often requiring a zig-zag approach to the steady up-hill gradient.  I stopped for a break at Lantern Creek, trailhead for the Picklejar Lakes.  A little further along the road, the snow started to appear on each side, and just before Mt. Lipsett picnic area, the road was partially covered.  The picnic area itself was drifted in.  Just around the next corner, where the highway crosses over Storm Creek for the second time, my progress was finally halted.  The Pass lay just a few kilometres up the avalanche-prone valley ahead.

Now the fun began.  In fact, I don’t think I have ever enjoyed a bike ride more – and for a good reason.  For most of the 31 kilometre return journey, I whizzed down the steady slopes as fast as my wheels would turn, with absolutely no effort at all!

Not that I was in a hurry.  I enjoyed leisurely stops at Storm Creek (beside the snow drifts), Mist Creek (above the swirling Highwood River), and Fitzsimmons Creek (in the warm sunshine by the dangerous river crossing).  Along the way I had passed only a handful of other cyclists (maybe less than a dozen people) on a perfect weekend day.

During my eight hour adventure, a cloudless sky had partially clouded over, and sub-zero temperatures had soared to over 20 degrees C.

Take my advice:  grab a road bike, and enjoy this paradise yourself – but only until June 15th!

Statistics
Kananaskis Highway 40
Sun. 20 May
Total Dist.	63.0 km (bike)
Height Gain	1,690 ft.
Max. Elev.	6,645 ft.
Time	8 hrs. 02 mins.

Other Stats.
Start bike:      7.40 am End of road: 12.13 pm Ret. to car:     3.42 pm	Start Temp:   - 1 C Finish Temp: + 20 C Cloudless =>slow cloud build-up.  Slight breeze only.