B. C. - Alberta Rocky Mountain Loop

This trip began on June 16 in Burnaby, British Columbia. We rode to Salmon Arm on day 1 in a light, intermittent rain and opted for the Best Western. Next day we made it to Lake Louise in the same rain, but it was colder, of course, and we were wet. We had little option other than camping so we could not really dry off. This meant several hours up through the Icefields Parkway at times shivering uncomfortably. The scenery was breathtaking and the trip was well worth it. We were able to refill our tanks at The Crossing Resort about half-way up and that helped alot.

As we descended to lower elevation and approached Jasper in the afternoon where the sun was shining, we couldn't have been happier. In fact, for the next three days of camping in Jasper, three days in Edmonton and another three days Dinosaur Provincial Park, there wasn't barely a cloud in the sky. While in Jasper, we rode to Maligne Lake and had to steer our way around a family of mountain goats on the way back. John broke the key to his top box and had to get one custom made in Edmonton.  I managed to capture some video along the Icefields Parkway with my GoPro camera and a portion of the guided tour we took in Dinosaur Park and would have had more but experienced some technical difficulties either of my own making or GoPro's, I'm not sure which.

The day we left Dinosaur Park for Waterton Lakes National Park via Smashed-in Head Buffalo Jump,
it was pouring rain from just after we left right up until we arrived in Waterton. We did not camp, although we could have. There is a small campground located inside the town on the back edge and the weather cleared beautifully. The next day we enjoyed a three-hour trail ride with a young cowboy named Josh with stunning views of the lakes and Prince of Wales hotel, mountains and fields and forest. We even came upon a couple bears on or near the trail both coming and going.

The remainder of our trip was mostly just riding home, and except for the extremely dangerous winds around the Crowsnest Pass on the Alberta side, the ride was nice and smooth. Fortunately, we did not use the bear spray or bear bangers or tire repair kits that I had  brought on the trip, but the extra engine oil and chain lube were needed for the three week, 4,000 KM plus trip.