Kootenay Ride
Kootenay Ride
Ride With Dad
Day1 August 16th, 2016
We
left Pickardville at 6:30 am to a blue sky sunrise. The kind of
sunrise you mention on a Facebook post. This being dad's first big
ride on his new bike I wanted to take him on some highways with rolling
hills and sweeping curves to let him get a good feel for it. Not sure
who had a bigger smile on their faces, dad or me watching him in my
mirror. 287km of these rolling hills brought us to Rocky Mountain
house where we filled our tanks and our stomachs.
After breakfast we
continued on to highway 11 the David Thompson highway where we were
greeted with crazy blue waters and jagged Rocky Mountains. We bit the
bullet and decided to fill up with the expensive fuel and Saskatchewan
crossing to set us up for an afternoon of side road excursions. Taking
the the ice field parkway highway 93 south we linked up to the Transcanada highway 1 heading west.
    
The first side road we took was the Yoho Valley road leading us up a road of luscious plant life leading to
this crazy switch back before coming to a dead end at the Takakkaw
falls. Very neat.
   
After doubling down on Yoho Valley road we
continued our ride west past Fields BC and turning up the Emerald Lake
road. This road lead us up some inspiring terrain on the way to the
dead end at emerald lake. Emerald lake is a very pristine lake which
has made it on the old $10 bill. After one more stop at this place
called the natural bridge we continued on our descent in to Golden.
        
Soon my eyes would widen and my smile would brighten at the sight of
40km turn signs. That familiar feeling of throwing my bike in to the
corners came back to me leading to a feeling of complete bliss. The
voice in my head said with a bad English accent, Please sir may I have
some more and more is what we received. We checked in to the hotel and had a celebratory steak dinner.
Day 2 August 17th, 2016
Kickstands
up in Golden, British Columbia at 7:30 am mountain time. We started our ride to a crisp
sunny morning that would lead in to a day of 34 degrees Celsius riding. As we
started our assault on Rogers pass we were temporarily detained at a
road construction site at the first snow shed for half an hour as they
set up.
   
As we entered the first snow shed I'm sure dad was wondering
why I was slowing down to leave a gap in
front of me and the lead car. The echo of my exhaust ringing off the
cement walls I am sure gave him that answer. There is many snow sheds
on this section of the transcanada.
   
As we arrived in Revelstoke, British Columbia we took the advice of a good friend to
ride up the 2000 meter ascent of sharp switch backs and stunning views
to the top of Mount Revelstoke. The descent back down the mountain was
a clear path of elation. Once we returned to the to Revelstoke we had
breakfast and went over our ride for the rest of the day.
      
Leaving the
Transcanada we ventured south on highway 23 towards the 50km ride to
Shelter bay ferry. It was strange being on a great stretch of highway
and not seeing anyone until we came across the off loading of the ferry
traffic. We managed to make it on the next sailing across upper Arrow Lake to Galena bay. I can see why this route is rated a top 10 ride in
Canada, so many curves as it lead us along the east side of arrow lake
to the town of Nakusp.
      
We then hooked up to highway 6 east and made our
way along Slocan and Summit lake over to the town of New Denver, British Columbia. Up
until this point I do not think we came across a straight straight
stretch longer the 200 meters. This number is about to shrink as we
veered east on highway 31a over to Kaslo, British Columbia. The twisty's on this section
can make a grown man weep.
I have been on many highways now and never
have I enjoyed throwing my bike back and forth through this section.
It felt as if my throttle and and my smile were connected, as I
accelerated hard out of the corner my smile would get bigger and bigger.
I would like to mention dad is really getting a hang of his Goldwing,
No matter how hard I tried to shake him there he was carving through
the corners behind me.
After fuelling in Kaslo and meeting a couple
riders out of Ontario who are on their way back east, we set out for
another round of breathtaking curves and stunning views on highway 31
to Balfour. Again luck was on our side and managed to get on the next
sailing across Kootenay lake to Kootenay bay. The 3A highway from
Kootenay bay to Creston, British Columbia brought us great sweeping turns and a terrain
that makes you really appreciate your choices for the day.
    
Day August 18th, 2016
We left sunny Creston, British Columbia at 8:00 am after talking Kawasaki KLR's with a biker out of
white rock on his way to South America. A peaceful 106km ride along the
mountains of crowsnest pass highway 3 was just what I needed. Upon
arrival in Cranbrook we took in some breakfast before checking in to
Cranbrook Harley Davidson to collect a poker chip and t-shirt. Taking
the advice from the girl ringing in my sale we decided
to take the 30 min detour up the 95a highway through the underground
mining and ski resort town of Kimberly Britsh Columbia.
Connecting on to the 93
highway we set our sights towards radium hotsprings and the kootney
national park. Our path of travel lead us along the kootenay river
before going through canal flats. A neat town halfway to Radium Hot Springs, British Columbia. Just before Fairmont Hotsprings we came across a bridge
followed by a sharp turn exposing our eyes to some natural made pinnacle
formations called Hoodoos in the what looked to be sand stone. Pulling in to the
Petro Canada for fuel at Radium Hot Springs I noticed a familiar face off to
the side, two co-workers were on a
journey of their own heading the opposite direction.
  
The highway
through Kootenay national park started off with the highway splitting two
tall cliff faces. After a few more turns the road found me one last
tunnel to gear down and let my exhaust bark. On the other side of the
tunnel we hit our first rain of the ride. All though it was cooler then
our past couple days the rain was refreshing hitting my face. We
managed to miss most of the rain riding to wet highways and the smell of
pine trees.
At the intersection of the transcanada highway 1 we
crossed over to the 1a highway bow valley trail. Following it east it
lead us down a 60km road that a times split off to single lane one way
traffic. We linked back up to the transcanada 6 km west of Banff.
Avoiding the busy tourist town we filled our tanks in Canmore before
getting back on the 1a highway.
  
This was a much better alternative then
taking the 4 lane Trans Canada east. Our two lane highway led us
through some nice turns great views of bow river and ghost lake and
eventually returning to blue skies. The best part of it was the Trans Canada to the south was covered in dark clouds and rain. We arrived in Cochrane, Alberta. A town at the the foot hills of the Rocky Mountains west of Calgary
Last day of the our father and son ride. We left Cochrane at 9:30 am and
headed north on the cowboy trail highway 22. Along this stretch we took
in views of the foot of the Rockies to the west and the rolling plains
to east. The highway switches back and forth through neat towns such as Sundre, Alberta and Caroline, Alberta.
After reaching Rocky Mountain house we took on
fuel and food before continuing north on highway
22 to the highway 39 intersection. Here we decided to go off plan and
rode east to highway 759 north going through Tomahawk, Alberta and a rest stop at
Seba beach, Alberta along the west shores of Wabamun lake.
After our break we
continued on and linked up momentarily with the Yellowhead highway
16 east and then making our way north on highway 765 to the intersection
of Darwell. I took dad east along Alberta Beach to Gunn. Think this
was the first time I've been through on a nice day and not seen many
bikes. One last fuel stop at Gunn, Alberta turned our sights for Pickardville, Alberta
via highway 33 towards Barrhead and east on highway 651 through Busby. Total km count for our four day journey
settled in at 2,146
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