Fernie to… Banff (almost!)

The last section of the Divide is a steady uphill drag from Fernie to Banff, with the last bit downhill…some sort of perverse reward for the near 200,000ft of climbing up to that point!

I left Fernie on a drizzly day after two full rest days in the Raging Elk hostel. With its fully equipped kitchen it enabled me to buy food to cook up meals, and I was even able to have milk with cereal and hot toast in the morning! Such a treat after instant porridge oats made in water!

The initial section of the Divide was on road so it helped things get moving again. The destination was Elkford, a mining town around 60 miles north of Fernie. Before long I was back on gravel, which then turned to mud after the rains. It took me up single track trails and forest fire roads. After about 2 hours Chris came by with two young doctors from Devon in the UK, so we rode together to Sparwood where we were able to grab coffee and cake – this was the last supply stop until Elkford. Once out of the town we joined this crazy mountain bike single track which just went up and down like a roller coaster, before eventually giving way to wider gravel trails. I was struggling to keep up with the group but it was good to hang with them as I then didn’t need to navigate!

As the trail moved ever skyward the puddles and surface became more and more unrideable. We would get bogged down in mud or our bike half submerged in puddles that could double up as swimming pools! The bikes got clogged with sticky mud meaning the wheels couldn’t turn….this was so reminiscent of that day when we got peanut butter mud….not fond memories! And then to add insult to injury the damn trail rose up a huge rocky climb for about 4 miles…what was so annoying is you could see Elkford below, but the Divide had to of course take you up and away from your destination because….well…it can. I was getting a hunger knock and was ‘hangry’ with the trail! And then I cramped. Badly.

Eventually we made it to Elkford where I grabbed a hot meal with the group before we went our seperate ways. I had a camp spot in the Municipal park so I headed there, pitched up, showered, shopped, ate and got to bed around 9…still cramping. And gee was it cold! The temperature plummeted and so I wore all my clothes to bed!

Penultimate day; Elkford to Boulton Lake

Today was a great day on the bike, long, but so enjoyable (mostly!). The trail in effect followed a forest track all day, with a consistent upwards trajectory for the day. What made it so enjoyable was that I decided to ride on my own – I felt yesterday I was trying too hard to keep up with the group and didn’t take enough care of my own needs, especially resting up and eating on the trail. What made it doubly enjoyable was the sublime scenery….omg it was so much eye candy it was difficult to know what to look at first. The mountains were simply sublime, aided by stunning sunshine. All along the trail were camp sites, often very basic sites with just a drop toilet and a picnic table. But l was determined to stop at each one, dispersed about every 10-15 miles apart. Each one provided a chance to rest, eat, drink and stop to be in the moment with the scenery. It also provide chances to meet South bounders to share intel of the trail ahead. I stopped for lunch at a camp called Weary Creek….which seemed most apt as I’m both weary and creaking!!

And I saw my first bear! Just poddling along and out of the corner of my eye saw a brown bear quietly walking away from the trail in to the forest…..gulp! There is so much wildlife to see here on the trail it’s magical.

There’s one humungous climb in this section, called Elks Pass, where you cross in to Alberta. From the south side (the side I’m coming from) it’s nasty, but the northern climb up is much worse. I managed to cycle about 1/2 of it before it got too steep so it was back to hike-a-biking! It plateaued out towards the top before descending down a stupidly steep descent…..only for the rider to have to climb back out of the valley …..i thought it was downhill once you crest a ‘Pass’….but apparently not. I met some poor bugger pushing his rig up that 19% climb and he enquired if indeed this was the right way ….‘surely the Divide wouldn’t take us up here’…..oh mate, you ain’t seen nuffin yet!!

Anyway, eventually the trail did descend to my campground, a state run camping facility. It was huge….it took me 20 minutes to climb up a hill to my designated spot which was another bike ride away from the showers!!

I eventually found my spot, got the tent up as it was due to rain, then cycled to get a shower and spoil myself in the camp store with chocolate and ice cream.

Tonight was my last night cooking pasta and tuna and it was so good being able to leave stuff behind now I won’t need it….just 60 miles tomorrow and this crazy journey is over. But it’s supposed to pour with rain so it’ll be a challenging day just to end it all!!

Final day (almost!)

So as predicted it lashed with rain starting around 3 in the morning. By the time I awoke at 5 my tent was dripping wet inside…..not a good experience! I had got everything in to my tent so I could get changed inside and had my breakfast ready to go! By the time I’d packed up I was drenched. And bloody cold….there was fresh snow on the mountain! I pondered what to do but decided I had to get moving, though by the time I got down to the main reception area (which was closed) I was shivering so bad, and very wet! I accessed wifi and contacted Charlie to discuss options. The rain was torrential and I didn’t fancy the muddy trail today. There is a road option but it was 145k, and I equally didn’t think I was up for that either!

Between us we hatched a plan to meet up on the road. So I kicked off, and after 10k was so cold I went into the Parks visitor centre to warm up. This was not how I had envisaged the final day, but the Divide is the gift that keeps on giving! Once I could feel my hands and feet I pushed on, with the rain slightly abating, enough to see a few metres in front. As I descended it started to clear a little to light rain, and the temp roared to 5 degrees 🤣.

After 35k I saw Charlie coming towards me….what a wonderful sight! We bundled Bob in to the car and headed for hot coffee in Canmore. It was a bitter sweet moment – being warm again, but not riding. So we hatched Plan B, a)for me to ride to Banff from Canmore, and b) to retrace ourselves back to the start of the trail next week and ride that final 50k stretch when it wasn’t as disgusting a day!

So it was that I rode the Legacy trail from Canmore to Banff….it was still raining but much lighter than this morning. I arrived in Banff and met up with Charlie and her partner Stephen for the obligatory photo….then it was back to their pad for a hot shower and clean clothes.

I’ll write a post script and reflection blog next week after we have been here, there and everywhere…..Charlie has an itinerary for my time here so it’s an exciting few days ahead…..plus the final 50k on the trail to be completed 😊

Video update 😊