North to South Tour - Day 10

07/04/2008 13:00:00 by Administrator

From: Lake Louise Campground, Alberta
To: Marble Canyon Campground, British Columbia
Today: 42 miles - 465 miles total



Happy Independence Day - U.S.A.

Thunder, lighting, ( I wonder how that effects those electric fences?) and rain filled night, but the trains were not a frequent as the last time we were here and inside our tent we kept warm and dry. Looks like more rain on the way so we packed up everything pretty wet. Breakfast in town with the Rear Admiral ordering her lumberjack special and my pancakes with peanut butter. Expensive? Katelyn you can forget about grad school! We debated about going to Lake Louise or not, and we decided not. Before you start yelling, (1) we have been there before, (2) you want to see glacial lakes, visit Bow Lake or Waterfowl Lake or Hector Lake. . . less people, more nature and (3) it was going to be another wet afternoon...we wanted to make camp to dry things out (before everything got wet again!). We even debated on staying another day at Lake Louise....tossed a coin, and pedaled on. Rte 1a from Lake Louise to Castle Junction was almost "auto free". What a great 16 miles of quietness. If you like cycling, ride rte 1A! At the end of 1A, I spotted a moose and sent the Rear Admiral to take a Kodak moment. Surprise, it was a mother moose with her calf. If you have to pick an encounter between a bear or an encounter with a mother moose, pick the bear. Needless to say, once baby calf was spotted, the Real Admiral jumped back on board and SeeMore's speed picked up a couple of mph.

Today we climbed Vermilion Pass (5,415) which wasn't bad...no rest breaks, just good steady climbing. We did not even realize we were over the pass, until we started our descent! Again, I can not do justice when describing the magnificent views from SeeMore's seats.

We decided to stop at Marble Canyon Campground as the skies were getting pretty dark. Put everything out to dry, and hoped that it got dry before the afternoon thundershowers showed up. After lunch, and before taking the hike up Marble Canyon, we stored everything inside the picnic shelter, and locked up the food in the bear lockers that the campground provides for you.

We think Marble Canyon was named by some New York marketing guru, because there is no marble. It should have been named Dolomite Canyon, because that is what it is! We been to Vermont, we know what marble is...you can't fool us! If you can get past the name, the hike is a treat. The canyon was formed, first by a receding glacier, then by water run off. Dolomite is carved (sometimes smoothly) as the water rapidly races down stream. It is very narrow, twisted and deep, with a lot of interesting natural stone arches. The water really rushes down these canyons and rivers, not something you would want to get too close to! While on our hike, the skies opened up and we scampered back to camp. So everything is now dry, except the two bikers!