Almost There / Jasper!

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Sunday July 10, 2011
Almost There

I woke up well rested this morning. I sleep much better in the tent then I do in the hostels; hostels are just nice to get a shower, your gear organized, laundry, blogs updated and a quick movie on the lap top. I am only kilometers to the Banff / Jasper border. Heading to the ice fields for (an expensive) breakfast.

I took a bit of a break at the Icefields Center to catch up on my blog notes. I ended up taking another break an hour down the road. Weather looked rough ahead and I thought it would be better to let it pass then get wet. I stopped in a camping area later in the afternoon to top up my drinking water. I noticed a weekly weather forecast; rain all this week; very discouraging. I decided the next best move was to get as close to Jasper as possible tonight.

The roads have been fairly level a few small climbs here and there. The weather warmed up a bit which motivated me to keep riding into the evening. I pulled into what looks like an abandon horse stable; they must have offered horseback riding to tourist’s years ago. I actually rode about 95 km’s today. Ninety five kilometers’ is practically a record for me considering the amount of pictures I took and 2 big breaks earlier in the day. Only about 15 km’s
from Jasper.

Monday July 11, 2011
Jasper!

I am glad that I pushed things yesterday evening. There was no rain last night or this morning. The clouds are fairly low; rain is bound to come at some point of the day. Today is not a big riding day; only about 15 km’s to Jasper.

I got into Jasper this morning only to find out that I had already passed the hostel coming into Jasper and it is about 7 km’s uphill off the highway. I decided to take a bus shuttle for $5.00 to the hostel. I could only get 1 night and didn’t want to waste my day riding. I desperately needed a shower, laundry, internet and a bit of a rest before I moved on to the N.W.T. wouldn’t hurt either.

This hostel is a little older and everyone sleeps in a dorm style area. The other hostels had 6 – 4 bunks per room. This hostel has all their bunks in a bunch of large interconnecting rooms. Sort of like a small maze of large rooms I’m in a top bunk (I always get stuck on the top ;p). Well here there is only a 1 ft. high board that divides me from the guy next to me (that has the top bunk). I miss the Canmore Hostel; oh well it’s only 1 night.

If I did my blog codes right this link should show a detailed map of The Icefields Parkway Points of Interest between Lake Louise and Jasper.

Map of Icefields Parkway

The 2 climbs were Bow Pass (2067 m) and Sunwapta Pass (2030 m)
I slept at Waterfowl Lake campground, Hilda Creek Hostel (closed), Wabasso Lake (abandon horse stable) and Jasper International Hostel.

Since Jasper was one of the main goals I thought I would do a quick tally of my travels since leaving P.E.I. June 15th.
Fly - P.EI. to Toronto - 1,725 km
Hitchhike - Hamilton to Sault Ste. Marie - 700 km
Bus - Sault Ste. Marie to Calgary - 2,755 km
Bike - Calgary to Drumheller to Jasper - 835 km

20 nights sleeping in a tent
5 nights at a hostel
13 days on a bike
Next destination - Alberta / N.W.T. border 1,021 km

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Comments

[steven]

Hi
Keep up the great blogs and keep on trucking along bud Love the great pics, feels like I'm travelling with you, love me

[Safari Arie]

Thanks for the encouragement buddy!
Thanks for reading buddy. See you soon and love you! Arie