Dodged that canadian bullet

One of Jen’s Road Trip Rules is “plans were made to be discarded”. That, of course, flies in the face of my lifelong Type-A personality and years in the over-planned world of the military. But … therapy.

Before I tell you about the expertly dodged bullet, let me tell you about the plan that got discarded. Gotta build suspense, ya know.

Back when the Canadian portion of this road trip was planned (way back in January!) I had planned to meet back up with Jeremy in Lake Louise for four weeks, then head together up to Jasper for two weeks. We did the whole sit-by-the-computer hours before those popular campsites were released so we could snag two adjoining sites in both parks.

Now I probably don’t have to tell you that such touristy areas really aren’t my thing. I had been to both places on multiple occasions in the past - and while there’s no doubt they are one of the most beautiful places on earth, I wouldn’t have fought the crowds to return if not for Jeremy. He had never been to Canada and his passion for the mountains made me want to show him these beautiful places. So, Lake Louise and Jasper here we come.

I had already bailed on the first two+ weeks in Lake Louise so I could work at MTB clinic in Whitefish. But when I finally arrived in Lake Louise, I was genuinely happy to be there. It was great to reconnect with Jeremy, and the campground wasn’t the touristy shitshow I had feared.

My site at the campground. Huge, private, and with a killer view.

There was a beautiful trail that ran along the Bow River, which was great for walking the girls and watching sunsets (which didn’t happen until almost 10 pm!).

The Bow River, adjacent to the campground.

Right. From. The. Campground.

So many wildflowers in and along the Bow River.

Not quite sunset on the glacier visible from the Bow River trail.

Multiple tourists gasped “BEAR!!” when meeting Kiva along the Bow River trail, so we decided to put her to work to earn her keep. She earned nothing, but we still fed her.

There is no real mountain biking in Banff/Lake Louise, so we spent most of our days hiking, and then had one tourist day in Banff. We managed to steer clear of crowds by doing some creative planning (e.g., riding bikes to the trailhead) and getting early starts.

What was that? You want to know about the Canadian bullet I dodged? Not yet. I’m building suspense here. Read about the hikes and look at all the pretty pictures first.

Anyway … Jeremy really wanted to hike to the Plain of the Six Glaciers. Getting to the trailhead was going to require either a 6-mile very uphill bike ride or two tourist-filled shuttle busses. Guess which option I picked?

Much better than tourist shuttle busses.

Almost to the trailhead for Plain of the Six Glaciers. What you can’t see are the twelve billion tourists we had just navigated through at the Fairmont Lake Louise.

Same lake in the background - this time from the end of the trail at Six Glaciers. #QFA

Once the pavement ended, we only saw a handful of other people.

The cliffs provided plenty of opportunity for my inner 5-year old/mountain goat to come out and play.

One of the six glaciers. I wish I could find my picture from this spot in 2015 - I’m certain the glacier has receded quite a bit since then. #globalwarmingisreal

One of the other glaciers there over my shoulder.

The columbines were yellow here.  YELLOW!!

The next day, we explored Yoho National Park - in the truck so we could bring the girls. Our campground neighbor told us we HAD TO go to Takakkaw Falls. Sounded awfully touristy to me, but whatever. Once I saw it, I remembered being here on the 2015 motorcycle trip. The falls were pretty epic and the girls had fun cooling their paws in the alpine water.

The wind coming off the falls was wild!

Then it was off to explore Emerald Lake, which had a beautiful trail that wound around the lake itself, the feeder river, and other little bodies of water. The girls had a great time and I got in my daily dose of don’t-kill-any-tourists exercise.

The name “emerald” is deceiving. The water was a deep glacial blue.

One of the smaller bodies of water we passed on the way to Emerald Lake.

Kiva fears water and Sunday just loves posing for pics with me.  Really.

The terrain just kept morphing as we walked around the lake.

Embracing the beauty!

One more adventure day to tell you about before we get to that Canadian bullet thing. Hang in there.

We had one more day to spend exploring the area together, and I wanted to bring Jeremy up to the top of Mt. Norquay, which I remember as having amazing views looking down into Banff. We were both pretty toasted after all the hiking the past few days, so we opted for a chairlift ride to the top. It was as beautiful as I remember.

That’s the city of Banff down there in the valley.

Two red Adirondack chairs are ubiquitous in Canada.  They are very inviting.

Only the Universe knows what he said to make me laugh this hard.

Then it was off to the city to play tourist. First stop was the Banff Botanical Gardens - something I never would have thought of adding to the itinerary, but they were beautiful and peaceful and all the things.

Banff Botanical Gardens

Then, I had to visit my favorite Irish Pub in the world (keep in mind that I haven’t yet been to Ireland). St. James Gate is the place at which my snowboard crew did lots of car bombs, almost every day, during a ski trip in 2001. It’s also the place I brought the motorcycle crew back in 2015. So, of course I had to bring Jeremy. We told the bartender to pour us the best Catholic whiskey he had (IYKYK), and it was delightful.

Kudos to the St. James Gate bartender for giving us a heavy pour!

We ended the night with a fancy dinner at steakhouse, where we over-indulged in Alberta tenderloin and the freshest vegetables at any restaurant ever. That was a great way to end our time together in the Banff-Lake Louise area.

I’m getting to that bullet dodging. Right now, in fact.

Jeremy headed up to Jasper on Sunday, 21 July. He got his camp all set up and headed out to check out town and grab dinner. He had sent me a picture of how smokey the sky was, but that’s most of Canada in the summer, and there weren’t any fires close enough to worry about. And then lightening ignited a swift-moving fire in between the Jasper Townsite and his campground. Even though there hadn’t been an evacuation order issued yet, the police had the main road closed, and wouldn’t let him back to the campground. He lives and works full-time from his rig - everything he owns is in that home-on-wheels. He drove through the night, with only the clothes on his back and whatever he had in his Jeep (which did not include his passport). As of this post, its been 25 days since he’s seen his home. The Canadian government has been fantastic - they put him up in a hotel in Calgary and gave him meal vouchers. But, he’s had to buy a new computer so he can keep working, and new clothes. Finally, a few days ago, the government sent him a picture of his rig, which is still intact, even though most of the rest of the campground - and the Jasper Townsite - has been burned to the ground. He has no idea when he’ll be able to get back to recover his home-on-wheels, but is grateful that he wasn’t one of the ones who lost everything.

So this is just another time in my life that mountain biking has saved my life. Because, you see, if I had been in that adjoining campsite, we would have gone out to dinner that night and left the girls in my rig. If any human had told me I couldn’t go rescue my girls, I would have taken any means necessary to go get them. And consequently, would likely be writing this from a Canadian jail.

You learn a lot about a person with how they handle a crisis like this. Jeremy has handled this like a champ - the patience and grace with which he’s handled the delays and uncertainties has been amazing. He’ll be fine, and hopefully will be able to leave Calgary soon so he can continue his Canadian adventure.