Day 71, Thursday, August 25

As I drove up to the Columbia Ice Field yesterday I realized two things. First, taking pictures yesterday would have been pointless because of the persistent cloud cover. The pictures would have been consistently gray and uninteresting. The second thing I realized was that I definitely wanted to get pictures, so I’d have to drive the same route again today. No problem The road is clean, curvy, and magnificently scenic. I also wanted to walk out on Athabasca Glacier, a treat I couldn’t have last night. So I decided to forgo hiking for another day and spend more saddle time.
Once at the Athabasca Glacier Tourist Trap Center parking lot I added yet another couple to the list interesting people who are making this trip so memorable. Larry Kachadourian and his wife had ridden up from Texas on their new ’05 R1200RT to see the ice fields. They’d had a great trip and had managed to skirt the foul weather that plagued me as I rode into Canada on Tuesday. Good. I wouldn’t wish that weather on ANY mororcyclist (I’d definitely wish it on some of those CruiseAmerica people though!) He suggested some things to see and a couple of websites I ought to check out on motorcycle sport touring, and invited me to come down through Texas and stay with them. Thanks!
After talking with Larry I headed over to the base of the Athabasca glacier to walk around and get some pictures. Now THIS is what I call a glacier! There are a bunch of major glaciers all originating from the Columbia Ice Field which is itself over a hundred square miles in size. Walking up on the base of the Athabasca glacier makes you feel REALLY REALLY small.
On the way back to camp I got to stop and watch, all by my self, as a large black bear pillaged a row of huckleberry bushes by the side of the road. This bear was brutal and intense about eating those berries!
Tomorrow I’ll head out through Yoho and Glacier parks and then South to Oliver, BC where I found out there is supposed to be a free motorcycle show on Saturday. Again Things just seem to fall into place!
When I got back to camp this evening, I decided to head to the end of the road I was staying on to see a waterfall that’s supposed to be pretty spectacular and to see what is dubbed as the tightest switch back road in all of BC. When I got to the switch back I saw that it had definitely earned its reputation. There were signs posted all over that absolutely no vehicles with trailers are allowed on the roads and that there’s even a length limit for vehicles. I wondered about this until lI saw the switch backs. They definitely earn their reputation. In sailing terms, the first right hand turn going up was so tight that I actually had to jibe around it rather than doing it as a simple turn. (Basically I had to do a loop.) There’s even a sign there which instructs trucks that they’re required to back up the middle portion of the switch back because it’s too sharp to turn around. Cool!
The waterfalls, Takakkaw falls is definitely worth seeing, but unfortunately it was impossible for me to photograph due to the fading light. I’ll definitely be back to these mountains some time on another trip and will have to get pictures then.
One last highlight for today. On the way back to my campsite, in fact right at the entrance to my campsite, I spotted a girl trying to hitch hike up the road I’d just come down. I figured that since the road was a dead end anyway, I’d risk her being a mass murderer and give her a ride. It’s the first time I’ve ever picked up a hitch hiker in my life! Turns out she was staying at a hostel just shy of the waterfalls, that she’s a PhD student in Vancouver, and that she was from Spain. So we talked there at the driveway to the Hostel for about 20 mins or so in Spanish before I turned around and headed on back to the campsite.
Good day!