Passes & Canyons Blog

In the morning we completed our glacier-sky walk tour by going to the sky walk—which had been totally enveloped in a cloud the evening before—and then headed north to Jasper. The glacial valley and glacially carved peaks continued to inspire awe.

But there were entire mountains of red, dead pine trees. A major fire waiting to happen. Jasper was our furthest point from home and it’s all heading back from here. Jasper was your basic tourist town so we got lunch to go and headed back south to Wapatka Falls to eat. Then south past the glaciers, past Bow Lake, to Lake Louise, our stop for the night.

The next day, Terry and JC got up extra early and took her Porsche about 70 miles back the other way to do a 9 a.m. helicopter ride over the icefields, glaciers, and the valley. They would meet up with us at our day’s destination, Waterton Lakes National Park, on the Canadian side of the border from Glacier National Park. Meanwhile, Mario, with Willie in his car the last three days, went ahead with Willie, dropped her off at Waterton, and headed to Calgary to fly home to the Yukon. So there were only four vehicles in our train today.

The rest of us headed south and then east, crossing the width of Glacier National Park but to the north, on the Canadian side. By this time, Jean’s Slingshot was making a horrible squealing and we feared we might lost another vehicle. But she called the rental people and they said yeah, it may do that, just stop at a Polaris dealer to have it checked and we’ll cover the cost.

We started out on Canada 1, the Trans-Canada Highway, which is basically like our interstates. However, after only about 40 miles we turned off on Kananaskis Trail, Alberta 40, headed south and oh my gosh! Let’s just say Canada has no shortage of incredible motorcycle roads. And the bikers know it. Calgary is not far away, it was a gorgeous day, and it was Sunday so the bikers were out doing this loop by the hundreds. At one point we had five Spyders in front of us, then our three bikes and one Slingshot, two more Spyders, a pick-up truck, and then six more bikes behind that guy. And that was as far back as I could see. I found it necessary to invoke the Sturgis rule, which is that when there are more bikes on the road than cars, you stop waving at each other.

Alberta 40 finally turned east and came down out of the mountains, ending at Longview, where we picked up Alberta 22. On this Sunday afternoon the numerous restaurants and bars in Longview were doing huge business with an amazing number of bikers.

Alberta 22 took us way, way south to Alberta 3 at Lundbreck and we turned east, then south on Alberta 6, then Alberta 5 took us into the park. The town of Waterton is one of those great old towns now totally engulfed by tourism. And, of course, a gorgeous spot.

Biker Quote for Today

Do you know why your windshield is so large and your rear-view mirror is so small? Because your past is not as important as your future. Look ahead and ride on.

Starting out from Radium Hot Springs in the morning the 103-degree temps of Vernal, Utah, had given way to a cool 50s. Time to actually add an extra layer, at least for a while. The Banff-Windemere Highway passed through an impossibly narrow defile into the canyon we would go up and we climbed and climbed.

Starting out had not been uneventful, however. Jungle was having trouble getting Willie’s FJ to start. Uh oh. It turned out to be a simple fix, though. Add water to the completely dry battery. OK, we’re rolling.

These tall, jagged mountains we’d been looking at were now the tall, jagged mountains we were riding into. Then, for a long way we followed the Kootenay River up the broad, glacial valley. Here, the mountains towered above us and it was one jagged mountain after another, on and on. Some were absolutely pointed at the very top and I had a need to understand this topography.

It turns out that back during a distant ice age, this entire area was buried under thousands of feet of snow and ice. Most of these mountains were completely buried, with just a few of the very tallest poking a bit of their peaks above. The snow was compressed into ice and became a glacier and followed the path of least resistance downhill. Along the way, over the centuries, the glacier cut away the sides of the buried mountains, leaving a broad, U-shaped valley. That explains why on the side of the mountains facing the valley they are steep and sheer. Cut away the side of a cone and you end up with something similar.

On and on we went, along the river and past numerous lakes. We stopped for lunch at Bow Lake, which Willie tells us is like Lake Louise 40 years ago, which is to say, quiet and undeveloped.

Then we started climbing. And climbing. At this point Judy was feeling the consequences of wearing her mesh jacket and I was zipping closed the vents in my leather jacket. The sky was also growing gray and threatening. But then we arrived at the day’s destination, the Glacier View Inn, right across the road from the Athabasca Glacier. Our rooms were not ready yet so we stashed our gear and went on our planned glacier tour.

Glaciers are very cool, in more ways than one. They took us up there in vehicles with huge tires and geared so that when we went down one slope that was a 37 percent grade it just acted like this was the most normal thing in the world. And it got cold out on the glacier. Some people were wearing shorts and flip-flops. Some people perceive cold a little differently than I do.

Biker Quote for Today

Life, five gallons at a time.

When we arrived in Philipsburg we hooked up with Debbie and Craig, friends of Willie and Jungle and Terry. When we took off the next day they came along on a Harley Craig had rented. He hadn’t had a bike for about 10 years but this was too good an excursion to pass up.

It was fortunate for us because these locals knew of a great road that kept us off the interstate and shaved miles off our route. We continued north out of Philipsburg on Montana 1 but when we hit I-90 again at Drummond we followed the frontage road east a few miles, then crossed under I-90 and headed north on the Helmville Road. We cruised up a canyon to a high open area till we took a left turn onto Montana 141. This ran us up to Montana 200, which runs west toward Missoula.

At Clearwater we turned north on Montana 83 and passed lakes and tons of scenic beauty. Further along we continued north on Montana 35 and then Montana 206. If you’ve ever approached Glacier National Park from the west, this may have been the route you took.

Just west of the park entrance we turned west on Montana 40 over to Whitefish–our day’s destination. Here we met up with another of Willie and Jungle’s friends, who had driven over from Portland, Oregon, just to see them for dinner, and also the daughter of friends we would see later in the trip. This daughter owns eight ice cream shops in the region so we gave her local establishment some business.

Tomorrow Canada.

Next morning, saying farewell to Debbie and Craig, we left the motel in Whitefish, Montana, and make our way through a chaotic town led to chaos with the group. Some of us would not make it through a light and then would pass the ones who did and had pulled over. But we finally made it out of town and started eating miles.

We continued west and then north on U.S. 93 alongside a river and through forests punctuated with lakes. North and west, north and west, till we reached Eureka and stopped for (relatively cheap) gas in the U.S. for the last time. Then eight miles north to Roosville and the border. No, we’re not bringing in any guns or alcohol (some did have alcohol!) and in half an hour we were in Canada.

Then it was north on British Columbia 93, the Kootenay Highway, and a good, fast highway it was. North and west and north and west and then Jungle coasted to a stop in no specific spot. His Interceptor had just quit. Jungle is a mechanic, so he got out some tools and went to work. It didn’t take long to determine his stator had died. This was not the first time on this bike.

Fortunately the town of Cranbrook was not too far away but we needed Terry, in her Porsche, to give Jungle a ride, and she had blasted on ahead because she likes speed and gets impatient following a bunch of bikes going the speed limit.

And then Terry pulled up. She had taken a wrong turn and by the time she was back on the right road we had passed her, and here she was. Jungle loaded his bags into her car and off we went. We handed Jungle off to a Honda dealer in Cranbrook and went on our way to the day’s destination, Radium Hot Springs, British Columbia. Meanwhile, Willie called our motel and asked them to tell Mario, another friend, when he arrived, to run down to Cranbrook to pick up Jungle. Mario lives in the Yukon and had flown down to Calgary and rented a car to join us for three days.

With Jungle tending to his bike, I was in the lead, but at a gas stop that took too long, Jean in her Slingshot and Donna on her Star Silverado went on ahead. The rest of us followed shortly afterward but arriving in Radium we reached an intersection and didn’t realize our road turned right. Going straight, Judy and I quickly realized our error and, seeing a good place to turn around, did so. I motioned to Willie to turn around as we passed them. We made what was now a left and soon found our motel. But where were Donna and Jean? I went in the office while Judy stood out by the road to flag the others and soon enough, Donna and Jean pulled up. Seems they made the same mistake we did but did not figure it out as quickly.

And then the rest of them did not show up. After too long, Donna called Willie and they were waiting back at the turnaround, apparently thinking Judy and I would come back for them after we found the motel. Which I was just about to do when Judy told me Donna had spoken to Willie.

About an hour later, Mario arrived with Jungle. This was Thursday and the shop would not have the stator till Tuesday. So for the next three days Willie would ride with Mario in his car and Jungle would lead the group on Willie’s FJ1100. More than that was yet to be resolved because on Tuesday we were to be back nearly to Yellowstone. What to do?

Biker Quote for Today

I ride, therefore I am (relaxed, happy, free).