The Kanansakis Trail–One Incredible Motorcycle Road
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.
It’s no surprise that Canada has designated four national parks almost side by side in this area.
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.
