Day 17

Today started sunny and dry. It is just an “eat the miles” day to get us out of the frozen north and down to Banff, which we missed because of the blizzard on the way up. After clouding up a bit, we spend the day dodging the occasional shower and working our way to Fort Nelson. This does take us through the only section of the trip that has offered any glimpse of wildlife and the best road so far. No exception. The road (BC Route 97) from Fireside to Tetsa Lake is one of the most fun and challenging I have ever ridden. Concentration must be at 100% because not only is the road often cut with decreasing turns that are a particular challenge at double or triple speed but, there is always the likelihood that around the next corner is a big fuzzy animal like a moose (saw six, nearly bagged a nice bull but the music in my headset scared him away – same with a mother and baby - darn), big horned sheep (again scared by the radio – turned it off and you could walk right up an pat them), bears (6-7), grizzlies (1 small) and several herds of goat. Oh! And about 30 buffalo with little baby! It makes for an interesting 120 miles of white knuckle riding. My legs were all cramped up by the end but, when will I ever do it again??!

Before I put on the music, I did get some more wildlife pictures. Perhaps the most interesting are those of the running bear. Even more interesting is that it is chasing Bruce. Apparently, he was intent on crossing the road and a bike to his left (Bruce) and a bike to his right (me) had him convinced that his bigger brethren were challenging him. He chose Bruce to face down first. I was snapping pictures when I heard Bruce's bike talk off. At that point the bear stopped and looked in my direction. I was off the bike, without helmet and shooting pictured and he must have thought, Ah, another bike! So he headed towards me. I ran for the bike, threw the camera in the trunk, popped my helmet on, tried to pull my gloves on while trying to start the bike at the same time. As soon as the engine kicked over, the bear must have felt it had won and it galloped across the road and into the bush, where it seemed to settle right down and start sniffing around for stuff to eat. Nevertheless, it was a little exciting there for a few moments!

Tomorrow we should make the north edge of Banff. We have changed our itinerary and will probably swing through Yellowstone instead of doing the pass in Rocky Mountain National Park.

Note: Alaska was dry and relatively bug free despite the carnage on our windshields. Walking about was not a problem. Same is true for Alberta, the Yukon and BC. We have had reasonably dry days for the important parts of our trip and no bugs. Bruce's research proved dead on.