High Atop the Rocky Mountains

Dave and I awoke from our first night at a hostel and cautiously peered out the window to see the weather outside. The streets of Revelstoke were soaking wet, but there appeared to be no rain falling from the sky. That was enough for Dave and I to get our butts in gear to get on the road. We knew it would be a long haul to Golden, but we were talking about doing the whole trip in a day... mostly as a way of psyching ourselves up, but we both did hold the possibility in the back of our minds.

Our hopes were quickly squashed when a quick inspection of Dave's bike revealed a flat tire. Therefore, before we could even get started we were forced into bike maintenance which set us back a good 45 minutes. Once the tube was changed, we rode to the Shell station to inflate the tire (as well as my back tire which is consistently losing air, but not enough to appear as though it is flat). We then headed towards Golden, but we both realized it would be a far stretch to travel the entire 150km.

Progress in the morning was steady, but not blistering quick. It was apparent that there would be much more climbing today than previous days, but neither of us was ready for what we were about to face...

We managed to get the first 40km completed around noon, and then we began discussing the real possibility that we would not reach Golden today. As a result we started to discuss the alternate plans of action, but the only real solution was to spend the night at Rogers Pass. Following this discussion the pace began to slow... not only as a result of the increasing number of hills, but also due to the fact that we really were in no rush since Rogers Pass was not far off.

As we ascended higher and higher into the mountains we encountered several tunnels, which were the first ones since the third day of biking. Also, the scenery surrounding us was becoming more and more fascinating as we became immersed in snow covered mountain peaks. The sunny breaks we experienced led to many extraordinary photo ops, and we took picture after picture. One other notable thing regarding our location was the drastic change in temperature... with snow still right along the road, the temps were much closer to zero than we had previously experienced.

We finally entered Rogers Pass Historic Site and headed towards what we had heard referred to as the "summit". This summit wound itself around the top of a mountain and with every turn we continued to climb higher and higher. We finally reached the peak and came face-to-face with a sign reading "Rogers Pass Summit 1330m"! I couldn't believe it... when we were in Revelstoke I was amazed at the fact that we were 450m about sea level, and now after a single day of riding we were almost a full kilometre higher! Crazy!

After reaching the summit we continued to the Rogers Pass Centre and pulled into Glacier Park Lodge. Realizing this was a classy hotel we quickly weighed our options and then realized we only had one - stay here at whatever the cost! Dave headed in with the objective of trying to negotiate a price, and I waited anxiously outside. Dave finally emerged and announced that the hotel had just raised the rates two days prior to $125 per night. My jaw hit the floor and Dave laughed... lucky for us, the manager felt sympathetic to our cause and agreed to give us a room for only $70. Dave and I grabbed our gear and headed to our room. The first thing I did was grab a nice, refreshing hot shower and then lay down to relax my muscles.

So here I am now, high atop the Rocky Mountains a mere eight days after we departed from Vancouver. I must admit, I thought we would have been here sooner, but I have no regrets whatsoever. The only thing I am concerned with is the amount of money we have spent on hotels/motels... I wish we could do more camping; however, due to the time frame in which we started our journey, most campgrounds in this region are not yet open, and the weather as of late simply has not lent itself to outdoor living. Luckily, with a positive hostel experience behind me, I am actually looking forward to arriving in Banff and staying at the hostel there. So, although our arrival in Calgary will be slightly delayed, we are both enjoying ourselves immensely and the stories continue to emerge!