GDMBR Day 56

• Start: Mt. Engadine Lodge, Peter Lougheed Provincial Park

• Finish: Lake Louise Hostel

• Miles: 70.3 miles

• Odometer: 2,780.6 miles

• Ascent: 2,100 feet

• Descent: 3,000 feet

• Location: https://share.garmin.com/Judice

This morning the route took me up a gravel road and dumped me onto the 12-mile single track Goat Creek Trail. It was pretty but very soggy and muddy from continued rain. The trail dropped into Banff and I emerge from the forest looking at this beautiful old hotel that looks like a castle. Shocking contrast. I toured around Banff and stopped at the bike shop to check my tire pressure. Within a few minutes I had four of the bike shop staff around me asking about the Great Divide route. My brain tends to downplay what I have accomplished, but it’s times like this where I realize that riding this route is actually quite an accomplishment.

I left Banff on the Bow Valley Parkway and cycled to the town of Lake Louise and checked into the local hostel where I shared a small room with three other cyclists. 

Did I mention I saw my second moose of the trip? He was eating about 30 feet from the parkway. Yay!