CLIMBING High

 Day 12—Saturday, August 13—Sparwood to Elko, BC

36 miles by road (as the crow flies or the car drives is not the way the bike rides); 60F in the morning getting up to mid-80s 

Got a good start from Mountain Shadows campground on a single track (path) that wove in and out of thick pine forest sun dappled berry bushes and required a fair amount of pushing up grades that are possible when you’re not carrying 35-40 lbs. 

Climbing high above the valley floor

Single track biking is not for everyone; Noreen, Andy, and I are making different route choices as preference and need dictates. For this leg, Andy needed to stop in the next town of any size to have his rear wheel examined (turned out to be significant spoke issues) and took an access path back to the highway and I plugged on.

The work required in climbing these paths does provide rewards: cooler temps being up higher, slower pace to take in the views and fauna, no trucks roaring past, and the pure fun of descending on a winding path and the challenge of staying on the trail and avoiding trees.

Not much room for error on this stretch

Weaving through forest… one of the few level spots!

Andy and I agreed to meet in Fernie and we connected at the library while he waited for the repair. 

Fernie is a cool and hip town; three or four bike stores and good bagels at Big Bang Bagels. We agreed to meet up again in Elko, a much smaller town down the road. The next part of the trail was a combination of single track and gravel roads and now at mid-day the sun played more of a role. There was a slight headwind that came out of the shade that kept things cooler.   

View from the trail above Fernie

Climbing on single track out of Fernie—hot, sweet smell of timothy—the grass that is!

Along the path I came across a chasm (catastrophic wipe out of a former bridge) and had to backtrack to a trail that was a “black diamond” mountain bike trail more appropriate for someone with full suspension. 

Major bridge out: impassable…25 feet deep, 35 feet wide

It was bumpy and I realized later that I had donated to the trail gods a small shovel, an extra bear spray canister, and sunscreen which, apparently, were not adequately tied down. I had to park the bike on a steep slope and retrace my steps uphill to find a stuff sack full of clothes that had fallen off.

Too much fun.

The trail led me to a road and to two barely passable gorges (bridges were complete missing) where I had to push up the bike to the other side. 

 Bridge out…barely passsble but no other choice 

Pretty tough in steep soft dirt. I had to filter some water at this point since I was getting pretty dry. I still had 20 miles to go and the day was getting long.

Because of the original missing bridge I had to find another way back to the established trail and fortunately was successful. The map has names for the road; unfortunately there are very few street signs so some guessing is involved. The final stretch to Elko was (apparently) on Lodgepole road which was wide and gravel with some long and steep climbs with gusting headwinds (woohoo). I was not ashamed to get off and push since that was probably faster.

View from the trail

I pulled into Elko which is tiny and being used as a staging and sleep area for forest fire fighters (there are a few fires in the area);  found Andy at the only gas station, replenished some fluids, and we took off for 3 & 93 Dairy Bar, got a bite and tried to figure out where to camp. 

3 & 93: it’s for sale if anyone is interested (refers to highway crossroads)

After ruling out the roadside rest area, we bushwhacked in high grass off the highway and out of sight, tied up our food in a tree (still bear country), set up tents just at sunset which was enhanced by the smoke from a distant fire. 

View thru the mosquito netting on my tent

The crickets and other insects are deafening. It was the hardest day so far with all of the single track. Also improvisation and working around glitches (missing bridges) takes a fair bit of mental energy that you don’t really use in bike touring on pavement (in my opinion)…more on that later!

The crickets provided a great serenade!