Day 9: This is why we carried camping gear

68 miles

Conversation from last night:

Mike: What time should I set the alarm for?

Me: There would be no alarms in my ideal honeymoon.

Mike: I think most honeymoons have some alarm wake ups for spa treatments and such.

Me: Yeh, but our alarm wake up is to bike 50+ miles not for a spa. 

Needless to say we did wake up and get rolling for our journey. We knew we would be camping tonight because the place we had hoped to stay was all booked up. But thankfully the nearest campground was opening for the season today. Good timing!

So we left Lake Louise and got on the Bow Valley Parkway (which they advertise as being nearly impossible to not see wildlife on it). We managed to see nothing, but we did take some fun photos.

With my bear claws ready to act big if I see a black bear.  

Mike enjoying the lack of traffic on the road. 

We stopped for lunch at a convenience store, which had pretty good sandwiches.  And a super cool gas pump. 

Then back on the road to face our mountain for the day.  It was long and traffic picked up since we were no longer on the Bow Valley Parkway. We made it and celebrated with a stop at the continental divide. 

We found this pretty cool and were surprised by how few other travelers stopped here. We hoped to get a photo together, but most people who stopped simply used it as a bathroom break and didn't come near the sign. Here we left Banff National Park and crossed into Kootenay National Park, as well it marked us leaving Alberta and crossing to British Columbia. We also read a little about the pass we were headed toward. 

From there we made it to Vermillion crossing, were we had hoped to stay, but now planned on eating in their restaurant before heading on to our campground. My Achilles was still hurting pretty bad, so I was lagging behind Mike most of the day. I stopped to lower my bike seat and ice in the Kootenay River. Both of which helped. 

Glacier water fixes everything.

Then onward to dinner.  We arrived to find that the restaurant is only open on the weekends, so we had to make dinner selections from their convenience store. Luckily they had one sandwich left. 

Yummy dinner for hungry bikers.

We purchased our food and sat outside to eat. There we met three other women biking heading in the opposite direction who chatted with us for a bit, gave us some advice and offered us a place to stay once we arrive in Missoula ( they are from Missoula). I think they were excited to see another woman out there biking.  We quickly ran in to use the bathrooms and fill up water bottles before they closed at 6pm and then it was back on the road for 23 more miles until our campground. It was a good thing we arrived when we did or we would have had a granola bar dinner. 

Biking to the campground was beautiful. There was less traffic as it got later but plenty of light because it doesn't get dark till 11pm. At one point I felt like we were in Jurassic Park. There were electric fences on both sides of us to prevent wildlife deaths. 

We saw a deer on the other side of the fence but that was it. Frankly, I was okay not seeing anything else as I was laying my head outdoors tonight. 

We finally arrived at McLeod Meadows, and set up camp. It was a nice day of riding, but we were both glad to be off the saddle. 

I made sure he out the rain fly on for heat!  Although we did end up opening it a bit to get a breeze as we slept. Once we got camp set up we walked to the river to ice again, came back and built a fire. 

Nothing says honeymoon quite like no hot meals, no showers, biking 68 miles to camp😉. (We did take a baby wipe shower). Today was a far cry from the spa treatment he referenced last night, but it was a great day. I think Mike realizes how lucky he is to have found a wife who finds this okay for a honeymoon adventure. Addendum from Mike:  I think Erin realizes how lucky she is to have found a husband that takes her to the most beautiful places on the planet. :)