September 6, 2007
To Icefield Parkway: Jonas
No surprise, rain poured just as we are waking. So when it stopped we made our move; we shower, our camp mates also are packing and we say goodbye, then sprinkles start again and we pack quickly. As we head the 3km back into town for breakfast, the sprinkles grow heavier, as we are eating breakfast there is a downpour. When we start riding, the rain has stopped and it is cold.
The road climbs we have a nice shoulder except the divots are back (Patrick says it's from laying telephone cable). There is a foot wide strip that follows the white line about a foot in and the shoulder with the divots to the right of the strip that we discover is smoother and by the end of the day we named it a bike lane!
Early in the day we come to a viewpoint when the sun is shining, so we spread the tent out to dry. The road mostly climbs following the Athabasca River, stopping to see the falls continuing on another 9 km to a nice rest area for lunch. The road continues to climb with some descents then at Sunwapta Falls the river splits and we continue following the Sunwapta River to our right. Each side of the road there are steep uplifted mountains some with snow.
At 5:30pm we arrive at Jonas Creek Campground. We knew it would be closed and planned to stay here anyway. We make our way around the gate, find a spot in the back of the campground and pitch the tent. Skies look threatening. Patrick carried water from our stop at Sunwapta Falls, so we start out with soup and coffee. For dinner we have round steak, onion and mushroom gravy, mashed potatoes, green beans. Patrick cleans up since Rachel cooked.
Just as the sprinkles return, we crawl into the tent.
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Today's ride: 83 km (52 miles)
Total: 14,065 km (8,734 miles)
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