June 25, 2018
the Jetta and the Journey
When Rachael and I uprooted ourselves earlier this year, ridding ourselves of our home and most of our belongings, we made one large exception: we temporarily kept our Volkswagen Jetta. The plan has always been to dispense with this also and become a car-free family, but the timing wasn’t right. It helped us work through the transition process as we shuffled our remaining belongings to our storage unit, to Goodwill, and to the various Airbnb apartments we sheltered in before leaving for Greece.
And, even if the timing were right, we couldn’t get rid of it because we lost the title somewhere along the way. Getting a title replacement from DMV is a lengthy process (we’re still working on that one), and there wasn’t time before leaving the country two months ago.
So that’s one piece of the background for this journal. The other is that Rachael and I have for years talked about taking a bike tour of the Canadian Rockies. She’s never been there, and the one time I’ve seen them was on an ill-fated bike tour from Prince George to Jasper with one of my former wives many years ago. I don’t care to dwell on that tour, but it’s a spectacular region that I’d love to visit again under happier circumstances.
This summer seemed like the perfect time for this. At the time we started planning for this tour we didn’t know how long it would take to sell our home, and we thought we should stay at least somewhat close to Portland this summer in case we were needed to complete a sale.
I’ve sketched out many variations of a Canadian Rockies tour over the years, so I started with a pretty clear general idea of what to consider. Among other things I knew that we would include the Icefields Parkway, and I wanted to explore the country in Southeast British Columbia. A loop of some sort seemed natural, perhaps up the west side of the Divide from Nelson to Tete Jaune Cache, and then back south from Jasper to Lake Louise.
If you’re not camping though and if you’re not inclined to long days in the saddle, this approach runs up against some problems - in particular, the fact that there are very few lodging options along the Parkway, the few that do exist are exorbitantly expensive, and you need to book far in advance. Instead, we’ve decided that this is a good place to make use of the Jetta one last time. We’ve fashioned a tour that is a compromise - we’ll use the car to help with the logistics, and ride a mix of unsupported loops and day rides.
So who’s going along with us on this adventure? The Jetta of course, Rodriguez and the Straggler, and hopefully some of you. If the use of the car offends in a bike touring website, just skip over pages where the Jetta has a starring role and focus on the bikes. We’ll still cover plenty of miles, slog up a slew of hills, and work up a sweat. With luck we’ll find some interesting flora and fauna to puzzle over and maybe even slip in a food photo or two.
| Heart | 0 | Comment | 0 | Link |
| Heart | 0 | Comment | 0 | Link |
| Heart | 1 | Comment | 0 | Link |
So here’s the plan: right after mom’s 94th birthday celebration we’ll drive from Seattle to Kamloops, where the tour begins. We’ll spend the first week on an unsupported (carless) loop of the Okanagans, returning to Kamloops at the end. From there we’ll spend about two weeks on day rides from a series of multinight stands: three nights in Valemont, four in Jasper, two in Saskatchewan River Crossing, four in Canmore, and one in Radium. We’ll finish up by driving to Nelson for a ten day unsupported ‘loop’ (figure eight, actually) of the Selkirks, and then drive back to Portland.
| Heart | 0 | Comment | 0 | Link |
| Heart | 0 | Comment | 0 | Link |
| Heart | 0 | Comment | 2 | Link |
6 years ago
6 years ago
| Rate this entry's writing | Heart | 7 |
| Comment on this entry | Comment | 5 |
Glad you're not a purist and are willing to use a car if necessary to make the logistics work. I, too, would prefer to do without but sometimes it seems the only sensible solution. We are considering loops from different points in Alsace in August.
6 years ago
6 years ago
The high point of the prologue was hiking to the Burgess Shale. When I say high point I of course mean physical altitude but even more so intellectual and spiritual high point. This was in 2009 exactly 100 years since its discovery by Charles Walcott. The Burgess Shale is only accessible by guided tour that is arranged in the town of Field, which has lodging and some very good beer. Try a pint of the Shale Ale.
The tour is not cheap and the dates are limited. I remember it being $125 per person but your guide is not some freshman college student out for summer. Our guide Paul had a PhD in paleontology. We were the only folks from the US. Our group included Canadians, Europeans, Australians, South Americans and Asians, with a number of them sporting advance scientific degrees.
In summary this hike is a game changer. To hold the most important fossils ever found in your hands at the site of discovery was more than worth the price of admission and the huffing and puffing up the mountain side. If you can work it into your itinerary I think you will be well rewarded.
Have a great trip and be kind to the Jetta.
Robert
6 years ago
On the other hand, if we make it up to Fields (a candidate for one of our day rides), I feel confident that I can figure out what to do with a Shale Ale.
Will you be in Portland later this summer? We’ll be in town for a couple of weeks after returning from Canada before heading back to Europe, so maybe we could share a beverage somewhere and contemplate the wrath of Pele. Can you believe the timing on our tour last January?
Cheers,
Scott
6 years ago
6 years ago