July 8, 2016
Tete Juane Cache, BC - Jasper, AB: Just another day in paradise.
I kept telling myself what a good deal we got on our very cute little cabin. What is having an attached bathroom worth to me in dollars? Hmmm.
Last night I sat outside by the office with hummingbirds zipping around, finishing up the journal. I was chilled when I got back to the cabin, so I turned the heater on. Jacinto came in, he was too hot, and he turned it down. Or so he thought. Instead he actually turned the heater up. Then our little cabin was roasting. Jacinto turned the heater completely off and opened two windows. I thought the temperature would cool right off. Nope. Jacinto said he was so hot the back of his neck was sweaty. He went to the office for a fan. They gave him a paper plate. Which I thought was funny. I was sure the cabin would cool off soon, as it really was quite chilly outside. It was too warm all night long. I didn't sleep that well. The same train woke me up early this morning as yesterday morning. Today the train blew it's whistle at 4:30 AM. Sigh. I never really went back to sleep after that.
It's a good thing our cabin was close to the bathhouse. I went up for a shower, went back for water for my oatmeal, went back again for a last bathroom run before leaving. I had gotten up a half hour early for all of the back and forth. On the last trip, I walked the bike to the bathhouse with me so I could keep going. Jacinto was actually up and out of bed. He shouted at me that I didn't have my helmet. I thought he would bring it to me, but no. I ended up walking all the way back to the cabin and I was late to meet everyone. Jim and Genny left, as they were planning on breakfast in Mount Robson. Oren politely waited for me and even had time to pet the gray cat while he waited.
Off we went, back about a half mile to the intersection. We are now on the road to Jasper. ! ! ! Finally after all of this planning and pedaling, we were going to arrive in Jasper, ready to ride the Icefields Parkway.
The sky was very cloudy. I had debated about leg warmers, but settled on adding a vest. The forecast said we should make it to town just fine. Our route was typical of previous days. 65 miles and 3,300 feet of climbing. Just another day in paradise.
All of our big climbing was in the first 20 miles. I haven't used the granny gear in forever. I probably shouldn't say that . . . but the climbing has been very reasonable for days and days.
We soon caught up with Jim and Genny. The cafe was closed. The snacks they'd had in their room would have to do. Not far down the road was a convenience store. Oren said his deli food from Valemount had been very unsatisfactory and he was going to get a milk. Since I climb slower than Oren, I kept going, throwing a request for a V-8 over my shoulder.
Soon I caught up to Jim and Genny. They hadn't noticed the convenience store. We had a nice shoulder, usually 4' wide. Typically the annoying rumble strip wasn't a problem. We did catch up to a heavily loaded couple. The man had just run into the concrete barrier between the rumble strip and the river. Genny said it looked like he had gouged his inner leg on the chain ring. He had also bent his handlebars. Their destination was also Jasper.
We had several stops with Jim and Genny. Among other things, we discussed strategy for our park entry. It has been suggested here on CG to just keep going and not pay. That doesn't feel good. It has also been implied that we could pay for one day and stay longer. Possibly? We discussed the fact that we are a group traveling together and staying in the same lodging. Are we not a group? Could we get a group pass? We decided the best approach would be to go to the booth at the same time and ask. What about Jacinto? We no more than expressed the thought than an orange shirt appeared in the distance!
I told him to stick with us until the entrance, let's see how lucky we are. The men voted for the women to try for a group pass. Jim had a printed paper that said seven people traveling in the same vehicle would be a group. But we aren't in the same vehicle. I voted Genny to be the spokesperson because she's petite. Genny nicely took on the role.
Jacinto and Oren had arrived at the gate first. Genny and I went straight to the booth. Genny asked if we could pay as a group. Oh, yes, no problem. Would we like one day? We would have to be out of the park by 4 PM tomorrow. Genny thought he was sending us the obvious signal just to pay for one day. It went right over my head and I asked if we could pay for the annual pass as a group. Yes, we could do that also, up to seven people. I asked to include our two friends who were a few miles bike. No problem. He would let them know we had paid. I don't know how they would every prove to anyone they had paid, but there is a nice little surprise for them. We paid $137. CAD for all seven of us for a one year pass. Which is actually a two year pass because next year is free. It's good for Jasper and Banff and Kootney, but not Waterton. Who knows why?
15 more miles to go. It seems like nothing, given the miles we've been doing. Jacinto and Oren shot off the front. I was in the rear, then passed Jim and Genny. Now I was close to no one. Could I get to the lodge by myself. Yes, I could. I hope.
But, there was a little piece of road construction going over a bridge that Oren got caught in. We came into town together. I think I would have been fine by myself. I'm getting much better at navigation. Plus this year there isn't as much to navigate. That makes it easier. It has been almost ten years since I was in Jasper last time. That trip we were camping and I remember riding up, up the hill to the campground and my legs being so unhappy. We had a rest day and I didn't leave the campground the whole day because I didn't want to do the hill again.
This time we are at a lodge. I spent considerable time trying to find a place that had a good price point, was in a good location, and looked nice for the money. We are here three nights as we also have a day scheduled for an out and back to Maligne Lake. Unfortunately, the weather looks terrible. I suspect no one is riding to the lake, no even Jacinto. 90% chance of rain just doesn't sound fun.
We got checked in and agreed we wanted to eat right away. The Best Western next door had a high recommendation from the desk clerk, they opened at 5 PM. That was an hour and a half away. Our other choice was to walk down town to the brew pub. In the end, by the time we were all organized, we went next door.
The food was very good. I had salmon pistachio. The only problem is, I would have had seconds. This was a case of quality over quantity. I had a fancy salad that came with a flower in it. Oren was the one last year who got a flower in his salad.
We all agreed yippee! tomorrow is a day off. No alarm clocks. We were curious what our breakfast would include. It came with our cabin, but the cabins that had kitchens did not have breakfast, they had to pay $11. The Best Western has a $12.50 breakfast buffet. Hmmm - the one at our place must be pretty good because the price is almost the same.
Our cabin is a little small. We have Jacinto's bike inside, but mine has to stay outside until we go to bed. Tomorrow I'd like it to stay inside so it's not in the rain. I have some squeak going on, I think it's an idler. I've cleaned the chain nightly (honest) and lubed it several times. With all of this rain, it's hard to keep up on bike maintenance.
We've had a few mosquitoes since Barriere. It seems they like me much more than Jacinto. I have welts in a number of places. Overall the mosquitoes aren't too bad.
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Today's ride: 66 miles (106 km)
Total: 1,032 miles (1,661 km)
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