Last year when riding through Jasper and Banff the ongoing fires had closed Hwy 93 leading through Kootenay National Park to Radium Hot Springs. It’s said to be a terrific stretch of road so was disappointed that I had missed it. So after crossing into Canada, I made my way north towards Radium. It was a beautiful day to be out riding with mild temperatures and lots of sunshine. After several stops to take pics along the route (Columbia Lake area was especially pretty and the featured pic in this post), I arrived in Radium Hot Springs early afternoon and found a fantastic independently owned motel for a very reasonable price. These small independently owned roadside motels are all over Canada and generally much nicer that what you would find in the US. The owners of these places are most often the operator, use their family as staff workers, and almost always have a story to tell of how they arrived where there were. This owner was no exception – an electrician by trade from Calgary who had left because of the poor economy, and risked it all purchasing a roadside motel business. He was actually doing very well and said business was even better that expected – and what the previous owner had indicated to him on what to expect. We chatted about the improvements he had completed and ones he also had planned for the future. It was a really nice cute place at a gateway to 4 of Canada’s National Parks. The Sunset Motel – I highly recommend it for a decent economical place to stay around the western entrance to Kootenay/Banff National Parks in Radium Hot Springs
With my early afternoon arrival and so much of the beautiful day left, I walked to the edge of town and found a maintained hiking trail through the local park. It followed a creek downhill through a heavily wooded area. For 90% of the hike I was the only sole around. It wasn’t until I came around the tail end of the loop that I ran into any people. It was good to get out and stretch the legs a bit – this was my first real hike since finding a little trail to explore in North Carolina while camping off the Parkway almost 2 weeks ago. I really needed to stretch my legs and get some much needed exercise. I have been stretching and doing some Pilates every few days so haven’t been completely dormant but it’s not quite the same as getting some vert and distance on a good hike.
I woke up Wednesday morning around 4am to very loud thunderstorms overhead. I quickly checked the forecast and saw that I was surrounded by storms and they would likely last all day. I geared up and hit the road wanting to take 93 up through Kootenay National Park and then back down to Golden through Yoho. I rode through Yoho last year but it was bumper to bumper traffic due to a terrible accident that had resulted in two deaths and had closing off sections of highway. Traffic was all coming from the other way this time so it was a good ride all the way down to Golden. I didn’t hit any real rain until just before Golden but it was a full on downpour. I considered punting for the day and stopping to stay in the same Kicking Horse Hostel I stayed in last year – but at the last minute decided to continue on towards Glacier Nation Park (yes, Canada has one too) and Revelstoke. Just as last year it was cold and wet through Revelstoke. And just as last year I needed my heated jacket to stay warm. I hear the mountains around Revelstoke are pretty dramatic, but now twice I have not been able to see them through the low clouds and fog. It was like deja vu from last year – slow going due to the traffic and rain, and unable to see any of the mountains and scenery. Oh well, what can you do. Have to take the good days and the bad when it comes to weather on a long trip.
I arrived in Kamloops early evening and found a not so great roadside motel, but it served my limited needs and the rooms were huge. In fact I had a full kitchen – just that nothing in the way of cookware, plates or silverware were provided, so also somewhat useless. I had noticed a motorcycle shop across the highway from my motel and checked google to see if they were still open, but they had closed at 6pm. I wondered if they had a good stock of tires as I am definitely now getting to the point where these are making me nervous. The tires I have on now are almost 5 years old and have almost 12,000 miles on them. I was hoping to make it a bit longer before changing tires but these are starting to go bad quickly. My plan was to check in the morning and see what they have in stock and maybe get it done on this stop if it works out. I had stopped at Tim Hortons (the are everywhere in Canada) for a salad a few hours earlier so wasn’t really hungry, was tired and wet, and went to bed early while it was still light outside.
Early to bed usually means early to rise and Friday morning was no exception. I was wide awake at 4am. After a coffee and few hours of free wifi at another Timmy’s (one of my favorite Canadian chains and most are open 24/7!), I walked over to the moto shop as they opened and checked out the tire situation. Turns out they had a great selection in stock and could do the swap for me that day. It was at that point I decided to take a layover day and stay another night. The motel had a coin washer/dryer so I could also take care of laundry. I realized that I have now been on the road two weeks and haven’t taken a full day off the bike yet. Today would be that day. Not the most epic spot for a layover, but I could be productive and get some chores done so it worked out just fine. I also found a Japanese/Korean restaurant down the street for lunch and it was delicious. I’m may go back again tonight for dinner as it’s one of the only non-chain restaurant within walking distance of me. I’m surrounded by Burger King, Dairy Queen, Arby’s, Wendy’s and McDonalds. There is a also a diner called Harolds nearby that gets good reviews on google – I might try that but it’s tough to pass on a sure good thing.
Both laundry and the bike were finished just after lunch so decided to tear down the bike and do a safety check on everything. My bike has all kinds of rattles, clicking, ticking, shakes, etc. so its hard to tell from a sound standpoint if anything is getting loose. It’s good to check all your bolts every once in a while so something you need doesn’t suddenly fall off the bike. I did find a bolt on one of the front disc brakes was starting to back out so dabbed on some loctite blue and tightened it back down. Everything else seemed good to go for the time being.
It’s only 4pm here and I’ve now completed all my chores + a post to the blog. Might be a good time to take a nap – I feel like I earned it!