Day four.

Our route: From little mountain cabin to Sparwood, BC.

64.4 miles.

Between yesterday and today we’ve seen bighorn sheep, a grizzly, a moose, an elk (on Elk Pass no less), deer, a bald eagle, prairie dogs, and a jack rabbit. Moving by bicycle is just the right speed to see the world, smell it, feel it. Not too fast, not too slow. Well, it’s actually a lot of 3 mph climbs followed by 35 mph descents. Throw in a rocky gravel road and a bike loaded with gear, and those descents can be thrilling.

Our water supply comes from the streams we cross. We usually filter about 4 liters at each stop.

Today’s goal was to get to the town of Elkford before the rain, which we achieved beautifully, but the hotel there was booked full. We had to push on to Sparwood, 22 miles south to find a hotel. As we started out from Elkford the sky finally did what everyone said it would…it opened up and started dumping water and wind on us.

My stupid looking helmet brim paid dividends today. We got a room, took a hot shower, and all is well.