Day two

Canmore, Alberta to somewhere in the forest south of Banff

40 miles on the day

It was a day of headwinds and putting on and taking off rain jackets six or seven times. We stopped at a bike shop in Canmore and the super nice owner guy told us that big storms are brewing. He suggested a campsite on the deck of an off-route ranger station that might provide some shelter. So that was our planned destination.

The route from Canmore to Banff (the official start of our tour) was on a nice paved bike path along an expressway. It was loud, but we were safe from traffic. And the mountain views were spectacular. Riding from the plains to the Rocky Mountains was an experience all its own.

The town of Banff, on the other hand, is just a super ritzy mountain town with a thousand expensive hotels and a million t-shirt shops. We made a stop at another bike shop to buy a strap for Max’s gear and set off from the trail head.

We found the turnoff for the ranger station and we spent a good 1/2 hour looking for it to no avail. But we did find a very nice spot on a bank overlooking a river. We got the tents set up in a bit of rain, but were cozy and tucked in before the sky’s opened up.

We had to visit the famous Fairmont Springs Hotel. $1,800 per night.

Our campsite for the night. $0.