Day 6 – Wednesday 20^th

We woke up to a crisp 45 deg morning with off and on, mostly off, sprinkles. We got on the road at 10:00, gerbing.com it was 50 and sunny. Today is the first day we plugged in the Gerbing electric jackets. We were going to travel on the “Ice Fields Hwy” so it sounded like a good idea. This highway between Lake Louise and Jasper is by far the most beautiful road I have ever been on. Actually it’s my second time, Chuck and I traveled this in 2009 but Jasper is as far as we went. For the girls it was a first.

Besides glaciers, bluish-gray rivers, swift moving creeks, and endless hills of pines and aspens, we saw two more black bears, deer, fox, and an elk the size of a horse.

As the day progressed it got warmer and warmer. The weather report shows tomorrow to be in the 70’s too. Overall, I can’t complain about our riding conditions.

We parted with Quentin and Kathy after a late lunch in Jasper for the 102 mile ride to McBride. There is something you have to get used to up here, kilometers and kilometers per hour. I was thinking about our fairly short ride of just over a hundred miles and soon after leaving Jasper I see the sign, “McBride 160”. After a short panic attack I remembered we are in a metric world! Chuck said after arriving at the Beaver Creek Cabins, “I just love the speed limits up here, the sign says 100 (kph) and we only were going 70 (mph).” 

The Beaver Creek Cabins are really cool. They are ½ mile from town, really cute and clean and spacious. The view is amazing, snow capped mountains, grassy field with deer grazing in it. We sat outside and had cheese, crackers, and a glass of local BC wine.

After a mile or so walk the girls went to bed while Chuck and I cleaned the bikes and watched the sun go down at 10:00. Just because the sun goes down up here doesn’t mean it gets dark. I just thought about this, I have not seen darkness since Star, Idaho when I stayed up until midnight. 

Thanks for following us two more days to the first dip into Alaska.