Great Divide (NOBO) - Day #38 Elkford, BC to Peter Lougheed Provincial Park, AB

Great Divide (NOBO) - Day #38

July 6 2022

Elkford, BC to Peter Lougheed Provincial Park, AB - 59 Miles

Start 8:20 AM Finish 9:01 PM

Total Duration 12:41

Moving Time 7:14

Stopped Time 5:27

Ascent 5,264 Feet

Descent 3,946 Feet

Tour Total 2,767 Miles

Details at: https://ridewithgps.com/trips/95763370

I slept great in the Elkford Municipal Campground with the other dividers. It got cold during the night, but I was able to stay warm. I didn’t have a 70+ mile day of riding planned so I slept in and packed up with the other guys. There was a lot of condensation and I packed up a wet tent. I stopped at the Fas Gas and purchased two egg sandwiches, a Starbucks Frapuccino, and an orange juice. It was 51° F and the forecast on one app was rain. I had brushed off my bike last night and cleaned my chain, which was sounding much better today.

The Canadian Rockies were striking and on par with the Tetons. I rode out of town and got on a gravel path following Bravin Creek. I was wearing leg-warmers, socks, and my jacket, and I was a little chilly. It was roughly a hundred miles to Banff and I planned to break it into two days. The gravel ended and I was on a dirt path which was a continuation of the Elk Valley Trail. This section was also called Crossing Creek Recreational Trail. It was much better maintained than what I’d been on the past two days. There were blue plastic ribbons arrow markings in the meadows and clear cuts with large arrows. I loved how people create cairns and stack rocks atop tree stumps and boulders to warn of obstacles.

I didn’t see anything in Grand Prairie other than bunch of dirt, large puddles, and a few RVs. I took a left on gravel and was on Elk Valley Road heading north. I was still following the Elk River. The sky was mostly cloudy and gray. I stopped at a magnificent view across the valley and realized that I was looking at a ginormous strip mining operation right before the Greenhills Range. I had seen a long freight train hauling coal in Elko, and this was the source.

I came to a beautiful meadow called the Krivensky Farm Recreation Site where I noticed people camping. On the next climb I passed a clear cut. I spent the summer of 1988 planting trees outside of Prince George, BC, which was not that far from here. I remembered the clearcuts as well as the cold, rain, mosquitoes, and black flies. I stopped and talked with a southbound divider who told me that he had seen two grizzly bears yesterday and a brown bear today. He warned me of a long slow climb up to the pass.

I ran into a Canadian south-bounder having breakfast on the railing of a small single lane bridge. He was going from Calgary to Fernie and had seen the same grizzly bears as the other cyclist. I slowly kept climbing on the gravel. I saw a black wolf up ahead, and it ran into the woods as soon as it saw me. Later on I saw a deer. I crossed over Weary Creek and passed the Weary Creek campground

I was thinking about how remote I was and whether this was the most remote section yet of the tour. Banff was seventy miles to the north and Elkford was thirty miles to the south. Nothing that I knew of was to the west. Calgary was some distance to the northeast. The mountains were ginormous. I was surrounded by fir trees which were punctuated by clearcuts. I was still following the power lines that I had been with since Elko. It started to sprinkle.

It started to rain and I pulled over at a park sign which gave me a bit of cover to open my panniers. I put on my rain pants, waterproof socks, and rain hood. I rearranged my panniers so that my long underwear top was easily accessible and moved my long finger gloves to my handlebar bag. An oncoming pick-up truck passed me.

I was awed by the magnificent mountains. The Spanish word 'sierra' translates as saw. The striking range to my east resembled a sharp sawtooth blade forged from dragon glass. I was filming a profile of the mountains and encountered a group of horses walking down the road. I passed Tobermorey cabin and then crossed Tobermorey Creek. Shadows began to appear on the roadway, and it began to dry up. I would soon need to change out of my rain gear.

The Canadian Rockies really were stupendous. My paper maps weren’t giving me nearby mountain elevations, and it seemed like the ACA cartographers didn’t put as much work into the Canadian section. Unlike the Tetons, I was really out there. I had these mountains all to myself.

By 3 PM I had ridden forty-five miles. I was approaching the pass and stopped to remove my rain pants, waterproof socks, and rain hood. I came to Elk Lake Cabin, and from here it was four miles to the pass. The route turned to double-track.

I’ve been following the same set of powerlines since Elko. At a certain point I was riding directly underneath them. On the steep grades the route would switchback the powerlines down the center. I came to a really muddy area and had been advised to go wide around the puddles. I should have taken my socks off because my left foot sunk up to my ankle, and was completely covered in mud. I took off my socks and cleaned my feet and sandals in the stream running along the road.

And then I came to a stupendous wooden arch with carved figures. I was now at the top of Elk pass and had crossed into the province of Alberta. Elk pass was also the Continental Divide and I was now on the Arctic Ocean Watershed instead of the Pacific. I could see the striking blue Upper Kananaskis Lake far in the distance. I continued on the Elk Pass Trail that ran through meadows and underneath the powerlines. I then had a really steep downhill and crossed Fox Creek. I had to Hike-a-bike up the other side.

After another downhill I came to an asphalt parking lot with parked motor vehicles. This was the trailhead for Elk Pass. Next I found myself on a two-lane asphalt road. So much for being out there and remote. I rode over to the Boultan Creek Trading Post where I met south-bounders Austin from San Antonio and Sholto from London. They were just beginning their tour. Austin had done a lot of remote cycling and was taking the Tour Divide route to Starwood, and then picking up the Flathead Alternative to the border. Sholto was just getting his feet wet. His tires seemed way too thin in my opinion. There was no restaurant or beer on tap, and only an ice cream stand that sold hot dogs as well as a convenient store. I purchased two hot dogs, two Pepsi‘s, a bag of peanuts and a chocolate custard Naniamo.

I had a nice asphalt bike trail through the park with jaw-dropping views of snowcapped mountains. I rode over to the visitors center which had Wi-Fi out on the front porch. I battled the mosquitoes while I edited and uploaded this report.