Banff National Park, Canada

Revelstoke
Wow, it feels like so much has happened since last time we wrote! We drove from Squamish through the rain to Revelstoke, a small little town near Revelstoke National Park. It is well known (or so they say) for it's great heli-skiing, with the most vertical drop in BC. It's also well known for Mt. Biking. We celebrated Jonathan's birthday by staying in a little motel in Revelstoke. It was a good relief from the constant rain.

We woke up early and rode some trails. First, we rode a loop together, trying not to slide on the wet roots. The trail was fun. Then, Ashley dropped me off at the top of a popular downhill trail that winds down the mountain through the forest. This was the steepest trail I'd ever ridden. It constantly had dropoffs that I even had trouble walking down. It was made a little harder because of the rain, but I still have trouble imagining ever riding down this stuff. Several spots I tried to make myself ride, but couldn't. I'd look at it, convince myself to do it, back up and ride to the edge of it, and then.... step off my bike in fear. Even though I was cautious, I still managed to do 2 endo's (front flips), because it was so steep. There was also several log crossings, where I rode on a log with a 6" wide platform for 20'. There was several crazy jumps and platforms built as well, that I rode around. I was finding cuts and bruises on myself for days afterwards, but it was well worthit.

Then we drove to nearby Glacier National Park, and went for a hike. There was a huge glacier that we hiked up to. It was 3500' vertical in 3 miles. It was beautiful, even though we were engulfed in clouds and rain as soon as we got up above treeline. We were gonna camp nearby, but because of the rain decided to keep driving to Banff Nat'l Park.


Banff National Park

is pretty cool. Huge peaks all around it and a nice big clear river running through the valley. We relaxed one morning and walked around the town of Banff, and then did a few sport climbs nearby. Sunday we went to a little presbyterian church in Banff. It was a cool group of people, mostly from out of town, but all excited to be around other believers.

We went for another bike ride on a recommended trail by the river. This trail was the last straw for my bike. 5 miles from the trailhead I broke my rear derailler and then my seat. Here's the list of broken parts (items that need to be replaced) on my bike: Front Shock, Seat cushion, bottom bracket, chain, pedals, derailler, cassettes, chainrings. Basically everything except the frame and wheels.

Monday and Tuesday we climbed. We found some really unique limestone sport climbing in Canmore called Grassi Lakes. Tuesday we climbed some trad and sport climbs at Lake Louise. The climbing at both these places was great, and the views were spectacular. We met more climbers from Boulder than from any other place.

Then we drove to some Natural Hot Springs on the edge of a river. It was fun running back and forth from the hot pools to the freezing icemelt water. We also had a few long interesting conversations with some canadians.