Is this Crowsnest Pass?
Crowsnest Pass was really just a passage through the mountains, not a major climb. There was a little more up this morning, but nothing steep. My second crossing of the continental divide on this trip - and my first entry into British Columbia. Downhill into BC, with a wicked headwind on and off. Coming to the west side of the divide is very different from the east. On the east side is seems that the mountains drop away very quickly. On this side they seem to stay around. It appears that the road here dipped south to get through the mountains and eventually went through a tunnel to cut through.
I stopped in Sparwood BC - which bills itself as being the home of the world's largest truck! (http://www.sparwood.bc.ca/titaninf.htm) It was pretty big. My only regret is not getting a picture of my bike next to the truck, but the plain truck picture will just have to do!
This is billed as the world's largest truck. Is it?
I saw one cyclist today going in the opposite direction. He was coming down from Jasper, Banff, and Kootenay. He's heading for Glacier, Rocky Mountain, Mesa Verde, and Canyonlands national parks - on a 10-week trip, from Europe.
Strange weather day. It was clear this morning until I crossed the pass, then it looked like rain. I stopped in Fernie to eat something - it sprinkled there, then turned into bright sunshine. After I left Elko it clouded up again. It sprinkled while I was setting up camp, but now it's dry again. Hopefully it will blow over - I hate packing up wet gear in the morning!
When I stopped in Fernie I also stopped at Fernie Sports to ask if I could borrow a floor pump. I just can't seem to get the tires up to full pressure with the frame pump. They loaned me a fabulous pump - that made me realize that it's time to replace my floor pump at home, since this one worked a lot better than mine does. It was a Blackburn pump with both Schrader and Presta valve attachments.
I ended up in a very funky campground in Galloway. There are some cabins at a gas station / store with a grassy area for tents. I bypassed the first place I passed in Elko (with a similar setup) at 3:30 in the afternoon after I heard there was another campground 12 miles down the road. There is a small creek that runs through here, then the grassy area, the cabins, the road, and the railroad tracks. I set the tent up behind one of the cabins so it's not too obvious from the road. The bathrooms are locked (each camper is given a key) - so I won't run into some stranger from the road in the middle of the night. The woman who runs the place seems really nice.
I still need to figure out my goal for tomorrow. It will probably be either Skookumchuck or Canal Flats. I'll see if I can find out which has a better campground.
Two trailers with kids and dogs just pulled in to the campground - probably a good thing. This way it's not just me back here.
Grocery shopping is a little disconcerting here. There are a lot of the same product that I see at home, but they have been repackaged for the Canadian market. And the vast majority of the packaging doesn't include any nutritional information - which makes me realize how much I use that information.
I made a comment to the campground owner about the 2 dollar coin. It's a good looking coin - with a silver ring outside and a brass center. She pointed out that it's "the queen with a bear behind" (which sounds funnier than it looks, "bear" vs. "bare"). It has the face of the queen on the front, and a picture of a bear on the back. They call it a tooney (twoney?), and call the $1 coin a "looney" for the picture of the loon it bears. The smallest bill is $5, and they are apparently talking about changing it to a coin too. Ouch - too heavy!
It's going to be a noisy night between the road and the railroad tracks. Three long freight trains have gone by in the last 3 hours.
