I talked to some cyclists on a Backroads tour when I stopped for a snack. One of them mentioned that Colin was one of their leaders, so I pulled into their rest spot to see if was the same Colin that I know from doing the Backroads Alaska tour - and it was. I talked with him for a while. It was great to see him again. He was pretty excited to see me out on the road on my own since I was talking about doing a trip like this when I was with him last year. He offered me the use of his shower tonight (they are staying at the Prince of Wales lodge in Waterton), but that turned out not to be necessary since the campground here has a shower. I stood on the side of the road for a while and chatted with a cyclist from Michigan who is on his way to Chicago. He said that he cheated and took the train from Minot, North Dakota to East Glacier, which gave him a lot more time to play out here. He's the second person I talked to who did the same thing - sounds like a good idea to me.
The ride today was simply amazing. When I talked to Becky (one of the Tri-Cities cyclists - and yes, we are following each other around!) she said that her altimeter showed a total climb today of 3000 feet, which is almost the same elevation gain as Logan Pass. I think that the major downhills in between the ups made it much easier for me - the uphill wasn't all in the same stretch of road. The riding today also cleared up my concern about getting freaked out on downhills. I was fine today, and just flying down the hills. The difference is that the road surface today was smooth, no concerns about crevices like I had on the ride down Going to the Sun Highway in Glacier.
I stopped at US Customs on my way out of the country to get a registration form for my bike. Since I am entering Canada by bike and leaving by plane, I was afraid that there could be some questions about whether I entered the country with the bike. Turns out that was a very silly worry that wouldn't result in a problem - but the customs agent did give me a form saying that I brought the bike with me into Canada.
It started to sprinkle on the climb up from Belly River. I stopped to change the lenses in my glasses - very cloudy, couldn't see much. But then as I came over the top of the hill and around the corner, the valley and prairie below just opened up. It started pouring as a reached the overlook, but I could see the sun off in the distance. What a beautiful sight!
I had a little problem figuring out what the international point of interest sign represented. Obviously, I know what it is now, but when I first saw the sign I thought it was a big person and a little person, or a big person and a pump. That might just say that I have a somewhat strange imagination.
When I pulled in to the entry station for Waterton Townsite, the sign said that the campground is full. I asked if that was true - and it turned out that there are still tent sites available. Since I'm traveling on a bike, he called ahead to have a site held for me. The campground is a big grassy area, and the section I'm in is a walk-in area, so there are no cars at all. There are good bear storage lockers here, showers, and covered areas with tables and stoves. I found Corry & Gerard again, so we walked into the townsite for a pasta dinner. Then we walked up to the Prince of Wales Hotel. There was a great view from there, but I liked the lobby at the Many Glacier Lodge better. Then we headed back to town to get some ice cream, where we met another tandem-travelling couple from the UK. Nice people.
Corry and Gerard are heading south today, so we said our goodbyes and exchanged addresses and phone numbers. I hope I meet some other people on the road who are as nice as they are. My goal is to be as in shape as they are when I get to be their age - Corry is 64 and Gerard is 74, and they are in great shape!
I can see that I'm going to have to come back to Waterton Lakes some day. Just passing through this park isn't really enough. It looks like a great place to do some hiking.
