Day 10 - Up!

Today was our first sunny day in about a week , and it served us well for the climb up from Golden to Field. The route took us along the Kicking Horse River and up a series of climbs to near the top of the Kicking Horse Pass. We had yet to finish the first climb of the day when we spotted big horn sheep grazing on the steep cliffs along the highway. One of the nice things about riding a bicycle along these routes, as opposed to a car is that when you see a “photo op” you can stop on the shoulder and take a picture. It seemed like on today’s route we were stopping at every turn in the road to take shots.


Near Field, I took a 13-mile detour to visit a natural stone bridge and Emerald Lake, which we visited on our family “road trip” in 1966. The day’s ride ended with a steep climb 8 miles past our campsite to visit Takkakea Falls – a waterfall that drops nearly 600 feet down the side of a cliff. There was one section of switchback on the climb – I think the French word for a switchback is much more descriptive – “lacets” or shoelaces.

Since a picture is worth a thousand words, and today’s ride was so spectacular, I’ll close with some of the best shots of the day.

The climb up from Golden...

Takakkaw Falls (a 600+ foot drop).

The switchback climb up to Takakkaw Falls.  The busses and larger campers had to back up (or down) the second section of the switchback.  Pretty interesting to watch...