Day 7 – Over the Monashees

Again the weather was a difficult read. After intermittent showers last night, we woke to temperatures in the mid 50s and overcast skies, and rode for the most part in cold, damp skies. Today’s ride was predominantly uphill, up over the Three Valley Gap which took us through the Monashees, which in winter months offers some of the best heli-skiing in the world.

The route took us by Craigallachie which is famous for being the site where the last spike was driven into the Canadian Transcontinental Railway in November of 1885. We then descended into Revelstoke for a bite to eat, and a long climb up to the campsite at the Albert Canyon Hot Springs.

On the way we stopped at a National Park which had a 1/3 mile boardwalk through an “Old Growth” of Red Cedars. The trees were not as massive as the redwoods of California, but spectacular nonetheless. It was amazingly silent in the forest and a welcome respite from the traffic along the Trans-Canada Highway

Finally we are riding with snow capped peaks on either side of the road. Apparently a few  riders saw black bears crossing the highway and the occasional moose along the way, but I did not.  The challenge was to convince Serge, who is used to riding among snow capped peaks, that these were an uncommon sight in New Jersey, so I should stop and get a picture.

The highlight of the day was a dip in the hot spring fed pool at the campsite – just the thing needed to soothe the aching muscles after a long 78-mile day of climbing, and to prepare us for the climb over the Rogers Pass tomorrow.

With the campsite bordering on the Canadian Pacific train tracks, we expect to have regular interruptions to our sleep – apparently the railway does not abide by “the squeaky wheel gets the oil!"