Featured Touring Canadian Rockies Tour

The Canadian Rockies is somewhere I’ve had on my bucket list for a long time, so this year I finally managed it, with fantastic roads following winding rivers and rugged mountains overlooking Emerald coloured Lakes it had all the ingredients for a brilliant road trip

Day 1 flight from Edinburgh in the morning to Heathrow then a connecting flight to Vancouver which was a horrendous 9 hours although Vancouver is 8 hours behind we didn’t suffer from any jet lag. Unlike when we got back home!!

Day 2 Vancouver to Kelowna

After collecting our bike (a 2017 GS 1200) we made our way out of Vancouver, I was slightly apprehensive as the roads were pretty busy and I’d never ridden a GS before, never mind all loaded up and with a pillion, but luckily it wasn’t a problem as the GS is a very easy bike to get to grips with, I had the seat set on the lowest height setting so I could get both feet firmly on the ground, it helped me when the better half was trying to get on the back (not an easy bike to get on and off when it’s got the panniers and top box on!), although it didn’t like the time I tried to take off in 2nd gear and nearly stalled at traffic lights! about 30 mins out of Vancouver I wondered where all the cars had gone, the roads were really quiet, not that I was complaining! I didn’t bother with a Sat Nav as back home I had put the route up on the myroute-app and after having a good look around with Mr google the route looked pretty straight forward, I also had some daily route cards supplied by the travel agent as a backup. we took the Trans-Canada Highway (Highway 1) it was a brilliant road following the Fraser River up to Hope (Rambo was partly filmed there) from there we had 2 route options, one going up Highway 5 or the other which was a much longer and more scenic route involving some winding mountain roads, (I had already decided I was always going to take the longer more scenic options when available) riding through Manning Provincial Park with its wide roads full of sweeping corners I was grinning from ear to ear! I think I made the right choice going in low season as there were no sign of tourists and those dreaded Winnebago’s, we both agreed that the scenery was very similar to Scotland…it was like it had been stretched and magnified…. A lot!


Day 3 Kelowna to Revelstoke

Again, we had 2 options the best one was twice as long and took us over some fabulous scenery and roads and taking 2 short ferries (Free!) I was warned to be very careful as one part of the road was narrow and very twisty with hairpins, but their idea of a narrow road is a bit different from ours! it was about the width of an A road, it was full of twists and turns though, but nothing as tight as I thought it was going to be, we ended up following the stunning Arrow Lake up to Revelstoke.


Day 4 was a free day in Revelstoke

Revelstoke is close to the ski slopes so we decided to head up to the mountain resort and try out “The Pipe” it’s a bit like a roller coaster ride, you sit strapped into a seat that’s attached to a rail and winds itself down the mountain through the trees at speeds of up to 28 mph!! you are inches off the ground and the turns are tight so 28mph seems fast, you have a lever which if you can pull back to slow you down, I had my bike jacket on and the guy that straps you in said I expect you to go full throttle all the way! It was great fun, once we reached the bottom we decided to go back up the gondola and sit out in the sun at the mountain restaurant for a while



Day 5 Revelstoke to Invermere

After every Free day I was always itching to get back on the bike, I had read about a road which was just outside Revelstoke a really twisty road up Mount Revelstoke, normally you would have to pay as it’s a national park but as it is apparently Canada's 150th birthday and all national parks are free this year (saved us quite a bit as we were in a fair few) once we got about half way up the road and as I was just exiting a corner we had our first encounter with a bear! it was in the middle of the road so I stopped about 25ft from it, my wife was telling me to turn back but i told her its ok don’t worry it’s not paying any attention to us (must admit my heart rate had gone up a bit too!) we were on a narrow road and I was on a hill so doing a quiet speedy u turn might not have been easy! Luckily it slowly crossed the road and disappeared. After that my wife wasn’t keen on going off the beaten track, it was worth going up though as we saw some great views, after the mountain road we then got on Highway 1 fantastic bit of road stopping off at “Rogers Pass” the highest point through the Selkirk mountains, once we reached the small town of Golden (had to put watches forward an hour for “mountain Time”) we took the 95 down over some spectacular roads to Invermere



Day 6 Invermere to Banff

From Invermere we passed through the town Radium Hot Springs and stopped off to take a photo of this weird looking building, it was someone’s house and was featured on a tv show, he charges $2 to look around but it was early and he was closed, we then entered the Kootenay national park and the roads from there just seemed to be getting better and better, at times I could feel my jaw dropping, pictures just don’t do this place justice! Before going to Banff, I wanted to visit Lake Louise as I’ve seen lots of pictures of it in the Ski Magazines and it looked amazing, first I went to Lake Louise ski resort Just to get a Piste map as I save them up


My wife hadn’t heard of Lake Louise, I had told her the photos I’ve seen were nice, I didn’t want to over sell it as I wanted to see her reaction to it, the road up to it was busier than we had so far encountered, a lot of the roads had been deserted, in fact there were times it seemed we were in scenes from the walking dead!

My wife thought Lake Louise was the most beautiful place on earth! no idea what it costs for a room in the posh Hotel, but what a view from your bedroom window

About 15 miles from lake Louise we had heard there is the equally stunning lake Moraine it was still fully frozen over, but with the surrounding shapes of the mountains I would say if the lake wasn’t frozen it would look even more jaw dropping than Lake Louise!





Day 7 free day in Banff

Took the gondola up Sulphur Mountain and walked up to the old weather station for some amazing views, really liked Banff in fact we both said we could happily live there. A good tip if you are ever doing a bike trip in Canada or the States is to bring over a few dozen pin badges to give to people you meet or even the waitresses/barmen, we had several styles of Scotland pin badges. They seem to love the Scottish (they all seem to have a distant relative from there!)




Day 8 Banff to Jasper

Back up Highway 1 to Lake Louise then onto the 93 this road is called “The Icefields Parkway” and is said to be one of the most scenic roads in the world (I thought I had already been on them since leaving Vancouver!) It had some lovely sweepers although it also had some long straights but with the stunning scenery I didn’t mind, we stopped off at the Columbia Ice field centre which is just opposite a massive glacier, my wife wanted to go on the Glacier skywalk so we had to take a bus from the centre as there is no room for tourist parking, it takes about 10 minutes to get there, I went with her but as I don’t do heights (it’s about 1000ft and it has a glass floor) I waited while she went on the sky walk

Throughout our trip we had been stopping off a lot more than normal just to admire the views and take everything in, there were times we could have literally been stopping every time we turned a corner

 

Part Two


Day 9 free day in Jasper

We received a free ticket (probably paid for it in our package though!) for a cruise on Maligne lake so we decided to go there in the morning, The panniers were off the bike which made it a lot easier to get on and off (you have to be bit of a contortionist when the panniers are on) it was a brilliant road but I had a feeling this was bear country, and right enough we saw one walking down the side of the road, and as there was a car stopped in front of us I think my wife must have felt safer as she got her camera out! When we got to the lake we found out that it would be tomorrow before they start the season for lake trips as today they said they had to break up some ice to get the boats out, they told us to phone the travel agent and get a refund but I had a feeling as they were saying it was a complimentary ticket we wouldn’t get a refund so we decided when we leave for Clearwater the next morning we will get up early and go there first, it was well worth it as it is a stunning lake and we saw another couple of bears, one of them seemed to be sleeping up a tree!






Day 10 Jasper to Clearwater

On to the “Yellow Head Highway” by now I’m lost for words to describe the scenery! stopped off at Mount Robson which a sign said it has the highest topographic summit in the Rockies. Not sure what that means as all the highest mountains in the Rockies are in Colorado,

Once we arrived at the “Tete Jaune Cache” crossing or “The Johnny Cash” crossing as we called it, we had to put our watches back an hour as we were back on “Pacific standard time”, the road from here to Clearwater was just biking heaven… again! Although the scenery started to look more like what I imagine the smoky mountains are like, full of twisty roads and lots of mountains covered with trees

Once we arrived in Clearwater and got in our hotel I really wanted to get out and do a bit of that road again, so when the wife said she was going to take a bath I decided to go back up that road, up until then I was taking things easy, not just because the wife was on the back but because the scenery was just too good to miss and we were in no hurry. So far I had been really impressed and surprised with the handling of the GS , but going out on my own and pushing on a bit through the twisties I was even more impressed with it. It had all the electronic stuff you could ask for but to me it seemed good enough without mucking about with things, the suspension automatically adjusts for you and the hard panniers are cleverly expandable



Day 11 free day in Clearwater

Took a ride to “Wells Grey Provincial park” as there were loads of spectacular waterfalls just a short walk from the road, one of them “The Helmcken falls” is almost three times the height of Niagara Falls! it wasn’t as wide though, it was breath-taking at night we watched a bear outside our hotel breaking into a wooden bin for food (most are made of metal and are bear proof)



Day 12 Clearwater to Whistler

Stopped off at a few small quaint villages before reaching a place called Lillooet it lead us on to the 99 or “The Lorenzo Rd” as I called it, that road wound itself up a mountain with brilliant views unfortunately there was nowhere safe to stop and take photos, once we got down the mountain it was just S bend after S bend for about 80 miles all the way to Whistler, I was so glad I had left my textile trousers at home and took my bike jeans and summer gloves (I decided I would check the weather the day before we left, and it looked good) it was at least 30 degrees for most of the trip!

When talking to the tour operator before I had booked the trip I had 2 dates in mind May/June or August, he said that May/June is much the same weather as back home and August would be warmer

I decided to take the chance on the earlier date as it was cheaper due to being low season and it would be much quieter as the holiday season hadn’t started yet so there wouldn’t be a lot of tourists in their cars and RVs blocking the roads

When I was asking locals if the hot weather was unusual for this time of year they said not really, but it can be changeable like back home, so I guess I was lucky



Day 13 Whistler to Vancouver


This is still the 99 Called “The Sea to Skyway Rd” and it’s a cracking road, although for the first time since the lake Louise rd. the traffic was getting a bit busier, not annoyingly busy though, there was loads of space for overtakes. It is only about 70 miles from Whistler to Vancouver, we had arranged to meet my 2nd cousin who was picking us up from our Hotel at 1pm. So we had plenty of time to drop off the bike and get back to our hotel before then. He had brought his boat up to Vancouver and took us out to Bowen island for lunch and a few beers it’s a few miles from Vancouver it was a lovely looking island that wouldn’t have looked out of place in the Caribbean



Day 14 free day

Met up with my mum’s cousin as she had arranged an open top bus tour for us in the morning

In the afternoon, we thought we better do a bit of shopping for things to take back for the family

Day 15

Flight wasn’t until 6pm so we had bought a ticket to go up the gondola at Grouse mountain, this was the only day it wasn’t 30 degrees! in fact It was chucking it down so we couldn’t see anything from the mountain, stopped off at the Capilano Suspension bridge, which although it was high up and swung from side to side I managed to cross as it was that misty and I couldn’t see how high up I was! I Even did the cool tree tops walk once I crossed the bridge

Day 16

Jet lag was much worse arriving back home but had to go Back to work the next day

 

yeah your'e probably right about it being a lot of reading i think that was the edited version too

 

i remember your thread,i was thinking about doing the trip at that time,i think you just gave me the nudge i needed! i agree with you Lake Moraine is in a beautiful setting..the only place we weren't too keen on was Whistler a bit too upmarket for us the skiing would be good though

 

found those pictures on the net
Lake Louise

Lake Moraine


both stunning but i think Lake moraine gets my vote

 

Have sent you a PM with a link and info..if you need any more info let me know