CCW1802: Canada's beautiful West
Starting the final riding day was lucky enough with no snowfall. The last loop took us out of Jasper along beautiful mountain roads, lakes and finally back into Vancouver again. Lunch stop was at the wonderful winter olympic town of Whistler, where everyone had some free time to stroll around. After coming back in Vancouver we had our farewell dinner at the famous restaurant “Frankie’s Place”. And finally saying goodbye to this great group of riders, we hope to see you another time, another place on planet Earth , hopefully on another Edelweiss tour! You were great!! Ted and Tony
What a day it was today! Instead of expecting an indian summer we got already the indian winter! Luckily we had out rest day in Jasper when it snowed throughout the day. But it gave everybody the opportunity to buy some warm clothes and/or new wintergloves. Heading west on the Yellowhead parkway we slowly drove the first 120 km through winter wonderland. After warming up near Mt Robson and taking some nice photo shoots, we slowly rode out of the snow and into a vit warmer area’s. Quite an adventure for this 450 km long riding day. Well done, group!!
Our rest day in Jasper coincides with the first snow fall of the season, so we leave the bikes and instead head off into town for copious amounts of coffee, pastries and spa time. A day well spent.
The Icefields Parkway, one of the premier drives in Canada, is on the menu today. But first we head out early into the mountains to visit Lake Louise and Lake Moraine, two of the most beautiful spots in Canada. After filling countless gigabytes of storage with pictures we head back to the hotel for some breakfast and then head out onto Icefields Parkway. Our speed drops as we take in the fantastic scenery all around us and we stop every few miles to take a wander on the many trails that branch off along the way. A quick lunch at Saskatchewan River Crossing and we are back on on the road to Jasper, just in time for a well deserved beer at the bar.
After the first couple of riding days in nice , aftersummer weather, the Canadian weather gods had decided to tease us a bit. So we took off in Golden with 4 degrees Celsius and rain. Luckily there was already after a good hour riding a nice and warm bakery with excellent coffee to warm us up again a little bit. After this we drove up into Kootenay national park for a beatiful ride, but unfortunately Pluvius start to poor down more water on us, so we were all happy to arrive in the wintersport area of Bannf and found us a place to have something warm to eat. After spending two hours in town we rode the last part to Lake Louise
After a great night at the beautiful Kootenay Lake, it was time to move on! The first stop brought us to the little townof Kaslo where the steamship Moyie ahs been moored after his long time of duty. It is now a very nice museum and also it was time for a nice coffee in the small bakeries of town. AFter lunch in Nakusp we took the only ferry on this tour over the Arrow lake and followed our way over the amazing roads of the Monashee pass. A last coffee at a genuine cowboy roadhouse and the day was already done. Great day again with great riding and super nice views!
Our second riding day takes us further East along the Canada-USA border. Empty roads full of sweepers, fantastic scenery and small towns straight out of the Wild West offer numerous picture stops, as well as ample opportunities to sample the local coffee and pastries. After lunch at beautiful Christina Lake we swing north and into the mountains as we make our way to Nelson, our stop for the night.
The first riding day is done! And it was special. All looked good in Vancouver: nice temepratures, sunny skies; all ingredients for a fantastic riding day! Working our way through the morning rush hour , we soon found our way towards the Fraser river and followed this for some time until we meet the Cascade mountains near the city of Hope. But due to the numerous wildfires in the mountains we encountered some smoke during our way through the mountains. Luckily at the lunchspot we had some clear skies again Last part of the day we rode the long and nice winding roads down to the lake near Osoyoos where we had our dinner in a nice temperature on the outside terrace
First day is a fact: all tour members arrived safely in Vancouver for the start of the West Canada tour, second edition! Most of them took the chance today to explore the lively and lovely city at Canada’s west coast before the welcome briefing started in the late afternoon. After all the bikes were handed over, we had a nice welcome dinner and soon the first signs of jetlag appeared by some of us , so time to get rid of that. Tomorrown morning a fresh start and ready to roll to Osoyoos