Going to the Sun followed by Watery Waterton

I made the climb over Logan Pass on the Going to the Sun road yesterday afternoon. It got pretty relentless in the last 2500 feet but the spectacular scenery made up for it. There was very little traffic heading up so I had the road to myself a good part of the time.


You can see the road on the left side of the photo.



I finally made the pass around 9 pm.


There was some pretty torn up road in sections due to road construction especially on the downhill side of the pass. The good part was that they completely closed the road at nine so I had the whole downhill stretch to myself.

I saw about 5 or 6 big horn sheep rams at the top of the pass just hanging out on the road. They walked over to check me out and one of them came so close, he brushed my leg! Then, he started smelling and nibbling at one of my rear panniers! I quietly told him to move along and eventually he did. The whole time, I was thinking about those nature shows we've all seen with big horns ramming heads. "Sam", I said. "If this guy tries anything, we'll so lose!!" (Yes, sometimes I talk to my bike. He has yet to respond...)

Other people worry about bears when traveling in the wilderness. I worry about herbivores! I've now had close encounters with elk, deer, cows, horses, bison, pronghorn antelope, marmots, deer mice, moose, big horn sheep, and domestic sheep, in fact, the closest I've ever come to a major accident on the bike was a near head on collision with a herd of sheep in Scotland that just stood in the middle of the road watching me hurling towards them at 40 mph trying desperately to stop before I hit them. I literally stopped maybe a foot away from the stupid things.



I rest my case!

A nice long downhill at dusk got me to camp on the east side of the park. Yesterday, after breakfast and a nice chat with Jamie, a high school english teacher from Wisconsin, I headed for Waterton National Park across the border in Alberta.


I fought a brisk headwind for a good chunk of the hilly 55 mile ride. Then, a thunderstorm hit that passed after about 20 minutes and it got sunny but still windy. The second thunderstorm hit during the last 15 miles and this one just blasted me with a driving headwind and torrential cold rain. The last five miles into Waterton town were just crazy with a few sections that were so bad, I thought I would get blown over. I finally crawled into town with feet so cold, I couldn't feel them anymore. I got a motel room and defrosted in a hot shower for a good 20 minutes. Ahhh!

Location:Waterton National Park, Alberta, Canada