One of the longest week of all time, covering a ton of distance from Canada all the way down near Las Vegas. Smoke in Banff and melted wheel in Utah…

Missed out on Kootenay pass (7th in Canada ) last year because it was raining and 0… This year the base was 20 degrees warmer and pretty promising! I also decided to do both sides since the easier East side is stilla top20 Canada climb. Parked at the bottom of the first, went up and down, then drove to the bottom of the next one ( that’s the crazy line on the course map ) and went up/down. Got caught in nasty cold foggy rain on the descent. Truly came out of nowhere as the valley right out of the climb was a scorching 30 degrees and sunny. That’s mountain weather for you.

Hey look, a river. Is this one called "Kootenay" river by chance?

Some bighorn sheep scampering from the road.

The west side pass has the best views.

Top. 25c at the bottom, felt like 10 near the top. It's well above the snow line and lots of little falls of melting snow randomly blast you with frigid air.

At the top there's a rest stop and this maintenance cabin for slow plows.

Lake still frozen solid. Happy I got to do it because this seems like one of the sketchy climbs with random weather.

Driving up the pass to take a more chill picture. I went hard on the bike doing the west side ( 4th overall awe yiss ).

Last year's weather at this point.... Yeah... Would have died.

Bottom of the other side opens up into this gorgeous valley in Creston.

2/3 the way up I started getting rained on from these scary clouds... The road was still dry so I kept going. No regrets. Got rained on hard on the descent...

Evening in Creston. Just a breathtaking valley town at the base of the alpine rockies. Looks like Switzerland but they have the weather to make wine!

Large "his and her's" dice at an RV resort in town. Not the biggest anything but I'll take what I can get.

Evening in Crankbrook ( about 1 hour away ). This is Elizabeth Lake right as you enter the town. You can see the Glacier Rockies in the distance already.

Only place in town for campers. Wal-Mart dropping the ball sadly. I just passed out anyway, brutal day.

Noticed Sinclair pass on my list of big Canadian climbs to do. I planned on riding this and then riding more later in Lake Louise but the day was just too long, I couldn’t squeeze in another 2 hour of riding. I biked most of Lake Louise area last year anyway.

Tim has a new donut for me. Brownie pretzel thing on chocolate cake donut. 7/10

First stop: Kimberley. Little Bavarian inspired town center. Pretty cute.

They have the World's Tallest Cuckoo Clock. You can pay 1$ to have a little guy come out of the doors. I did not have that dollar.

Ride starting in Radium Hot Springs, one of many mountain towns as you drive up towards Lake Louise.

They have lots of cool statues everywhere near the town center. Everyone who lives in this valley is probably rich. Yes...

The pass starts down in a canyon that takes you to the hot springs pool/resort area.

I like this picture. This is a good picture.

Top of Sinclair pass with a good view into Banff.

Used my 100x zoom on the mountain. Thought it was a storm but turns it out was the smoke starting to come down...

At the top you find Olive lake, which is a different shade of green than the other green lakes.

Free sunglasses at the rest stop too. Told you these guys were rich.

This one looks pretty hungry...

Bottom of the other side of the pass. This is Kootenay river winding along the mountains.

Saw another chill bear just eating some grass. I really want to pet them, they look so fluffy.

Back on the road north: World's Biggest Paddle in Parson. I saw it last year but lost the pic with my tablet. This one is safe now.

Arriving in Lake Louis area. This is the Natural Bridge, 20km from town.

As you can see: No smoke here. That's foreshadowing.

My phone app tells me this is a Columbian Ground Squirrel. I've named him Peanuts.

Lake Louise and Banff actually belong to Alberta, making Alberta not totally suck balls.

Camping night. Was pretty windy and cold, unfortunately. Why couldn't it still be 25c like before...

God damn these are good. Fire tastes awesome.

Tons of animals around the campgrounds, so that's pretty cool.

ENHANCE

This group of Elk chewing grass on the edge of the campground. Someone's stupid dog yelled at them and spooked them away.

They have patchy fur around this time of year as they shed their winter coats. Probably. What am I, a science?

Male growing his antlers for the season. I think that's how it works. Maybe it's a teenager. Look, I just bike okay.

I knew I had to stop there as soon as I learned it existed. I have no regrets.

Town still completely smoked so I cancelled my camping. Had planned a big biking day in Banff but I don't want to smoke that many cigars.

Can't even see the cool mountains.

20km east in Cranbrook. I almost bought whatever this hot Sasquatch was selling.

Big head in Cranbrook.

Giant cowboy in Airdrie, AB, just north of Calgary.

They have more junk there as well.

The upside down church, in downtown Calgary.

Woah watch that you don't cut yourself on that edge!

About an hour south of Calgary you can stop in Vulcan!

It has a little museum at the welcome center. The girl working there was happy to finally see someone.

This is the big thing in this town. I wonder how many other places like this exist in the world.

Look at all the actors who passed through here. Actually impressive.

They have a little area with fan-made costume replicas. I'll just let you enjoy that.

They have a lot of Star Trek memorabilia and a few movie/tv used props.

I dunno, pretty cool for a 3000 people town.

Side note: To the lady lip-smacking as she's eating at McDonald's near me: Gross.

Just did a small ride around basically the entire town.

They even have a few Enterprise street lights. It's the details that matter.

If you hate Star Trek it must be annoying to live there.

Bet this guy loves Star Trek though.

Onward to Lethbridge, home of the World's Largest Wind Gauge.

Non-functional.

Lots of Magpies in the midwest. They're a very cool pigeon replacement.

Stop at Tim Hortons one last time to mail some postcards before crossing into the USA!

There's a Red Tail Hawk on every 5th telephone poll in the prairies, they're absolutely everywhere.

Almost at the border and still that red smoky sun letting me know my lungs hate it here.

Cancelled my second day in Banff due to the disgusting smoke. Was going to bike a random hill near Helena, Montana, but ended up passing through this really cool canyon region that seemed to have a little road following it. Just did my ride here and did not regret it! Very cool area. Makes me think a tour of the National Parks would be more interesting than just doing more climbs…

Spent last night in Cut Bank, Montana. Coldest spot in the lower 48. Felt real sketchy. Shitholey one might say.

Rural areas and towns always have these hoarders with random junk all over their yards. Yeah you'll fix those 7 old rusted out 1950s cars ONE DAY Bob. One day.

Northern Montana. Rolling grass-covered badlands type landscape. In other words: Alberta.

Some 'murica holes at this historical info sign. What a wanton act of dipshitery.

Tons of scenic overviews like this inform you about the settlers and native confrontations. They really love that stuff in the west.

First planned stuff I was excited about. This is really out in the middle of nowhere.

There's the tiniest museum you've ever seen and supposedly a giant dinosaur skeleton inside...

The head of this giant Seismosaur skeleton greets you when you walk inside.

Video of the dinosaur in question:

This day I passed 200 000km on my SUV. Still not exploded:

On the way south I randomly passed through this mix of Western + Dinosaur museum.

I was a little worried this place wasn't going to be up to snuff with their dino info...

But I worried for nothing. Finally a dinosaur representation that is up to date with the latest scientific data.

Great Falls, Montana: The Rainbuffalo. Actually seemed like a nice town. Montana gets nicer the more south you go.

Discovered this cheap high protein snack at the Conoco gas station. Roadballs.

Some more of these "projects" I was talking about that people all have here.

Tower Rock park. You get this view for about 10km as the Missouri river meanders through this little canyon.

And old railroad track follows along the canyon as well.

Passed right by this gopher snake while biking on the highway. He lunged at my foot.

Look at him making a face at me. Yes I knew it wasn't a rattlesnake before offering my tender juicy foot to him.

One last look at the river. I have to say Montana is a surprisingly beautiful state.

Giant buffalo skull made of heavy steel plate in Helena, Montana, the state's capital.

Government building in the back there. Glad we don't have kings anymore living in big opulent palaces at our expense.

Passed by many Osprey nests going down south. Stopped for a big in a promising bird area.

Osprey really hate it when you stop and gawk at them. He was gone in 10 seconds but still got this pic. Yeah screech at me some more you dumb bird, it's too late.

Spotted this sandhill crane hiding in the bush. This is a premium good bird. 7.5/10 goodness.

Drove down towards Yellowstone. You start to climb quite a bit into alpine terrain, above the snow line. It gets "rugged" as they say.

One of the last pictures of the day before the darkness, in West Yellowstone, Wyoming. There's nothing but shacks and snow.

Kept driving south along Yellowstone and it was the sketchiest drives of my life… You don’t want to be driving here at night, there’s tons of moose and deer constantly jumping from one side of the road to the next. Everyone kept driving at 70+ mph. I saw about 20 deer right on the side of the road chewing grass, ready to slam their face into my car.
Was pretty happy to reach a Wal-Mart to get to sleep. Was a really long day with just 5 hours of sleep in sketchy-ass Cut Bank, Montana. Don’t go there. Just. Don’t. Their McDonald’s was ok though.

As I was driving towards it and crossed through Idaho Falls, the name sounded familiar. Sure enough I already did this climb with my friend Mike who’s doing the top100… I thought “Must have been long ago”. Nope, was in 2021. Well good thing because the top was completely blocked by snow. Will have to doublecheck each mountain from now on.

A flycatcher at a rest stop. It's amazing what you can see if you just aren't on a bike going fast.

Eurasian Collared-Dove. This is a chonky boi right here, I thought it was a hawk from a distance.

The bottom of Mt Harrison area. I could already see concerning levels of snow not even a third of the way up these mountains...

About halfway up you get a good view of the plains, before you turn towards the ski area inside the mountains.

Snow everywhere at this point. Thankfully the snow here isn't as cold as Canadian snow. Don't worry.

Nearing the top...

Damn it. Still a few kms to go at this point so no way I'm getting off my bike and walking this.

On the way to Salt Lake City I passed by this bird sanctuary and decided to stop since I had time.

About the only evidence that there ever were plentiful ducks in this area before the sun dried everything up. Lame.

There was just a huge Cliff Swallow colony nesting on the visitor center building, covering it with crap.

These little guys munch of flies around the marshlands.

A Great-Tailed Grackle watching me from a lamp post. Some birds are smart enough to know humans can't fly so they don't panic when they see you walking 20 feet below.

Stopped at Taco John's day prior and was disappointed by their lame fast food burritos so just made my own roaditos.

Rotisserie chicken + DrPepper beans + corn + Mango Salsa + Guac + Lime juice. 10 times better than fast food garbage.

Salt Lake is built at the base of these huge mountains and they’ve built several passes and ski areas to get around. There’s also the Olympic village where they hosted the 2022 winter Olympics. These are the 2 climbs I still hasn’t done in the area.
Shoutout to Utah drivers for sucking the hardest of all the drivers I’ve seen so far. They love to pass on the right at 20 over the speed limit, blocking each other from exiting highways. Good job morons you’ll get to Temple 2 minutes faster.

Sweet lifelike giant Iguana at the Red Iguana Mexican restaurant parking lot.

It's popular apparently.

Really cool life-sized rainbow humpback whale at a traffic circle in Salt Lake City.

Top of Empire pass. It starts in Park City, a douchy ski village with "No parking" signs everywhere.

Yeah I just walked the last 500m. Salt Lake city is in a desert but still at elevation. The top here is almost at 3000m

So cool I am.

There's a huge clump of cities between the Salt Lake and these mountains. It's pretty epic.

Only picture I took of Little Cottonwood. Some guy had latched onto my wheel and I was going pretty hard, had to see if he'd drop. He did. I win. Forever.

Largest Blender in Provo, about 20mins south of Salt Lake City. Sort of cheating as it's just a vague building shape and not an actual huge object. I take what I can get.

Stayed the night in Springville, still at the base of the mountains. Really reminds me of Chiliwack, BC, but with desert instead of farms at the base of the Rockies.

Description of Activity7

The road between Salt Lake down to Fairview is amazing.

Parked at this little junk museum in Fairview to start the climb.

Museum was closed but they still have a bunch of old farm equipment on display outside.

Tons and tons of cool old wagons and trucks too.

And whatever this thing is. Automatic butter churner?

Old firetruck back there, very cool.

Start of the canyon climb were a bunch of deer watching me. Have to remember them coming back down in case they decide to delete me.

About 1/3 of the way, very cool look back at the town and valley.

These little snowmelt rivers bring the temperature down by a lot if you're having to ride next to them.

Top of the pass. Really off change of scenery from the warm desert below to Canada in February.

About 1/3 of climb is a long flatter section up top with this sort of view all around.

Check out the view from the top. You can see the dark skies starting to come in…. uh oh….

Coming back to the car, I see someone started a little project while I was gone.

Back to the cool landscapes driving between the two climbs that day.

Going through random patches of rain. Foreshadowing.

Bottom of the Parowan canyon. Very scary skies despite 25c at the base. I just said "fuck it" and went.

The canyon part has interesting rock formations.

The river in this one isn't crisp cool snowmelt but gross mudslide juice.

Burned out trees in front of the rocks. Almost every dry area on the continent has huge patches of burned forests.

At some point you turn onto this 3km section at 11% and you can just see this MFer's house sitting all the way at the top.

After you get over the super steep part you enter the town of Brian Head. No pictures because I wanted to GTFO as soon as possible. Can't believe people live here.

The top ( I think ) of the pass about 2-3km further than Brian Head. Had a nasty headwind the entire time on this climb.

About the only good view you get up here. Again it's 25-30c at the base of this.

As I turned around to go down I saw the blackest sky I've ever seen start to swoop in on the mountain. Uh oh

I had a huge stormy tailwind going down the 11% section and it just melted my rims from the braking... Just started going down slowly but...

Storm started about halfway down the mountain and kept getting worse as I went down.

A guy in a huge pickup truck stopped right in front of my on the side of the road and I asked for the to help me get down the mountain. Put my bike in the back and just drove back down to my car, as the storm was getting worse and worse. My fingers went white in about 5 minutes going downhill… Back at the car there was just insane wind and random spurts of rain. It was 25c and calm when I left, now 15c and stormy. Brutal.

Kept driving southwest towards Las Vegas. You can see all the little patches of storms all over the place. Slept pretty badly in the desert. It was still 31c at 11pm when I pulled into Mesquite ( about an hour from Vegas ).

From frost to sweating bullets all night, that’s how it goes with these mountains. The traveling really does something weird to your brain because I’m so tired the Kootenay pass ride of just a week ago feels like it was months or years ago. I’ve only been gone two weeks but it feels like a lifetime since I was in BC. The coffee keeps me going at least.

Next week I’m making it to Lake Tahoe! Sweet.

More travel stuff:
Arizona/California: Drive to Tucson • Tucson • California Climbing • Bay Area / Washington
Canada Coast to Coast: Victoria •Vancouver Island • Vancouver • Southern Rockies • Prairies • Ontario • Niagara • Quebec • Gaspesie / PEI • Maritimes • Newfoundland • Maritimes2 • Bay of Fundy • Quebec2 • Montreal • Ontario2 • Prairies Statues • Jasper/Banff • Northern Rockies • Washington State Bonus

Car Conversion / Purchase: Part 1 • Part 2 • Part 3
Life on the road: Part 1 • Part 2

2023 Summer Tour 2 - Rockies to Utah!