Breakfast in the Hotel, coffee and a bran muffin. Put on the rain gear and load the bike. I am on my way to see the parks. The rain is light and by the time I get to the entrance to the park to pay my $8.50 it has stopped for a while. Lots of elk this morning along the road, there is a lake on one side and a river on the other and lots of grass. The elk don't seem to mind people as there are lots of people taking pictures and the elk just keep eating. There are a total of around 30 elk scattered along a half mile of the road. Just as I get to Jasper to turn south there is a bit of a traffic jam, one bewildered looking deer that gave up and took off for the brush. I expect today to be the critter sighting day of the trip. Cruising south the mountains are beautiful and impressively high. After the first 30 miles it gets less green, still green but a bit more rocky along the road. The Ice Fields are a big tourist draw but failed to impress me, I guess all the glaciers I have been by in the last few weeks that it would have to green up a bit to compare with northern BC and Alaska. The roads are fun, the tour buses tend to clog things up a bit but on the up hill they are easy to pass with the bike.On the down hills they are not a problem. As I come into the area around Lake Louise there are two different cops writing tickets and they are finishing up 12 miles of freeway type 4 lane with the 6 or 7 foot high fences along the sides. What the heck? Actually the freeway work was going on farther south too but I turned off to Radian Hot Springs for my park exit. This to me was the prettiest part of the park, lots of green, high mountains and rivers. So far there have been no critters other that the elk and deer at the entrance and up to Jasper. This changes and by the time I am leaving the Park at Raidan Hot Springs I have seen 6 bear, three adult bears, one with 2 cubs and one with a single cub. No moose today and I really want to get a picture of one. I am headed south to Cameron, the US customs at Idaho and then on to my Sisters in Trout Creek Montana. This part of the ride is almost as pretty as the last part of the park ride and much nicer than the main part of the park. Only a little rain, just enough to keep the roads wet and bring out all the fresh smells. I am through US Customs with no problems and into Idaho. The ride will be to highway 2, to 56 to 200 and Trout creek. I am into Montana just after hitting 2 and the rest of the ride is every bit as pretty as lower BC and Idaho. Our cell phones don't work very well but I find Kathe and Carl's place and park the bike. It is like a park here, 30 acres, lots of green grassy area and then trees. Funny thing about this area, the view from the house is north over the lake but the sun sets right in the middle of it. How they got the sun moved over that far north is beyond me. Ride today was 540 beautiful miles.
Traveler
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