Sunday 18 August 2019
A tough single track of a day from Fernie to Round Prairie just past Elkford. Over a distance of 87km we climbed 1,440m for a net gain of just 270m. Frustration much?
Liz joined us for the up-up-down-up game of find-the-trail from Fernie to Hosmer then Gill and Bron were alone for the rest of the long day. Alone – apart from several mountain bikers competing in the Alberta 700 bike race or those heading south on the continental divide trail to Mexico. No one else was heading our way though.
The trails were lovely – mountains on either side, the Elk River below. But more than half the day was spent on narrow climby windy single track which more than exhausted the legs. The flowers and berries were stunning under a huge blue sky (although the spiky thistles kept whacking our hands as we rode through them) and the mountains were just spectacular. Each town was heralded by a switchbacking run down which we enjoyed briefly until the pattern set in of the climbs out afterwards. No downhill went unpunished.
Lunch was a first – the restaurant in Sparwood was closed for the day so we settled for fast food at A&W, which was perfectly good enough.
For wildlife the day started off well with a curious fox that came to investigate as we clambered over a recently logged area then decided we might be a threat. It ended with a solitary deer but between was only plenty of signs of bear. And possibly Big Foot judging by one track we came across.
The bright spot was probably the sulphur spring – bright green and exquisite to look at but oh so not nice to smell!
This is coal mining country and we passed under three huge mountaintop mines owned by Canadian resources company Teck. Sparwood shows off a haul truck on the main road alongside a memorial for the people who have died in the local coal industry – a shockingly long list of names.
Today was long and hard. Tomorrow is longer – and will be on the back of today. So an early home cooked dinner in our Fernie Air BnB and off to bed.
Today distance: 87km
Total climb: 1,440m
Total distance: 1,588km
#thegreattrail
#transcanadatrail
#rockymountainbikes
Trans Canada Epic 