Beginnings and Endings

I woke up today like most other days.  Groggy.  I silently took roll call of my body parts to see if they were all in sync with the idea of getting up…and it was unanimous… all my parts were on board. Yea!  It’s the little things.   After a few bodily stretches, I lifted off the bed, and sought out gym shorts and t-shirt, the official retirement dress code of this guy.

I went through a few of the rooms of the house, opening “it’s eyes” to another day, as the curtains and blinds gave way to the morning light.  Made my way to my Kashi stash and prepared a bowl to wake my innards up.  And while waiting for the appropriate time to let my 2% soften the flakes of goodness, I latched on to my laptop to check Greg’s status on the Tour Divide (see June postings).  I was relieved to see that he did not pedal through the night.

Some 1829 miles to the east of Greg, in Charlotte, NC, my niece, Grace, has already woken (if she slept at all) to a special day, and was in the first moments, of her first professional career day, after graduating from Clemson, a mere 2 months earlier in May.  I was so excited to find all this out from her momma, in an email this morning.  I partake in my family’s lives, even though I’m not there (hope that doesn’t creep anyone out), through emails, texts, sporadic in person contact, and sometimes a vivid imagination.

When I checked Trackleaders.com for Greg’s position this morning, he had a mere 68 miles left before reaching Antelope Wells, NM, the finish line for The Tour Divide, a mere 2,700 miles from the starting line in Banff, Alberta, Canada.  Like many of Greg’s athletic supporters (HaHa), I get online to check his progress multiple times a day.  I partook in his adventure by dropping him off in Banff and then proceeded to will him from waypoint to waypoint with a vivid imagination.  I choose to believe the collective willing of his well-wishers pushed him along at times…knowingly or unknowingly to him at the time.

As Grace starts up her learning curve these first few days, probably not that different than some of the mountain passes Greg ascended along the continental divide over the last 30 days, she may be reliving her last hoorah with her sister last month in Europe, or moving into her dorm room her first year at Clemson, or driving to high school the first time after getting her license in search of her parking spot.  Actually, I’ll bet she is so focused on all that is new to her today, that the other stuff would be lucky to appear in a dream, when she falls dead asleep tonight at 8, with a reality show on and a pizza crust hanging from her lip!

The day that Grace begins one adventure, Greg ends another.  As Grace crosses her starting line, her well-wishers will collectively support her from their vantage point and push her along when the going gets tough and celebrate her summiting those tough peaks along the way.  She is starting a new collection of adult life memories to add to her rich and full body of work she has created so far.  Whereas, Greg will be processing his month of memories on the trail for some time to come.  Probably grateful to be sitting on something wider than a banana for the ride back to Dillon, taking a little more time to feel an embrace with Susi, and better connection between man and dog, when Bailey looks into her daddy’s eyes looking for a good belly rub.  So proud of Grace and Greg, I celebrate your beginnings and endings.

What is ending and beginning for you?  Whatever they might be, welcome your beginnings and hug your endings.  Don’t fight’em, join’em.

One more plug for Greg’s cause to raise money to connect

bicycles with vets dealing with PTSD…

www.gofundme.com/vvuugc

His goal is one dollar for every Tour Divide mile he rode.

He is close, but you can get him closer!

Turning toward home

The weather has been on our side this trip and it continued into Thursday when we traveled up to Lake Louise, one of the must sees in this part of Canada.  I had been here a long time ago and when we pulled in, it appeared as though it had a sense of Disney about it.  More parking primarily (which at the height of summer is probably out of control) and “ranger looking attendants” wandering the parking lots to assist in whatever way you can assist in a parking lot.  The area leading to the lake has been more developed with lodging and everything that goes with lodging.  But the essence of Lake Louise will most likely never change.  An incredible lake of turquoise colored, glacier fed water, surrounded by sky tickling peaks.  And rising out of the ground at the outlet of the lake stands and incredible hotel that began as a small structure, someone’s home, in the late 1800’s.  Today it has evolved into a multi story international destination.  Post card worthy, every visit. 

The Fairmont Hotel at Lake Louise (starting at $500 a night).

Victoria Glacier above Lake Louise

A digression...

A cathartic moment

It occurred to me on our last day in Banff (Friday) that I was still hung up on the fact that on our big hike day, that sooo many people did not appear to know there were other people on “their “trail.  As we walked down the main street in Banff to dinner, it was clear that most of the people we saw on the trail were surrounding us in town as well.  They seemed to be oblivious to anyone else around them.  There were four cyclists barricading the sidewalk (with their bicycles), just visiting, as the rest of us created our own detour around their social traffic jam that almost lead out into the street. Whether stopping to look in a store window from the middle of the sidewalk to stopping to take a drink of water on the trail, they (many of them not from around here) were in their own little world and I (and sometimes many others) was not a part of it.  Is being oblivious a learned behavior, an art, or just being damned unobservant?  Maybe I’ll stand in the middle of a busy crosswalk and ponder it for a while!

Now, where was I?

We are pointing our car towards home by way of Yellowstone and the Tetons.  But there is a lot of space between here and there, let alone here and home.  I’m sure we will be back some day, but our taxi service is done here and Greg is off to a good start on his adventure as we track him every time wifi is available (go to trackleaders.com and select Tour Divide 2015 and you too can track any of the 150+ riders on the leaderboard…it’s addicting!).

Au revoir Canada.  Til we meet again.

Back in the US...Back in the US...Back in the USSR... I mean A. (sorry Beatles)

As Greg heads towards the “grizzly bear highway,” we parallel him a few mountain valleys to the west as we head for Polson, Mt.  But what would a drive over peaks and valleys (literally) be without stopping at one of the seemingly many “hot springs” available as seen on numerous signs along the way.  Radium Hot Springs was our choice for a liquid mineral bath.  Not much more than a pool along the side of the road in the mountains, we stopped as the rain began to subside.  We were among just a handful of water seekers as we paid our $7 a person to soak in what looked like a public pool, surrounded by steep terrain.  The water was just cooler than sitting in a hot tub, so we soaked ourselves till our skin “pruned” up and headed back down the road.  Shortly after drying out we crossed back into the US, Looking for Polson, Montana.

On the south end of Flathead Lake, slightly larger than Lake Tahoe, lies Polson, our stop for the night.  Our motel was right across from the lake and next door to Betty’s Diner. 

Our room with a view, between cars on the road in front of our motel.

Cute diner next door, where everyone that works there has a name tag that says "Betty."

Next stop…Yellowstone National Park.  But to get there, we passed some pit mining and a billboard advertising the Testicle Festival.  There was not an easy turn around or I’d have a photo for sure of the bright yellow sign touting the event.  So if it’s the last weekend in July and you are in Clinton, Montana, you are most likely…well…

With our short time there, we hit some of the highlights and the following day moved to Colter Bay in Grand Teton National Park, Yellowstone’s neighbor to the south.

The colors here don't do it justice, but you get the idea.

Grand Prismatic Spring, down the road from Old Faithful.

The Grand Canyon of Yellowstone, featuring the Yellowstone River.

The Grand Tetons and Jenny Lake.

Heading south through Jackson Hole and the famous antler arches.

We connected with Greg by text and got to talk with him on the phone last night.  He had cell service and we caught up on some highlights and lowlights he has encountered so far in his ride.  

 

Unless something comes up that is blog-worthy, this ends what must be one of the longest taxi rides I’ve ever been involved with.  Can’t wait for the tip!

My Zen from the road:  There is something about watching a thunderstorm build…from a distance.  Kind of puts you in your place if you think about it.

Take a Hike

Banff Ave. (main street through town)

Greg took off for a short training ride and we took off for a short hike, or what we thought would be a short hike.

The day began with our free breakfast in the hotel.  Nothing is ever really free, right?  You pay for it somehow…financially, physically, gastronomically...  How about logistically?  Easily, there are over 100 people staying in this hotel and most are going to take the hotel up on their free offer, I would think.  We arrive to the breakfast “room” to find it holds, maybe 20 semi-comfortably (cramped) and it’s on the verge of overflowing.  Not a big deal…we ate in the lobby.  Greg on the other hand, having an empty chair at his table, shared it with an older Asian lady speaking no English.  After making an effort to be cordial, and we all know Greg knows no strangers, he buries his attention into Facebook on his phone.  Beth and I, on the other hand, take our food to the lobby and savor the quiet.

Now full, we head our separate ways, Greg to ride and Beth and I head out to take a hike.  Our destination, Johnston Canyon, here in Banff National Park, but first we swing by the Banff Springs Golf Course at the Fairmont Banff Springs Hotel.  We follow the signs to the club house and we are taken by Bow Falls on the Bow River.

Bow Falls on the Bow River in the Bow River Valley.

Sweet golf surroundings!

After snapping a few pics, the first tour bus of the day arrives and we hot tail it out of there, continuing the hunt for the golf course.  We meander around for a few minutes until it unveils itself before us, with the backdrop of sky-high jagged peaks.  On the off chance that it wouldn’t be busy, I run into the clubhouse to check on tee times and green fees, hoping for some kind of gift from above.  A couple of what appear to be college kids behind the counter ask if they could help me, as if I were lost.  I inquired for available tee times, of which there were plenty.  Then came the green fees.  When hearing the number 239, I reacted as though that kind of money, for roughly 4 hours of entertainment, would work for me, but would need to get back with them (when I won the lottery maybe!).  I slipped out the front door in search of oxygen to replace the rarefied air in the golf shop and fight the urge to empty my wallet.

With a successful getaway from the pro shop and money still in my wallet, we head for the Trans Canadian Highway (Canada’s Highway 1) and Johnston Canyon.  Arriving at the trailhead, you would have thought we arrived at a theme park parking lot.  Evidently this is the most popular trail we could have selected.  No worries…as the over used phrase goes…we grabbed our pack and proceeded on passed a row of RV rentals. 

The descriptions I’d read about the Johnston Canyon Trail, was easy in difficulty, was 2.4 km (one way) or 1.5 miles, for those of you who failed to learn your metric system conversions in school, and follows a cascading river to a lower and upper falls.  Sounds doable, right?  And it was!  The trail was actually asphalted and was cantilevered over the frigid river below with small I-beams coming out of the canyon’s rock walls.  I’ve never seen anything quite like it, but really liked it vs. a traditionally maintained trail, and quite exciting to walk over the water!

One of many falls in the canyon.

Our trail over the water.

Snapping landscapes...

...while Beth snaps other wildlife!

The upper falls.  Such little water makes such big sound.

Having made our way to the upper falls, we rewarded ourselves (and a curious chipmunk) with a snack/lunch…crackers and cheese with an apple chaser.

Our lunch spot.  Not bad, eh?

With rested legs and feet and a satisfied tummies, we head even higher to find the Ink Pots.  The Ink Pots are small pools of water with sandy bottoms, where water percolates up from below, creating a bubbling effect.  They were located close to the river that created the falls in Johnston Canyon, as the valley opened up above.

The Ink Pots.

A welcome time out.

Nuff said!

One last glimpse.

Our landmark for being close to Banff.  Not bad, eh?

All said and done, we hiked around 7 miles, round trip and saw some beautiful places, for sure.  From this hike I have two observations.  One, the number of foreign folks compared to those of us that live in North America, must be 3 to 1.  Everyone was just as nice as they could be.  Now let’s not confuse niceness with poor spatial awareness.  While heading down (or up) the trail, generally when approaching someone from the opposite direction, what do you do?  That’s right; move over to make room to pass one another.  Well, many of those we met on the trail missed that memo, whether it be with a stroller or just strolling back to the trailhead, had we not hugged the edge, we would have put our personal space bubbles in danger of popping.  Now that I think of it, that might explain some of the horrible traffic and driving I’ve see on TV in foreign countries.  Just sayin’!

Greg continues to pack and repack, getting organized, making lists and checking them twice.  Tomorrow the Tour Divide adventure begins!

 

My Zen from the road:  It seems as though when I hike, there is always an older couple on the trail that seems to have figured it out.  They seem in sync with each other, were prepared for what they were doing, and enjoying each other.  I saw this couple on the trail today.  Possibly in their 70’s or later, dressed appropriately, and enjoying the hike.  They just seemed at peace.  It’s all about relationships.