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Trans Americas 2009 - The Blog
The Just One More Mile story of Paul's Trans Americas 2009 motorcycle expedition.Sunday, 9 August 2009
Resting in Jasper...
Today is an official rest day, with nothing planned, so I dug out the maps of Jasper National Park and put together a brief plan of action, including a ride out to Maligne Lake and the canyon of the same name, then a trip up to Mt Edith Cavell before returning to base and heading to the Jasper Brewing Company to sample their wares, before the BBQ (using up the leftovers from yesterday).
With a number of others liking my plan, we set off at just after 9am and rode out of Jasper and up the winding road to Maligne Lake, a road that would have been perfect had it not been for the restrictive 60kph (37mph) speed limit and the fear of getting busted. With me leading a group of 6 other bikes, the responsibility for setting the group's speed was mine, so we crawled along barely touching 45mph, a speed in keeping with the spirit behind the law, which was to prevent speeding traffic mowing down the wildlife, which has a habit of running out of the forest and across the road (apparently, we didn't see anything). At the lake we parked the bikes – once again a lovely sight, only slightly ruined by Jim's Suzuki in the middle of the pack...
The lake itself was beautiful, even on an overcast day like today...
Leaving the lake behind, we rode “every man for himself” on the way to the canyon, so that guys could stop whenever they wanted and take pictures. Inevitably, we all stopped at some of the same spots, the views grabbing our attention as we rode...
Then, all of a sudden, the bikes stopped, and there were camper-vans and cars all blocking the road. I stopped too, and then quickly realised that everyone was pointing their cameras into the bushes at the roadside, where a small black bear cub was trying to enjoy a peaceful meal. There were people everywhere, young kids and adults, all trying to get closer to this bear, despite all the warnings posted around about bears being dangerous... Still, there was no sign of mummy-bear... perhaps she was busy eating her porridge...
Once we'd managed to get past the bear-instigated traffic-jam, we continued back down the road to the canyon. This is a classic “slot canyon” caused by the Maligne river carving it's way into the rock....
After a coffee in the canyon restaurant we headed back to the hotel, the plan changing as I wanted to try and catch Tracy online and thought that the best time to do so would be before I headed off to Mt Edith Cavell. When I got back I switched on my laptop and connected to the Internet, and there she... wasn't... so I tried skyping (is that a verb?) her mobile and the house phone but no joy. I waited a while and tried again... and again... and eventually she answered her phone, only to explain her PC is broken and so she couldn't get back on Skype. So we spoke over the phone instead...
When we'd finished chatting, I headed back out to have a look at Mt Edith Cavell, a mountain with glacier just outside Jasper. The mountain was named after a British nurse in the First World War, who helped 200 Allied soldiers escape from German-occupied Belgium and was executed for her “crimes”. Just on the way out of town, though, I was once again stopped in my tracks by some interesting wildlife at the roadside, this time an Elk (Not “Ann Elk” who has a theory about Brontosauruses in the Monty Python sketch)...
Then when I got out of Jasper town I realised that I'd need to pass the park gate and show the park pass I don't have (Nigel got one covering 3 of us yesterday). So I turned round and went back to the hotel, got changed and went to the Jasper Brewing Company instead. I walked there with Chris, and met Nick and Al on the way, so the 4 of us enjoyed a few beers before staggering back in time for the BBQ. The BBQ itself was more sedate than the previous evening, probably due to a reduce alcohol availability, but featured some really fresh fish – trout caught by Kenny and Mac and expertly cooked by Jeff – delicious...
The wildlife excitement hadn't finished for the day, either, as there, in the wooded area at the back of our room, was a deer... friendly enough to get round the back and get a photo showing our room in the background...
And after all that excitement, it was time for bed...
With a number of others liking my plan, we set off at just after 9am and rode out of Jasper and up the winding road to Maligne Lake, a road that would have been perfect had it not been for the restrictive 60kph (37mph) speed limit and the fear of getting busted. With me leading a group of 6 other bikes, the responsibility for setting the group's speed was mine, so we crawled along barely touching 45mph, a speed in keeping with the spirit behind the law, which was to prevent speeding traffic mowing down the wildlife, which has a habit of running out of the forest and across the road (apparently, we didn't see anything). At the lake we parked the bikes – once again a lovely sight, only slightly ruined by Jim's Suzuki in the middle of the pack...
The lake itself was beautiful, even on an overcast day like today...
Leaving the lake behind, we rode “every man for himself” on the way to the canyon, so that guys could stop whenever they wanted and take pictures. Inevitably, we all stopped at some of the same spots, the views grabbing our attention as we rode...
Then, all of a sudden, the bikes stopped, and there were camper-vans and cars all blocking the road. I stopped too, and then quickly realised that everyone was pointing their cameras into the bushes at the roadside, where a small black bear cub was trying to enjoy a peaceful meal. There were people everywhere, young kids and adults, all trying to get closer to this bear, despite all the warnings posted around about bears being dangerous... Still, there was no sign of mummy-bear... perhaps she was busy eating her porridge...
Once we'd managed to get past the bear-instigated traffic-jam, we continued back down the road to the canyon. This is a classic “slot canyon” caused by the Maligne river carving it's way into the rock....
After a coffee in the canyon restaurant we headed back to the hotel, the plan changing as I wanted to try and catch Tracy online and thought that the best time to do so would be before I headed off to Mt Edith Cavell. When I got back I switched on my laptop and connected to the Internet, and there she... wasn't... so I tried skyping (is that a verb?) her mobile and the house phone but no joy. I waited a while and tried again... and again... and eventually she answered her phone, only to explain her PC is broken and so she couldn't get back on Skype. So we spoke over the phone instead...
When we'd finished chatting, I headed back out to have a look at Mt Edith Cavell, a mountain with glacier just outside Jasper. The mountain was named after a British nurse in the First World War, who helped 200 Allied soldiers escape from German-occupied Belgium and was executed for her “crimes”. Just on the way out of town, though, I was once again stopped in my tracks by some interesting wildlife at the roadside, this time an Elk (Not “Ann Elk” who has a theory about Brontosauruses in the Monty Python sketch)...
Then when I got out of Jasper town I realised that I'd need to pass the park gate and show the park pass I don't have (Nigel got one covering 3 of us yesterday). So I turned round and went back to the hotel, got changed and went to the Jasper Brewing Company instead. I walked there with Chris, and met Nick and Al on the way, so the 4 of us enjoyed a few beers before staggering back in time for the BBQ. The BBQ itself was more sedate than the previous evening, probably due to a reduce alcohol availability, but featured some really fresh fish – trout caught by Kenny and Mac and expertly cooked by Jeff – delicious...
The wildlife excitement hadn't finished for the day, either, as there, in the wooded area at the back of our room, was a deer... friendly enough to get round the back and get a photo showing our room in the background...
And after all that excitement, it was time for bed...
posted by Paul # 23:21 
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