Day 8: Lake Louise to Canmore

Distance: 99km

Total distance: 955km

Average speed: 24.7km/h

Weather: sunny

Last night at the bonfire outside the hostel I met a super nice lady from the Netherlands who was travelling through western Canada. We chatted until it got dark (not until almost 10pm here!) and when I told her I was going to be in Amsterdam in August, she immediately gave me her phone number and said I had to contact her when I'm there. She even offered to take me travelling through Europe! I didn't know how to return the favour but I told her everything I knew about Vancouver (including all the good places to eat) in for when she returns there in two weeks. 

This morning I went up the steep 4k to Lake Louise sans bags, making it the highest place that my bike has ever taken me. It was still quite wintery up there, and the trickiest part ended up being walking down the icy trail in cycling cleats. Although I have been here before, one does notknow how to appreciate things when you're 11, and plus the lake is still mostly frozen today, so this was a wonderfully refreshing experience. While walking part way around the lake, I witnessed an avalanche over the glacier! 

After coming down to the village and grabbing my bags, I got on the cyclist's paradise that is the Bow Valley Parkway heading for Banff. There is really no place like the Rockies and I think my eyes are about to explode with its sheer beauty. The road wound right alongside giant peaks (Castle Mountain, Storm Mountain...) and I ended up stopping so many times over the 55km to try to soak in everything. Even though it was net downhill, there were still a few little uphills thrown in for good measure, enough that I never really stopped pedaling. It was the most perfect morning to be riding and I waved to the many cyclists on their Saturday rides. 

Just before 2, I arrived in Banff, which has to be the coolest town in Canada. Biking and hiking trails everywhere surrounded by mountains so close that you can touch them. Immense hunger set in as soon as I stopped and I dashed into Cow's for a scoop of supposedly Canada's best ice cream. Afterwards I found Eddie's Burger Bar where I had my first elk burger. I strolled through some of the shops along Banff Avenue before finding a nice patch of shade alongside the Bow River where I took a short nap. It's a good thing that Katja, my host in Canmore, texted me that they were leaving at 6:20 to go see a show, or I would have never left Banff. I semi-sprinted along the Banff Legacy Trail, another cyclist heaven path, all the way to Canmore and arrived just as Katja and Yves were riding back from picking up wild rhubarb. It turns out that the show they are seeing is a puppet show based on a graphic novel featuring a DJ and classical strings quartet in Banff, and they  kindly asked if I wanted to come. Aside from the very interesting description, I couldn't pass up the chance to go to Banff again. So we all scrambled to take showers and then drove back along the highway to the Banff Centre for the 7 o' clock opening. The show was about a robot that falls in love with a woman who turns out to be the inventor of another robot that seeks to destroy him. Definitely a cool and different experience and I am so glad I came! Later we went to Maclab Bistro in another building on the Banff Centre grounds (I found out that it's actually an art school campus) for pizza and Katja and Yves told me all about their long bike trips through France and South America, which makes me want to plan for the next trip already!