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« on: December 18, 2015, 11:54:30 am »
Righto, thought I'd resuscitate this old thread of mine with some feedback from my tour using the Great Parks North route...
Short summary would be - good route. I think the distance fits well into a fortnight's tour (I completed it in 12 days on the bike, plus 1 rest day, and the 12th cycling day I arrived into Missoula for lunchtime).
I flew into Edmonton on 29th August, then on 30th got the VIA Rail across to Jasper. What I hadn't quite accounted for was the fact that this train comes all the way across Canada...don't count on it being on time! I had a 7-hour delay.
I guess I hadn't quite appreciated how far North the route starts. My first night on the bike was camping near the Columbia Icefields. There was snow falling. The next morning was a very cold start!
I had low cloud cover all along the Icefields Parkway so only got slight snatches of views now and then.
In fact for the whole of the first week I had a lot of rain and cold temperatures. The weather only really finally improved the day I did Going-To-The-Sun-Road through Glacier NP. So my final three days were warm and sunny!
Apparently the last week or so of August there were big fires and lots of smoke around this part of Canada!!
To answer the query I originally had when starting this thread - I didn't have any problem finding camping spots. The Nat'l Park sites I used in Canada were not full.
I elected to stay at Kootenay Park Lodge for the third night on the bike - there were no campgrounds in quite the right place. The next night (out of the Parks) I found a wild camping spot as the only campground around, at Fairmont Hot Springs, was really an overpriced RV park.
I basically started out with two days' supplies leaving Jasper. There are opportunities to stock up at Saskatchewan River Crossing and Lake Louise, if needed. But both are overpriced, especially the Crossing!!
From Castle Junction, through Kootenay Park, there's nothing (another reason I decided to stay at the Lodge on this stretch).
I took my rest day in Fernie, about half way I think. There's a good choice of accommodation there. Recommend the Red Tree Lodge - reasonably priced and bike-friendly.
Cranbrook is a sizeable town (you guys would probably call it a city...) not too far off the main route.
The remainder of the route was pretty straightforward. Glacier NP is recommended, and when I was there (the week after Labor Day) was not too busy. Lots of cyclists out on shiny race bikes though!
Compared to my tour the previous year (three weeks on that occasion) on the northern section (through Washington and Oregon) of the Sierra Cascades route, I thought this tour was easier and more straightforward. Generally less need to plan that far ahead logistically (e.g. For food and water). None of the climbs really seemed that bad - definitely on the whole shorter in duration - compared to some of the neverending climbs on the SC...
Hope that helps some considering a tour using Great Parks North!
Cheers
Rob