Crowsnest & An Old Friend

With the expectation of accomplishing great things today, we were up bright and early, and were packed and ready to go by 9:00 a.m.  After yesterday's ride, whatever we would do today would be rather mundane and pedestrian in comparison.

We left Creston behind heading to Cranbrook. The country is beautiful wherever we ride and today it was the same. Traffic was sparse and there were long stretches of straight road, something we haven't seen a lot of in the past few days. After we passed the village of Yahk, the road again became twisty in many sections and it seemed that the amount of traffic increased as we approached Cranbrook. 

It was great to be able to find a Starbucks there, the last we are likely to see for a few days, and take a break. The temperature was in the high 20s, and there were very few clouds in the sky so it was almost perfect for riding, at least in my opinion. 

After a short stop at Crowsnest Harley-Davidson we again headed east toward Fernie, BC. Gradually the broad valley east of Cranbrook became more mountainous and the road again curved around the edges of mountains. As we approached Fernie, the land became more rugged until we approached the town where the Elk River ran alongside the highway. 

Riding into Fernie, BC, from the west.

When we stopped for lunch I called an old friend from my Trent University days who lives in Fernie. I was fortunate to be able to connect with William Bell (Bill as I used to know him) and he agreed to meet me where we were having lunch at Boston Pizza. It was great to again be face to face after forty-five years. Our lives have some interesting parallels. We both married women named Darlene. Our children are the same ages although he has two daughters while I have a son and a daughter.

Together after 45 years

Bill along with three other friends has been afflicted with cancer. He has been fighting it for fifteen years and continues to do so. One of our friends passed away several years ago, one is in hospice now, while Bill and Jim are survivors. I wish them the best. One of Bill's daughters is on a heart transplant tean at Royal Jubilee Hospital in Victoria and he sometimes goes there to visit her. We hope to be able to get together with our wives on one of his visits to Victoria.

The city of Fernie is surrounded by beautiful mountains and we passed through them on our way to Sparwood. East of Sparwood Highway 3 passes through some coal mining areas and the mines are visible on the sides of the mountains. It is interesting to think that this coal which lies on the side of a mountain, was once, millions of years ago, in the bottom of a swamp. Changes over geological time can be tremendous.

Mountains surrounding Fernie, BC

As we rode to the Alberta border, the highway passed by some impressive mountains and the road curved around the foot of some of them. It is as close to a mountain as it is possible to get without climbing on it.

Crowsnest Pass

Rocky Mountains near the Alberta/BC boder

Passed through several small towns including Coleman, until we entered Blairmore which lies just to the west of Turtle Mountain. In April of 1903, the face of Trutle Mountain, more that 82 million tonnes of rock slid down into the valley below and part way up the opposing slope. The east end of the town of Frank, AB, was in the path of the slid and between seventy and ninety people were killed in the one hundred seconds it took for the event to happen. The interpretive centre there provides a good view of the whole site and we stopped to view the area. It is amazing how large the area of the slide was and it is a miracle that more people weren't killed.

The Frank Slide. Turtle Mountain in the background.

The slide area

Debris field from the Frank slide

Highway 3 through the Frank slide

Our riding day ended with a final 35 kilometre run into Pincher Creek, AB where we found hotel rooms and parked our bikes for the day. We didn't cover a tremendous distance today, bit it was still a good one. Tomorrow Geoff will leave us as he has to get back to Vancouver so he can return to work on Monday. It has been great to have him on this part of the trip and it seems that he has had a good time. Maybe next year he will choose to join us again. So tomorrow it's just the 'Vintage Gentlemen' again.