Day 111 – Canada!

We made it to Canada!

And it’s not just like a different country, it feels like a completely different world.  These are the Rockies as I’ve never seen them.  Huge, towering, majestic… and covered in snow!  It feels a storybook-esque, like a fantasy land. It feels a little unreal to be finishing this thing, too.

To think how different this place is, different from the humble beginnings of the CDT at Crazy Cook in New Mexico.  Yet here we are, some 3600 miles and 4 months later.

The day started well.  Low clouds quickly burned off.  The sun came out!

It was cold riding.  Cows were everywhere, pooping all over the road and causing tourists to get stuck and wonder what to do.  The bikepackers will help — they know well how to herd cows.  Heeyaw!  Heeyaw!

Piles of snow plopped off green aspens and spruces.  We climbed and descended steep hills, changing layers embarassingly often.  No way to stay comfortable.

Chief Mountain and other giants of Glacier struck out of small clouds.  This is big country. 

The border came and went.  Only a few questions.  With any luck we’ll be back in the US soon.  Some hikers end their trip here, at Chief Mountain, but we want to see Waterton and the ‘official’ finish.

So we keep riding.  Our jaws drop at the first view of the Waterton Valley.

It just gets better as we pedal through it.  There’s a bike path in the park.  Yay Canada!  There are even trails open to bikes… how forward thinking.

We arrive at the townsite, still slack-jawed.  4 miles of walking is all that remains to reach ‘the end’.  Walking around town, along the shore of the lake, we decide to look for the start of our trail.  It was harder to find than we thought.

“I think my quads are cramping…”

“I’m getting a sideache.”

We’re pathetic!  8 miles out and back tomorrow may hurt us.  Oh how simultaneously strong and weak cyclists can be.  It’s going to be icy and slushy, that’s for sure.  But it’s going to be great.  The end of a journey.