The summer kick-off trip.......SNOW!!!

I have made a list of the things I wish to do over my last four months here in Banff National Park. A lot of it revolves around my bicycle, cycling to some location and staying there. Canmore, a series of campsites and eventually to Jasper and back. That will be the killer. My IT bands get sore after a bit but I'm hoping that with some trips and lots of riding that I will be okay. The round trip to Jasper and back is 590 kms. Really a 6 day trip. I plan for 10 or so. Just so I can enjoy myself. It's one of the world's most popular "short" rides. Through the mountains, a couple of hard up hill sections and beauty. My Canmore and Jasper trips will allow me to focus on information collecting for my Hostel. Evaluating and making notes.

I also have an easy trip of riding my Crappy Tire raft from Banff to Canmore. About a four hour jaunt. ON a nice sunny day, with a couple of beers and maybe a few friends in their own boats. It's sort of a locals thing to do here. I just hope the weather gets better. Last year sucked.

Speaking of which...I was able to cross off one of my "to-do's". My friend Michael and I cycled, with loaded bikes to LM9 along the shores of Lake Minnewanka. No sooner than we were ready to leave it started to snow. As per usual whenever we plan a trip. It snowed the whole way. It didn't really affect us, rather we enjoyed it immensely. The lake had more ice on it than a it did the same time last year so no boats. Nothing but absolute quiet. We could hear it snowing. With the right woman, I would live the rest of my life in that type of environment. My goal for my last summer in Banff is to spend as much time doing what I love so that after I've left I have nothing but nice fresh memories of enjoying the wilderness. I hope it works.