Canada by Bike

Today I entered Alberta and passed the 1000 km mark! What a day! The weather cooled down a bit and it rained. At one point I noticed a big rainbow while riding through Banff National Park. The beauty of the mountains is breathtaking, the roads are awesome and the air is very fresh and crisp.

Today I continued riding through Banff, then Canmore all the way to Native Reserve Stoney. I was quite surprised to come across a herd of mountain sheep feeding on the side of the road. They were shedding and nicely blending with the rocks, many people drove by and didn't even see them. I was able to come quite close to them before they ran away. Today was the closest I ever got to wild life.

Day off today, yay! We got invited to stay with Staszek, a super great guy who cycled across Canada a few years before me. I am still the first Polish woman who did this though. Today was quite a nice day, I was invited to be on the radio - station 97.7FM - and visited the city of Calgary.

Today was a bit sad as I left the mountains behind and entered the prairies. Calgary is just between the mountain hills and prairies. It was a challenging ride as there is a steep hill just before the city. Calgary is 1045m above sea level. It was quite a climb. Later on that day, my family and I visited the Bad Lands and the stunning rock formations carved by a river. Pictures of these are in the main album.

Drumheller cannot be forgotten. This place really gives one a sense of time. Drumheller valley has many hoodoos, sandstone pillars which take millions of years to be formed. Also, this area is famous for dinosaurs; many skeletons were found here. I loved it in this place! There were many hidden spots to explore. Many of the rock formations looked like mushrooms.

I haven't seen so much beauty in one place – Banff National Park is stunning! The glacial lakes are incredibly unique and I highly recommend visiting them if you are in the area. My favourite one was Lake Moraine. The location of the lake, colour of the water and the composition are breathtaking! We got to see it after the sunset as it was closed due to too many tourists visiting during the day. Instead of waiting in line to visit Lake Moraine during the day, we visited local hot springs. It was crowded but worth the view. Same day we visited Lake Louise and a Sulphur Mountain. We got to hike a lot which was a nice change from sitting on a saddle all day.

Today was an epic ride! I finally broke my own record and covered 260 km! It was one of the hottest days so far, but because it was slightly downhill I was biking faster and as a result of it I had a constant breeze. The scenery is so different now. There were no more trees, no more hills, just grass and electric wires. I am in Redcliff near Medicine Hut now, staying at a cheap motel I would never recommend to anyone. My body is sore and I can barely walk.