Not another Brit touring the Colonies.

Having walked Mark's legs off... well, he really wanted to get some stuff done in Banff, I headed out on another high mountain walk, on my own and in bear country!



It was a hot day and the climb was bloomin steep



but the views more than made up for it I'm heading up to that little coll, in the middle of the frame.



That little path was the way up to the coll.



Looking South, the haze from the forrest fires gave an eerie tinge to the view



but closer up, it was a bit more spectacular.



I wasn't the only hiker out today



Over the coll and these big views opened up...







 
I even got two nice ladies to take a shot of me in the coll.



Just around the corner was another big view



and some more...





On my return to the campsite, I grabbed this shot, which was the view from our tents



These last few are from my little snappy. Mark, on the walk past Lake Louise.



Louise from my vantage point on the climb to Lake Agnes



and finally, Lake Agnes

 
We had a four night break at Two Jacks Lakeside Campground, which was absolutely superb, as I thought we'd be ready for a mini break after our run to Alaska.



But on the fifth day we headed out to The Kootenay's and a ferry ride on our way to HU in Nakusp.



The Kootenay ferries are free, but they've not adopted the Vacouver practice of loading bikes on first, which seems pretty lame to me.



We arrive at Nakusp and it's n ot looking overly busy.



Given the size of Canada, i'm surprised to see travelers attending on bikes this small. It takes an age to travel around on a GS, let alone one of these, and it's certainly not pleasnat being overtaken by big trucks doing 90, when all you can get is 50-60.



Mark and I got chatting to this couple, whose names I forgot to write down, as they were some of only a few people that were around our age group at the HU meeting. As our friend Adam's already posted, the dining hall looked much like a bingo hall with all the silver tops that were there. Where are all the younger generation travellers?

 
Blimey, hark at the pensioner complaining about 'oldies' ! :beerjug:

Still riding along with you Rich. :thumb
 
The last photo's Tina and Mike from Vancouver way. Next update's my little off, hopefully i'll post it tomorrow.

 
I left Nakusp reasonably early



and took a ride South through The Kootenay's.



And barring the hazy smoke from the forrest fires



were rather pleasant.



I stopped off in New Denver, which is by this lake



and is an olde worlde



frontier town...



with a couple of tourist shoppes...



and a rather spiffing guest house.



Leaving New Denver behind, I headed up this pass



Which took me through some more of the usual scenery



and some nice twisty bits



along the babbling brook



past this old fella



where something caught my eye....



I just don't know what the driver was thinking



but it gave me a chuckle, which was good, because shortly after....



I ended up with this. Had a slow speed off, but stopped abruptly and went down, sat on the bike and bashed my shoulder somewhat, ending in a Grade 3 Separation. I didn't know it at the time, it was just a bit sore, so I picked the bike up and got on with getting to a hospital to get myself checked out.

 
So, following my crash and subsequent loss of my little snappy, the number of photos i'm able to take has somewhat diminished. Following my injury, i'll take up again a couple of days later, heading from Fernie to Polebridge...



past these old wagons



on the way to Glacier National Park.



First I had to get through customs, with the usual, sour faced, miserable and unwelcoming customs officer. I maintained a happy smile and stayed chatty all the way through, but damn, he was miserable. The US needs to educate these guys to be a bit more welcoming in their demeanour. We're tourists, not terrorists and we're likely not to come back if you don't treat us well.



I whizzed through Glacier, which was completely smoked in and busy with traffic, and duly arrived in Polebridge, where there's a bakery



and a pub, but not a lot else.



The bakery's ok, but the pub was brilliant and even had a couple of guys singing away outside.



It's not a bg pub, but it oozes plenty of character. I waited a while to see if Mark was going to make it and then headed off to my stop for the night



which was this little hostel. I was supposed to be in my tent, but upgraded to a proper bed in the tipi, where I had a reasonably good night's sleep.

 
Leaving Polebridge, I had a long day on the bike to get to Montana. Needless to say, I just got on the bike and rode, not stopping for photo's as my shoulder was going to suffer for this day. I arrived mid afternoon at this lovely place



where I let this chap out of his kennel for some company, whilst I ate my lunch and drank a large bottle of Kriek i'd bought a little earlier in Missoula and awaited my hosts, John and Jennifer, to arrive home from work.



Next day, Mark and I met up and headed up the Lolo Pass, to Wier Hot Springs, which did my shoulder the world of good!



We didn't do the whole of the Lolo, as my shoulder was too painful and there was a lot of forrest fire smoke about.



On the way back, we stopped at The Jack Saloon, which is an amazing log cabin pub, built only four logs high, but you need to see the size of the logs. This is the Landlord.



Due to the fires, they weren't very busy, but we had some very nice beer.



It was easy to differentiate between the gents



and the ladies



The place is just riddlled with character



The Bar is made out of one solid log



and people have carved names and messages into it.



The night shift arrived for a quiet night shift



so we headed back for some more four legged company



and two legged. Lovely hosts and thank you for a wonderful two nights. I wish we could've stayed for a few more. Apologies, as this one was taken with my phone.

 
With my sore shoulder muttering and complaining, we headed south to Jackson. I ddn'y have any desire to stop and take photo's until we reached the outskirts and I felt we'd arrived.



The Grand Teton's have some nice hills about.



Mark went to pick up Louise, from the airport, but I spotted that his new rear tyre had been fitted backwards, so a morning of waiting for it to be sorted ensued.



We headed out and i'd already decided to not go up to Yellowstone, as my shoulder wasn't feeling too good, so I stayed at my tent space host, Ed Prater's, for another night. Ed's a top chap, living in a super home in Jackson and I enjoyed camping in his garden for a couple of nights.



So I headed back along the Teton Park road



which was a lovely ride



a little closer to the mountains



from the main highway



so the views were a little less smokey.

 
Leaving Ed's, I had a big day on the bike in order toget to Rory's place in Laramie, where I had a few days rest lined up. Rory and II went out for a great vegetarian meal on my arrival and then, the next day, we headed into the hills for a bit of music in a great pub.



With everything that's gone on, i've forgoteen the name of the band, but they were very good



the local's appreciated the great music



sung by this lovely lady from, if I remember, Venezuala. I'll try and get Rory to remind me.



Looking at these photo's, I think i've lost a few of my first day with Rory, but he's the colourful one in this bunch of Advrider reprobates



who were great company



to celebrate Labour Day with in Rory's garden



with a few of his other Laramie friends and neighbours. I made a spiffing salad to go with all the other food everyone brought, which went down rather well.



Laramie's a railroad town, with no rail station



but it does have a bridge to get from one side of the rails to the other. It was made when welding hadn't been invented, so is completey constructed in situ and hot riveted together.



The town was buiilt alongside the railway and has some great old buildings that are now restaurants, shops and hotels.



Not a lot happens in Laramie regarding rail business, they just seem to park the rolling stock there. If you're wondering where you know Laramie from, a man came from there, both in a tv series and a film with James Stewart.

 
Having had a few days rest with my new buddy, Rory, I continued my steady ride South.



along County Road 103



which had some great scenery leading up into the Colorado mountains.

 
Once back in the Colorado mountains, i wasn't far from a couple of my early tent space hosts, Vic & Hannah in Golden and Chris & Stacie in Denver.
I'd arranged to spend a few days with each of them in order to give me a chance to recuperate before Mark caught up with me and we continued our journey Westwards, back to San Francisco, to head home.
 
Follwoing a few days rest with Vic and Hannah, and keeping their dogs company whilst they were working



I headed down to Chris's, where he duly convinced me to take a gentle trail ride with him.



So we headed out into his local hills



pausing very occassionally for the odd photo



of some stunning scenery



and landsacpes. This one's on the approach to Canyon City, near Salida. There's a tarmaced ridge road that's crests some low mountain tops, that's barely the width of the road on top.



We rode areas called Four Mile,



Shelf Road to Cripple Creek



Deckers to Terriol along Goose Creek Road



and saw loads of good stuff. I was really wishing I still had my little snappy to get a whole load more photo's to choose from.



Once back, Stacie cooked us a fantastic dinner.

 
I met up with Mark, down in Manitou Springs, again today. We had a spot of lunch in a Greek Taverna - as recommended on Tripadvisor - and heade up a wet and gloomy looking Pikes Peak.



We were somewhat rather lucky, as all the rain storms seemed to be encircling the peak, but barely any rain actually fell on us.



Despite the gloom, there were some good views



I'd stopped near the summit to take a photo and a cha from Ireland stopped to say hello, and he kindly took my photo.



Given the weather, maybe we should've taken the cog railway?



But then we wouldn't have got the bikes in on this shot.



We had a staedy run down the peak and headed off to see Greg, a fellow Firefighter, in Colorado Springs



Who's partner is the lovely Paige, who has three great kids and just as many dogs. A great family, who love back country skiing, trail riding, mountain biking and climbing. Chris & Stacie Rogers and Vic & Hannah, if you read this, they're a great couple on Adv and you could all show each other around your local areas, as you have a chunk of interests in common.



Yet another unplanned, yet well timed event coincided with our visit...



The local brew pub had just started a week long celebratory event in recognition of the Firefighters in the Colorado Springs area



so I ended up on a bit of a busman's holiday



The beer choice was rather good and it was a real shame we were only staying for one night. Thanks guys, it was great to meet you all, shame we didn't have longer.

 
On leaving Greg and Paige's home, we headed West...ish to our next spot for a night near Glenwood Springs. We climbed steadily, up past a Pikes Peak in fully sun and blue skies and...



on to the high plateau



which eventually led to Independance Pass, where the early autumnal colours were beginning to show through



We had a super ride up to the top of the pass, but it looks like my camera settings weren't quite right



as it's all looking a tad dark on the top.



We were headed for Rick's place, where we had a great evening, before continuing our Westward passage.



On the way to Rick's, we stopped in Aspen for lunch.



Aspen's very pleasant, but you could win a million and still not afford to live here.

 
Given the weather, maybe we should've taken the cog railway?

Reminds me of a time when, as a teenager, I worked in my uncle's garage in the summer holidays (45 years ago, when most villages contained a local garage, in the days when cars could be repaired without the aid of a diagnostic computer). I was working on a gearbox and happened to mention "cogs". My uncle asked, "Do you know the definition of a cog?" "No, what" I said. "A cog is what a cnut calls a gear".

No offence intended - great RR with wonderful pics :thumb2
 
A couple of our Advrider friends recommended riding down Hwy 141 to get to Moab. When we mentioned this to Rick, he said to call in at Gateway and see the car museum...



which we duly did. However, we were obviously two scruffy bikers and weren't very welcome at the cafe and restaurants, with the local Gestapo claiming there was an event on and that only the museum was open. We looked in the car park and there weren't that many people about.



Anyhow, the museum was set up by a very rich man and he's had the collection painstakingly restored to as original showroom as possible.



They're probably a bit too shiney, but you can't argue how good the collection is. The concept car is something else.



There are also a couple of bikes, but i'll let the pictures do the talking from here. I htink my favourite is the Chevvy Pickkup, but wait, maybe the concept or....























































 


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