Icefields Parkway and the Canadian Rockies

This blog post is about one of the most beautiful roads, the Icefields Parkway from Jasper to Banff. Richard and Ulli are still with us. The delay is due to the wildfires in southern British Columbia. More on that next week.

Highway 16 - The road back to the mountains

Well-rested and fortified by the breakfast buffet, after our rest day (Sunday) in Smithers, we headed to the bike shop. Finding one wasn't a problem, but since I'd been traveling with Richard and every other touring cyclist seemed to have a Brooks saddle, I wanted one too. My goal was to get rid of my padded cycling shorts. I found what I was looking for at the bike shop: a B17. Unfortunately, not in black, but in classic natural leather.

Day 51 of my trip was warm and dominated by elevation gain. Around midday, after an 8 km climb, we reached the Hungry Hill Pass. We stopped there for lunch. Shortly before reaching our destination for the day, Sunset Lake Recreational Area, we bought ice cream or beer at Jim's Grocery Store. Jim was there himself and told us about the cyclist with the pink bike. Ulli and Richard still hadn't seen Naomi at that point, but her reputation piqued their curiosity, as she'd been spotted several times before and it wouldn't be the last. We faced another tough climb to Sunset Lake. At the lake, we found a quiet spot, made a fire, and before grilling, we went for a swim.

Waking up early, after the usual breakfast of oatmeal, the day began with a hike up Six Mile Hill. Otherwise, it was a boring day on the not-so-quiet Highway 16. There were many logging trucks on the road, some of which were so loud they practically lifted your shirt. I only took six pictures that day. It was that dull. We spent the evening again at a free recreation area. Unfortunately, it was 4 km away, along a logging road, and the lake wasn't suitable for swimming.

The next day we continued on to the geographic center of British Columbia, the town of Vanderhoof. Ulli had left earlier and met us for lunch 40 km later at the supermarket. Fortified, I wanted to tackle the next hill, but I kept getting slower and more unsteady. I got my first flat tire, from a staple. In 36°C heat, with not a cloud in the sky and not a parking bay in sight, I patched my tire on the side streets of the busy highway. In 25 minutes – not bad. After 104 km with a nice tailwind (24.6 km/h), I finally reached the campground in the town center and immediately went for a swim in the river. For dinner, we had some pretty good burgers.

Day 54 once again offered a good tailwind, and it wasn't too hot, although we were happy to have fries and Coke in an air-conditioned restaurant. Richard and I traveled alone that day, as Ulli wanted to escape the heat. It was also an incentive for him to get to Prince George early, since we had booked a hotel for the night with three beds. For dinner, I tried something new: Mexican food.

We didn't really see Prince George until the next day when we were leaving the city. In the city center, we took a picture with the bicycle police. The first mountains were visible again on the horizon, even though Highway 16 remained busy and boring. That evening we found a nice campsite with a lake that was swimmable again. Unfortunately, it started to drizzle just as I was about to go in.

Day 56 brought us a short hike through an ancient forest, with trees over 1000 years old. We only met Ulli during the day for lunch at a food truck. There, we watched rain showers pass by and enjoyed burgers while the owner told us his life story for an hour and a half. At our free recreational site for the evening, we saw for the first time that the sun was a bit redder than usual due to forest fires. That didn't stop me from going for a swim, though.

Unfortunately, I was woken up early by another camper and therefore wasn't well-rested. To make matters worse, there was a strong headwind and a 300-meter climb right to wake me up. Lunch was at a restaurant in McBride, which made up for it. The highlight of the day was reaching the 4,000 km mark just before the town. During a second lunch break, someone approached me about my trip, and I must have forgotten my cutlery. Ulli had a spare spork with him, which I used until I got a replacement in Jasper. We spent the night at a rest stop next to the highway. Day 57 was definitely one of those days where you wonder what you're doing there, but with the mountains already beside us, I was really looking forward to the Icefields Parkway.

Mount Robson and Jasper

After a bad night, I was woken by rain. Bundled up, mostly dry, I set off in the downpour. We only had a few more kilometers to go before we turned off into the Rookies Trail. By then, the rain had stopped. It was nice to see more than just forest and fields again. We came across a beautiful waterfall on the very first climb. It was also warmer than the last few days, and sunscreen was needed again. At the top of the climb, Mount Robson suddenly appeared. At 3954 meters, it stood there like a wall.

Kinney Lake lies at the foot of the mountain. After setting up our tents at the campground and having lunch, we cycled the 2 km to the trailhead. We were really surprised to see so many campers and tourists, even though it was still relatively few compared to what was to come. The 5 km climb was a pleasant one, and once we reached the lake, we had a beautiful view of the mountains. Afterwards, we tried to figure out how many of the other tourists we'd passed were German-speaking. We settled on about one in four.

Even though I only managed 35 km in the saddle that day, I tried cycling without padded shorts for the first time. And I had no problems 😁. Since then, I've only ridden without them. It took a few adjustments to the height, angle, and distance from the handlebars after buying the shorts and removing the padded ones to relieve pressure on my palms and knees, but that was quickly sorted.

The night at the campsite in Mount Robson National Park was lovely, but the highway traffic was still audible. The campsite was completely full in the evening, but if you ask the campground manager nicely as a motorcyclist, he can usually find you a spot. The day began a bit cooler again, with a climb to the Alberta border. The ticket booth for the national park was there, but for political reasons, it's free in Alberta during the summer last year and this year.

Shortly after the sign, it started to rain, but it was only 20 km downhill to Jasper. Once there, I got my second flat tire, but a very slow one. I also noticed that the tread on my tire was coming loose. The bike shop had the same tire in stock, and that evening at the campsite, I patched the inner tube and replaced it. In town, we bought food for a few days, waited out a thunderstorm in the supermarket entrance, and then had a burger at a brewery.

Jasper was badly affected by a forest fire in 2024. Every fifth building was destroyed, and almost every tree had burned down by the time we arrived. The campsite had been completely rebuilt and had very nice washrooms. We pitched our tents under the only remaining trees—about 30. It was a good, quiet night.

Icefields Parkway - from Jasper to Banff

Under glorious sunshine, day 60 saw me set off on the Icefields Parkway. As I continued into the mountains, the elevation gain was inevitable, but with such beautiful mountains, it didn't matter. Even the slight headwind wasn't too bothersome. I took some more photos that day and was overtaken by two road cyclists. However, I managed to catch up with them on the next climb. We chatted for a while until the top of the hill, and now I have a couch to sleep on in Seattle.

We also stopped at Athabasca and Sunwapta Falls, but with so many people, we never stayed long. It's really worth stopping at every highlight sign, though. There are quite a few, but we had time. At the end of the day, we found a recreational area with a biker section that only cost $4.50 per person. There we met Scott, who had originally planned to cycle the Great Divide but broke three ribs in a fall on day one of his trip. He had a paper map of the Great Divide Mountain Bike Route all the way to the US border with him. I took a picture of it, as I also wanted to follow part of it. But more on that in the next blog post. So sign up for the newsletter now!

That night the temperature dropped to -2°C, the coldest recorded so far. It was quite cold, but just about at the limit of what I could wear (without rain gear). It warmed up quickly in the sun, reaching 25°C by midday. After a short warm-up ride, we tackled a 4 km climb at over 10% gradient to the Columbia Icefields glacier. The climb was quite strenuous, but we were treated to views of the icefield peeking over the edges of the peaks. Like everyone else, we took the short hike to the glacier. Along the way, there are markers indicating how much the glacier has retreated over the years – approximately 5 meters per year.

After the hike, we wanted to have lunch at the picnic shelter by the parking lot. Unfortunately, it was already occupied by an organized cycling tour group, but since it was their last day, we got some leftovers: a whole bag of sliced ​​vegetables, bread, and a large package of ham. Refreshed, we cycled a few more kilometers and went for another hike up Parker Ridge. We saw a smaller trail on the map than the one from the main parking lot and ended up having it all to ourselves. This required crossing a snowfield, which gave us yet another view of the vast icefield.

After descending from the hike, we enjoyed a lovely downhill ride. I even reached my fastest speed yet: 79.5 km/h. We spent the night at a campsite that was actually full, but the reservation list didn't cover every spot, so we found one. Otherwise, we would have asked other campers if they had room for three tents. The night was cooler again, but definitely not that cold.

Day 62 began with Ulli packing up early again and waiting for us at the restaurant 10 km away at the Saskatchewan River junction, where they were serving a breakfast buffet. Unfortunately, it had already closed by the time we arrived. Sadly, it was also the first day when it was really smoky and you could easily smell it. Because of this, the climb to Peyto Lake at 2150 m wasn't very enjoyable, as we couldn't see anything.

Tourism reached new heights at the lake's parking lot. Cars were backed up, there was a 30-person queue at the outhouses, and buses were disgorging groups who followed the flags. We were definitely not used to that anymore. We took a lunch break at the bus parking lot before I spotted a second viewpoint on the map, just 5 minutes further on. There were only 5 of us there, and we could truly enjoy this impressive blue lake. After that, we took the exit for Bow Lake and then reached Lake Louise.

When we arrived at the campsite, there was a queue of over 30 cars and campervans. We didn't want to wait that long, so we pushed our way to the front, which the driver didn't like, but couldn't change anything. Unfortunately, the news that the campsite was full wasn't great, but just then Scott came by and said he had space on his pitch. Even though so many tents weren't allowed on one site, as we would find out the next day, this wasn't a problem for the people at reception.

I knew that Naomi was also in Lake Louise with a friend and her car. We had originally planned to grab some dinner together, but since they hadn't arranged accommodation in advance, they ended up staying at Scott's campsite. For dinner, we had another great burger, but this time with poutine. It was recommended to me and it's really good. You should definitely try it sometime.

Naomi and her friend went on a sunrise hike to the Beehive with Ulli at 4 a.m., but Richard and I slept in. We both took our unladen bikes and rode to Lake Moraine, which is closed to private car traffic. It was 11 km and quite a bit of elevation gain, but the air was clear, the road was quiet, and riding without luggage was a welcome change. The lake was very crowded, but it was worth it. Afterwards, we rode through the crowds to Lake Louise, where we only took one photo before heading back.

We still hadn't found a solution for the coming night. The 70 km to Banff after our 35 km sightseeing tour that morning would have been too much for me. The campground had no vacancies before or after our tour. We had hoped to keep the same spot, but we were informed that the campground fills up quickly once bookings open three months in advance. Since cancellation fees apply, nobody's going to bother with it for $20. When we packed up at 2:00 PM and asked one last time as we were leaving the campground, reception didn't even want to check. But suddenly, they had a spot available. So, back to the site and we set up camp again. I spent the afternoon next to a bakery writing my last blog post. For dinner, we had the same burger again at the same restaurant. When we got back to the campground, we were reminded that no more than three tents were allowed. No one complained, but every other camper seemed to be violating the official rules in some way.

Well-rested, we set off on day 62 parallel to Highway 1, on a pleasantly quiet road, downhill and with a tailwind, towards Banff. The closer we got to the town, the more road cyclists we encountered. Along the way, we even had a grizzly bear right next to the road, but a ranch hand was tracking it and provided us with an escort in his car. We stopped for lunch in Johnston Canyon and couldn't see from the restaurant how many people were walking the narrow path to the waterfalls. We didn't want to miss it, but some tourists were pushing their strollers on the boardwalk, and there were over 30 people in line for a photo in front of the cave. This spoiled our fun, and we turned back without even really seeing the first waterfall.

In Banff, traffic was a problem for the first time, but it was manageable in the pedestrian zone. There, we sat in a café and waited for Naomi to arrive with her bike, for me to get a new chain fitted, and for it to be time for dinner at Boston Pizza. Naomi had organized a campsite for us for the night, but it was still 10 km and 200 meters of elevation gain away after dinner 🥵.

Conclusion

I have to say the Icefields Parkway is on par with my trip to Norway last year. I can't say which was better. Highway 16 was a bit boring and too busy. But after the highlight, the Cassiar Highway, and before the Rocky Mountains, it was okay to have a less spectacular stretch of road. We could have taken a train on that section, but it wouldn't have felt quite right. I can only recommend experiencing the Icefields to everyone.

We didn't see many wild animals on this stretch, but we did manage to spot five bears. Things also improved with Ulli, and I was able to have better conversations with Richard. It was a good time.

Without a rest day, the next leg of the journey with Naomi will take us along the Great Divide mountain bike route to Montana and beyond. Why I only spent 15 minutes in Montana and how plans can change will be explained in the next blog post.

And now, visible only to my sponsors, a picture of my pizza from Anchorage. The first postcards are already being processed. Thank you all so much! 😊

Another Boston pizza, but this time a mix: carbonara and pepperoni. It's hard to find a good pizza here 😋.