Canadian Rockies

We’ve been in Canada for over a month now and have thoroughly enjoyed our visit. The wildlife alone is worth the visit – we’ve seen mountain goats, moose, elk, bald eagles, red tailed hawk, caribou and both black and grizzly bears (the grizzlies viewed from inside our van thankfully!). A number of places we visited on Vancouver Island had recent cougar sightings, but we fortunately didn’t see any. We’ve also gotten good at talking to ourselves and generally making lots of noise when walking through grizzly country to let them know we’re coming and avoid any surprise encounters. And of course the scenery is incredible as you can see from some of the photos below.

Ginny and me in Banff National Park

Banff is crowded but the scenery is spectacular

At first blush, it can be challenging to find many differences between Canada and the USA – even the Canadian accent is virtually identical to the American accent for crying out loud! And of course they love ice hockey more than any other sport. We know from our time living in New Zealand that it often takes a while to pick up on more subtle cultural differences. But one thing that we’ve discovered that appears to be distinctly Canadian are recreation centers. I kid you not. Nearly every town we’ve visited has a town-sponsored recreation center that provides swimming pools (some complete with lazy rivers and long winding water slides), fitness centers, gyms, curling rinks(!), saunas, steam rooms, hot tubs and showers. When you live in a van, that all sounds like nirvana! Since the recreation centers are all public, they’re all very reasonably priced with the entrance fee ranging from CA$6-10.

We’ve been driving a good number of dirt and gravel roads partially due to the road closures and route detours resulting from the devasting Jasper fire. Last week after driving a gravel road for more than 100 kilometres, we had a massive tire blowout. Fortunately we were on a relatively straight section of the road and were able to pull over safely without further incident. We had no cell reception though so weren’t able to call for roadside assistance. And we also discovered that we don’t have a jack in the van (oops!) so were helpless to change the tire ourselves. Other drivers were very friendly though and I very quickly caught a ride into the nearby town of Hinton to fetch help. I was dropped off at a tire shop and then caught a ride with Mark in his truck to go fix our blown-out tire. Just before Mark and I returned to the van, a driver had stopped to tell Ginny that she shouldn’t be walking around outside the van as it was prime grizzly country! Anyhow, Mark changed the tire and then we went back to the tire shop to have a couple new tires put on the van. We felt fortunate to have avoided any serious injury or vehicle damage and were also glad to have nearly all new tires on our van now.

Mark was our savior when our tire blew out!

More Banff National Park splendor!

Many of you probably know that I've been trying to get into the Western States Endurance Run (WSER) for many years. Demand far exceeds supply for this race so they have a lottery every year to determine who's offered an entry into the race. In order to be eligible for the lottery, athletes have to run a qualifying race every year so I've now run 5 WSER qualifying races hoping that one day my lucky ticket will be chosen. This year I decided to run the Canadian Death Race (CDR) as my WSER qualifier since I knew that we'd be traveling through the Canadian Rockies. CDR is a 118k ultramarathon that is held on the first weekend of August every year in Grande Cache, Alberta, which is in the northern Canadian Rockies.

My training had gone fairly well so I was feeling good heading into the race despite being a little apprehensive as I had heard the race was quite difficult. The race is broken into five separate legs with aid stations located in the transitions between each of the legs. Ginny was planning to support me at the end of leg 2 and the end of leg 4, where she was also volunteering at the aid station. The first leg was over before I even knew it as it was relatively flat and short. I met a local runner named Marcus on this leg and he and I would run together on and off for the next few legs. Leg 2 was extremely difficult as it ascended two separate mountains (Flood Mountain and Grande Mountain) before sending runners down some of the steepest, most technical trail that I've ever run. I neglected to have my poles with me for this descent which was a huge mistake but I somehow managed to slide my way down these trails without taking any serious spills. The day was also getting hot by the end of this leg so I was feeling tired and low energy by the time I saw Ginny at the aid station at the end of leg 2.

Leg 3 was another relatively flat leg but I nearly took a really bad fall tripping on a rock. I fortunately was able to regain my balance before going down and it reminded me that I needed to focus more on every step that I took. We crossed numerous streams on leg 3 which were lifesavers as I would splash water on my face to cool off. After collecting my poles at the aid station at the end of leg 3, I started the dreaded climb up Mt Hamell which tops out at nearly 7,000'. It was a long, hot slog to get to the top but we were all rewarded with cooler temperatures due to the high elevation and a steady wind. A race volunteer gave me a pickle and some pickle juice near the summit of Hamell and that really revived me and got me running well again. The descent off of Hamell was much more gradual and all very runnable which was a huge relief after the leg 2 descent. I saw Ginny around 10pm at the end of leg 4 and she helped me refuel and prepare for my final leg in the dark before finishing the race.

Leg 5 was relatively flat and included a boat crossing in the middle of it which was a first for me. On the final 6k stretch back into town, I ran with the second place woman (Katie) which was really helpful as we pushed each other to keep up the pace. I finished just past midnight and it was such a relief to cross the finish line and to be done running for the day. I ended up finishing in 16:36:05 which was good for 9th male overall and the 1st male masters runner (40+). I was happy with those results and vow to do more downhill training runs if I ever run this race again!

CDR start line - that's why everyone looks so fresh!

Ginny and I headed out for a couple overnight backpacking trips this week which were remarkably scenic even though we got some rainy and colder weather. Our first trip was to a backcountry campground that was only a few kilometres from the trailhead but rewarded us with beautiful lake views and towering mountains in all directions. The next day we resupplied at the van and hiked about 10 kilometres to a backcountry cabin that was well-stocked with wood stove, full kitchen and bunkbeds upstairs in the loft. We shared the cabin with two moms and their four kids from Calgary which was fun. Now we're wrapping up the Canadian section of our van trip and are heading south. We'll probably only have a couple more days in Canada before crossing the border into Montana.