Bike ride, from Calgary to Canmore, Banff, Lake Minnewanka, Devil's Gap, Waiperous, Cochrane, Calgary

May 31, 2021

End of the 30kms single track

Epic day deserves a proper write up !

I have been wanting to do this loop for a long time, and after seen Craig Stappler's report of the trail a few weeks ago decided to give it a go.

I tried to convince him and few others to tag along, but with negative responses from them, decided to do a solo ride, no compromising a bail out and reducing mechanical break downs... after all less bikes less chances of things going wrong..

I put on fresh new tires on my Orbea Terra, 40C tubeless. I put on new brake pads and made sure everything was good to go.

Woke up at 5:30am on Sunday and after a quick coffee and oatmeal I hit the road. Craig sent me his GPX file to follow the trail, specially the single track connection along Lake Minnewanka which gets very tricky after the most popular section which ends at the cabin at around 16k. After the cabin the trail is less marked, but has some cairns in the places were the trail has been washout to allow connecting it. This section is called Devil's Gap, it is marked as a 30kms trail from the start of Lake Minnewanka to the Ghost Valley Road or Transalta Road. The last 10kms have a lot of fallen dead trees along the way, one river crossing and a few sections that make difficult to stay on the trail but not impossible if you pay attention to it. Definitely having a GAIA (GPS app that doesn't require cell signal) was the best, it saved me a lot of time connecting the trail.

Bear Spray is a most, but I crashed half way through the single track section and it came out of my pocket, I didn't realize until later on as I was riding through a very sketchy section, at that point I started to yell and make lots of noise in case I have an encounter !

When I got to the end of the Devil's Gap I had a sense of relieve.... I saw a few 4x4s around the Ghost Valley Road and at least wasn't feeling as lonely. I had to do a second river crossing, this time was ankle deep, but very refreshing. I stopped for a few minutes, filtered water and ate the half of my sandwich.

Ready to go and back on the bike there were another 30kms of gravel road ahead of me. I managed to ride through that section at a good pace. Once I finished that road and hit the paved road that goes to Waiperous I felt great !! I knew I was almost home despite of another 50kms ahead of me.

In Cochrane I made a quick pit stop to get a coke with lots of ice !! Went up the last hill and coasted all the way home.

In summary

The ride was a loop, from Calgary to Canmore, Banff, Lake Minnewanka, Devil's Gap, Waiperous, Cochrane, Calgary.. Mostly paved roads, except for 30kms of single track very rocky along Minnewanka and some 30kms of gravel road on the Ghost Valley Road. Had two creek crossings ankle deep and a little bit of bushwhacking and orienteering.

Total moving time was 12:18:20, and total time was 13:15:00, 241kms, and 2,185 meters of elevation gained. (so an hour of stops along the way).