Ottertail Bike-packing family adventure Aug 2022

 


What a weekend @!! if there is one common theme this year it is called "Adventure". Wow what a trooper these kids are, we have been pushing the limits and with that we have been able to bond and grow as friends and family, I feel blessed.

Following Andy's suggestion we booked a night at Ottertail (Mcarthur Creek backcountry campground in Yoho, BC). The trail head is just passed the town of Field to the left. Andy took his kids 15 years ago and told me that from what he can remember it was an easy trail where I could pull the chariot with my bike and had a great camping night.

The trail is 16km one way, with 450mts of elevation gain. There was only 1km of downhill at around the 7km mark.

We convinced Maria to join us this time, and the kids were supper excited that mom was coming too!

We left home really late (like around 11.30am), it was a hot day and we started biking at around 1:30 since it took us 2 hours drive....

With the temperature at around 30c we were sweating like pigs ! I asked the kids to ditch the helmets and occasionally pushed their bikes. Maria was considering quitting in the first few kms, but we were in the front and she had no choice but keep going LOL.

In the down hill section Beni took a tumble, poor thing.. I guess the sleeping matt attached in his handle bar didn't let him see the trail well. Wit a few scratches and after Nic helped him out we were back on track again. 
We stopped at a creek and poor water into our heads for a while to cool down !@#$ a few downed trees made us get off the bikes and crawl under.

We finally arrive at the campsite little under 4 hours, exhausted, but happy to be done for the day. Went to the river and washed ourselves a bit before setting camp and get ready for dinner.

We found a great picnic table by the warden's cabin with a million dollar view of the Glacier $$   

After dinner we set up the tent and just chilled for the rest of night, felt sleep with the crazy sound of the wind and moon light !

Next day we woke up passed 9.... had breakfast, filtered water for the way back, pack and hit the trail at around 11:30. With 90% downhill ahead of us everyone was happy !!! there was only 1k uphill were we all had to push the bikes, but it wasn't that bad.. after that it was a stroll to the car, few stops along the way to regroup and take pictures made a very enjoyable afternoon. 
We got to the car with a storm behind us ! and as we are loading the bikes on the car the rain came down hard.
In the way home we had to made a mandatory stop in Banff to visit Old Spaghetty Factory 
  





















































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