A crude summary of my cycling expedition in the Canadian Rockies

Following is it. Irrespective of whether it is needed or not.

• Day 0: Overnight stay in HI Youth Hostel in Jasper (had to find my way to the hostel from where the bus dropped me – could do that only after riding at least 20k on my bike – round and round)
• Day 1: Cycling in Jasper for the first half of the day and riding till Athabasca Falls Hostel in the latter half
• Day 2: Athabasca Falls Hostel to Beauty Creek Hostel (it rained for most of the first half – and it’s BAD to bike when it’s raining in the Rockies – but of course, it’s fun too)
• Day 3: Beauty Creek Hostel to Rampart Creek Hostel with a ‘mountain biking to Parker’s ridge’ thrown in between (so that I could have a good look at the Sakstatchewan Glacier)
• Day 4: Rampart Creek Hostel to Lake Louise Village Hostel with mountain biking through some awesome forest trails in the Village in the evening (yes I got lost for a while but eventually made it)
• Day 5: Lake Louise Village Hostel to Banff  Hostel (of course only after riding a slight uphill detour to check-out the beautiful and popular Lake Louise)
• Day 6: Banff Hostel to Calgary (just for the heck of it – was mostly through plains)

EpiPrologue

On a Friday evening, I flew from Vancouver to Calgary. To do biking in the Canadian Rockies, you have to reach Calgary. It is in Alberta Province. I remember a funny thing that happened that night. Let me tell you.

I took a shuttle from the airport to downtown Calgary. I was the only guy in the shuttle. A Morgan Freemanish kinda guy was the driver. The shuttle only dropped you at few specific locations – not anywhere you wanted to. I wanted to get dropped as close to this place called ‘Wicked Hostel’. Now Mr. Morgan Freeman was like nice and stuff, so he said he would drop me off at the hostel itself. Except that he couldn’t really locate the location. He dropped me off at a place and told me it was the hostel. I told him I didn’t see ‘Wicked Hostel’ written anywhere. I also told him I would go inside and check out what the place was anyway. So I approached the door. I guy came out. I asked him if the place was a hostel. He looked at me, gave a subtle wry smile and commented – ‘I am not sure you would like to stay here though. It is a place for homeless and booze / drug affected chaps.’

Morgan Freeman gave up after a while but from wherever he dropped me last, I finally found out my way in less than 200 meters of walking. Jeff greeted me at the Wicked Hostel and I immediately liked him. And the hostel. And others at the hostel. Like Wolf and Scotty.

Wow. It’s amazing. Now that I have started writing about my journey, I have so much to tell. I suddenly realize my summary cannot be contained in one post. It cannot be crude (though let the title remain what I had written initially). So may be I will find time and write about all the funny little things worth writing about. Post by post.