Forth and Back, TOR '23

[RBMann]

Day 17 - Polaris to Seeley Lake, MT-208 miles



This was the day I mentioned earlier that was just enjoyable without having anything special happen. Nice scenic roads with low traffic-







Lunch guest at Sherry's Homestyle Bakery in Philipsburg, MT. We were trapped here by a rain storm in 2019. Happy to find it still open-





Buy, sell, or trade in Drummond, MT-



Some years at Seeley Lake are okay while others have bad mosquitos. This year was okay as we help a neighbor get his Can-Am Spyder running. Dead battery buried behind an access panel in the luggage compartment.

[Droptarotter]

Phillipsburg is a great place. I really liked the pizza joint and the brewery!

Cheers

[RBMann]

Day 18 - Seeley to Apgar CG, Glacier Nat. Park-123 miles



We have been up and down Hwy 83 a few times so only one photo at Swan Lake-



There was also a roadside stand in Swan Lake where Ralf bought some cherries that were good but the ones in Naches on Day 2 were better. We found our site at Apgar and got comfortable. When I was planning this trip there weren't any openings at Apgar so I had booked us into Fish Creek across Lake McDonald. Something was odd about that site but I let it slide for a couple months. When I finally looked into it tents were not allowed in that site. Panic set in and on a whim I checked Apgar where there was an opening for our days, someone must have just canceled. I will take luck any time. Nice big site with showers too-



We walked through the woods and along the lake to Apgar Village to get supplies for dinner. Well, ice cream too-





On the way back to camp the wind and waves were picking up-

[RBMann]

Day 19 - Apgar/Polebridge/Apgar-55 miles

Smoky again today-





Ralf wanted to see Polebridge and try Bowman Lake also. He could not make the web site work on his phone so we didn't have an access permit. The ranger at the Bowman entrance was, "So it didn't work. No permit, no entry." Off we go to the Polebridge Mercantile for lunch then-



Back at camp we decided to head over to Apgar Village again for dinner. Whenever we walked along the lake you could see dust plumes in the trees where the Going to the Sun Road passed near the lake. Construction for miles with a lot of dust or mud depending on the weather. We had looked at the cars coming in and decided not to drive up to the pass. One of the cleaner cars-



Tonight we were eating in the restaurant. It was cheaper than buying supplies in the small market-





After dinner as we were eating ice cream, a thunder storm rolled through the village with heavy rain. I remembered I had left my tent and top bag open back in camp. I could have dropped my ice cream and ran back to camp but by then the damage would have already been done. Not completely true as I couldn't run that far or actually any far. We finished our ice cream under shelter then walked back. Luckily the major rain had not passed over our site so two hours later everything was dry again.

[RBMann]

Day 20 - Apgar to Lake Louise, Banff Nat. Park-320 miles



We left Apgar heading west to connect with Hwy 93 and followed it all the way north to the Trans Canada Hwy 1 junction near Lake Louise. Ralf made it across then border just fine then I answered all the question until the last one. I had to remove the helmet and ear plugs but I got it right then they let me across too. Weather was okay in the morning turning hot then a brief rain shower north of Fairmont Hot Springs-



At Lake Louise we set up the tents just before the rain came through. The campground had a very useful community building that we sheltered in while the rain came down-



An hour later the sun was out and our stuff was drying out-



With clearing skies it was off to Louise Village where we found a ramen shop for dinner. I showed restraint at the candy store and needed none for ice cream after seeing the price-

[tomvv11]

Isn't $11.99CDN about $2.38USD? How do you not need a K1600 after all that ice cream?

[Swamper]

12 cdn is around 9 us, I'd skip it anyway but that's ridiculous.

[RBMann]

Day 21 - Lake Louise and Bow Lake-60 miles

Early out of camp to go see Lake Louise. We arrived at 7:00AM to find the parking lot full. Then we had the misfortune to meet the most belligerent person I have every come across and that is stating it mildly. She had parked her car on the middle line taking up to spaces. No amount of reasoning would motivate her to re-park her car. She had a bunch of really lame excuses then decided to call the Mounties saying we had insulted her. A parking attendant arrive and that didn't make a difference. After a few minutes the parking supervisor appeared and suggested a place we could park our bikes so we left. I hope the woman got cited and/or the car towed but I doubt anything really happened to her.

We then ventured out on the trail to the head of the lake. Early morning and very beautiful. The shoes I brought on the trip were a bad choice. Huge blister on my toe made the walk back to the bike unpleasant-















This photo is the same view point as a jig saw puzzle I did in spring. Great to see the live version-

[RBMann]

Day 21 - Continued

After our walk Ralf's bike needed a little charge again so we drove up to Bow Lake-







Back at camp, Ralf needed to fiddle with his chain or something I don't remember-



We walked the electrically secured camp fence to the village again for dinner-

[RBMann]

Day 22 - Louise to Jasper-173 miles



On the road in the morning and things look pretty good as we head up The Icefields Parkway-





Brief stop at Peyton Lake-





We started seeing more smoke the farther north we drive-







At the Columbia Icefields the view has really deteriorated. Each year we run into smoke issues somewhere on the trip-

[RBMann]

Day 22 - Continued

Sunwapta Falls-





Athabasca Falls-





The welcoming committee at our camp site-





Dinner in Jasper-

[Droptarotter]

If the ice cream was expensive, I can only imagine the cost of dinner in Jasper.
Welcome to Canada!!

Great pics RB!

[RBMann]

I'll get to that in the next installment.

[RBMann]

Because a Canadian friend of mine asked here are some Meal costs:

Fish-n-chips and a burger with soft drinks at Apgar Village-$60USD
Ramen and soft drinks X 2 at Louise Village-$37USD
Two double scoops cones of ice cream at the place-$17USD
Jasper's kabob and pizza dinner was-$45USD

[RBMann]

Day 23 - Jasper to Lake Maligne to Jasper-60 miles



Morning broke bright and beautiful, correction dull and smoky-



The big fire east of the Rockies was having its affect on the sky. I know it would have been more spectacular viewing without the smoke so I tried to use my brain filter when looking up the lake. Here we are at Medicine Lake-



Nice slow drive to Maligne, 2.5 hr., with tourists stopping in the middle of the road when they see a squirrel-





Ralf really wanted to do a boat cruise up the lake to Spirit Island but luckily for me they were all booked. Smoky skies equal bad viewing anyway. We then decided to check out the canoe rental but at almost $60USD an hour it seemed excessive to us-



Lunch proved to be no exception to the pricing at Maligne. Two packaged sandwiches, two bags of chips and two drinks were $45USD-



Since the boat trip and canoe ride were off the table a hike along the lake would do-




Ralf also found a place to go for a little splash about-

[tomvv11]

They all said Lake Louise is not half bad. The others look pretty nice too.

[RBMann]

But I didn't see it written on the walls or window panes.

[RBMann]

Day 23 - Continued

We took our time riding back into town checking out things that looked interesting-





There were quite a few falls as the river cascades through Miligne Canyon. We hiked down to the third bridge-













Even though there is a path with stairs and a fence, these two managed to be on the other side. They appeared to take turns seeing who could get the closest to the edge while taking pictures-

[wswartzwel]

Very nice report, as usual. Stunning images. Thanks for sharing. Glad you were able to do some much needed repairs along the way.

[RBMann]

If I could avoid those self-inflicted problems it would be better.