8/18/2006 (Fri) - Vermillion Crossing Picnic Area, 63.24 miles.

Well, this is supposed - and probably still is - the easiest day of my trip thus far; however, if it was, it was not easy for lack of drama and commotions.

My ride today started easy enough with a short, gradual climb, but as the topo of my itineray today indicated, it was basically all downhill to the Lake Louise area from camp today. About 3 miles out of camp, the driver of a car parked on the lane going the opposite direction waved me down to look at what turned out to be a retreatig black bear! The bear couldn't have been more than 30 yards from me, but I couldn't also have seen it for more than 5 seconds as it quickly disappeared behind a stand of trees. We didn't feel threatened as the bear was obviously going away, climbing a steep hill as it did so.

I had planned a short mileage day today and making a hiking sidetrip to Lake Louise. At Lake Louise, I got a nasty surprise. Going to the lake involved a steep, 4 km climb. I climbed about 1/4 of that, then after seeing a young couple hiking up along the side of theroad, I realized that I only needed to bring myself and the camera, not my whole camping entourage, with me to the lake. So I quickly found a good secluded place by the road to "hide" my bike and hiked up, too.

Lake Louise was very touristy, but it was still worth the visit. I took lots of pictures and even a couple of video clips but didn't hike too much beyond the chatteau. My visit, plus my taking the time to make a call to Mom to tell her that I was alright (using coins which I had to get from a local lodge), took a little over two hours. After hiking down back to my bike, I biked very peacefully and pleasantly on Hwy 1A to Castle Junction. The ride on Hwy 1A after Lake Louise was a beautiful, calm experience; a good respite from park traffic. A highlight is when I got a picture of a train passing by a river bend, with glacier capped mountains in the background. As with so many other times thus far in the trip, I composed a nice song which I have since forgotten. I think I am averaging 2-3 new compositoins a day thus far in the trip.

The ride would get much tougher after Castle Junction though. At Castle Junction, I bought some groceries for tonight. Since they had no veggie or fruit at the store, I had to eat lots of raisins (as my daily fruit) for tonight. The climb out of Castle Junction to Bow Pass rank as among my worst part of m bike trip thus far. It was hot, probably in the low-mid 80's (though a series of clouds seem to keep me periodically shaded). There were lots of fast and loud traffic with minimum (or deteriorated) shoulders. I even had to put on an ear plug on my left ear just so I can tolerate. But the ear plug was useless against the gas and diesel fumes that were spewed in my path. Ugh...

After Vermillion Pass, the traffic became more bearable, probably because it was later i nthe afternoon. The fact that I didn't have to climb anymore probably did help also, as was the fact thtat the shoulder became much wider and in good condition. Things were going better - a new song (at least my third of the day) formed - then BANG - a nasty surprise! I should have seen it coming, but I didn't. At first all I realized was the dead trees. A fire must have swept the area only a few years ago. Then when I came by Marble Canyon Campground, where I was to stay, I saw that the sign was plastered with two big signs - "CLOSED" - "FERMI"! I couldn't believe it. And for an instant, I thought I might even feel a little of fright. It was totally unexpected. I was in the middle of nowhere. I had been expecting to be finished and be hiking and exploring Marble canyon and an adjacent lake soon!

Very soon though, I composed myself and remembered that I had the option of going to Vermillion Crossing, where there was lodging. I thought I could stay in a motel for $40-50, justified on the fact that this was an emergency. So I rode on. The ride was pleasant, as it was a gradual downhill most of the way down to Vermillion Crossing. It was a semi spiritual experience. I reflected on how important timing was and had a sense that timing was important on this trip - that the right timing would bring me to meet the right people....

I also had a spiritual conversation about the meaning of life, spawned perhaps by my now persistent seeking of the answer to the question "what am I looking for." While life might be a process, best understood by a scientific investigation, like natural phenomenon is by physics, life could also embody a channelling for spiritual purposes. It seems so accidental, purposeless, to have life beings form, devour each other. Ultimately, the cycle of life will end, too. A leap of faith and insight could show that the purpose of life is to channel spiritual energy. A wire carrying telecommunications can be understood by physics of signal transduction. However, to understand the meaning of a telecommunications signal, one need to understand what information is and not just how the signal is conveyed. Same might be said of physics. Superstring theory has many solutions, and one has to set key constants and boundary conditions to obtain meaningful results. The model perhaps doesn't convey so much the "meaning" of the universe so much as the constants, boundary conditions, etc. Similarly, life could be the same ... the ultimate meaning of life lays not in biology, but the purpose of life - the boundary conditions set, the message being communicated - all of which could reside in the spiritual, not physical....

Finally arriving at Vermillion Crossing, I'd find that the lodging at Kootenay Park Lodge was very pricey (http://www.kootenayparklodge.com), ranging from $75 to over $140, which was really beyond my budget. Fortunately, there was a Vermillion Crossing information center right adjacent to the lodge, and a park employee suggested that I camp in the picnic area right across the lodge. She couldn't guarantee that the park rangers wouldn't harass me (Vermillion Crossing and Kootenay people didn't seem to communicate) since it was technically "illegal" to camp there, but since I was "stranded," she thought they would be "reasonable."

Things turned out to be much better after that. When I asked, both the lodge and visitor center told me that the tap water in the area is among the "very best" in the world. The park employee even stated that in a recent test, their water beat out Perrier from the French Alps! Now that I had water and "semi permission" to camp, I began to feel much better. There was still much to do, such as finding a camp area, setting up my stuffs, and making my first bear bag of the trip!

Later, after talking to a few people, including the visitor center people, the lodge manager, and a couple of strangers I met in the picnic area, it would seem that Marble Canyon had been closed for some time since a major fire swept through a few years ago. Even here in Vermillion Crossing, I can stil see charred hillsides. The camp allegedly did open earlier this year, but is now closed due to generator and/or bear problems.

At camp, I saw many people. Apparently, probably because of the lodge across the highway, many people, including families with kids, visited the area. I talked to many people, in particular two people by the name of June and Lorie. The were Calgarians who often visited the area. When I shared with them my route through Glacier, passing through the infamous Going-to-the-Sun road, both of them shook their head. To them, unless I am out there to prove my biking prowess, it's not worth doing that section of the road. The road is narrower, the traffic heavier, the shoulder nonexistent there, and the glacier views I've seen would have been much better. They recommended I take what my map terms the valley alternative route. The view would be different - country, mountain, and forest - not just glacier - and the road conditions would be much more pleasant. Very soon after talking to June and Lorie, and after reading of the Logan Pass bicycling restrictions during summer (cyclists can't bike the route from 11 a.m. - 4 p.m. because of the heavy summer traffic and limited shoulder on the roadway), and considering my earplug/traffic experience earlier, I decided to follow their advice and take the valley alternate.