A couple months ago I mention to my friend that I haven't ridden much this year and I wanted to do a long ride before it got colder. I live in the PNW so that's September. Not January for you southerners in the US. I jokingly said "What about Banff over Labor Day?" So, fast forward, to Labor day, we were heading off on a 3 day ride from central Washington state taking a tour of the Canadian Rockies. New helmet (GT Air II) and new comms (oh my GOD PackTalk is so much better than Sena) picked up and we were off. I'm riding with two cohorts, one on a brand new BMW S1000-XR and the other on a Triumph Sprint GT.
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Day 1 (Sunday 0900): Central WA to Revelstoke, BC.
It was hot. We peaked at around 98 degrees showing on the bike's display. The day was pretty boring, as most of northeastern Washington is flat desert and farmland. We rode up from Moses Lake through Omak to Osoyoos. Pretty short border wait. Had one of the most interesting border interactions though. Before getting in line for the booths, there were 4 US CBP officers standing on the road stopping every car to ask them if they had any weapons or drugs or other stuff. This is weird because you don't ever talk to US peeps when entering Canada. Also, the booth guy actually had a personality and laughed at a joke. Unheard of. We pulled off after the booth and found that the bathrooms had air conditioning so we spent a few minutes in there cooling down before jumping back on the bikes and continuing on to Osoyoos. Osoyoos is a neat little oasis with a lot to do apparently. We are now in the desert and this is probably where it was the hottest. .
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We take a right out of Osoyoos and go through the back roads on our way to Kelowna. Rode through a lot of forest which cooled the ride down a little bit. We stopped in Kelowna at a BBQ place and sucked down several glasses of water and lemonade and had some...ok BBQ for dinner. Sorry Canada. We left and made our way up to Revelstoke and arrived after dark. The hotel we stayed at is The Verge. It's a weird setup. There is no office to check in. I was unaware but they emailed our room number and a PIN while we were riding. And instead of checking in and checking out, you just go straight to your room and put the PIN in on the door to get in. Never run into that before. We unpack and head to the bar in the hotel and sample some of the local brew. This was one of the best beers I've ever had. Also the room we stayed in had bunk beds.
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Day 2 (Monday...whenever we got up) Revelstoke, BC to Lake Louise, AB and then Fairmont Hot Springs, BC
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This is the day I've been looking forward to. We didn't get to see anything coming into Revelstoke, being dark and we were drained from the hot day. We hopped over to Timmy's for some coffee and breakfast, packed up, and headed out. Weather was much more agreeable this day. We took the Trans Canada over to Emerald Lake first. The water there is mesmerizingly green. You have to see it to understand how beautiful it is there. I took pictures but they only do so much.
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Of course, we're here on Labor day which I mistakenly thought was a US holiday. Nope. It was packed. There was no parking. Except since we were on motorcycles, they let us park on the stripes. Immediately after parking, one of the other park crew pulls up beside us in his pickup and says "You guys are killing me." and points to the "No parking here" sign. We shrugged and said the other park people said to park there. He rolls his eyes and says "Ok, THEY'RE killing me." and drives off.
We mingle for a bit and take off to our ultimate destination, Lake Louise. It's also a glacier lake so it is just as beautiful as Emerald Lake. And just as busy.
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Seriously, if you haven't been, this is worth the ride or drive or whatever you have to do to get there. After picking up our jaws and jumping back on the bikes, we made our way down to Fairmont Hot Springs. We got in around 8:45pm. The public hot spring closes at 9 but the hotel hot spring closes at 10. We scramble to the room and unpack and throw on some trunks and go slip into the pool. It was the perfect release after two long days of riding.
Day 1 (Sunday 0900): Central WA to Revelstoke, BC.
It was hot. We peaked at around 98 degrees showing on the bike's display. The day was pretty boring, as most of northeastern Washington is flat desert and farmland. We rode up from Moses Lake through Omak to Osoyoos. Pretty short border wait. Had one of the most interesting border interactions though. Before getting in line for the booths, there were 4 US CBP officers standing on the road stopping every car to ask them if they had any weapons or drugs or other stuff. This is weird because you don't ever talk to US peeps when entering Canada. Also, the booth guy actually had a personality and laughed at a joke. Unheard of. We pulled off after the booth and found that the bathrooms had air conditioning so we spent a few minutes in there cooling down before jumping back on the bikes and continuing on to Osoyoos. Osoyoos is a neat little oasis with a lot to do apparently. We are now in the desert and this is probably where it was the hottest. .
We take a right out of Osoyoos and go through the back roads on our way to Kelowna. Rode through a lot of forest which cooled the ride down a little bit. We stopped in Kelowna at a BBQ place and sucked down several glasses of water and lemonade and had some...ok BBQ for dinner. Sorry Canada. We left and made our way up to Revelstoke and arrived after dark. The hotel we stayed at is The Verge. It's a weird setup. There is no office to check in. I was unaware but they emailed our room number and a PIN while we were riding. And instead of checking in and checking out, you just go straight to your room and put the PIN in on the door to get in. Never run into that before. We unpack and head to the bar in the hotel and sample some of the local brew. This was one of the best beers I've ever had. Also the room we stayed in had bunk beds.
Day 2 (Monday...whenever we got up) Revelstoke, BC to Lake Louise, AB and then Fairmont Hot Springs, BC
This is the day I've been looking forward to. We didn't get to see anything coming into Revelstoke, being dark and we were drained from the hot day. We hopped over to Timmy's for some coffee and breakfast, packed up, and headed out. Weather was much more agreeable this day. We took the Trans Canada over to Emerald Lake first. The water there is mesmerizingly green. You have to see it to understand how beautiful it is there. I took pictures but they only do so much.
Of course, we're here on Labor day which I mistakenly thought was a US holiday. Nope. It was packed. There was no parking. Except since we were on motorcycles, they let us park on the stripes. Immediately after parking, one of the other park crew pulls up beside us in his pickup and says "You guys are killing me." and points to the "No parking here" sign. We shrugged and said the other park people said to park there. He rolls his eyes and says "Ok, THEY'RE killing me." and drives off.
We mingle for a bit and take off to our ultimate destination, Lake Louise. It's also a glacier lake so it is just as beautiful as Emerald Lake. And just as busy.
Seriously, if you haven't been, this is worth the ride or drive or whatever you have to do to get there. After picking up our jaws and jumping back on the bikes, we made our way down to Fairmont Hot Springs. We got in around 8:45pm. The public hot spring closes at 9 but the hotel hot spring closes at 10. We scramble to the room and unpack and throw on some trunks and go slip into the pool. It was the perfect release after two long days of riding.
