The FINAL Chapter - Tales from the Trailer - biking the west

[whitehonky]

If this proves to be of interest to people, I'll post this trip in multiple parts, as it was just over a month long, and many photos were taken.

Part 1.

The trip was organised around riding with the goal of having the kids fall in love with the sport more than they already are - both uphill and downhill. The goal: exploring single track, xc, all mountain, and bike park riding across the northwest.

Our journeys started in the Lake Wenatchee, WA area, then headed east and north and then back west with as much riding and hiking at each destination as we could happily muster and retain a life of joy.

- Lake Wenatchee St. Park, WA
- Leavenworth, WA
- Farragut St. Park, ID
- Schweitzer, ID
- Kimberley, BC
- Invermere/Radium, BC
- Kootenay National Park
- Bow Valley Prov. Park and Canmore, AB
- Banff National Park/Banff/Lake Louise, AB
- Golden, BC
- Silver Star, BC
- Monck Prov Park, BC

Good times were had and much riding done with kids still smiling at the end - the girl is now 9 and the boy now 7.

From the beginning, some of the best shots.

Campground warmups at Lake Wenatchee:




Evenings were like this:


Fresh morning tracks:


Leavenworth Kitsch - if you're gonna' do it, go all out:


Freund Canyon - 5.3 miles climbing, 2 on road, rest on singletrack:


Near the top:


Down with a view!




Mrs. WH leading the way for the groms:


Exit for day 1:


Day 2, let's try the back side of Freund Canyon:


A little more flirty on this side:


Time to head to Peshashtin, WA to try the famed rib rides of Xanadu. I pulled a solo with the camera on self-timer and did a 'tester' lap to see if the kids could do it. Sorry for the crap self-timed images.

The climb:


The top - ready for a couple thousand vert:


Mmmmmm.... berms, slabs, and ridges... nothing better:




Yup, check, kids can rip 'er - time to go get the clan and give 'er another go!


fun times to play:


Little man, big hill:


Down to the hoodoo:


She likes her air:


On the road through Coulee country:


Night rides at Farragut State Park appear to illicit joy:




Nice to be able to ride back to this:


Time for a solo ride in Farragut on the Highline Trail:




Time to kick it up a notch and try the newish park at Schweitzer - only 4 runs cut, but at least they're cut pretty well.



And the views of the lake and Sandpoint don't suck either:


Neither do the views the other way:


Riding in the Land of the Lorax:




Did she just pass me????


What is it with her???


I guess I'll try one too:


A cool off at Round Lake State Park caps the perfect first day at Schweitzer:


It was so much fun and so uncrowded, it was a unanimous vote to go for another day at Shweitzer before crossing back into Canada and the Kootenay's:


But the rest will have to wait......

[Mic]

WOw, this looks like one trip of a lifetime. Keep 'em coming. I plan something similar for a sabbatical in a couple of years.

[ceebee]

Can I come next time?

[whitehonky]

Glad a couple of you are getting something out of this!

Part 2.

.....Carrying on from above and just about to head north back into Canada.

Day 2 at Schweitzer had us playing around, as there is still not huge trail development.





And some of this and that at lunch:




Off to Kimberley BC and Wasa Provincial Park for swimming and riding.





Kimberley's city park is actually 100's of acres of nordic trails and multi-use trails, and the City and bike club was given a $100K grant for bike trail building this year.

The new 5km(ish) benched trail up to the new KVS machine built trail:


Nice views near the top:


Ridge Crest before the decent:


Game on!






The next day it was over to the new(ish) Cardiac trail area for another 5km climb to decents that were slightly more tech and all about the corners and gaps:






The next day was a chill-out at the Lussier hotsprings - 20km of gravel to paradise:


We then migrated north to the gateway of the Kootenay National Park and stayed in the Radium area to ride Mt. Swansea and Panorama Bike Park.

Mt. Swansea did not dissapoint with the trail signage and fairly straight-forward climbing to much delicousness and a little more rough than the south:








How 'bout another trail???







A lovely Kootenay sunset leads to a rest day ahead of Panorama Bike Park and some burl.



To be continued.... maybe.

[syncro]

the life - you're living it.

nice work man.

[nortonwhis]

tonnes of stoke in this thread.
good job

[InaCycle]

Do your kids know they have the best parents in the world?

What a great trip and awesome memories for all of you.

[whitehonky]

Part 3 of this journey for those of you following....

The rest day included hiking and site seeing in beautiful Kootenay National Park and the Radium area. Unfortunatey this ol' a$$ got in my way:


On our way to this:


Back to the riding. At Panorama, we were able to enroll the kids in a day long mountain bike camp, which they were sooooo stoked on. They got a whole day away from us hanging out with a Leatt and TLD wearing genuine cool dood named Spencer learning new skills and the Mrs and I got to take off on our own for a bit:






Stunning and fun place to log some vertical with no crowds!





With some steeps too:


Day ended with a lap down to the general store for freezies and a ride bike up on this silly little contraption:


Panorama was so good we couldn't improve upon it. So it was time to move on. Through Kootenay National Park to Banff and the Bow Valley. En route we toured Vermillion River, the 3km hike around Marble Canyon, and did the 12km round trip hike to Stanley Glacier.

Vermillion River:


Marble Canyon:




Stanley Glacier:






We then set up camp near my old home of Canmore, in the Bow Valley Provincial Park and went riding near the Banff townsite.

The "Loop" and the "Toe":




The riding is good, but the views are better - Bow River and Hoodoos:




The next day of riding brought us the new skool XC trails of Star Wars, Return of the Jedi, and Snake all off Tunnel Mountain:






Like mother like daughter:


After an extra lap of Star Wars, we escaped the throngs of Banff for a mellow evening at the campsite:







And headed for bed while watching an evening thundershower approaching:


Next it was off to the famed and fabled riding of Canmore, AB.....

[whitehonky]

Well, 181 views, so some folks must still be reading/following this thread as we are 2 parts away from reaching the end.

.... part 4....

Banff National Park is as much about hiking as riding, and one would be remiss not to hike and see the sites, but this is mostly about riding, so I'll just throw a few scenics in.

Hike up to the Cascade Falls (famous avalanche chute and ice climb):




Next day riding in Canmore - we go to hit the Reclaimer and Riders of Rohan pair of DH trails with 4km gravel road climb.






The next day hiking ruled as we went past the well travelled Johnston Canyon and 6km further to the Ink Pots. Lovely.








Then off to the Canmore Nordic Centre to ride most of the Canada Cup XC race loop with some side diversions for more DH:





After Bow Valley/Canmore/Banff, the bikes were more or less parked for a week as we dedicated it to hiking around Lake Louise and Yoho National Park.

A quick summary, as this is a singletrack thread.

Consolation Lakes:


Lake Louise, hiking away from the crowds and looking to the Chateau and the ski resort:


The Mitre:


Stacked morraines:


Mount Victoria and Victoria Glacier from the scree field:


The famed Abott Pass and route to Abott Hut:


Yoho National Park and Takkakaw Falls:


Enough site-seeing and it was time to move camp into the parking lot of Kicking Horse resort and get to the 4000 vertical feet of gondola-served riding; bonus of tow days free tickets left behind from a friend at the weekend's Western Canadian Open DH.



Isn't this a stunning setting for a wood feature??


Kicking Horse Resort is building a nice bike park over time and is now pretty substantial with massive vertical and pretty varied terrain as it drops in elevation from alpine to valley(ish).

Free camping too!



This guy was hanging around - his name is apparently "Boo" as in Cariboo Mtns.


Down towards the Kicking Horse River - see the sinewy singletrack in verge between scree and vegetation? Sweet.


Traversing the ridge to the alpine trails, distracted by horrible views:


They have built jumps, hips, and berms everywhere - feels like you are constantly popping off something:


I think she laughed at him as she blew by - he claimed the landing to be quite soft:


Then he takes the lead again:


Mrs. takes a diversion:


Meh:


By this point in the trip, the little dudes were getting pretty solid on steeps and slabs:


Meh:


We think this fella' was trying to hide from us, but as my daughter said "dad, it looks like he's trying to drop a deuce":


I think I can wrap this story up in the next installment.

[shirk]

wh this is amazing.

great work.

[Zedbra]

very amazing pics and you have one good family life. I've been telling the wife all we need is a trailer and the terrain will take care of the rest - you nailed the images.

[whitehonky]

Thanks SHirk and Zed, it was a great trip. Tahoe/Mammoth/Downieville is on the radar for next year.

Here is the final chapter of the odyssey - Part 5:

We had much fun in Kicking Horse, so with free passes and free camping, it was plainly obvious we were going to stay another day and take Revy off the list (we've been there twice in the past, so it was ok):

Down to Golden for groceries and some pizza:


Local pub has retained the old signs from the days before Kicking Horse:


Not too shabby a sunset view after the first day of riding:


Next day, red sky in the morning is a sailor's warning... we got hit by a few squalls, but still got lots of laps on day 2:


Damp meant tacky goodness:


An endless piece of well executed wood:




Check out the aesthetic work of the Rock Garden trail, below:


Riding on the moon anyone - except for that whole gravity thing:


3800 more feet to go:


Farewell Kicking Horse - we'll be back:


We left Kicking Horse with tears streaming from our faces. But the drive over Rogers Pass cured that. Always blows my mind, summer or winter. The Illecillewat Glacier knocks yer' sox off in the summer.

Hard left 30minutes out of Revelstoke leads you to the Okanagan town of Vernon, home of Silver Star Resort and reputably the flowiest mountain bike park in N. America. They perfected the word "berm".

6-pack chair and 4-pack bike loaders; rolling in style:


See what I mean about buff berms?


Everything blooming good:




6 of 10 trails right of chair come out on the same collector... so things tend to cluster, especially when a 7 year old is leading. Gotta' laugh! All the aggro dudes high five him when they pass at the lift:


Lots of jump trails, stunts and wallrides at S.Star, but the Mrs and I alternate with the kids and ride the black/double black solo, so no photo's of the big stuff, but I've got to say that they've got Rock Star perfected now and Pipe Dream gets better each year.

But this is big for the kids:




Doesn't this just seem pleasant?


With that, it was time to head to Merritt, our final destination. Monck Provincial Park is our classic stop-over on the way home. 3 hours to home, gorgeous lake and arid climate. A comfortable last day of rest.



And time to finish off the Yankee beer that came across with us:


The last night wanes as we think about going to work the next day.


Until next year. Thanks for enduring and back to your regular programming.

[Zedbra]

just awesome.

[forest]

wow, thats how to travel with kids, thanks for posting.

[CraigH]

Great trip report! Your kids will remember these summer trips for the rest of their lives.

Can you imagine the "what I did on my summer vacation" reports they can write?