Another from the other…

The other Joe, that is…my good buddy Joe Martin who rode with us on this year’s CSC Baja expedition.   This nice note from Joe was in my email last night…

Hey Joe, the weather has been so amazing up here that I just can’t waste a moment of it not adventuring on my RX3.  This time I did a 5-day 1500 mile loop up the Canadian Rockies.  It was amazing.  I’ve put together a ride report with some pictures.  It’s attached.  As always, feel free to post it on the blog.  Take care!

Joe

Well, I can’t turn down an offer like that, especially with the stellar photography and writing my good buddy Joe always provides.   Here’s Joe’s trip report!

With the great summer weather, I put together another last-minute mini-adventure.  This time it was a full road adventure on the CSC RX3.  In prep, I put on my roadie wheels with Shinko 705s and stock gearing to keep the RPMs down, fuel mileage up and cruising at highway speeds.  I used my Tourfella hard luggage and easily fit in my spares, clothing, camping gear and some foods. 

I headed out on Thursday morning from home in Redmond, WA and spent the day driving on Highway 2 out to Spokane, WA to stay with a friend for the evening.  I’d never taken HWY 2 all the way to Spokane.  It’s a nice drive through some neat small towns and a mix of mountains and prairies.  On Friday, I headed out of the big city and towards Sand Point, ID and then north to cross into Canada. 

The next big town in Canada I came through was Cranbrook where I stopped for my first Tim Horton’s experience.  From what I can tell, Tim Horton’s is Canada’s better answer to Starbucks.  The Tim Bit’s were an excellent source of sugar to keep me moving.

As I got closer to Banff, my stop for the night, the sights got more amazing.

I slept great but woke early to start the day this trip was all about.  Cruising up both the Bow Valley Parkway and Icefields Parkway with many MANY stops for the amazing sights.

My first stop was about 500 yards from camp when there were some deer standing on the side of the road.

The Bow Valley parkway is a narrow and winding road which was awesome for the motorcycle!

It also had some amazing views of the Rocky Mountains.

The Canadian Railway.

This is a memorial to a WW1 internment camp.

Here’s the Lake Louise Ski Resort.

The actual Lake Louise.  Turquoise water clear enough to see nice trout swimming around.

Now I exited the Bow Valley Parkway and enter the Icefields parkway.  The views just kept getting better.

This is the Columbia Glacier.  It was HUGE!  People hiking the glacier looked like small ants.

Here’s Athabasca Falls.

There were huge elk everywhere!

The end of the Icefields Parkway is the remote town of Jasper.  I rolled in, got some dinner and then rolled north for another 30 minutes to the Pocahontas campground.  After a great night sleep, I headed back to Jasper, got fuel and then headed north west on 16 and then turned south on 5.  It was time to head home.  But it was too long a ride to make in a day so I headed to Merritt back in British Columbia and stayed at a motel so I could grab a shower.  I looked at Yelp and found that the best food was a sushi place.  I decided to try it and it was actually very good.  Now back to the room for some rest and then it was time to get back home.  In the morning, I continued south and as I started hitting the mountains I could feel, smell and see the results of the numerous fires in the area.  Visibility was about like L.A. smog but with the smell of a campfire but with the feeling that the smoke is blowing in my eyes.

Once I got back to the Canadian/USA border it turned out to be almost 100 degrees and an hour wait.  Not a ton of fun on the motorcycle slowly creeping forward one car length at a time and then sitting there for 5 to 10 minutes cooking.  Once I got up to the agent it was quick work to get across and then ride the last few hours home.

So, this was a 5-day mini-adventure covering 1534 miles of some of the most amazing views I’ve ever seen.  Riding the motorcycle gave me a perspective I don’t think I could have gotten in a car.  Also a lot easier to find parking during the busy tourist season!

Joe, that’s another awesome trip report and we sure are happy to publish it here.  Thanks again.  We’re glad you’re enjoying your RX3!