Doing it With Kids in Canada (Ross Lake, Lake Louise)

I live in such a beautiful part of the UK that nowhere else can really compare; however once in a while I need to  satisfy my sense of discovery and adventure and just confirm that there really is no place quite like home. Last summer I set my heart on going somewhere I'd never been before, somewhere far, far away ... but safe enough to take my kids, although as it happened it really needed to be safe enough to take my husband. And so it was that a plan to go to the Canadian Rockies was hatched.

First and foremost I needed to sort out the practicalities but in this modern world it just took at bit of internet research and bingo tent hire and bike hire was organised. Of course we needed a seriously large pickup to transport it all and then there was campground reservations, backcountry reservations and shelters to think about - Banff National Park was the website to sort all that out on. Planning the details is a bit of a pain but it's worth it for that sense of amazement when things all go to plan later on ... how weird is it when you arrive in a country, thousands of miles away from where you live to find someone has put a tent up for to spend your very first very jet lagged night in?

To cut to the chase the biking was also worth the effort. The kids loved the idea of bike hire particularly as they got upgraded from their usual mounts while we got downgraded. We took our own helmets, cycling shorts etc some of us even took our own pedals. In fact the only thing we really forgot was winter bike gloves .... well it was August and I didn't think we would need them. Never under estimate the ability for snow to fall in Canada, even our mosquito repellent froze! It all added to the sense of adventure, if we had been camping in the UK in such low temperatures it would have been a pain but in Canada it was part of the adventure, the unexpected, a test of our versatility. That's what we told the kids anyway.

To be continued ....

Banff National Park has closed many of its trails to cyclists but there are still some great routes to do if you look hard enough. The photos on this blog were taken on a singletrack route from Lake Louise to Ross Lake. As you can see the trail crosses a creek, two in fact, as it wends its way through subalpine forest and leads you a merry dance over rocks and roots galore. Every once in a while you can look out over the peaks of Bow Valley and Kicking Horse Pass and indulge that sense of isolated wilderness before picking up the pace again and swooping through another series of climbs and descents. Our youngest son had an off as he got somewhat over confident with his bunnyhops down a particularly steep and rocky section but if you don't fall off once in a while your're not really trying. Lake Ross itself is an example of Canada's natural beauty at its best, unspoilt by anyone or anything else ... even a teenager could not help but be impressed by nature's paint pallet of glacial blues and verdant greens with an unforgiving mountainous backdrop ...

We chose to return via the Great Divide bike path which is reached by a 1.3 km trail (riders are required to dismount and walk this section) down along Ross Creek to the Great Divide Road. The former 1A Highway is permanently closed to vehicles now and provided a wide gravel expanse of easy cycling for the return route. But there was plenty of fun to be had in the form of more jump practice on the frost heaves covering the many culverts which run under the road. The large quantities of bear pooh were also quite disturbing; still no need to tell the kids to make lots of noise cos they do anyhow.