Conquering the Divide: Sometimes You're the Cat; Sometimes You're the Litter Box....

Woke up to rain in Fernie; thankful again to Snow Valley Lodge for taking us and our bikes in (last room!). Geared up for the long haul in more rain and mud. Fernie to Loon Lake = 52 miles of slogging. Had the map mentioned that the climb after crossing Elk River was, well INSANE, I might have started hitch-hiking. A mile of 15% grade: Lorne cleaned it, I only pedaled just over half, then pushed, grunted, rested, dubbed the hill new names. We can tell we're already getting stronger.

Prepping for rain

Dinner

Camped 1.5 mi off-route at beautiful little Loon Lake. Dry camp, outhouse, no trash - pack it in, pack it out: BUT there were recycling bins (GO CANADA!). We headed to the host site to ask about the water and when we said we would just filter from the lake, she just shuddered and took our container and filled it from her 10 gallon jug. Thank you, Lorraine!

Rained off and on so we set up camp with an added tarp for some dry space. Yummy freeze-dried camp food. (note: don't buy the curry, unless you LOVE curry, but the herb and garlic mashed potatoes are yummeh!) Woke up in the middle of the night and thought my head was in a microwave with a bag of popcorn at full pop; the rain was coming down so hard!

Rainbow at Loon Lake

Charging station -keeping dry

Makin' a run for the border!

Geared up to a clearing sky this morning (Sunday) and started the push to Grave Creek Campground.

Made it to the US/Canada border at about 11:00 unscathed and dry, but within 10 minutes of the border crossing we were drenched. (note again: if it's sprinkling, don't wait. Put on the rain gear.NOW) Just about 1/2 mile from Grave Creek Campground - home for tonight - and Lorne spots the Homestead Ales Taphouse and Jax Pizza. We had an amazing 2nd breakfast (Hobbit-style) at Cafe Jax in Eureka, Montana, so we had to stop again. I know, this isn't roughing it, but we're going to be TOTALLY off-grid for the next 2-3 days in BEAR COUNTRY. So yeah, I'm enjoying this BBQ chicken pizza, greek salad, and genuine ginger ale (Lorne has the other kind of Ale).