Welcome back to the beginning of Week 3 on the journey! Due to great feedback from a reader, I’ll be putting slightly more emphasis on adding dates to activities. I’m hoping this will give more clarity to the timeline of events for a richer experience on the blog. If anyone else has ideas for improvements they want to see, don’t be afraid to reach out and let me know. Bit of a short one today, but let’s get on with it.
The Last Night in Canmore
Our adventures continue for one final stop after a long day of exploring Banff National Park. Our final night in Canmore (Saturday, May 14th) consisted of an outing to the Iron Goat Pub and Grill. This came as a recommendation from an old friend that was actually working the pub that night, and I was looking forward to reconnecting! Plus, our group was splitting up, with Hannah and Zach heading back to Calgary later in the evening and Becca and I heading off to Revelstoke the next day. A celebratory drink to end off a successful stay was absolutely required.
Well, the Iron goat delivered – I’d highly recommend the spot for its mountainous views on the patio, cold drinks, and great food. It really feels like someone just picked you up and placed you in the midst of the Swiss Alps, which is not a bad way to spend an evening.
Hot Springs Adventure – Numero Uno
The next morning was the usual clean-up in the Airbnb, and planning the route from Canmore to Revelstoke, our next stop.
The main highway from Lake Louise to Golden was shut down, forcing us to head South towards Radium Hot Springs. Well, hot springs were on the list of “to-do” activities, funnily enough. But I knew from a previous experience at Radium that what they call the “Natural Hot Springs” is just a pool, the likes of which you’d find in any aquatic center. While the water is naturally heated, the pool very much detracts from the experience of what I consider a “real” hot spring.
So no, Radium wouldn’t do, I was looking for the real thing.
Lussier Hot Springs
What I really define as a “real” hot spring is a spot where the cold river runs beside rock pool formations, with the rock pools filled with steaming hot water. This allows a Swedish style hot/cold dip opportunity, and the river adds great background noise as it rushes past. Writing this, I realize I’m not asking TOO much of nature!
Luckily, with the detour towards Radium, we only had to venture slightly further South to find exactly what I was looking for.
After turning off the highway onto a logging road, we had our first sketchy driving experience of the trip. After about 10 km into the gravel road, we drove beside a steep cliff for a few kilometres before arriving at our final destination. Thankfully, we made it without issue and descended the gravel path, by foot, down to the Hot Springs.
We spent some quality time dipping from the steaming hot pools into the rushing river. There were about 4-5 different pools with different temperature waters, but due to the river levels being elevated, only one of the pools furthest from the river was extremely hot (~100°F) while the rest were substantially cooler. As well, the pools were quite busy, being a Sunday.
Suffice to say, after about an hour of enjoying this awesome gift of nature, we were ready to continue moving onto Revelstoke.
Begin the Revelstoke Adventures
The trip to Lussier along with the highway closure probably added another 3 hours onto the trip to Revelstoke, making it about a 7 hour drive. Safe to say, we were glad to finally arrive in Revelstoke after another long day in the car. On the other hand, touring through Glacier National Park and the Kootenays on the drive is a treat in itself.
Attempting Hikes on Mt. Revelstoke
“Let’s go climb a mountain today!”
This seemed to be a common phrase throughout the trip. And today, for the namesake of the town, we decided we’d set ourselves on Mount Revelstoke.
Another common phrase throughout the trip has also been “There’s a lot of snow up here.” And yet again, our plans of getting to the top of the mountain were dashed due to the late snowpack.
First, the gate on the road was closed right at the bottom of the mountain. There are a few nice chalets up near the summit, and the road is accessible during the summer months for many hikes up near the top of the mountain. Keywords being, summer months.
A side note on the mountain for those interested, Mount Revelstoke contains the largest vertical of any ski mountain in North America The vertical drop on this mountain is 1712m, beating out the second largest, Whistler, by 128m of vertical drop. That’s an impressive title to hold!
Well, we couldn’t drive up with the gate shut. Lets try to hike up.
Hiking Mt. Revelstoke
We began the hike from the bottom parking lot at 600m above sea level, and made it up to about 1200m before the snow pack became THICK. The trail, or in this case footprints in the snow and ice that we had been following, completely degraded. Footprints started veering left and right up hills, crisscrossing each other. It seemed like everyone had lost the trail, and was just trying to fling themselves at the mountain to try to find a way up.
Being new to climbing mountains, we decided the best bet for us was to turn back and return to the car. So, sadly, Mt. Revelstoke remains on our list of mountains to climb, even after putting in our best effort. But safety comes first!
On the Look-out For Gravel
Let’s get into some biking. Revelstoke’s gravel road game is truthfully, a little weak. After talking to a few of the locals at the bike shop, their idea of a gravel ride was a multi-day adventure of basically just getting lost in the wilderness along logging roads. Their term for this was an “Epic”. Well, I’m not quite epic yet, so I went in search of gravel closer to town.
The ride I planned for May 17th took me out to airport road and towards the gravel. What I should have realized was what waited for me at the end of the paved Airport Road. A gravel climb of epic proportions. To date, this was the largest gravel climb I ever completed, and that includes the Canmore climb I discussed in Banff National Park, Great Fondue, and the Icefields Parkway.
A quick reference for both gravel climbs:
- Canmore Climb: 6.2km at an average grade of 5.7%, for a total of 392 metres of climbing.
- Revelstoke Climb: 5.2km at an average grade of 7.3%, for a total of 384 metres of climbing.
So while the Canmore climb did have an extra 8 metres of climbing, it also had an extra kilometre of travel. The Revelstoke climb was steep, it was dusty, but I just kept pedaling – no hike a bike required! To explore more of the ride, see the Strava activity here: RevelSTOKED on that climb.
I turned it back at the top of the climb and descended home. Might need a brake adjustment after that one, but I can say it was sketchy, and a ton of fun!
The Drive to Halfway Hot Springs
Let me tell you, I am glad I don’t have many readers, because I am giving away gold in this blog. And Halfway Hot Springs is that gold. We departed Revelstoke on the 19th of May, after spending a rainy day around the Airbnb and getting out for a quick jog. Instead of going to Kelowna direct, we decided to travel through Nakusp, which allowed us incredible views of the Arrowhead Lakes with two ferry rides.
From a recommendation from a co-worker, we decided to check out Halfway Hot Springs along this route. I think my coworker was actively trying to destroy my Subaru. Potholes. I have never seen so many potholes. The logging road spanned 12km from the highway to the hot springs, and the entire way was FILLED with them. No cliff edges this time, but still not a fun drive.
Halfway Hot Springs Review
But, the hot springs were so worth it. While Lussier had been nice, these were way better. Slightly more man-made, but still rock pools lining the river with varying temperature pools. These were far enough away from the river that the temperature could be more controlled, so all 5 pools were different levels of HOT. We also met a ton of nice people, and ended up spending almost 4 hours just relaxing at the pools.
Sadly I didn’t take many pictures of this beautiful spot, but here’s an example of one of the pools we enjoyed during our time.
Can’t recommend this spot enough, and what a way to split up the drive from Revelstoke to Kelowna. Worth the extra drive AND worth the potholes. Also, less people, likely due to it being a weekday, and more spread out than the Lussier Hot Springs was a huge positive for the experience.
Kelowna Time
After the Halfway Hot Springs, we arrived in Kelowna, one of our top destinations. Safe to say, Kelowna is expensive, so we sadly only had about 4 nights planned out. But the biking, hiking and wine touring in Kelowna and surrounding Lake Country is incredible, and I can’t wait to dive into that more next week.
Next week you’ll also be introduced to my friend Brett, an avid reader (I hope), who has not yet fully converted from road to gravel cycling, but will soon enough. He took me on a pretty ridiculous bike ride that I’m excited to detail out in the coming blog.
Thanks for tuning in!
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