Jasper to Waterton first days

Last Wednesday Ben arrived outside out house with his van and trailer to take us to Jasper to start our trip.  We loaded on our luggage and bikes and  met our two fellow travellers, Jake a young man from Ontario and Theo a man about my age from Germany.  Leaving Edmonton we went West along the Yellowhead.  We stopped at the Tim Hortons in Edson to get a coffee and a snack and to gas up the van.   Theo noticed that large number of pick-ups in Edson and asked if everybody in Alberta drove one.  No just almost everyone.  Leaving Edson we got our first view of the Rockies and it was neat to see Jake and Theo who had never seen them before react to the first site.  We passed on thru Hinton and the Jasper gates before turning into Miette Hot Springs, a place we had driven past but never visited.  Ben suggested we might like to ride our bikes from the hot springs as we headed upwards (meaning we would ride back downhill) the idea looked attractive but then we headed downhill (which means riding uphill) and reached the hot springs, where we changed an soaked for a while.  Miette Hot Springs are much nicer than the hot springs in Banff and worth a visit, even though they are 17 km from the highway.  After our soak, Ben drove us to near the highway and Mary, Jake and I rode to Jasper about 40 km away.  Theo who had arrived from Germany the day before passed on it.  

The road to Jasper is predominantly downhill and even with the head wind we made pretty good time. Eventually we let Jake go at his own speed and he peeled off at amazing speed.  We continued on into Jasper into a headwind which got stronger as we approached town. In town we stopped at the Bear Paw bakery for coffee and pastries before riding the final 3 km to Becker's Chalets where we were staying.  When we got there Ben had already got us checked in and we were able to ride to our cabin. Becker's Chalets are a mix of faux and genuine log cabins along the Athabasca River.  We had stayed there a long time ago.  Our rooms were extremely comfortable.  After showering and cleaning up, we joined the other three at the on site restaurant for what was a great meal.

The next day according to the itinerary was supposed to be a chill day but Ben's definition of a chill day is different.  After the buffet breakfast we loaded our bikes and headed for Maligne Lake.  The road to Maligne Lake is predominantly uphill so the plan was that we would drive to the lake and we would ride down.  We had an exhilarating ride down, broken up by a couple of uphills until we met Ben down the hill and he took us to the top of Maligne Canyon.  We walked down the canyon along the path.  Despite living in Alberta for 24 years, it was our first visit to Maligne Canyon which really is a must visit.  Ben met us at the bottom of the canyon so we wouldn't have to walk back up. 

 From there we went to Pyramid Lake where we ate a late lunch.  

This elk was just hanging out in the picnic area.

From there we went to the Gondola.  Jake and I rode up while Mary and Theo were driven back to Becker's to chill.  There was a thirty minute wait for the gondola plus despite standing together in line Jake and I ended up on different gondolas.  It was a little cold up at the top plus it was getting late in the day so I decided to go down.  There was unfortunately a long and somewhat disordered line to go down so I waited for 30 minutes.  Jake who stayed up even longer waited 40 minutes.  

We had another dinner at the restaurant and went to bed to rest up for the first ride of the trip.