Day 4- to Fernie

The earplugs didn’t help too much last night. It seemed like some of those 4x4 owners liked to have loud verbal arguments as well until late in the evening. Probably arguing about who has the loudest 4x4. These are mostly men my age. I just don’t get it..🤷

I didn’t see Andy that morning, wondering if his knee felt any better. It was another beautiful day when I left the campground. However, I had a relatively steep climb out of Elkford for almost 2.5 miles. Better early in the morning when it is still cool outside and my legs are relatively fresh. It had a couple truck runaway ramps along the way so you know it had some grade to it.

The route then veered off to what I can only best describe as a goat trail. Narrow through lots of vegetation, and probably ideal bear country. I have really not had a chance to edit much of the video I have taken, but here is a short clip to give you a better sense of it:

I did come to a pretty lake, so I thought I would walk over closer to it to take a picture. Suddenly there was a lot of splashing near the shore. I did see something partially out of the water. I thought it was a beaver, then a big bear jumped out of the lake. Shaking off the water on his coat, and running in circles like he had the zoomies. I wanted to take a video, but I only had time to take a photo before he started walking in my direction. Oops, I left the bear spray on the bike a bit further behind me, so I calmly walked backwards towards the bike. The bear must not have seen me before, and quickly jumped into the bushes. Phew! 😅 I think it was just a black bear.

Later on I was taking a few drone shots, when Andy from South Africa rode up. It seems that his knee was a lot better now. Although he wanted to stay at a place tonight where he could ice it again.

We arrived in Fernie and went to the closest campground which was mainly for large RV’s. They said they their tent sites were full, so we had to ride to the opposite side of town for the only remaining camping option. It was full as well, but we ran into a fellow GDMBR rider who had a large enough site for all three tents. Perfect!