Fernie and the Highwood Pass

This trip had been planned for a little while – originally a four day trip out to Nelson but schedules and work conspired to make it a rushed attempt rather than a holiday. Instead, Nita and I decided to relax for one day in Calgary before heading out to BC. Ideas of heading south toward Going to the Sun highway loomed but in the end we decided we were in more need of good rides with plenty of relaxation time on either end

Fernie seemed like an obvious choice – I knew that the roads leading to the resort town were lush with curves and the scenery was stunning. Since Nita hadn’t been out that way after living in NY for so long I thought the mountains would be a welcome relief.

The first day was overcast but the temperature was a nice 18 degrees centigrade – good for the full leathers. After our normal route out of the city via Bragg Creek we hit the lovely HWY 762 and 549. We stopped in Longview for a cuppa joe then continued south on HWY22 until we hit HWY 3 – the Crowsnest Pass. Now if you’ve never done HWY 22 you should know that the valley is simply stunning – it’s right out of a novel. The sun in that valley is like nothing I’ve ever seen and well worth the trip. Not to mention, the roads are made for bikes.

Heading west on HWY 3, we stopped at Frank Slide to take a closer look at the “mountain that moves”. Basically the a third of the mountain came crashing down in the 1800’s due to mining despite repeated warnings from the indigenous people. The carnage is unbelievable. Getting back onto the bikes we wrestled with the wasps that were enjoying the buffet on our fairings and headed back out on the highway. Looking forward we knew we were in for some weather as the nest valley over was completely black with heavy storm clouds blocking the sky.

About 30kms from Fernie we were engulfed in torrential rain with huge wind gusts – not the end of the ride we were hoping for! Still we pulled into Lizard Creek Lodge and called it a day. Luckily they had a sweet little loft for us and settled in for the night.

The next day the sky was moody so we stayed close to Fernie – riding in for coffee and a walk around the town with a little exploring but we were happy to take it easy. On Wednesday we started back to Calgary.

We took the same route back toward Longview but decided it would be a good time to hit the Highwood Pass to Canmore. The original idea was to spend the night in Canmore and head back to the city in the morning. However, places were full or expensive so we decided to skip Canmore and make our way back home. The Highwood Pass was nothing short of stellar. The road was ours alone for nearly 1.5 hours and the tarmac was in fantastic shape. The twisting roads through the pass saw cows and bighorn sheep roadside and spectacular valley views. This road is *highly* recommended.

After filling up in Canmore we headed back to city – tired and happy that we had spent 7 hours on the road. Simply fantastic.

* Ride duration: 11 hours (best as a 2 day)
* The route