Canada!

 We finally made it into Canada!

It rained throughout the night and the forecast was for rain at least at the beginning of our ride, so we put on raingear. We were lucky - it only rained for a short period of time. We started the day riding west on US 2 out of Hungry Horse, MT.

We were surprised to see a sign on US 93N from Whitefish that we were in Tobacco Valley because we though tobacco was grown in the South. An explorer named this area when he passed through in 1808 and discovered the local Kootenai used a form of wild tobacco. No longer known for tobacco, but rather for logging, the name stuck.

As we rode into Eureka three deer crossed the road, and as we rode north out of town we saw a turkey crossing the road. A few miles further north we crossed into Canada at the Rooseville border crossing and continued north on British Columbia route 93.

We turned east on British Columbia Highway 3, riding along the Crowsnest River on a curving, sweeping valley through the Rocky Mountains.

We stopped in Sparwood for a quick snack and were delighted to see the world's largest truck - the Terex Titan, a 350 ton truck that was used in the local coal mining district. 

Sparwood is on the British Columbia/Alberta border, and we continued north on Crowsnest Pass across the Continental Divide.

Crowsnest Pass is considered a low elevation pass at only 4455' which is over 3000' lower than where we live in southwest Colorado - yet it feels much higher due to the rocky mountain peaks everywhere we could see. The skies continued to clear and made this a super fun ride.

We stopped at Frank Slide, the site of Canada's deadliest mountain slide in 1903 when 110 million tons of limestone broke away from Turtle Mountain and buried a large part of the Frank coal mining town.

As we continued east we left the mountains gave way to rolling prairies and the wind picked up. We weren't surprised to see dozens of windmills as we were buffeted by the strong winds.

We turned south on Alberta Highway 6 and stopped in Pincher Creek for lunch at the Hut Cafe. Meals are often hit or miss when we're on a motorcycle trip and the Hut Cafe offered a variety of delicious options.

As we rode south through the ranches and fields we saw the Rocky Mountains in front of us and to the west - a long string of craggy mountain peaks.

Our next stop was Waterton Lakes National Park which borders Glacier National Park to the south. When we planned this trip we thought we would visit Jasper and Banff first, ending our time in the Canadian Rockies here. Due to the devastating wildfire in Jasper last week we had to shift our plans and were thrilled to spend some time in the Waterton Lakes area on a smoke-free day.

We walked along the rocky beach and enjoyed learning about the area in the visitor center. We originally hoped to spend the night here but had to cancel the reservations earlier in the trip and now there were no rooms available. Instead we rode another 25 miles east to Cardston where we will spend the night. The 275 mile trip today is a highlight of the trip so far.