I am calling my adventure 'the Great Parks Ride' as it passes through a number of National Parks (duh!). It is a established cyclist route and the map set is available through Adventure Cycles. I've outlined below the route and some of the parks I'll be visiting.
The route begins in Jasper, Alberta, in the heart of Jasper National Park, one of the five Canadian Parks the route traverses. Almost immediately after leaving Jasper, the scenery turns to glacial lakes, dramatic waterfalls, piercingly steep mountains covered with glaciers, and a tremendous variety of wildlife; with a lot of recreational vehicles. The ride will head south over several passes through the parks, and will go to Lake Louise and Banff. After about 230 miles of amazing vistas, I'll leave Kootenay National Park and descend steeply into the town of Radium Hot Springs. There is suppose to some hotsprings there so maybe a enjoyable soak in the soothing hot mineral pools.
From Radium Hot Springs southward to Elko, the western side of the Rockies offers gentler cycling following the Columbia and Kootenay river systems. At Elko, the route turns east over the Continental Divide through a series of small mining communities. I'll see the prairies begin on the eastern slope and traverse the foothills through Waterton Lakes National Park, another mountain jewel of the Canadian Parks. I will be border crossing into the United States at Chief Mountain, and then into Glacier National Park in Montana, then crossing the Divide back to the western side on the spectacular Going-to-the-Sun Highway. Once I leave Glacier NP then I will head southward to Missoula where I want to try and visit Adventure Cycling headquarters.
Cycling south eastward , I'll head toward Yellowstone National Park.
The final park that I will visit will be Grand Tetons National Park.
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