Kananaskis > Sparwood conditions
 

Flying out to Calgary tomorrow night. Below is screen capture of routing for the first couple of days. Wondering if the weather conditions (cold/wet spring, warnings that snow is still melting) suggest that I should rather bike east of the Rockies via #40, or stick to Elk Pass and #43.

Current plan is to reach Kananaskis Village and then advise. If someone here is familiar with the area and conditions, feel free to chime in.

https://cimg3.ibsrv.net/gimg/bikefor...d36f873138.jpg

Not an answer, but thought I’d mention that the municipal campground in Sparwood was pretty nice when I stayed there in 2009.

Also, the NPS recently announced that Going to the Sun Road is not expected to open fully by the July 4th weekend. You’ll need to monitor the park’s official site for updates.

Photo accompanying the announcement.


https://cimg9.ibsrv.net/gimg/bikefor...1a424bb3c.jpeg

... according to plan, I ride this on July 7th... Unbelievable...

Which direction?

West to East. Worse comes to worst, I'll ride south from St Mary.

Wife and daughter were supposed to be there as well. They cancelled this portion of our tour because my wife wanted to work on a project :) Now let's hope that we can ride Yellowstone...

Does not compute. St. Mary is on the east side.

I ask because I hope you’re not expecting to enter the U.S. at Chief Mountain.

You're right. East to West. My mistake. WRT Chief Mountain, yes, I am aware that the border crossing has been closed for the past two years (COVID related...) I was hoping that it'd be reopened following the recent relaxation of COVID policies, but nothing has changed. So, slight detour.

East to Cardston and hang a right. When I did the Northern Tier route back in ‘99 ACA used Del Bonita south of Magrath on the way to Cut Bank. What a lonely 70+ miles that was. I remember one little store just north of the border. And the headwind was pretty evil. My riding partner and I finally stumbled into a cafe in Cut Bank super loopy. The other patrons all turned to look at us.

Expect a stiff headwind coming down 89 to St. Mary. At least you won’t have to do the climbing on Chief Mountain Highway. That is not an easy day.

Depending where the hiker/biker closure is, it might be worth setting up shop at either St. Mary or Rising Sun and riding as far up as you can then back down.