Day 7, 20+ Miles of Single Track

Today we rode from a cheap motel in Sparwood to a cheap hotel in Fernie. Describing it that way drastically understates the experience though. 

We left town after picking up some ready to eat breakfast items and snack items for the day. There was some very light rain as we started but it didn't last and wasn't even enough to get us into our rain gear.

Leaving town we immediately hit the Elk Valley Trail, which is part of the Continental Divide Hiking Trail, and rode it almost the entire day (26 miles). It is mostly single track and presented endless challenges like huge roots, large rocks, big drops, and very steep climbs. That meant each of us stopping dozens of times when one or more of us failed to negotiate tricky technical sections and/or lost balance, or just couldn't muscle up a particularly steep part. Dante was the only one to take an actual spill though, falling on his side while trying to ride across an icy creek. 

Near the end of the day there was a steep climb on a wider trail, similar to Elk Pass, which forced me to do some walking. That was mildly annoying since I rode the entire climb during my 2022 ride. 

We got into Fernie around 4 and had a restaurant meal before settling into a motel. Tomorrow we switch back to camping.

Due to the nature of the trail I didn't take many pictures. A few appear below though.

Start of Elk Valley Trail:


Rest stop at some benches and a small Yeti statue that I assume must have been installed by a CDT hiker:




Riding, pushing or resting:












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