Pack For your FEARS

Wednesday, August 17, 2022. Tara read somewhere that we should “pack for our fears”. Hunger, cold, bears, exhaustion- where to start? And with all those fears, how do we keep the weight manageable? After packing all the gear, bags, water, food, I took Blixen around the block and he was shaking in his spokes. Quaking with fear and anxiety and being over-burdened on the back. Road riders call l it the death wobble. We returned to the Airbnb and took off all the packs, moved all the heavy stuff to the front panniers, added another bag on the front and he was much less wobbly. Phew! Tara had anxiety around her new tubeless tire set up and adding the right amount of tire pressure. Mimi was worried about the hills. We said Bye to Larry, left the BNB around 10:30 am, and made one last stop for 2 additional straps and one additional dry bag on Banff. Mimi loved the bike with the pink umbrella. We rode about 22 miles. We started behind the Banff Springs hotel about noon. The trail was mostly like a mountain bike trail, a couple bridges, followed the Goat Creek trail quite a bit of the way. It was quite difficult and the bikes are heavy! We ended at Spray Lakes which was man made with a Three Sisters Hydro Site. We are at the Spray Lake Campground which is very small, with pit toilets. The shark fin mountain profile is shark mountain. Along the way got water from a green pump labeled “boil water”, only because they haven’t tested it. The campground hosts drink it so we did too, eventually. We boiled a few pots but after talking to the ranger’s wife, and considering the amount of fuel we were using, we decided to drink it straight up. Delicious and cold. Tara made the first trip to the pump for water, then Mimi and I made a trip. As humans, and especially when riding in the dry heat, we use a lot of water. We’re also eating dehydrated meals, which require more water. We took bear spray and wore our helmets. On Tara’s last trip she saw a very big, black bear. She returned to our campsite, with water and singing loudly. We washed up in the lake, had dinner and zzzzzzz. Good first day.