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It looks like a pregnant train wreck on two wheels, sure, but this rig is quite enjoyable to haul steel on. And haul steel I do some days.
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🚲Edmonton > 🎒Folding Mountain > 🚲Edmonton
on Mailchimp — This very newsletter!
Armed only with a cell phone, a book about memory, and a notepad ... two weeks on the road doesn't return much for content. And that is quite okay with me.
Day 1 - 135KMs in a freezing downpour ⛈ to Graham and Karen's farm. Thanks for the emergency spot to camp, and water fill up folks 🙌
Day 2 - 75KMs in the most beautiful of beautiful days where I decided to stop for the day at Hornbeck Recreation Area as I was passing by.
Day 3 - 35KMs in a super short and easy day going from small campground to smaller campground at Obed Lake Provincial Park.
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Day 6 - 80KMs split into two parts with a shopping and charging trip in Hinton, before heading out to the bush in the Brule Public Use Land Zone. I never said this was a bougie trip by any means. The exact opposite.
It's a week of a makeshift camp site, water from a tap outside Folding Mountain Brewery 2 KMs away, and use of a rest area bathroom an equal 2 KM away.
The perfect staging area for some Folding Mountain exploration being a KM away from the trail head 👍
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Day 7 - 22KMs 🥾 A real nice time ripping up Folding Mountain, then heading back along the ridge to see about some water. Little did I know, the next time I am up here, water would not be an issue.
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Day 10 - 9KMs ❄ 🥾 36 hours of rain at 1000m == 36 hours of snow at 1800m+ which has me post holing up to my knees far sooner than anticipated, and changes the tragectory of my hike and camp up here.
Knee deep quickly becomes waist deep in the wettest stickiest snow I've ever encountered, and I don't even make the summit. Instead, as I take a break to make a summit attempt late in the afternoon, a storm rolls in, nearly blows me off the ridge and starts DUMPING rain. It had been drizzling all day, but now it is pouring.
Needless to say, I manage to get my fly setup behind the trees in the last photo below. That angle is ... ummm ... not fun, but that storm comes in fast and hard with reckless abandon like high school Lebron driving the lane. I am fortunate to stay on the mountain, let alone sleep out the storm at a 35 degree angle on brand new snow. I use the term "sleep" quite loosely here.
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Day 12 - 91KMs 🚲 Back to Hornbeck Creek for a night after deciding to dip my toe in the Nascar infield life with a couple nights at Pembina Provincial Park on August long weekend.
Day 13 - 118KMs 🚲 Hornbeck Creek > Pembina Provincial Park. Getting a little adventurous, I want to fully immerse myself in the fifth wheel camp life, and boy is Pembina on August long weekend the way to do it.
Campfires in the hundreds compete to burn over six feet high engulfing the entire campground in a fog of heavy smoke, and cutting LED lights, create a scene worthy of yet another Friday the 13th reboot.
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Day 15 - 104KMs 🚲 With a tailwind pushing my back after climbing out of Pembina Provincial Park, all thoughts of a leisurely 100K ride home vanish. I settle in for long haul mode keeping intensity high, averaging over 30KM/h in the last leg of my trip — even with traffic through the city back into downtown. A beastly ride to cap a great trip off.
Barn door fever in full effect.
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Over 30KM away from home, just after the bend onto 16A — a straight shot into downtown on 102 Ave — you can see my taller neighbours a block or two from my place.
Prairie life.
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- The Memory Illusion by Julia Shaw — As mentioned, I did bring one book with me and read through it quite easily. A recommendation from a mentor and good friend who mentioned it to me after I explained how I am almost replaying my life through the new lense of being autistic.
And what a poignant recommendation.
Julia's work is primarily for the use in the colonial carceral system, as much as she wants to sugar coat it, her work is for the use of oppression by police. In fact, tying police-military-capitalism together quite nicely at one point — celebrating the connection really. Despite this, there is a lot of very interesting and relevant information about how our memories work that I easily recommend this quick read for most anyone.
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Life comes at you fast. From being all but destitute without a single contract showing up in the inbox for over 20 months now, I am officially booked through the new year — invoice paid. Exciting projects on the door step. Familiar faces becoming working partners. No longer looking for a job. Life indeed comes at you fast.
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