Day 24 (June 23): Waterton to Lunderbreck, Alberta – 54 miles

When I got up this morning my legs didn’t feel like riding, so I went for a short hike before breakfast along the edge of the lake.

 Sadly, it was way too densely wooded to have good views of the lake and mountains, so I turned around when my stomach started grumbling and got on the road around 9. My legs still didn’t feel like riding, and the whole way to Pincher Creek I was feeling sluggish.

In Pincher Creek I finally got a definitive answer about preferred cycling route from here to Lake Louise, and with that information I was able to go grocery shopping more effectivley (what I buy depends on distance to the next store!).

It was after 2 by the time I got out of Pincher Creek, and thunderstorms were building. Shortly after Cowley I got wet, so I pulled off at the gas station cafe in Lunderbreck for a hot dog (really I wanted hot tea, but they didn’t have any hot beverages-not even coffee!) The weather cleared a little, but the lady running the shop said it was likely to be stormy off and on all afternoon and that it was mostly uphill to the campground I was aiming for another 24km (15miles) up the road. She recommended I just go the 2 miles to Lunderbreck Falls, a provincial park where I am once again paying far too much for a campsite. This one does not have showers or flush toilets (worth paying for), and they just sprayed an oily dust-mitigator on the road which smells funny. But, it is right on the river with a beautiful waterfall just a minutes walk upstream, and Christine (the lady in the campsite next to me) and I spent the evening watching the beaver family going in and out of their lodge across the river.