After a good night sleep we would finally start the GDMBR! The route starts at the famous Banff Springs Hotel, so we had to go there first. The trailhead wasn’t hard to find. We knew it was going to be tough from the beginning because there are some steep climbs from the beginning. And indeed, the climbs were steep so the legs woke up quickly. But it was beautiful and we rode through nice scenery of forest and water. We also saw our first (black) bear and had our first wild camping night. There were many bears in the area, but fortunately we didn’t have any problems. We did see a moose passing by our tent one morning.
We struggled our way up steep Elk Pass and arrived in Fernie through Elkford and Sparwood with its huge and famous monster truck that was used in the mining industry. We arrived in Fernie just in time before a big thunderstorm hit. Fortunately we were dry and warm in a hotel room.
