Monday, June 9, 2008

Astonishing Find...

Distance: 140 km
Time: 5 hours 30 min

The day from Revelstoke started out quiet but it didn't take long before excitement found us once again. We were making our way up a hill when we were passed by two young cyclists. This wasn't the first time we had been passed by other bikers but it was the first time that it was on a hill and they were both carrying 40-50 lb packs on their bikes too! Needless to say, we were a little embarrassed but struck up a conversation and found out that they had a schedule similar to ours but were making better time. It was at that point that I think we started biking a little harder...and our light bikes finally paid off as we left them behind us and didn't see them again that day.

We made our way up to Roger's Pass, which we were told would be a difficult climb, but were pleasantly surprised and even a little disappointed to discover that it wasn't all it was made out to be. Our disappointment didn't last long though as we headed down the other side and made excellent time heading toward Golden.

In fact, we made good enough time that we rode through Golden to make the next day's ride shorter. Unfortunately, the majority of our 'extra' kilometers were uphill but we did get to see an interesting sight. Mike was in the lead when all of a sudden Adam started yelling "Ram! Deer! Caribou!" Mike stopped to see what Adam was yelling about and somehow missed seeing that there was a wild animal 15 feet ahead of him on the road. It didn't seem to mind us at first and so Adam and AJ argued over whether it was a deer or a ram while it sat there looking at us. From behind it looked like a deer and even bounded like one and since it did not have any antlers or horns Adam labeled it a deer. However, after it started bounding up the side of a cliff AJ claimed victory but Adam did not let up, labeling it a Ramdeer and claiming that he discovered a new species. Unfortunately we were not able to get a picture of this particular animal (to Adam's disappointment) but we did see other mountain sheep close by. So if you are ever traveling through the Golden area, keep an eye out for the Ramdeer...and take a picture for Adam.

1 comment:

Linda Teeter said...

The most wonderful part of this blog is that I feel like I'm right there. I can see the dumbfounded expression on Mike's face as his brother's are telling him he missed the "wild thing" and I can hear the humerous argument over what it actually was. AJ would flash his father's million dollar smile as he claimed victory and Adam, in his good-hearted way, will never give up his notion of finding a new species. A wonderful moment with my boys!