FourFour WesternWestern GemsGems More great tours you can fit into your busy schedule lright, my fellow touring cyclists, have on our travel plans? Clearly, we’re are you ready to hear how the staying closer to home. The Travel Industry United States compares with other of America claims that the average “plea- Anations in “average annual vacation time”? sure trip” (it’s not really long enough to call Below: Riding These statistics — so important to those of a “vacation”) dropped from 4.6 days in Missouri’s Katy us who each year long to escape our work- 1988 to 3.8 days, ten years later. As a result, Trail takes you through many ing lives for a few weeks in the saddle — 55% of all U.S. travelers stay within 600 small towns, and come from The World Tourism Organiza- miles of home during their journeys. Our a ton of history. tion. I’ll warn you now they aren’t encour- beehive-active working population has aging. caused even the sun-and-fun-in-the- First, as Caribbean cruise lines to pay attention, scal- you might ing back their longer trips in favor of the have guessed, four- and five-day trips. There goes the come the fun- shuffleboard tournament. loving Italians, I complained about this business of a civilization busyness a year ago, suggested a wholesale thousands of social revolution, and for the meantime, years old that offered up the two-wheeled antidote of a has clearly few of my favorite weekend and week-long learned how to rides east of the Mississippi. With a nod enjoy life. Ital- toward geographic balance (not to mention ian workers the fact that I’m still waiting for the upris- have a whop- ing to begin) here are four of my favorite ping 42 days short routes in the West. of vacation each and every The Canadian Rockies year. Take that There's a certain thrill to pedaling in a all at once and, foreign country. We look more closely at adding week- our surroundings when we're away from ends, a rider home. Awakened from the doldrums of could stay in what is common to us, we notice all that's the saddle for different. The money is a funny color, the two solid local dress or speech or customs throw us Right: Taos months — more than enough time to begin off balance. And, being off balance, we Pueblo is the in the Alps and ride to sunny Sicily and watch the world around us with more care. longest continu- back. Fortunately, we Yanks can have a taste of ally inhabited Next come the strike-happy French, with foreign-country cycling without having to spot in North 37 days away from the office or factory. pop for flights across the seas. And if we America. Germany ranks third, with a very head north, to the civilized and cooler respectable 35, followed by Brazil (34), climes of western Canada, we don't even Britain (28), and Canada (26). The hard- have to learn another language. Which Left: Canada’s Ice- working Japanese, our former business role means we can read the newspapers and fields Parkway, models who, it was reported, had to be eavesdrop on the locals. between Banff and coerced to take time off, have, on average, But where does one go? Well, if you've Jasper, offers 25 days of vacation. And the United States? got the time, there's always the 5000-mile wide shoulders Well, we Americans come in last, with an Trans-Canada Highway. If you only have a and wider underwhelming half the days the Japanese week or two to spend, however, fix your scenery; Above: spend away from work. A measly 13. sights on the Icefields Parkway, a compara- The author’s off- road route in Col- Granted, when we add weekends and a tively minuscule 181 miles (293 kilometers) orado’s San Juan handful of holidays, our hours off look between Banff and Jasper, in the western Mountains somewhat better. But what effect does this province of Alberta. The mountains are includes 32,680 high, the highway shoulders are wide, the feet of elevation skies are blue almost every day, and the gain and loss. By Dennis Coello natives are friendly. What more could one Adventure Cyclist • August 2000 want? Besides, every inch of your route is steep climbs. Even on the Icefields Park- traffic, this 225-mile-long rail-trail is for in two of the prettiest of Canada's 34 way there's one hump you won't forget — you. Tell your friends you’ll be spending national parks. Sunwapta Pass (6,675'). You won't find it your days in the saddle sandwiched Throughout your trip, you'll have the terribly tough unless you're a flatlander, for between a river and tall limestone bluffs, Continental Divide, in the form of the most of the eight-mile climb along the winding through wetlands, prairies, forests white-peaked Rockies, on your left. While North Saskatchewan River is gradual. The and rolling farm fields, and they’ll be envi- actually somewhat lower in elevation than final mile, however, takes you to the river's ous. Then tell them those miles are in Mis- is much of the same chain in the United source — a glacier that I would guess at souri, and the smiles will fade, as their States, they appear to be higher, because the roughly the size of the moon. And just as minds begin flashing on images of St. Louis tree line this far north is lower, leaving cold. urban blight, and Ozark backwoods bump- many of the mountainsides bare, jagged- Although you could do this ride in a kins. edged, and scree-sloped. Now, add blue long weekend, I’d suggest you take two “You’ll be riding along the Missouri meandering rivers to these sharp-sided weeks because of the fantastic hikes you’ll River?” they’ll ask, as they envision a wide, beauties, and deep green coniferous forests find close to camp, the mountain bike flat, slow-moving stream of brown mud. in the broad valleys, turquoise- and emer- routes that abound, and the sheer pleasure With maybe a dead catfish on the bank and ald-colored lakes higher up, massive glaci- of the quiet towns and friendly folks along a turkey vulture eyeing it from on-high. ers, and wild deer, elk, bear, and mountain the way. But don’t let these stereotypes deter you sheep and goats that sometimes stop traffic from paying the Katy a visit. A typical rail- For further information when crossing the road, and you won’t be trail with its crushed-stone surface (good for Banff National Park bored. fat and thin tires both), it’s anything but P.O. Box 900 And the riding? In a word — superb. In commonplace in terms of history. The trail Banff, Alberta, T0L 0C0 Canada most places, the shoulders on major high- begins in St. Charles, a small town on the (403) 762-1550 ways are as wide as a car lane. And when banks of the Missouri (and, during floods, www.worldweb.com/ParksCanada-Banff you're on narrower side roads, you'll find in the Missouri) 20-odd miles northwest of that, in general, the motorists up here are a Jasper National Park St. Louis. Yes, there’s a hideous McDon- kinder, gentler sort. Even the American dri- P.O. Box 10 ald's-and-malls-and-Holiday-Inn section vers are nicer than they are at home! Jasper, Alberta, T0E 1E0 Cana- near the interstate, but once you’re past that You will be doing some climbing, most- da (780) 852-6176 unfortunate introduction to so much of ly long gradual pulls, when on the main www.worldweb.com/ParksCanada- America these days, you’ll step easily into roads. And I do mean long, like the Jasper another, slower time. Push your bike along extremely moderate 26-mile grind over the lovely cobblestone streets of this 18th- Bow Summit (6,787'). But, anytime you century French town, enjoy lunch at Lewis decide to leave the main road up the valley Missouri’s Katy Trail and Clark's Public House (I suggest the at the base of the mountains, you'll have If you love to pedal, but hate riding in white chili), and think about Meriwether Lewis and William Clark stopping here in May of 1804 to savor their last taste of civi- lization before their two-year trip up the Missouri, and over the Rockies, to the Pacific and back. Santa Fe, Captain Clark described St. Charles in well known his journal: as a Mecca This Village Contns. about 100 houses, for art, is the the most of them small and indefferent and beginning about 450 inhabitents Chiefly French, point for the those people appear Pore, polite and har- author’s three-day monious. ride to Taos. They were so harmonious that they threw a ball for the captains and their men. A grand time was had by all, though too grand for one unfortunate soldier. A court- martial was held for John Collins, who was accused of "behaveing in an unbecomeing manner at the Ball last night." Found guilty as charged, his punishment was 50 lashes on his naked back. But then he'd caused trouble before, months before when the party was camped on the Illinois side of the Mississippi, across from St. Louis. Private Collins had shot and killed a farmer's pig and was busy roasting it on a spit when his sergeant passed by.