The Great Divide Mountain Bike Route starts with, continues on, and ends with a quantum leap from modern life into a world of primitive wonder. Leaving the bustle of Banff, Alberta Canada, I was transported immediately into an exhilarating array of majestic Canadian Rocky Mountain Peaks trimmed by cascading streams and crystal green lakes – Notably the Spray Lakes and shadowy Mount Shark at the north opening of the Peter Lougheed Provincial Park. Rolling down the Smith-Dorrian Road through the Park, one realizes you are passing between two colonnades of mountains. Between the ranges is a wide plain of conifers and sprawling glades criss-crossed by glacial streams. I am breathless…
All you can do is pedal onward to the next mountain and gasp at the beauty that unfolds as the route drifts southward towards the mining towns of Elkford and Sparwood BC – Convenience is found infrequently but thankfully only for resupplying oneself for the trail. The trail takes on few asphalt roads yet one must accept a mixture of lost forest access two-wheel and single tracks. the path occasionally migrates from a 4×4 only road into a stream – a metamorphic phenomenon such as the rivulets that become the headwaters for the mighty Flathead River. You are for those times a living element of the wild and untamed Great Divide of the Rocky Mountains.
In a real sense, you are on your own to make your way through the vastness of the Divide and at times your spirit is lifted by other riders that you meet along the way. However make no question – You are “out there” alone. The Divide can frighten and the Divide and draw you in. It can make you feel small and it can make you feel tall. A place where dreams become reality and life is seen in all things great and small.
Above and Beyond 