Along the Crowsnest

After yesterday's summit, we were expecting a day of downhills, at least into Princeton, but little did we know that there was another summit up ahead. It wasn't as big, but when you're expecting downhills, it seemed like a slap in the face. On the downhills, however, we were drafting again and maintained above 40 km/h. We were flying! After the summit, the mountains suddenly opened up to a valley below - Princeton. There was a great downhill, winding in circles to reduce the grade, but it was still very steep. As we were circling around, the road was in the middle of steep drops on either side, a valley to the North and mounatins everywhere else. The view was phenominal! We even crossed a family of deer along the way, which was pretty cool to see.

We decided to have a large lunch in Princeton and let our stuff dry out. We stopped at a park, and the sunshine was very kind to us, especially after the snow only a few hours ago. The meal of ham sandwiches, grapes, strawberries, cookie dough, and of course, chocolate milk really filled us up.

The ride out of Princeton was magnificant. We went along the Crowsnest towards Osoyoos, and we passed a buch of ranches, so we thought it would be a good idea to stop and pet the horses. They're formidable animals. I've never really had many enounters with them, so it was a cool experience to pet them by the side of the road. We were cycling along a river in a valley, surrounded by mountains and cliffsides all around us. Some of the mountains even seemed fake - almost as if they were models or paintings. It was both calming and humbling to be within this area, and it was probably my favourite landscape so far on this trip.

We set up camp early today by the side of the road (read: free) and we were just lying in the tent and chatting for a bit before bedtime. All I was thinking as I went to sleep was that I'm very happy being here and I'm glad to be doing this trip.

Fun facts, stats and lessons learned
Distance travelled today: 126.78 km
Total distance travelled: 793.66 km
Starting point: EC Manning Provincial Park, by the side of the road just past Allison Pass Summit
Our Route: Highway 3 (Crowsnest) the whole way. The shoulders were pretty bad until we were just outside Princeton, where they got much better for the rest of the day.
Ending point: Just before Keremeos, by the side of the road.

• It's amazing how quickly a headwind can turn into a tailwind & vice versa when winding through the mountains.