RE-ROUTE

Admission time...I may have been a little cocky and shortsighted in my ditching of Edmonton.

Red Deer west into the Rockys actually totally misses Jasper National Park - yes, the very same one I was dying to see - it would have made far more sense to get to it via Edmonton. My only excuse is that it's difficult to navigate on a tiny phone screen constantly zooming in and out between trails, towns and provinces as they each disappear in and out of view at the touch of two fingers.

Anyway, he says beckoning to the crowd...and performing a finger-tip drumroll on the table top: "Can I hear a 'Re-route'?"

"RE-ROUTE!" I hear you all shout kindly back at me in a non-admonishing tone.

So.... I've gotta head north...but I have a cunning plan. There's something called the Forestry Trunk Road (FTR) which zooms along Rocky's foothills, and I could join it midway and follow it north by ~100miles to get back on track and parallel to Jasper.

It's isolated. They'd be no power sources. No mobile reception. No potable water sources. Possibly no other campers. It's really just an unpaved track used by huge logging, mining and oil trucks who would have right of way and terrifyingly large emergency stopping distances.

Hmmm.

Oh yer and according to website graveltravel.ca: "In addition to bears expect to see many kinds of birds, deer, moose, various rodents, including our national symbol, the beaver. There are also mountain lions, lynx, and most members of the mink and weasel family, coyotes and wolves. "

BUT it does have a few provincial recreational camping sites....I'd just have to carry 3 or 4 day's worth of food (considerable considering I'm burning >5000cals a day) and hope that that doesn't overload my bike on what will be rough, hilly terrain.

It's making me nervous just thinking about it. Everything I've read online is based around motorised use of the FTR. Until I actually see it, and get on it, I'm just not going know whether Perry and I can do it.

I think I have to try.

West to Nordegg and the FTR!En savoir plus