June 25th, Calgary, Albert

1. Down Town Calgary.................................................. 2. Luxury Condos Along Bow River



3. Stephen Street in Calgary........................................4. Calgary Stampeders versus B C Lions



5. A Sea of Stampeder Red

During the day, Gene and I did the downtown tourist visit in Calgary. There is a large amount of commercial construction occurring. The downtown area is mainly tal office buildings or apartments. The majority of the buildings are connected with second story enclosed walkways to allow comfortable pedestrian traffic during the throes of brutal winter weather. The one exception is Stephen Street, an area of well preserved buildings from the early 1900’s where the street is only for pedestrians and is lined with funky bars, restaurants, art galleries and retail shops. They have a very good transit system with three different commuter trains lines converging at the center of the city and well supplemented with bus lines. The park land along the Bow River in the down town area is magnificent and it is lined with gorgeous high end condo buildings that must be an ideal living location. However, the overall feeling is rather antaceptic!

My bike was ready by 6:00 and Gene and I had purchased a steak, beer, bus ride, foot ball ticket package for the season opener between Calgary Stampeders and the British Columbia Lions. The freeways were crowded and everyone seemed to be wearing
red and white Stampeder jerseys and hats. When we arrived at the stadium the tailgate parties were in full swing. There was a near sellout crowd on a beautiful sunny evening. It was a 7:00 start and it did not get dark until 10:30. It was a great game and the home team won! Afterwards there was a Canada Day fireworks display.

June 24th, Cranbrook to Calgary, Alberta - 265 miles

1. Gene at Columbia Lake........................................ 2. Radium Hot Springs Pool



3. Marble Canyon .................................. 4. Continental Divide



5. Banff Hot Springs Hotel

What a magnificent day! We stopped off at Fort Steele and then drove up the 1000 peak valley to Radium Hot Springs. We saw deer, elk and mountain goats enroute. The roads were deserted and there were beautiful farms, magnificent lakes flanked on both sides by the snow topped Purcells and Rockies. The number of gorgeous golf courses was unbelievable; you could play at a different course every day for two weeks along a 140 kilometers of highway.

It was interesting to see Radium Hot Springs, in Kootenay National Park, where I worked as a surveyor for the summer when I was a university student. The Invermere Valley and Radium Hot Springs have boomed with a plethora of accomidations. The park is still an unspoiled wilderness with the hot springs still a major attraction. In 2003 there was a major forest fire caused by lightening that burned 175 square kilometers of forest over 40 days. They are now doing controlled ground burns the way Indians previously did to compare the rejuvenation results from each.

We stopped at Marble Canyon and then visited Banff. The tourist traffic at Banff reminds me of traffic in Newport, Rhode Island during the summer. After lunch we drove to Calgary where I left my bike at Blackfoot Motosports for servicing on Thursday.

June 23rd, Swift Current to Cranbrook, British Columbia - 439 miles

1. Pivotal Irrigator for $100,000 ............................2. Windmills Nearh Pinchner Creek



3. Ian at Frank Slide at Turtle Mountain .............4. Crossing British Columbia Border



5. Gene next to Terex Titan, Largest Truck in World

As we headed across Saskatchewan and into Alberta, you realize what a huge business agriculture is in the prairies. We stopped into the irrigation museum and they started irrigation from the Saint Mary’s River over 100 years ago. This enabled this area to survive the dust bowl effects that a lot of the mid west suffered during the depression since although water levels were low people could grow enough food for their own consumption. They grow wheat, potatoes, canola, sugar beets etc.; quite ac wide range of crops. I read they had a hostess potato chip plant there and when driving out of town there was a brand new looking McCains plant! The pivotal irrigation systems puts one inch of water over the ground every three days and the farmer does not need to tend them, but they cost $100,000. We must have seen several hundred of them in two hours driving, not to mention combines and tractors.

The land was extremely lush with low rolling hills. As we neared Crows Nest Pass there we saw over 200 windmills in the Fort MacLeod, Pinchner Creek area. It appeared this in part was due to the wind gusting through the pass at accelerated velocities. It was fantastic to see a range of mountains, with snow, a major barrier in front of us extending roughly NNW and SSE as far as the eye could see.

We stopped at the site of the Frank Slide, where in 1903, 30,000,000 cubic meters of limestone fell from the top of Turtle Mountain and wiped out Frank, a coal mining town. It all happened in 70 seconds and some of the chunks of limestone are huge!

We went through Fernie, a ski area where they receive over 800 inches of snow every winter and then through Sparwood, a major coal mining center. From there we drove down into the Valley of 1000 Peaks, a valley between the Rockies and the Purcell Mountains that runs from Golden into the United States and is the source of both the Kootenay and Columbia Rivers. We stopped at Cranbrook, a town who owes it’s existence to the CPR using it as a major staging area.

June 22nd, Portage La Prairie to Swift Current, Saskatchewan - 447 miles

1. Green Fields Going on Forever in Manitoba.........3. Potash in Saskatchewan

3. Old Style Grain Elevator....................................4. New, Improved Style!

When we started off it was a beautiful sunny day and as we head westward we were crossing an endless sea of agriculture. The fields stretch to the horizon with the occasional farm house, silo and barn the only interruption and towns or villages very infrequent. If there is a way to describe this landscape, the word solitude comes to mind; you are in the midst of an immense plain that seems to go on forever and you don’t see any people! As you look at these vast plains, and realize that 140 years ago, an estimated 60 million buffalo roamed them and a few years later only 500 were left, you realize the travesty Europeans inflicted on the aboriginal population.

We had rain just after we crossed the border into Saskatchewan, but it only lasted for half an hour and we were dry when we reached Regina, probably Canada’s most bland provincial capital. We then passed through Moose Jaw, infamous as a shipping point for whiskey by Al Capone during prohibition in the United States. From there we rushed to Swift Current to get started on a workout.

Through Ontario and the prairies we consistently saw help wanted ads in many restaurants and hotels. It certainly is an indicator of near full employment!

June 21st, Balmerton to Portage La Prairie, Manitoba - 358 miles

1. Gold Eagle Shaft Construction Site..................... 2.Gene with the Pikes all relatives and from St. Lawrence



3. Leaving Mackenzie Island ...................................4. Site of Last Spike at Feist Lake




5. Manitoba Border

The next morning was a beautiful sunny day and after a leisurely walk to the new Gold Eagle Mine shaft site we had a great breakfast and were then ferried by Steve to the mainland to pack our bikes and get underway by mid afternoon. The traffic was light and we made great time.

As we headed toward the Manitoba border, I was reflecting back on the journey through Northern Ontario. It is huge, with the mining and logging industries operating on a global scale. This area dominates world production of nickel and silver and gold is also a major player. There is a huge wilderness tourism industry and yet there are only 750,000 people, with only two cities, Sudbury and Thunder Bay having populations over 100,000.
We traveled 2300 kilometers to cross the breadth of Northern Ontario but had no feel for the true mass which is at least the size of seven Englands!

Kenora is a lovely town in the Lake of the Woods recreation area. I remember the town since it was the finish of the 150 mile bicycle race from Winnipeg to Kenora, that my father used to compete in during the 30’s. (The best he ever finished was 4th).

I always thought the prairies began at the Manitoba border, but although the terrain was fairly flat, we passed through continuous forest very similar to Northern Ontario until we were only 40 kilometers from Winnipeg. We stopped at Portage La Prairie at 8:30 and driving through 25 to 30 C temperatures under sunny skies. The cleanliness of Manitoba is unbelievable; we have not seen one piece of litter since we crossed the border!

June 21st, Balmerton/ Red Lake/ MacKenzie Island

1. Norseman Park in Red Lake................................. 2. Gene Arriving at Mackenzie Island



3. View from Sun Porch to Mainland...................4. Awaiting our Arrival from a Twilight Boat Tour of Lake



5. Warming at Fire Celebrating Summer Solstice

The next morning, after coffee at the “Boomer” and a large breakfast at home we went for a tour of Re Lake. In the summer of 1936 at the height of the gold rush during the summer, this was the busiest airport in the world with over 100 flights daily! At Norseman park, they celebrate the use of the Norseman, a float plane made of wood, canvas and metal, that was built in Montreal, and was a major method of transportation intob remote communities. From there we went to the local museum which detailed the history of the local mining industry and also the fur trade.

Then we packed up the truck and drove six miles to Cochenour, where Steve, Gene’s cousin’s Donna’s husband, picked us up at the dock to bring us to their home on Mackenzie Island. Mackenzie Island is about 12 miles long and approximately 3 miles wide and is a little piece of paradise set in Red Lake. Not far from their home, Golden Eagle is sinking its shaft since the major ore body they have located is under the channel we came across by boat. There is a passenger ferry to the island and there is an ice road in winter, but it is a challenge to live on an island with the commuting logistics.

It was a day of darts, conversation, motor boating, fishing and copious amounts of food. Donna and Steve’s son Jay entertained us water skiing in the 12 C lake water. There are trout caught in Red Lake that are over 40 pounds! It was interesting talking to Steve about our trip through the Yukon, because he had worked at mining throughout that region and he gave us great insights. We had a roaring bonfire in the evening and neighbours from next door dropped over to help celebrate Summer Solstice.

June 20th, 2008 Thunder Bay to Balmerton, Ontario – 351 miles

1. Sunrise over Thunder Bay......................................2. Sculpture at Ear Falls



3. Typical Fishing/ Hunting Lodge Road Sign....... 4. Entering Red Lake



5. Gene Crystal and Jay

It was a beautiful morning driving out of Thunder Bay with sunny skies and there was the occasional farm. We headed toward Kenora, away from Lake Superior. I am amazed at the number of people we have seen bicycling across the country. Over the last four days we have seen over 30 people!

As you drive through this untamed country, with its’ incredible resources, you cannot help but reflect that with all the poverty in the world, there is space in Canada for another 50 to 100 million people. The highway parallels the railway tracks, and the Canadian Government and the railways played major roles in the last 150 years promoting immigration. When Canada was being explored, if it was not for the lakes and river systems utilized by the voyageurs, the development westward hiking through the bush would have delayed development for decades due to the impenetrable nature of the bush.

Just past Dryden, Vermillion Bay, we headed north toward Balmertown to visit with Gene’s cousin and some of his relatives. The number of fishing and hunting lodges was absolutely amazing, there seemed to be one every kilometer. On this 180 kilometer stretch of road Gene saw a black ear, moose deer and several bald eagles! At Ear Falls, there is a large hydro electric dam built on Lac Seul, to provide power in the mid 1930’s to the the Red Lake gold mining region. For the last 30 miles into Balmertown, there were menacing thunderclouds overhead, but we managed to get into town just as it started to pour.Gene’s cousin Levi’s son Lee was home and he had two coolers full of beer waiting. When Levi arrived home, we set up for a typical Newfoundland house party.

The Red Lake region is a driven by gold mining. The major player is Goldcorp who purchased the Campbell Mine from Placer Dome and amalgamated it with their Red Lake Mine. Apparently, the mine manager just resigned (or was pushed out the door) and they are 30,000 ounces of gold behind budget for 2008. It was fascinating to listen to the talk about gold mining, since every one other than Gene and I are involved in the industry. Local scuttlebutt has the Golden Eagle play as perhaps over-hyped while Rubicon Minerals has major upside potential, with the largest landholdings in the area and their Phenoix play.