July 29, 2021
56 kms
We had a great ride up to Allison Pass from Sunshine Valley. Our knees were fine and although the climb was hot we both felt strong. We treated ourselves to a room in the Lodge and enjoyed a gluttonous dinner in the restaurant.
If Gord has been a tad over optimistic in his predictions about our abilities to skirt the fires and smoke, I have been Chicken Little. In my defence (spoiler alert) the sky will actually start falling. I have been endlessly trying to plan contingencies in case the smoke is too much for me. Do we go on? Do we head back? Is there a taxi in Princeton? Could we buy a car? The last was a definite NO from an exasperated Gordon. Manning seemed to be a decision point to either turn back or continue on. The fires and smoke forecast even for the park do not look good.
Fun fact I didn't know: The park was named for Ernest Callaway Manning, British Columbia’s Chief Forester in the late 1930s, not Ernest Charles Manning, the twenty-five-year, right-wing, Christian-political, nutjob Socred premier of Alberta.
ReplyDeleteWe stayed in the lodge, too. And hiked the Skyline trail, where we got caught in a snowstorm--on July 2--because Cascade Mountains.
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