Trip Summary Trip Dates: Jul 11 - Jul 18 Start - End Locations: Whitefish, MT/Shuttle to Banff, ALB - Roosville, MT/Shuttle to Whitefish, MT Days: 8   Rest Days: 2   Level of Support: Self-contained Miles: 221 Average Miles Per Day: 44 Surface: Dirt Riders: 14 Type: Self-Contained   Meals: Shared cooking Accommodations: Camping Physical Difficulty: Advanced  Technical Difficulty: Moderate to Difficult Cost: $949 Booking Status: Approx. Half Full

So, you’d like to find out for yourself what all this hoopla is about surrounding the Great Divide Mountain Bike Route, but you only have a week to squeeze in a gander? Then Great Divide Canada is the trip for you. This far north, 220-mile stretch of pedaling paradise is like the entire Great Divide in microcosm—only with the absence of the southern deserts of New Mexico, perhaps.

When our Great Divide planners wrapped up research on the main route in the United States in 1997, they vowed to continue taking the route north at some point in the future. Why? Because the Continental Divide does not terminate at the international border, nor does the spectacular mountain scenery stop, by any means. That “point in the future” was 2003, and since the Canada extension to the Great Divide was added that year, the rave reviews from riders have poured in.

After being shuttled from Whitefish, Montana, to the busy national-park community of Banff, Alberta, we’ll dive immediately into the backcountry by way of the Spray River Trail, a delightfully deteriorating old fire road now closed to motorized traffic. The trailhead sits practically at the back door of the magnificent Banff Springs Hotel. After meeting up with the rugged Goat Creek Trail, we’ll follow it to the Smith-Dorrien Spray Road. Penetrating the vast wilderness expanse known as Kananaskis Country, we’ll skirt the northern flank of Mount Shark before riding into spectacular Peter Lougheed Provincial Park. From here we’ll ride up and over Elk Pass and the Continental Divide, known aptly as the “Great Divide” in Canada, climbing out of Alberta and descending into British Columbia.

From Elk Lakes Provincial Park we’ll follow the Elk River downstream on a hard-packed dirt road through forty miles of semi-wilderness, where you’ll want to keep a sharp eye out for big, wild moose and even bigger and wilder logging trucks. From Elkford it’s 54 miles to Fernie, where, if time and energy permit, we might try tackling some of the resort village’s renowned singletrack trails. This region, which holds some amazing mountain biking opportunities, plays host to the weeklong TransRockies Challenge, one of the world’s toughest and best-known mountain-bike stage races.

The remainder of the trip to the international border at Roosville is through less mountainous, more bucolic countryside. You’ll ride along a wonderfully winding series of low-traffic gravel and paved roads that pass through the traditional territory of the Ktunaxa, or Kootenay, First Nations People. At one lofty point we’ll earn a startling view of Lake Koocanusa, an immense body of water shared by Canada and the United States that’s created by the damming of the Kootenai River, hence its name: KOOtenai, CANada, USA.

Let this very special trip be your passport to adventure (speaking of, Americans now need passports to enter Canada, so don’t neglect bringing yours along). You’re guaranteed to arrive back home with a great craving to see more of the Great Divide.

For more detailed information, see Self Contained trip logistics.

READY TO GO?
You can sign up for the Great Divide Canada tour now. Go to our online sign-up.