Fun in Fernie!
Hey guys,
Since I’m living in Lethbridge now for the summer I’m taking the opportunity to go and ride in some pretty sweet places!
So far I haven’t wandered far away from the coulees of Lethbridge but today, on the Monday of the long weekend, I decided to go and ride somewhere else. After talking to a few of the random bikers I’ve met on the trails here in Lethbridge, the consensus seemed to be that Fernie was the place to go!
So this morning I packed up my stuff and headed out to Fernie, B.C. I got there around lunch time and headed to the first bike shop I could find and picked up a trail map and got directions to where the best riding was. Patrick Hummeny (from Lethbridge, used to be from MB) had warned me about dangerous wildlife so I asked if bears were a problem. The lady working said that no bears had been seen but that there had been several moose sightings lately. I took her warning seriously and went to find the trail head. Apparently her directions weren’t as straight forward as I thought they were and I was soon driving in circles. Then I saw two 50 year old guys pop out of the bush on mountain bikes from a tiny little trail so I flagged them down and then got proper directions from them. I easily found the trailhead after that and was soon on the trail headed up the mountain on some super sweet singletrack. I made sure I whooped and hollered quite often while I was riding so that I wouldn’t be “attacked” by any bears or moose.
Three Sisters Mountain
The second time up the mountain I took a trail called Eco-Terrorist that goes over a marshy area on a board walk. Coming out of the bush around the corner to the wetland I heard a splash and thought, “Hey there must be a beaver or something in the pond so I should stop when I get there and look for it”…well…It definitely wasn’t a beaver! It was a full grown moose, with antlers in velvet, standing in the water about 30 feet away, looking at me! Immediately I was thinking, “Oh crap, I’m soo screwed!” But I quickly jumped back on my bike, headed the rest of the way along the board walk past the pond and on to the fire road. Right then there was a family with 2 young kids on bikes about to turn onto the trail I had just come off of, so I warned them about the moose and they headed for a different trail.
Not the moose that scared me..but thats how close it was!
After riding another 2 hours without further incident, I decided that I was going to climb partially up that trail again and then ride a really cool, rooty, flowing downhill back to my car and call it a day. On my way up I happened to meet a lady that was hiking with her dog and she told me that the moose might have a baby somewhere in the area too. But I figured since I wasn’t going very far away from civilization, I should be fine. Apparently not!! I was about halfway up to the turn off that I wanted to take when out in front of me stepped the “baby” moose! Except he wasn’t much of a baby anymore, it was almost full grown, but without any antlers. This time I almost dirtied my shorts.. I was going up a steep, nasty climb and was looking down, when suddenly it stepped out of the bush in front of me, not even 15 feet away..I just about lost it when I saw him..I’m surprised I didn’t have a heart attack.. But, I managed to keep it together and turned my bike around and ripped back down all the way to my car. Needless to say, I’d had my fill of excitement for one day!
New wheels! Fernie Alpine Resort is located on the mountain in the background.
Don’t worry though, Fernie hasn’t permanently scared me away. Next time I’ll just be more prepared for the wildlife and try to ride with somebody instead of by myself. We certainly don’t get to see this kind of wildlife in Manitoba.
Jeffrey
May 25th, 2010 at 7:13 am
Nice story Jeff! Sounds like a memorable first bike ride in the mountains.
May 25th, 2010 at 8:11 am
awesome…pretty sure I just said don’t get eaten, which coulda meant by anything(squirrels, marmots, hippies…), when my back’s sorted I’ll take you on a few rides….
May 25th, 2010 at 10:26 am
But how were the new wheels and tires?
May 25th, 2010 at 1:00 pm
Glad to hear you are still ripping it up out west. Any racing action? I miss you and Monkeyman Kurt.
Linc
May 25th, 2010 at 11:26 pm
Yeah Jonny, I’m definitely not going to forget that ride!
Paddy, my Facebook status was something like “I almost got eaten by a moose in Fernie” Of course I know moose don’t actually eat people…haha
Linc, I haven’t gone to any races, and I don’t plan to either, they are all too far away. I want to come back to MB for the 24 Hours of Falcon though.
And for the wheels, its hard to describe how much I love the new setup! I love the sound of the clicky hub and the tires are super fast yet still have unreal braking and climbing traction in soft and hard pack stuff…so far 9.9/10. The last 0.1/10 will come when they invent wheels that go up hills by themselves…
May 27th, 2010 at 2:43 pm
It looks like the scenery was gorgeous, with the snowy Rockies in the background of the green forests! It would be nice if you could have gotten a picture of the actual moose. Or not?!!
HAPPY BIRTHDAY, JEFF!! GOD BLESS YOU!!