One of the things I love a lot about bike travel and camping is that I am largely away from mirrors and any reminder of physical being other than how I feel internally. Do I feel strong? Do my legs continue to work? Do I have the energy and stamina and well-being to do what I want? If so, I feel good and I kind of forget about the external world of appearances and how I look. Which is how I like it.
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(Not too many mirrors, even in actual campgrounds like this one in Yoho National Park)
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I also have this sense that I am eating constantly. Like, meals for sure but also semi-continuous snacks while I’m biking, a handful of trail mix each time I open my bike bag, some peanut butter pretzels as an appetizer to breakfast — just so, so, so much snack. And when I’m in towns, every 4-5 days or so, I feel like I eat obscenely-sized meals, the kind of thing where the waiter is too polite to outwardly say are you actually going to eat all that? And then still too polite later to say how did you actually eat all that so quickly??
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(This one was by a random camp, shhh;)
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So I was quite surprised, at the hostel in Lake Louise where my bunk room had a full-length mirror, to discover that I look quite skinny. Granted, since I left Golden, the last stretch of camping and exploring in Yoho National Park has been a little meager, food-wise, because when I was in Golden the power went out forever, everything closed, and I wasn’t able to restock my food stash the way I’d planned. BUT, I still felt like I was eating quite a lot, just in the sort of demoralizing way of tons of energy bars, almond butter, tortillas, pretzels, and nuts, the kind of things that are available at gas stations and make up for in calories what they lack in actual nutrients;) Oh, and foraged huckleberries, cuz you know how it goes when you’re me in the mountains;)
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(The mountains in Yoho. Which are actually the Rocky Mountains now;) A little higher in elevation here than the huckleberries;)
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Point being, I think I have achieved the time in bike travel + backcountry hiking play where I can’t quite keep up with how many calories I’m burning. If I kept going for another month, like when James and I biked across the country, I think it would equalize and I would start to gain weight again instead of lose it. But I feel efficient and strong right now (as I have the whole time;), so all is well in stasia-land. I’ll just keep snarfing all the food over here;)
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(Lake Louise from a hike to Little and Big Beehives yesterday. Can you believe that color?? And those mountains??)
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Okay, a few more gratuitous pictures:
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(I mostly don’t love biking on Highway 1 because it is busy and loud, but it sure is pretty through Yoho!)
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(I’ve seen so so so many amazing waterfalls since I left Golden! This is Laughing Falls, from a long hike I took, but also Wapta Falls and Takakkaw Falls have been some highlights)
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(That one on the left way over there is Takakkaw Falls as seen from a long hike on the Iceline Trail, which is absolutely outrageous. There are also trails right at the falls, and a nice walk-in only campground)
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(Just your average Yoho roadside meadow:)
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(Emerald Lake!)
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(This is a natural bridge (on the right); the water kinda gets sucked down this hole under it and it’s super cool:)
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(And don’t worry, you know I’m still plant nerding;)
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I’m on my way out for another short stint of backcountry travel now, which I am very excited about. And don’t worry about that either, I’m bringing lots and lots of food;)