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.
We stayed in the lodge, too. And hiked the Skyline trail, where we got caught in a snowstorm–on July 2–because Cascade Mountains.
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.