Ten days, 900 km of mostly gravel roads, a southeast
squiggle from Red Deer to Medicine Hat, through the Alberta Badlands and around
Special Area No. 2 (I know, it sounds like Alberta’s version of Roswell’s Area
51 but it’s actually just an ominously named rural municipality)—that’s the
trip Val, Penn, and I will undertake in a little over a week from now.
We’ve been scheming a gravel cycling adventure for some time
now, eager to test out what it would be like to tour on dusty back roads. Our
very own province of Alberta boasts gravel galore, so why not start close to
home? But not too close to home.
We’ll start in Red Deer, at the Donut Mill, no
less—the acknowledged omphalos of
Alberta. Our route will take us across prairie and Badlands, through a series
of small towns, and across some remote town-less stretches, into a land without
espresso. We will follow the Red Deer River for much of the first part of the
journey before dipping down along the Saskatchewan border to the Hat.
Donuts: Red Deer’s famous establishment, THE traditional
stop on all road trips southward, is the obvious jumping off point for our
trip. The only question is: How many dozen do we strap onto our panniers before
rolling out?
Gopher Hole Museum: Torrington, Alberta’s claim to fame. Forget
the Royal Tyrell Museum in Drumheller. I have a feeling that gopher city is more
my kind of place.
Hoodoos: Although I’ve seen these strange mushroomy rock
formations before, it will be weird/cool to ride a bicycle through this
landscape.
Tacky Dino Stuff: Dinosaur Provincial Park, near Brooks, Alberta, is a
UNESCO World Heritage Site and Drumheller has its famous museum, but this giant fake dinosaur at the info centre is what most tourists remember.
Ghost Towns: The area around Drumheller features the highest
density of ghost towns in the province.
Bindloss: A backwater hamlet named after an obscure writer
of early twentieth-century western adventure novels.
Antelope: Penn assures me that should we get stranded in a
spring snow storm, he will use his new hunting knife to cut open a pronghorn
for me to huddle inside of.
Wind: Sure to be our steady companion in the treeless
prairie lands we’re bound for.
Dust: No trees, lots of wind, big skies, wide open days, and
hundreds of miles of gravel.
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ReplyDeleteGents, I wish you wild pilgrimic joy. May you find wonder and freshness in handfuls of dust.
ReplyDeleteThanks, Tando. We'll miss you out there on the road--and eat a donut or three in your honour.
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