Day 38: Beiseker, AB -> Delia, AB

Date: Thursday, June 22, 2023
Start: Beiseker, AB (Municipal Campground)
End: Delia, AB (Municipal Campground)
Distance: 126km

I knew it was going to be a cold night, and sure enough it was.  The forecast had it go down to 4C.  Luckily my gear is good and bundled up.  I slept in so that I didn't wake up in the cold.  At 7:30am I got out of my tent and set about breakfast and tearing down.  I packed up and hit the road by about 9:30am.  I decided not to go into Beiseker for breakfast as Drumheller was ahead and would have more waiting for me.

There isn't much to say about the bike ride.  I'm not sure there's going to be much to say for a long time now!  The Prairies might be described as featureless and flat, but I find them breathtaking.  Something about the wide open country, the ability to see forever, the rolling landscape, the size of the sky above.  It's all so beautiful.

Some sights from the ride:

After about 45km I reached Horseshoe Canyon.  It's the first place on the ride into Drumheller from the West where you find the Badlands.  The country is flat and farmed, and then it just drops away and this canyon sits there.  Like the mountains meeting the prairies, it's so stark that it seems like it must be man made, but it's completely natural.

I stopped and spent about 45 minutes regarding it.  It's another of my favourite places in Alberta.  The colours of the rock, the size, the grandeur.  It makes you feel so small.  I'd also been here with so many people in the past: Patrick and Mireille, Kate and Terry, Dad, Alex and James and Emily.  A lot of memories came floating back.  I either have or will visit all of these people this trip.  But standing there was another reminder that I was leaving.  And again I cried.

As I watched the landscape and took time to simply exist in this place and take in the experience, I listened to a track from a recent video game that seemed to highlight the alien nature of the landscape, it's majesty, and it's splendor.  Feel free to listen as you look at the pictures:

My feelings having washed over and almost drowned me, it was time to leave Horseshoe Canyon and head to Drumheller.

The 20km into town was easy.  The town itself is IN The Badlands!  You drop down and steep road for a few kilometers and find it down there.  Dry, hot, and bristling with dinosaurs.  They really lean into it and it's amazing.

I went into downtown and found a coffee shop that would do a coffee chocolate iced frappe concoction with whip cream and the whole business.  In the heat of the day it went down quickly.  I sat and enjoyed a few moments on main street Drumheller.

As I biked out of town I stopped to take a picture with their largest dinosaur.  The town had a splash pad and families were cooling off in it.  It was a wonderful town full of life.

I biked to the Royal Tyrrell Museum.  THE Dinosaur museum in Drumheller.  Upon arriving I looked around for bike parking and found none.  I was walking to the entrance to ask staff when I spotted two other bikes.  VERY familiar bikes.  And that's how I found John and Kip again.  We'd met in Fernie, BC and biked into Alberta together but I hadn't seen them for about a week.

We had lunch outside and caught up.  They'd already seen the museum.  They weren't certain of their destination and so agreed to head to the same place as I was going: Delia.  I paid and went into the museum where I took lots of pictures with some of my favourite pieces.  It was also a trip down memory lane, as I could remember all the friends and family I'd visited this place with.  This made it a pretty emotional visit.  But you don't just go by this place.  It has a world class collection of fossils and they do an incredible job of presenting them.  Here's a lot of photos:

When I rode out it was to the layered landscape of The Badlands.  Back into town where I had to catch the highway again and head east towards Delia.  I hesitated just before leaving.  I'd never gone this far from Calgary without it being a trip across the country.  Drumheller was still familiar and comfortable.  Going east out of town would be crossing a threshold.  Like Sam leaving The Shire, one more step would be the furthest I'd gone from Calgary.  And on I went.

I got to go downhill to get into Drumheller, and I would have to pay now with a climb out!  It wasn't bad though, only a few kilometers and the grade was very doable.

From Drumheller I headed North past Munson and eventually East again towards Delia on Highway 9.  The winds were at my back and the riding was fairly easy.  The land rolled and it felt like I was always climbing, but none of it was too challenging.  The landscape was fully of tufts of trees, cattle, horses, fields of young crops, pump jacks, and old farms slowly being reclaimed by the good Earth with gravity having broken their backs.

I had 50km to go to Delia.  At 110km for the day I started feeling tired.  I pressed on.  I could see windmills in the distance.  They turned out to be close to Delia.  The sun was getting lower and it was 7pm before I found the town.  But these are looong nights on the prairie and the sun doesn't set till at least 10pm.  Still plenty of day left.

I rode into town and Delia revealed itself to have a rich history.  I found the campground and the bikes of John and Kip.  They'd gone into town for dinner.  I checked out the little league game nearby and called my mother and congratulated her on her last day of work.  She'd just retired.  35 years ago she had started when I was 2!

After the call was dinner, setting up camp, catching up with John and Kip about their time since last I'd seen them.  We all showered.  The air started to cool from the days high of 26C.  John went for a walk as Kip and I traded stories.  He came back telling us about a beautiful school in town.  It was almost 10:30pm but not completely dark yet.  We ventured to see it for ourselves.

It didn't disappoint.  I don't know what Delia did right, but the province built a beautiful new school for them.  And it really shined, even in the dark.

We went back to our tents and it was just past 11pm.  We tucked in and slid into gentle sleep.