Start to Summer- Ride to Radium Hot Springs

Highway 1 to Highway 93, Starting in Canmore Alberta you ride west past Banff, Sunshine Village, and turn off onto the 93 at the Castle junction. There's a nice roadside stop just past the merge after the bridge over the highway where you can take a mini break and assess weather for the mountain passes you go through almost directly after. They don't call it Storm Mountain for nothing. There's also a gas station here but we make sure to gas up at the Husky just out side of Canmore since they seem to have to cheapest gas in the Bow Valley. The highway is busy between Canmore and the 93 so be sure to ride alert, as many people are out in the mountains of the first time and are not paying attention to the road.

The 93 is my favourite highway- its the perfect day trip riding! You get large open highway space, double lanes, ample passing lanes, big sweeping corners, great S turns, lower mountain and upper mountain views, into tighter canyon riding with the possibility of wildlife, but with most of the riding having wildlife fencing and big open shoulders, yay safety! The only wildlife that we did see this trip was the white Goats who are usually upper alpine animals. These guys were in a blind S turn, so as much as there are wild life fences, sometimes the bears, goats and elk do make it onto the highway- keep your eyes open. There are generally less people travelling on this highway which makes it even a nicer ride during the week. Weekends in the summer can still be busy with campers and tourists so plan accordingly.

This highway has tonnes of little places to stop, and this time around we checked out Numa Falls on the Kooteney River that snakes through the valley.The blue green waters are a must see and this is a great stop to stretch the legs and eat lunch. There's picnic tables in the shade close to the water where you can set up your mid-day snack and enjoy the mountains surrounding you. We did assume there was more of a hike involved but were surprised to find out its about a 20 m walk from the parking lot to the bridge where the falls are. Still a great refresher and if you are so inclined there are more hikes available as seen on the trail map we ran into. I recommend the AllTrails app for hiking since it will still work even when there isn't service and you'll be ale to find your way back to the bikes.

Onwards from here you'll go up through a mountain pass with an epic viewing point- Kootenay Valley View Point right in the corner- we advise hitting the view point on the way home in order to not have to turn left into oncoming highway traffic. East bound is much easier to access. From this corner you start dropping down into the extra fun part with most of the canyon riding and twisties from here to Radium. Bears are frequent along this highway so keep and eye out and do not stop if you do see one as they are more than likely Grizzlies who like their space. You cruise down in the red rock canyon that Radium is known for, as the environment begins to change from lush mountains to a dryer more desert like system. Here it best to keep an eye out for Big horn Sheep and wary tourists not used to the mountain driving. The hot springs has its own parking lot westbound on the right and you take al little tunnel by foot to the pool facilities.

Radium Hot Springs did not disappoint! One of the nicer National park hot spring facilities mid week attendance is low. There was us... and about 15 other soakers visiting the hot pool. The facilities are great, clean and easily accessible. The pool itself has a hot tub, a deeper hotter end and a shallow sunning deck area. The only recommendation is to bring sunscreen with you, no one likes a sunburn.

After the dip we travelled further into Radium the town. It is a cute little Swiss village that enters into a vast mountainous valley. We took the roundabout with the giant metal Sheep horns sculpture and went south down the 95 and headed to Invermere for lunch at The Station. Lunch was epic. We highly recommend making the extra trip down 15 mins of highway to go grab ab bite here. Great views, nice patio and lots of options for any dietary concerns. Servers were well versed on gluten free options and had mocktails for those of us who don't drink.

From here we headed home with a quick pit stop for energy drinks at the Castle mountain junction at the head of the 93 back in Alberta - which closes at 5 pm on Mondays so be sure to gas up in Radium before you leave. Our trip wasn't without drama- our one mishap was that our GoPro snapped off my bike mount and slammed into the highway. Yes it did break, and well, don't purchase the cheap Amazon plastic set  of clamps/ mounts for riding Harleys. Our bikes are just too powerful for that China knock off plastic. Lesson learned.