My bicycle for the day (cat not included). My plan has been to shift from touring bicycle to mountain bike for the Great Divide. Looks like a four-part transition:

• Prince George (and before) to Purden Lake on touring bike, loaded
• Purden Lake to McBride on touring bike, unloaded
• McBridge to Tete Jaune Junction on mountain bike, unloaded
• Tete Jaune Junction to Jasper (and beyond) on mountain bike, loaded

Today was third in that sequence as I put together my mountain bike and Bert helped by SAG some pieces as well as then meeting me for part of the ride.

McBride was small town yesterday – we found all the restaurants except the Chinese as well as discovered the grocery store closed at six. Not to worry as we picked up a few things before leaving. It was a short ride today and I put together my bike to ride the 63km and Bert drove to end point and cycled back to meet me.

Touring bike and some panniers and other items back in Bert’s car.

The valley was pretty flat and not much climbing today. Also started seeing some higher peaks along the way. Part way along met with Bert and got a photo and nearby rest area where you can see some, but not most dramatic peaks behind.

After that a fairly quick ride to the motel at the junction here.

A few items discovered in past few days that cause some adjustments to the plan.

• I opened the box for the bike trailer and it was missing a key component: a hitch that connects the trailer to the bike. My mountain bike has a back rack and I’m able to condense everything into two panniers on the back, so can still proceed from here but will do this without the trailer. Meanwhile, I’ve ordered a new hitch. Not quite sure how that happened and will also check with the company.
• Tomorrow night (Saturday) we learned every campground and hotel we could find on internet was taken in Jasper. Apparently, the little town in the park can fill up on weekends in peak season. Hence, tomorrow will make a rest day here – and meanwhile made a reservation in Jasper for next night as well as some further reservations beyond in Jasper and Banff. Doesn’t let me go “day to day” quite as easily, but just comes with visiting a very popular park

Meanwhile it also lets me try to figure out a key question…why is Tete Jaune, the small village, given the French name, but Yellowhead, the highway given the English translation?