With 11 days left to go before move-in at Stanford, I had only just made it to California. There was still so much to see! I headed down to the Bay to see some friends in Oakland (and for a much needed shower!) and then out to the coast. Route 1 was still closed south of Big Sur, so I stopped for two nights in Pfeiffer Big Sur State Park to explore the surrounding trails and beaches.

Climbing boulders in the Big Sur River. See the shadow at the bottom?

Another great stop was in Santa Cruz, home of the well-known Santa Cruz bike company. They let you take out a top of the line demo bike for $20, which is a steal for a whole day of riding. I rented a Tallboy 29er and was blown away with how it felt compared to my Specialized hardtail I had been riding all summer. Dual suspension, hydraulic disk breaks, 1x gearing, tubeless tires and a riser seat post made the climbs a breeze and rocky descents feel like smooth pavement. I was sold. Now to scare up another $3k for a new bike…

Great views with the Santa Cruz.

I stayed with some friends in Newport Beach and spent the weekend surfing and soaking up the SoCal sun. Afterwards, it was back into the wilderness for a short two-day bikepacking trip in Big Bear, CA. The environment here was much closer to a desert, and I learned that tires seem to magically attract cactus needles. I was limping along on patched tubes by the time I got back to the car.

In the morning, I was cooking breakfast by a river and minding my own business. Off in the distance I heard some rustling in the bushes and tensed up. Silence for a minute, and then I spotted a bear investigating the smells from my camp! Luckily he scared off when I started clapping and shouting. Having asserted my dominance over this section of the river, I thought I was safe to continue my breakfast. But no! A second, different bear also decided it was time to say hi! This one got much closer before I heard it, and have me quite a scare when it popped its head over the riverbank. I promptly packed up and left the bears to their spot after the second encounter.

Departing for a night out in Big Bear. I was much better at packing this time around!

Cacti and flats became a theme of this trip.

This sign had seen better days…

After the eclipse, a few friends joined me for the drive West into California. Already four thousand miles of solo driving in, I was grateful for the company! We stopped at the great salt flats in Utah along the way, before camping just north of Lake Tahoe for the night.

Salt flats for as far as the eye can see.

Morning yoga on the foggy lake.

Everyone else had a flight to catch or school to start in the Bay, so I stayed behind in Tahoe for about a week. This was my first time in Tahoe in the summer, and I LOVED it. Tahoe is basically a playground for adults. Any sport you want to do, there’s the place for it within a 30 minute drive. My days were filled with mountain biking to crystal clear alpine lakes, kayaking lake Tahoe and picnicking on islands and going to a reggae festival in South Lake Tahoe.

It takes a few hours to bike to Dardanelles lake, but you’re rewarded with crystal clear water and almost complete solitude.

Sierra meadows with the sun low in the sky.

Kayaking on the lake. There are so many inlets, waterfalls and rock diving spots to explore!

The “Tea House” on Fannette Island in Emerald Bay.

I was amazed by the Tahoe beaches, I felt like I was in the tropics.

This rock was being swallowed alive!

After finishing the bikepacking trip and a well-deserved recovery meal, was headed back up North for a few days in Jasper National Park. Situated a few hours North of Banff, Jasper is a more quite and remote park in the Canadian Rockies. The drive takes you through Mountains and Glaciers, with many places to pull over for views and a short hike along the way. A highlight is Athabasca Glacier, where you can walk right up to an real live glacier!

Breakfast IS the most important meal of the day!

Athabasca Glacier, slowly receding into the distance

I spent a few days of exploring the hiking and mountain biking trails in Jasper, and one excellent night soaking at Miette Hot Springs. Overall I preferred Jasper to Banff – it doesn’t have the rich resort feel in town, is less crowded, and nature feels closer by.

Back into the United States and a quick stop in Glacier National Park for a day hike and overnight camp.

Wildflowers below a Glacier in Glacier NP.

The next destination was Lander, Wyoming, directly in the path of the total solar eclipse on August 21. Luckily, a friend grew up in Wyoming and her house was directly in the path of totality! Her parents were kind enough to let a few friends and I spend some time on their ranch to see this once in a lifetime event. On the day, we camped out ahead of time with snacks and drinks and waited for the moon to eclipse the sun….

Sunglasses AND eclipse glasses. Take that solar rays!

A few seconds of night during totality

I didn’t take any photographs of the sun during the event, but if you didn’t get a chance to see the eclipse in person you can find way better photos online. I can say that totality was unlike any natural event I’ve experienced – the rapidly darkening sky, chilling air, and hushing environment around you. Look up and see the rainbow effects around the moon and complete eclipse of the sun. 30 seconds I’m not going to forget any time soon.

The main attraction for this part of the trip was a 3-day bikepacking trip from Banff, south into British Colombia, and back again. This was my first time bikepacking so I had a lot to learn, even before starting the trip. That learning began with planning a route — Nowhere in Banff National Park can you park your car at a trailhead and head out into the wilderness. You need a permit (for everything in Canada, it seemed) and a prescribed route to avoid coming back to a towed car. Very different than the East Coast where I grew up hiking and backpacking. I ended up starting the trip from Canmore, South of Banff and out of the national park for this reason.

The second learning experience came with packing up my gear. I knew size more than anything was going to be a priority on this trip, so I had optimized my packing to take that into account. I had two Ortlieb bikepacking bags on the handlebars and saddle, a small tool bag on the frame, and a backpack for water, extra layers, and accessible snacks. Here’s a shot of everything I brought on the trip for 3 days. I was expecting rain and highly variable temps so lots of layers were key!

Organizing supplies for a 3-day trip. This all had to fit in the two bike bags or on my back, so weight and size was a priority.

Packed up and ready to hit the trail.

In the end I wore every layer I brought at some point, used most of the tools in my kit and ate every last bit of food, so my packing might have been a bit on the light side. Fitting all this into bags was also a challenge, and I had to pull over to adjust the load many times in the first day of the trip.

My planned route was the High Rockies Trail, a singletrack trail that runs south from Canmore. I originally wanted to bike the Great Divide trail, which is famous for spanning the continental divide from Canada to Mexico. However the Great Divide runs on gravel roads for much of Canada. The High Rockies parallels the Great Divide and gives you a much more exciting ride. I had a simple map of the trail from Banff, but I ended up doing most of the navigation on my phone with the Trailforks app (indispensable on this road trip).

Here are some highlights from the three days out in the wilderness:

Sunrise looking out over the mountains.

Flowers start to grow back after a wildfire.

Setting up a kitchen on a bridge. Oats and coffee for breakfast.

This bridge was under construction. It would have saved me a few miles and a thousand feet of elevation, so I thought about trying my balance…

Panoramic views everywhere you pulled over.

At the end of three days I was exhausted, hungry and thrilled to make it back to my car. I made a few mistakes on this first bikepacking trip and learned many lessons. I still had a great time in the wilderness, but next time would pack better shoes, more food, set less optimistic distance goals when riding singletrack and pack my load better from the get-go.

I was thrilled to finally arrive in Banff. After long days in the car, and hours of cruise-controlled monotony across the plains of Canada, the chilled mountain air was a welcome feeling. I immediately took the bike out for a ride along some trails by a river, and up into the mountains along a path with more tree roots than I’ve ever seen before.

There were active wildfires in BC and Alberta, resulting in a hazy sky for most of the trip.

The suspension took a beating on this one.

After the climb I was rewarded with excellent views of the mountains and the town of Banff nestled below.

The next day I explored the Lake Louise area. The striking blue color of Lake Louise is something you have to see in person to believe – a photo doesn’t do it justice. Get there early in the morning, before the tourists and canoes fill the frame, and you’ll have a sight to remember.

The blue of the lake and the morning haze were a mesmerizing combination. I learned that the blue comes from glacial flour – small particles of silt that are ground up by glaciers and washed into the lake.

Hiking upward from Lake Louise, you come upon a few alpine lakes and waterfalls to cool you off. It was August, but you can still see traces of snow up in the bowl! The top of the trail also has a teahouse where you can relax from the hike with a hot drink.

Plenty of other tourists to take your photo, even early in the morning.

Catching Lake Louise through the trees as I hiked upward.

Lake Agnes – a few miles up the trail from Louise.

I’m starting a PhD in Genetics at Stanford in the fall. The plans are set, I’ve moved out of my apartment, and  thrown away A LOT of clutter from the past year. All that’s left is to physically get myself to California. Can you think of a better way than taking a month to drive across the country with a mountain bike in the car?

I was READY to hit the road. This would be the second time around the country for the Saab!

The first main destination was Banff National Park in Alberta, Canada. The Canadian Rockies have amazing sights, wildlife and trails for hiking and biking – I encourage anyone who hasn’t been to take a trip.

Some highlights of the first few days, in pictures:

An Amish produce stand I found by following some hand painted signs off the highway.

Homemade summer sausage that weighed over a POUND AND A HALF. This was a part of every dinner for the next two weeks or so.

It’s not camping without a few elaborate dinners cooked over a camp stove.

Sunset over Lake Superior. Can you see the freight train in the distance, with the light on the front?

I learned that Ontario is filled with small lakes. It seems like every time I pulled over to take a break or have lunch, I had a chance to get in the water for a quick swim.

Warning: I took a lot of selfies on this trip, had to do something to keep myself company!

A truck on the side of the road, on fire, at 7am. What?!

It was a long 3 days of driving to get from Massachusetts to Calgary. Especially the last 24 hours or so through the plains of Manitoba and Saskatchewan. But long hours on the highway paid off, because I got to Calgary fairly quickly. Eventually, the mountains were within reach!

The Canadian Rockies loom in the distance. I knew I was getting close.

45+ hours of driving, 2700 miles later…