Day 5

So the ride is going great and I'm about to turn on rt 11 and then head to the Icefield Pkwy and as soon as I make the turn there is a sign saying "police emergency." What this meant was access was not allowed due to a forest fire! So now I have no map, and garmin wants me to go where I can't so it's time for a little compass riding; I know I need to go south then west. Pulled over for some lunch, and suddenly was swarmed with bikes, and started taking to this other H-D rider (with a Canadian Army vest, all their Army biker vets were there old shirts w sleeves cut off) and he told me another scenic rt to Banff since I couldn't take the Icefields pkwy. he was right, it was a great ride with a lot of mountain vistas.   After awhile I stopped for gas and there was a lot of grass about 100'x50' that was loaded with gophers running all over the place...weird.