8/3 Jasper->Athabasca Glacier

Today was fairly typical for bike touring:

get up, bike for a while, eat whatever lunch, bike more, visit attractions along the way, ride into camp, do campy stuff, go to sleep. 

The highlights were how brutally hard the afternoon climbing was and how beautiful the landscape was. 

There was a ~2.5km climb where we rose up about 1000ft. Doesn't sound like much, but it was very steep. We had to take 4 breaks. 100m from the top, I saw a car pull over. Not knowing the top was just around the corner, I asked the man exiting the car. He didn't know English well and nodded when I asked if it were 2km still. So I was completely defeated until I saw the road dipping down past the Glacier Skywalk, one of those gimmick places with a glass floor looking into a ravine. 

After that, we were still 8km out from camp. Passed Athabasca Glacier, which I swear I've seen before. 

The wind coming off the glacier was really cold! At least it was a tailwind to camp. 

We tried unsuccessfully to make a good fire. Are a hot dinner and were super tired, so headed into the tents for bed.