The teen years mean father and son trips are a lot lamer than they were when my son was young. Not that I’m slower, or less adventurous, but I’m just not as cool as his friends are.
[as usual, click photos to enlarge.]
The solution to this, is of course, to bring friends.
Adam had been on a spring fatbikepacking trip with us, and he is good company and competent outdoors. He has many skills, and can keep both Tadhg and I interested with his memory of interesting facts. He also has his own fatbike.
This trip ended up being a bit more challenging than I originally anticipated, but with the challenge came adventure. We had some of nearly every type of snow, lots of pushing, a river to ford, and nearly a full day of blizzard conditions. And yes, we did eat a bag of chips and hummus for breakfast.
Adam may have to sleep for a week after riding, pushing, and carrying his bike on over 80km of winter trails, but I hope he’ll have memories for a lifetime. This was full-on adventure riding, and when things got tough, the kids were up to the challenge.
I posted. a route on RideWithGPS here
For those who have been asking, I make the pogies, aka bar mitts by myself, in my basement, I sell them on this very site, so click on this link to buy some..
Good afternoon,
My husband and I just bought fat bikes 🙂 and would love to take our teenagers out so they can start enjoying this sport as well. Where do you take your kids in the Kananaskis or Canmore area?
Thank you!
Depending on their abilities, I can recommend the Goat Creek Trail from the trailhead to Banff. If you did it as a one-way, Goat Creek trailhead is the higher elevation, so it is more-or-less downhill the whole way.
The locals in Canmore tend to ride the trails in town enough that they stay almost groomed for the winter, they are a great bet (highline etc)
The Nordic Centre is one of the best groomed fatbike trail systems in the world for day riding, so it is never the wrong choice.
The trails in Ribbon Creek area, up to and over Skogan Pass are usually pretty good, they don’t get too much snow usually, so they are usually rideable.
Prairie View is fun on a fatbike, and if you are up to the challenge, going over the top, and down Jewel Pass is pretty spectacular.
Upper Kananaskis Lake from Interlakes to Point is fatbike Legal, short, but flat and usually packed enough to ride.