I check weather before I depart each morning. Today it was 35F. That’s the coldest morning so far. What should I expect? The clue: We stayed at the foot of Canada’s tallest mountain (Mount Logan) in the Glacier View Motel.

Notice in today’s photo my early morning shadow (lower left) stretched towards the mountains.

I dressed in my usual gear, including my yellow jacket which I planned to wear rarely. Patricia bought me winter gloves in Alberta, and I have wore them five days. I wore them all morning.

Until I read signs for helicopter and plane rides “Over the world’s largest ice field outside the polar regions”, I had no idea this part of the Yukon was so mountainous.

Not only is Mount Logan Canada’s highest at 19,541 feet, but it is second in North America to Alaska’s Denali.  Mount Saint Elias at 18,009 feet (in this same range) strattles the Yukon/Alaska border and is the second highest in both countries.

Biking below majestic mountains and glaciers makes the eight Dall sheep, a black bear beside me popping out of the roadside brush, and waiting for a small grizzly to cross before me seems minor by comparison.