| After the Calgary Stampede was over we stayed
an extra day to rest before going to the Canadian Rockies. This was our
second trip (2000) to the Rockies, but it was the first trip for Rich and
Diane Emond. Canada Highway 1 (Trans-Canada Highway) from south of Cochrane
was a straight shot to Lake Louise and it was a beautiful drive of 104
miles on an excellent highway.
We quickly got a rude awaking of how times
have changed with inflation and the devalued US dollar. As we entered Banff
National Park we stopped at a ticker booth to buy a Canada National Parks
Pass. If a person travels only on Highway 1 and does not use any park facilities
or park roads a National Parks Pass is not required, but our plans were
to spend at least ten days inside of national parks so we bought a pass
that is good for one year. In 2000 the pass cost $70.00 Canadian ($48.27
USD) and this year it was $136.40 Canadian ($140.45 USD) or 191% higher.
In 2000 the pass came with $20 of discount coupons for Canada National
Park campgrounds and this year there were no coupons. We arrived at Lake
Louise campground in Banff National Park and paid $33.12 (USD) a night
and in 2000 the campground fee was $12.18 (USD) a night. We also noticed
restaurant meals had doubled since 2000.
Lake Louise Campground - Banff National Park We stayed at Lake Louise six nights and used
it as a base camp for touring the area. The campground is beautiful and
laid out with 100 foot level pull-throughs on gravel and large pine trees
separate the sites so we seldom saw our neighbors. Each pull-thru is wide
and shared by two rigs and that was fine because we were traveling with
the Emonds and we parked so we would have a common patio. The sites have
good 30-amp electric and a picnic table with fresh water and dump stations
elsewhere in the campground. There are walking trails around the campground
and along the Bow River with views of snow capped mountains and a glacier.
The tenting area has an electric fence around it to keep bears out, but
we RVs are on our own to keep away from bears. During our stay a woman
was walking a trail around the campground by herself and a black bear attacked
her, but she was not seriously injured.
Lake Louise and Moraine Lake The day we drove to Lake Louise was overcast,
but we still got a view of the lake and the glacier that feeds it. The
old Fairmont Chateau Lake Louise Hotel was interesting to tour. Next we
drove to Moraine Lake, a beautiful lake that was once featured on the back
of the Canada twenty-dollar bill. On the drive back to the campground we
saw a young black bear flipping over rocks and looking for grubs to eat.
Two days we drove down to the town of Banff
which is what we call a "tourist trap" town with high prices and nothing
in store front windows show prices. We ate in restaurants two times and
used the free WiFi at Wild Flour coffee shop to do email and updates websites.
One day we saw a movie with the Emonds - Mama Mia, a good light-hearted
musical. The biggest attraction in town is the Fairmont Banff Springs Hotel
and we toured the hotel and walked around the grounds. Between Lake Louise
and Banff we drove Highway 1A which parallels highway Canada 1 and the
old road is suppose to feature wildlife, but we never saw any. I think
there are so many tourists visiting Banff they have scared all the wildlife
away.
Takakkaw Falls and Emerald Lake We drove out of Banff National Park in Alberta
and crossed into Yoho National Park in British Columbia and a twisting
winding road took us to Takakkaw Falls. The Waputik Icefield feeds Daly
Glacier which melts in summer and forms Takakkaw Falls. The water descends
about 825 feet before splashing into a mist and running into the Yoho River.
Linda has been practicing rock climbing so she climbed to the point of
getting soaked and needed me to help her back down.
Glaciers are moving rivers of ice and are usually hundreds of feet deep so as they move the rocks underneath are crushed and turned into "rock flour" which cause the rivers to be a milky white color. Other streams that are snow melt and spring fed are brilliant blue and it is interesting to see the two meet. Our next stop was Emerald Lake, a resort
area with an emerald colored lake in a peaceful setting. On the way back
to Highway 1 we stopped at Kicking Horse River and Natural Bridge. The
river has under-cut rocks and formed a natural bridge that the water flows
through.
The Spiral Tunnels The railroad track through Kicking Horse
Valley had a steep 4.5% grade making it the steepest track on the continent.
Trains had to be broken down to a few cars and additional engines were
needed to pull the cars up the track and back down to the valley making
it slow for trains to transverse the mountains and dangerous. In 1907 two
spiral tunnels were begun so trains could travel a figure-eight through
the mountains reducing the grade from 4.5% to 2.5%. It took 20 months and
1,000 men to build the spiral tunnels and workers were paid $2.25 a day.
A few were killed. It took 75 carloads of dynamite (700 tons) to remove
686,000 cubic meters of rock and both spirals were started from both ends
and met in the middle within 5 centimeters of being perfect. The picture
is of the lower spiral tunnel and trains enter one end of the tunnel, circle
inside the mountain and emerge from the other end of the tunnel. We waited
for a train to arrive to get a picture of the engines emerging from one
end while the tail of the train was still entering the other end, but no
train arrived during our wait.
Johnston Canyon In Banff National Forest between the towns
of Banff and Lake Louise is located Johnston Canyon with a 0.7 mile hike
to the lower falls and 1.6 miles to the upper falls. We hiked the trail
on a warm pleasant day and much of the hike was steep going up and fast
coming back down. Walk-ways were attached to the sides of canyon walls
and extended over a raging river. Actually, we extended our campground
stay one day so we could hike the Johnston Canyon trail and we're glad
we stayed.
Back at Lake Louise we stopped at the Mountain
Restaurant where we got excellent food and excellent service earlier in
the week. Once again we split meals of Bul-Go-Gi, a Korean dish of thinly
sliced marinated beef over a bed of chopped cooked cabbage and onions.
A side dish of sticky rice accompanied the entree. We could not determine
the spices, but the meal was tasty and one serving was enough food for
two of us. Rich chewed a while and then spit out a rubber band. He complained
"nicely" to the server and she did not charge for the Emond's meal. I told
Linda to quickly look in her purse for a rubber band and she had none so
we had to pay for our meal. Rubber band or not, the food was excellent
and I need to find that recipe. Oh, Rich left the server one BIG tip.
Columbia Icefield and Athabasca Glacier Highway 93 north of Lake Louise becomes the
Icefields Parkway and no commercial trucks are allowed on the road. A Canada
National Parks pass is required and we had one thanks to giving Canada
$140 a few days earlier. It is a beautiful drive of about 140 miles along
a river that freezes in winter, between majestic mountain ranges and up
and down steep grades. We only drove 81 miles to the Columbia Icefield
and parked at the Icefield Interpretive Center parking lot. During our
drive we gained altitude and the sunny sky turned to clouds and then to
rain. We bought tickets for an icefield tour and then went back to our
motorhomes to eat lunch and get ourselves winterized (coats, hats, gloves)
for walking on the glacier. Then it started raining harder and we heard
thunder in the distance. Now I am a hill-billy from Kentucky, but I'm not
entirely stupid and I know it is not a brilliant idea to walk on an open
glacier in rain, thunder and lightening. We went back to the ticket lady
and asked for a refund. She asked "Oh, is someone in your party ill?" I
told her no one is ill, but I'm not exactly stupid and I want my money
back. She gave a complete refund.
Jasper National Park operates the parking lot and they charge $10.80 a night to park in their lot so we paid. The next morning the sun shined brightly so the nice ticket lady sold us more tickets ($38 each). Our tour guide said yesterday was a terrible day and tourists could not see anything, but this day was the most beautiful day of the year. The Columbia Icefield covers about 130 square miles and feeds eight glaciers, one being Athabasca Glacier (2.5 sq mi) which we toured. It takes about 100 feet of snow to be pressurized into one foot of ice and the glacier receives about 23 feet of snow each year. Glaciers are living and are actually rivers of flowing ice that crush rock, move sediment and flow pure water into rivers. We took a modern tour bus to near the glacier and then boarded an "Ice Explorer," a very slow bus with large tires, that took us on the glacier. We got out of the bus and walked on the living glacier with 1,000 feet of ice under our feet, and collected melt water that is as pure as can be. The ice that was melting was formed 150 years ago before the earth was polluted by man. I took a sip of the water and it tasted like, well, pure cold water. Seeing a glacier from a distance leads one to believe it is smooth like an ice skating rank, but the ice has rounded surfaces with melting and running water in between. The pure ice gives a blue reflection. Looking up at Athabasca Glacier we saw Snow
Dome which is the third Continental Divide. Melting snow and ice from that
point flows in three directions - the Pacific, the Atlantic and the Arctic
Oceans. Miniature trees growing near the Icefield are actually hundred
of years old because their growing season is only a few weeks a year and
they are packed in snow and ice the rest of the year.
Before leaving the Columbia Icefield parking
lot we met a nice couple, Sujit and Jonna Basu from New Hampshire. They
were on a four week vacation and recognized our motorhome from the picture
on our website. Sujit said he follows our website and we were happy they
introduced themselves. Wow, we must be famous.
Our next travels will take us up the Icefields Parkway to the town of Jasper, Alberta. |
