Thursday, June 19, 2008
Another long day of driving, but through some of the most jaw-dropping country any of us have ever seen. Almost never out of sight of snowy summits and icy rushing streams we drove around the south end of Glacier Park (the Going-to-the-Sun road route being still under feet and feet of snow from recent avalaches and the winter's accumulation), startling and being startled by a large black bear who'd been taking the morning sun along the roadside, and then stopping near the Flathead river to watch and photograph a herd of mountain goats up high on the slope. As we watched, a momma and two kids came down the slope toward the bridge we were on (see pic), to feed on something (perhaps the mineralized soil) under the bridge, just like the "goats gruff" of the fable.
We had no trouble at all crossing through customs into Canada, the all-business official only asking us of our residence and (twice) whether or not we had any alcohol or firearms. Same easy passage for Leo and Connie. So we drove on north into this province of British Columbia, which none of us has ever been in before. At Radium Hot Springs we gassed up at $1.40/litre (about $5.20/gal) and headed up into the Kootenay National Park. Very near the entrance we were greeted by a herd of bighorn sheep on the roadside and we snapped a few shots from the truck window, not daring to get out and face the wrathful expressions on those ram's faces. The weather through this area was cloudy and somewhat threatening, but the scenery was more incredible than any of us had expected. Actually this was just going to be another route to get to Banff and Lake Louise, but it turned out to be some of the most awe-some (I don't like that word but I'm running out of superlatives) country we've seen yet.
Made it to Lake Louise about 7 o'clock, later than we'd hoped, and were fortunate to get two adjacent campsites in the campground here, which is nicely sandwiched between a busy railroad track and the mighty Bow River, rushing down from the glaciers high above.
Tomorrow we'll hike up to the lake itself and determine for ourselves if it's as lovely as advertised in all the tourist brochures.
Another long day of driving, but through some of the most jaw-dropping country any of us have ever seen. Almost never out of sight of snowy summits and icy rushing streams we drove around the south end of Glacier Park (the Going-to-the-Sun road route being still under feet and feet of snow from recent avalaches and the winter's accumulation), startling and being startled by a large black bear who'd been taking the morning sun along the roadside, and then stopping near the Flathead river to watch and photograph a herd of mountain goats up high on the slope. As we watched, a momma and two kids came down the slope toward the bridge we were on (see pic), to feed on something (perhaps the mineralized soil) under the bridge, just like the "goats gruff" of the fable.
We had no trouble at all crossing through customs into Canada, the all-business official only asking us of our residence and (twice) whether or not we had any alcohol or firearms. Same easy passage for Leo and Connie. So we drove on north into this province of British Columbia, which none of us has ever been in before. At Radium Hot Springs we gassed up at $1.40/litre (about $5.20/gal) and headed up into the Kootenay National Park. Very near the entrance we were greeted by a herd of bighorn sheep on the roadside and we snapped a few shots from the truck window, not daring to get out and face the wrathful expressions on those ram's faces. The weather through this area was cloudy and somewhat threatening, but the scenery was more incredible than any of us had expected. Actually this was just going to be another route to get to Banff and Lake Louise, but it turned out to be some of the most awe-some (I don't like that word but I'm running out of superlatives) country we've seen yet.
Made it to Lake Louise about 7 o'clock, later than we'd hoped, and were fortunate to get two adjacent campsites in the campground here, which is nicely sandwiched between a busy railroad track and the mighty Bow River, rushing down from the glaciers high above.
Tomorrow we'll hike up to the lake itself and determine for ourselves if it's as lovely as advertised in all the tourist brochures.
Note: In case you hadn't tried it, you can click on the photos to make them larger.
1 comment:
If my books in high school were worded this nicely I may have gotten better grades, this is GREAT!
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