Our last outing from Banff was to Kootenay National Park. We drove out to Radium Hot Springs but neither one of us had a bathing suit so we did not indulge. We had a quick view of the town and the visitor center and enjoyed some stops on the way back.
The Kootenay River
Some other miscellaneous things… A land bridge in the Kicking Horse River Valley, Yoho National Park
A cool canyon we came across someplace or other…
And a few snapshots of Calgary…
Ciao Canada! It was great!
One of the best things we did was go to Sunshine Meadows, a hiking and ski area just outside of Banff. We rode a gondola up the mountain for about 30 minutes and then got onto a chairlift that took us the rest of the way up the mountain to about 7,000 feet. The views were spectacular. It was a beauty day. We hiked back from the top down to the gondola station, along the Continental Divide.
Back at the lodge we stopped for some after hike refreshments. It had to be Poutine, of course.
On the way down we saw a purple gondola.
All in all a very good day.
Banff has many hotels and lodges and shops. There are a couple of museums. And a large expensive hotel. We went to the Banff Trading Post where I bought some earrings. We went to the Banff Park Museum and the Whyte Museum of the Canadian Rockies. And we dined at the Fairmont Hotel just outside Banff. We also saw lots of “Bears” scatters about. My son actually saw a grizzly on one of his hikes. Very exciting. I saw a black squirrel and some chipmunks. And some deer were crossing main street in Banff. Next time…
The Fairmont Banff Springs Hotel is a luxury resort originally built by William Cornelius Van Horne in 1888. Van Horne was a Canadian railroad magnate who built the first trans continental railway in 1885.
Around Banff…
The Bears…
Next time – hiking the Continental Divide…
We headed north on the Columbian Icefields Parkway. We had a 3:30 appointment with the Athabasca Glacier so we stopped along the way to enjoy the sites. Our first stop was Bow Lake, shown above. It was right off the road. The next stop was Peyto Lake. We had to hike up to the viewpoint which was mostly uphill but it was worth it.
Our next stop was the North Saskatchewan River, a Canadian Heritage River.
From there we arrived at the Columbia Icefield Discovery Center. We piled on a bus that took us out to an area near the glacier where we transferred onto an Ice Explorer bus. This special bus was developed to drive onto the glacier while causing the minimal amount of harm. The tires are massive. At one point we were going down almost vertically. Quite the ride. Walking on the glacier was much like walking on regular ice. Some people tasted the ice melt that ran along the marked off area for visitors. It was all pretty thrilling.
It was a short ride from there to the Skywalk. This is a glass-bottomed walkway on a cliff with views straight down into the valley. Not really my thing but I did get some shots.
We got back to Banff pretty late after another long day. Next up – Banff and the Bears.
I had planned on starting the trip with two days in Jasper, Alberta, but due to forest fires in the area, Jasper was pretty much shut down and my boat trip on Maligne Lake was canceled. So we flew into Calgary and drove directly to Banff. Banff is a tourist town. The main drag is hotel after hotel after hotel followed by shops shops shops. And none of it is cheap. The town actually sits within the Banff National Park and is close to hiking and skiing in the area.
Our first day we headed for Yoho National Park which is actually in British Columbia. We hiked to Takakkaw Falls, the third highest falls in Canada.
Still in Yoho we stopped at a very crowded Emerald Lake where tour buses lined the drive and parking was non-existent. There is a lodge with cabins along the lake on one side. We hiked up to get a better less crowded view. The lake and setting were spectacular.
Our next stop was back to Banff National Park and the famous Lake Louise. I was excited to go because I had heard so much about the beauty of Lake Louise for many years. At the Lake Louise Ski Resort we rode a gondola up the mountain for about fifteen minutes. At the top there was a viewing area where you could see across to the Lake and the glacier above it. There was nothing else up there.
Back down at the ski center, we had to reserve a time and buy a ticket for a bus to take us to the actual Lake. Between the gondola and the bus this put me back about $70 per person. We opted for a return ride two hours later. Luckily we were able to get on an earlier bus as that was way too long to spend at an over crowded lake with nothing else available. There is a large expensive hotel on the lake but if you are not staying there, they are not welcoming. We sat on benches by the lake and watched people take picture after selfie after picture after selfie for ever. Yes, the lake itself was beautiful and the glacier above is impressive but really way too many people. And we weren’t even at peak season. All kind of a let down. Luckily I managed to get some clear shots.
It was a long day but it seemed like everywhere you looked was another breathtaking view. Stay tuned, next we head off on the Columbian Icefields Parkway.
We drove down to Red Wing, Minnesota yesterday for my birthday outing. Red Wing is full of funky sculptures.
We drove on past Red Wing to Frontenac State Park at the north end of Lake Pepin. The Mississippi River. As we gazed over to Wisconsin on the other side, we had a conversation about the settlers and explorers of the area and decided they must have been pretty sturdy folk. After the Indians, it was the French. This State Park was named after a river town that was named after Louis de Buade de Frontenac, the governor of New France who arrived in the late 1600s. The governor was a French military man who came to America to defer his great debts. Not very romantic. The French came in the 1600’s to set up fur trading with the Indians or to set up Christian missions.
Etinne Brule was born in France and was the fur trader and explorer who was credited as being the first European to reach Lake Superior in 1622. (I think the Vikings were there earlier.) Medford Chouart des Groseilliers and Pierre Esprit Radisson, both born in France, were the first Europeans to set foot in what would become Minnesota, reaching present day Duluth. Brother Claude Allouez, also born in France established a Jesuit mission and traveled the area producing the earliest maps of Lake Superior. Louis Joliet, born in Quebec City, and Father Jacques Marquette, born in France, traveled down the Mississippi River as far as to where Arkansas is today. In the 1680’s Robert de La Salle, born in France, claimed the whole Mississippi River basin for France. Pierre and Jean Pepin traveled up the Mississippi from the south. So the 1600’s were full of French explorers in the area.
Lucien Gaultier, born in France, was a Roman Catholic priest who arrived in Minnesota in 1840 and apparently named the city of St. Paul. After Minnesota was established as a territory in 1849, the French fade away. People from the east coast are the first to arrive, followed by Europeans from Germany, Scandinavia, and Great Britain. In my opinion, those are the people who were really gutsy. Anyway, then there is the whole messy horrible history of the Indians killing them and them killing the Indians.
So I won’t go into that.
But the Park is one of my favorites. It was established in 1957.
From there we went back into Red Wing and enjoyed the views from the bluff. And of course stopped at our favorite used bookstore before dinner and a nice drive home.
The building I live in contracted to have all the balconies painted this summer. About six weeks ago a team of guys showed up on my deck. They started moving around my patio furniture, they made themselves at home. Not a word to me. Just there. Day after day. The window in my office looks out onto my deck so there they were in front of me wandering around day after day. They were not painting my deck. They were painting the balconies above me. Everybody was told to be sure everything was removed from their balconies. Made sense. But I didn’t think that referred to me because I don’t have a balcony.
They trashed my patio and broke my table. They propped it up and leaned it against my sliding glass door. Thank god they haven’t broken my windows…. yet. Still not a peep out of them. When I complained to the Board of the building, I was told they had sent out several notices to remove everything from all balconies. Ahhh. A sticking point. Too bad for me. I didn’t haul my furniture into my bedroom for the indefinite future in order to save it from destruction. Now I have to pay to have it removed. Icing on the cake.
Well, the summer was ruined anyway. I haven’t been able to use my patio at all. Between the rain and the construction site, it has been pretty sad.
I think I mentioned I found a publisher for my book so I have been spending most of my time re-writing and tweaking, and writing. I think I am mostly done with my part for now. It is time to get back to doing some art. Neglected for way too long.
Moving on to happy thoughts…
I recently returned from a week on the north shore of Lake Superior. We stayed in a small two bedroom cabin down a dirt road in the middle of the woods. I expected to see bears but was disappointed. Since we had so much rain recently the trails were pretty muddy and the mosquitoes were out of control but otherwise it was beautiful.
The Cabin
The Boundary Waters
Didn’t see any moose either. Disappointed.
The Forest
The Lake
The Wild Life
Pine cones littered my path yesterday. And a strong smell of pine kept me company all the way.
Such blue sky and leaves aglow, swaying to an fro…
Walked around the lakes yesterday, enjoying the sunshine and clear sky.
I watched a 2023 film by Wim Wenders the other day – Perfect Days. It is set in Tokyo and about a Japanese man who cleans public toilets for a living. It follows him around day to day as he interacts with colleagues, members of the public, his family, but mostly with nature. He loves to take pictures of trees. There is very little dialogue so not a lot of subtitle reading. All in all, a very nice film. I recommend.
